Lethal Admirer (2018 Lifetime)

Lethal Admirer or A Friend’s Obsession (2018 Lifetime)

Synopsis (via Lifetime)

When Megan’s fiancé is killed, she moves cross country and rebuilds her life with a new boyfriend and a closer relationship to her sister. When she runs into one of her old colleagues, Lloyd, she is pleasantly surprised and the pair become close friends. However, Lloyd wants more, and he soon begins to sabotage everything in Megan’s life that keeps them apart; his ultimate plan is to make Megan his…no matter who gets hurt in the process.

Thoughts

Megan is a Seattle girl who does outside yoga and flirts with her instructor—who turns out to actually be her fiancé. (Gotta say the yoga poses were correct.) All the while, someone is taking pictures with a long zoom lens. At work, Megan has a red-headed best friend (Brooke), lots of POC co-workers, and one co-worker who looks creepily at her.

After yoga class one day Megan’s fiancé/yoga instructor is telling her how much he loves her after class and then is stabbed to death in broad daylight… in a park.

Megan mourns the loss of her fiancé as some creep takes pictures of her. She decides to move to somewhere else—leaving behind her job and redhead friend for a fresh start. Before Megan leaves the office, the creepy guy (his name is Lloyd) asks her out for a drink. Surprisingly, she agrees. On their date, they talk about grief and how they handle it. He lost his father and tells her time will heal all. She tells him that he is easy to talk to then she goes on to give him dating advice, she even slicks over his greasy ass hair in an attempt to make him more presentable. (Ugh, it was so gross!!!) They have their photo taken at dinner and Lloyd buys two prints that he immediately frames and puts by his bed. (He shows his Momma the next morning when she wakes him up, it was weird.)

Flash to one year later. Megan is still missing her fiancé and is living with her sister, Kate. They go for a run. (I’m starting to think the actress who plays Megan just likes to run in movies.) They run into Lloyd, who has cleaned up and recently moved to town. They make ambiguous plans to hang out in the future—as you do when an acquaintance moves to town.

Work gives Megan an afternoon off. Wanting to make the most of her time, she decides to do something fun. While her sister is busy with gallbladder surgery, Megan resorts to calling Lloyd to go to the park and get Chinese food. They are catching up and Megan is getting tipsy; she talks about how her new boss is not so great and Lloyd tells her to kill him. She laughs and agrees that she should kill him. She also tells Lloyd about the new guy she is dating; his name is Chris and she met him in a bar. (Cue the creepy music and Lloyd’s face starting to twitch.)

Megan invites Lloyd over to dinner in an attempt to try to set up her sister, Kate, with Lloyd. Chris is also there and he asks Lloyd to fix his computer for him and then kisses all over Megan—much to the disappointment of Lloyd. Megan makes a point to thank them all because this is going to be her last social gathering because work is going to take over her life.

At her Job, Lloyd drops by for a lunch date they planned. Her boss is not happy that Megan is having visitors at work and reprimands her. Later, after Megan nails her sales pitch for her unspecified job, her boss is getting a little too handsy. He is then strangled in his car by someone in the back seat. (Again, in broad daylight.)

Enjoying a few days off from work, Megan tells her sister that she thinks she is in love with Chris. Maybe she is the Lethal Admirer because Chris falls off a ladder while fixing a roof due to a broken step. He survives but can’t go to Brooke’s wedding now. So, Megan invites Lloyd to a weekend wedding getaway.

On the ride to the wedding, we learn a little more about Lloyd. His dad died in an accident: he fell down a flight of stairs when Lloyd was 10. His mother has stepped in and raised him, made him join computer club for smarts and glee club so he could sing to her at night.

At the wedding reception we get a horrible speech from a drunk bachelorette, followed up by Lloyd who tells Megan he likes her in front of everyone by toasting to Megan and their potential love. Megan is freaked out and runs out of the reception. When Lloyd follows her, she flat out tells him that he is way out of line and she doesn’t feel the same way. She makes it VERY clear that she is not (and never will be) into him romantically. Megan gets an Uber home and tells him that they need to spend time apart.

Lloyd then call his Momma. (After each interaction he calls his mom, by the way.) She tells him that he needs to make grand gestures and that she will come around. Then she sings to him while he hugs a teddy bear.

Megan tells Kate and Chris about Lloyd and they all agree he is a psycho. They have a good laugh about it actually. In his wheelchair, Chris proposes to Megan. She says yes, and then calls him a “Silly Gimp.”

Lloyd makes the grand gesture (like his Momma suggests) and buys a Victorian house (they remind Megan of her childhood), makes a cheesy video where he holds up signs a la Love Actually. It works and Megan calls him and agrees to a steak dinner with Lloyd and “his new girlfriend.” He even invites Chris. Everything seems cool—until it isn’t.

Chris is immobile on the couch when Lloyd stops by and beats him with a baseball bat, while screaming…maybe killing him?

At Lloyd’s Victorian mansion, Megan is surprised to learn that his girlfriend is not in attendance. Instead of rescheduling, they pour up some wine and take a tour of the house. On her way to the bathroom, Megan finds a shrine to her, including framed pictures of her doing yoga and mourning her dead fiancé. Lloyd catches her and tells her that he wasn’t ready for her to meet his girlfriend. He then drags her in front of a mirror and says, “Say hello to my girlfriend.” He is very crazy but still continuing on with dinner plans, making Megan sit down to a steak dinner.

Megan calls her sister under the table and tries to clue her into where she is while still talking to Lloyd. He takes her phone, because no phones at the dinner table. While cutting and feeding Megan steak he tells her that he is the one who killed her fiancé, her boss, and Chris, (But Chris is alive, don’t worry.) He also killed his father so he could have his Mom all to himself.

Kate tracks Megan down with the Find My Phone app and calls the police. She tells them it is a hostage situation and rushes to the house to save her.

To get away, Megan pretends to choke on a piece of steak and then grabs a steak knife while Lloyd tries to perform the Heimlich on her. She stabs him in the leg and runs away, smashing him in the face with wine bottle and running out the FRONT door. She runs into her sisters arms and the police apprehend Lloyd. For some reason, Chris is there and she tells him that she loves him and they agree to get married. The end!

Side Note

Karissa Lee Staples played the sister in Wrong Swipe! Glad to see her in a leading role.

Every scene with Momma had her in bed talking on a landline.

So much wine in this movie, including a wine bottle as a weapon!

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Overall rating

🔪🔪🔪 (3 Knives)

🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required)