My Stepfather’s Secret (2019 Lifetime)

My Stepfather’s Secret (2019 Lifetime)

Stars: Vanessa Marcil, Eddie McClintock, Kevin Sizemore

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Synopsis (via Lifetime)

Bailey Kershaw, 19, returns home for the summer after her freshman year of college to discover that her mother, Tina, has a new boyfriend, Hugo, who she plans to immediately marry. Bailey is unsettled by Hugo and how quickly he has invaded her family home and has completely changed her mother’s lifestyle. Tina can’t see beyond Hugo’s charm or her own emotional needs and persuades Bailey to try and get along with Hugo. Bailey becomes aware of some questionable dealings Hugo is involved in. She discovers that not only is Hugo in debt to shady criminals, but she and her mother are now in real danger. Bailey must outrun and outsmart an insidious criminal element to save her own life, protect her mother, and unearth the electronic currency treasure left to her by her real father.

Thoughts

A husband/Father stuck late at work (something with computers) His daughter calls and asks him to pick up some baking soda for a project. As he leaves the office, he is followed by a man in a black hoodie and gloves. Things aren’t looking so good for our husband/father. Instead of leaving, the father goes on the roof, and the hooded figure pulls out a gun and shoots him over the edge of the building? To add insult to injury, the hooded figure walks downstairs and steals the husband/father’s messenger bag.

Flash to nine years later at the University of California, Berkeley. We meet Bailey, who has a center part and loves geo rocks. She is heading back home to live with her mom after freshman year instead of a costly summer intensive program at the Grand Canyon. Her friend Fee is excited for Bailey to be home and wants her to be friends with her ex, Anders.

The music in this movie is really bonkers. Oh, wait, no, her mom, Tina, is doing a workout to deafening dance music. Tina has changed since Bailey left. She is a vegetarian, loves to work out, oh… and has a new Fiance. (They are getting married Saturday.) He shows up at their lunch, and Bailey mistakes him for the waiter. (Haha, rude.) His name is Hugo, and to be fair, he is wearing a tight black t-shirt, black pants, and is sporting an armband tattoo. (He is either a waiter or in porn!) Hugo is a healthy living consultant. (Sound mixing in this scene is TERRIBLE, and so is Bailey’s attitude.)

Bailey is upset at how fast things are moving and gets even more shocked when she realizes that Hugo is living with them, and all of his stuff is in her room. Bailey is pissed that Hugo has invaded her space and used the desktop computer that her dad left her. Tina promises to make things right. 

Flash to little Bailey waiting for her dad to come home with baking soda. She instead gets police sirens and flashing lights. She also has visions of her dad, teaching her how to use the computer. 

In the garage, Bailey finds a bunch of Hugo’s nutrition boxes blocking in her car. He let her borrow his car in an attempt to win her over. (Too bad, it literally has his face plastered on the side.) Bailey goes to a coffee shop to meet Fee (again with REALLY weird music.) Bailey fills Fee in on her Mom’s wedding, and Anders shows up. He wants to talk about what happens with Bailey, and she tells him she has moved on and only drinks Chai Lattes. Bailey says he dumped her because he didn’t go to college, and she did. Fee tries to convince her that Anders is perfect for her and that she is a great third wheel? (Fee, have some self-respect!.)

While driving home, Bailey realizes that she is being tailed. The car cuts her off, and a muscle man gets out and taps on her window. Once he sees that it is Bailey, the guy leaves. Bailey tells Hugo and Tina, and they brush it off as someone interested in a healthy lifestyle.  

The wedding happens, and Bailey’s posture is corrected by Hugo. He caresses her back, and she yells at him to not touch her. Tina tells Bailey to apologize to Hugo for overreacting. Fee interrupts because a strange man gave her a gift to give to the newlyweds. (It is a clock… and Hugo is creeped out by it. Tina laughs it off as someone who wants to make sure they wake up!)

Tina and Hugo try to lay down the law when Bailey uses her phone at dinner. Bailey flat out says no and then calls out Hugo for always being on his phone. It really gets escalated way out of proportion. Bailey storms off to take a shower and then sees that her phone is missing. She goes downstairs, and Hugo is giving Tina a massage, and they literally laugh at her. The next morning the phone is on the floor by her desk. While on the floor, Bailey notices that her webcam is turned on. Bailey tells Tina that she thinks Hugo is spying on her, and Tina is acting very strange. Like, forgets what she is saying midsentence. Then calling Bailey an ungrateful teenager. Bailey thinks her mom is smoking weed.

Tina texts Bailey to go for a run. When Bailey gets there, she is surprised to see Hugo. Hugo wants to teach her good healthy habits that her dad never could teach her. Bailey is enraged, and they go running in the woods, like far into the woods. On their way back, a car pulls up, and Hugo runs away suspiciously. It is the same car that was trailing Bailey.

Back at home, Bailey asks her mom to get a check-up because she is acting weird. Tina says she is just tired and falls asleep on the couch. Bailey finds Hugo in her room, folding her underwear, and she kicks him out. As he leaves, he says, “the workout weirdo has some things to do,” which was a text she sent to Fee. Bailey knows Hugo was going through her phone.

Bailey recruits Anders to do some hacker shit. Anders scrolls through an excel document and sees that Bailey has a mirror app on her phone. They also find Hugo’s health website and learn that his new business has been around for four years. Bailey does some more snooping on her own and finds a fitness boot camp and her dad’s work flash drive (It has a big N on it.) in the garage boxes. She is almost caught by Hugo. 

In the morning, Hugo makes Tina and Bailey a shake. He is putting some powder in Tina’s but not in Bailey’s. Bailey calls out the weird unmarked bag, and also about his work history. He struggles to come up with the details. Tina sends him to go get her glasses and tells Bailey to lay off. Tina just wants peace and doesn’t see anything wrong with how Hugo is acting. Tina tells her that Hugo will not be Bailey’s father, but her father wasn’t that great. He left them in financial ruin. Then Tina blames Bailey for all the tension in the home. 

With her mom against her, Bailey calls up Fee and Anders. They follow Hugo around town in a Volkswagen beetle. (The most incognito car!) Hugo meets with the man who trailed Bailey earlier. Anders casually skateboards over and puts a phone near the men talking. Hugo owns the man a lot of money, and apparently, Hugo thinks that money is hidden in the house. The three amigos decide to go to “the cabin” and will convince Tina to meet them there, so they can all get away from Hugo.

The cabin is more like a rundown shack. Bailey has a lot of good memories with her dad here. She finds her old treasure box. The plan goes haywire when Hugo sends Tina to “fitness boot camp,” and she will be unreachable for ten days. It will just be Bailey and Hugo home alone.

Bailey gets an alert that someone is trying to log into her laptop. Bailey knows that Hugo is looking for the flash drive that she took from Hugo’s things. They go to an Asian stereotype to explain all the tech to them. The flash drive is an e-wallet, and Bailey has the password to unlock the money in the wallet. They then go to Hiro Muzaki (a tech mogul.) whose father died in the exact same way as Bailey’s dad. Their fathers were working together on this e-wallet thing. Hiro recognizes Hugo and says he was trying to get the password from them.

Turns out, Hugo worked in the same building as her father and murdered her father. Bailey figures it all out and then goes to save her mom. Bailey and Anders talk about their plan in front of the webcam while Hugo listens in. Is this a ploy to trap Hugo, or are they really that stupid?

At the cabin, again, Bailey gets a call from Anders, and her mom is safe. Tina doesn’t believe her daughter still, but their call is interrupted when Hugo shows up with a gun. He shouts that he wants the e-wallet and is looking for the password and killed Hiro and Bailey’s dad. Bailey also gets him to admit to the drugging Tina with shakes and pretending to love her. Tina hears everything over the phone and finally believes her daughter… 

Bailey runs into the woods, and Hugo follows her. He catches up to her as she is getting in her car and holds her at gunpoint. Bailey refuses to tell him what he wants to know. Fee and Tina run up and try to convince Hugo to shoot Tina instead. He does and holds all three at gunpoint. Anders saves the day and hits Hugo with a shovel. With Hugo out old, Anders tries to pick up the gun but is grabbed by Hugo and strangled in the dirt. While the boys are fighting, Bailey gets the gun, and it is all over.

The police show up and arrest Hugo. Bailey opens the box and finds a picture of him and her together but no pin number. Bailey puts it together and realizes that the college start year is the pin, and they get over 3 MILLION DOLLARS!

Bailey goes back to college and pays for Fee and Sanders college too! Lori Loughlin, would never.

Side Note

Minority Report: Fee and all the tech Asians at the end…

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Overall rating

🔪🔪 (2 Knives)

🍷🍷🍷🍷 (4 glasses of wine required)

*Photo Credit: © 2019 Lifetime