Hometown Killer (2019 Lifetime)
Stars: Kaitlyn Black and Ashley Gallegos
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
A woman finds her life in danger when she reconnects with an old high school friend who is now a police officer. The cop, still damaged from the bullying she experienced in high school, is bent on revenge.
Thoughts
A white woman is lounging around her affluent suburb home when she hears a noise. (We’ve all been there, right?) She calls 911 once she realizes it is a burglary. A masked man grabs her. He tells her to show him where the money is and tells her not to scream. She is being threatened by gunpoint when a female cop arrives on the scene. The lady cop enters and has a shoot out with the burglar. She actually shoots him, and he dies!
Apparently, the cop is Penny Blake, and the white woman (Tara) went to high school together. Tara is thankful that Penny was at the right place at the right time and has somehow forgotten tormenting Penny in highschool. (We see a quick montage of people bullying Penny)
Speaking of flashbacks, we get more in-depth details as Penny is lying in bed thinking about it. Young Penny is performing at a talent show, and Tara tells her good luck and offers to give her a makeover. They were good friends, but Tara became popular and is dating a jock boy, named Nolan. In the locker room, the boys come in and tie Penny up to a chair and put clown makeup on her. Then, they push her out on stage for everyone to point and laugh. (This was actually pretty RUDE!)
Tara does remember and tells her husband how bad she feels for letting that happen. To say thank you, Tara invites Penny over for dinner. Tara apologizes for turning her back on Penny and still feels sick 15 years later. Tara claims that she had no idea what Nolan and his friends were planning. Penny accepts her apology, lies and says she hasn’t thought of it since, and then do shots of tequila! (She also accuses Tara’s husband, Charles, of having an affair.) Before leaving, Penny goes upstairs and pictures of the serial number on Tara’s Alexa and gets the password for her computer.
Penny offers to give Tara some self-defense classes. Which is basically an excuse for her to take out past trauma on Tara. Penny practically strangles her, thankfully Penny’s hot co-worker, Kuttler, comes into the gym.
Keeping their dysfunctional friendship going, Tara invites Penny to a BBQ. She promises that Nolan won’t be there. He shows up, wearing his class ring, and starts hitting on Tara. Tara kicks him out, and he refuses to leave. Nolan sees Penny and hits on her, she tries to storm off, but Nolan grabs her arm and won’t let her go. Once Nolan realizes that it is Pig Penny, he laughs and makes fun of her stuttering. Penny runs off and thinks everyone is laughing at her. She also thinks Tara set her up.
Penny abuses her power as a cop and pulls over Nolan for a traffic stop. She then beats the crap out of him for “resisting.” She asks him if Tara was in on the BBQ set up, and Nolan says that Tara was and has always had a mean streak. Penny then pulls a gun on him and tells him to never tell anyone what she has just done.
Enacting her revenge, Penny takes Tara to the middle of the desert to go shooting. Tara is very weirded out and thought they were going to brunch, haha. Penny fantasizes about killing Tara but blames her preoccupation on the heat. Penny keeps pushing Tara to investigate her husband because he is cheating on her. Tara doesn’t think he is, but she checks his computer while he is brushing his teeth, just in case. Tara picks a fight with him about working when she wants to do something. (Penny listens in to their conversation on the Alexa)
Penny hires a sex worker to pretend to come over to Tara’s house and make a sex tape while pretending to be her husband’s co-worker. She then uses the video as a text and sends it to Charles while Tara and Charles are at dinner. Tara sees the video and now believes her husband is cheating on her. Setting up a fake cheating scandal wasn’t enough for Penny, she also guns down Charles in a parking lot.
Charles is in a coma at the hospital, and Tara is distraught. Penny shows up at the hospital, pretending to be a good friend. She is really there to get a hold of Charles’ phone and delete the messages that she sent.
Detectives start investigating, and Penny hands them the motive for why Tara would shoot Charles. She has been setting Tara up. Kuttler (Penny’s co-worker) sees the whole thing and tells her that he is on to her shady police behavior. (I’m glad someone is!) Kuttler starts to trail Penny and follows her to Tara’s house. Penny breaks in and plants the murder weapon, all while Kuttler watches on. He goes inside and rummages around for the gun, but Penny catches him and shoots him dead.
Tara starts to put things together and realizes that Penny is the link to all the bad things happening to her. Including the dead cop in her house! After finding the body, Tara calls Penny and says Charles has taken a turn for the worse. While Penny rushes to the hospital to “support” her friend, Tara breaks into Penny home. While SHE is rummaging around, Penny catches her and holds her at gunpoint and divulges her revenge plot to Tara. Tara tells Penny it is all a misunderstanding and grabs a fire poker (good choice, Tara.) and hits Penny in the head.
Making her getaway, Tara calls Nolan to help her stop Penny. He tells her to take the tracker off her car and come meet him. At Nolan’s house, he tells her that Penny attacked him and then shows her his abs. (or lack thereof.) They lure Penny to the high school auditorium where it all happened.
Penny shows up at the high school, and Tara tells her that she wants Penny to know the truth. They go to the locker room, and Penny’s flashbacks are in full force. Tara says her side of the story while the memories play simultaneously. Turns out, Tara was tied to a locker room bench and couldn’t stop them. Penny can’t accept the truth and blames Tara and Nolan. Speaking of Nolan, he shows up and tries to reason with her. He promises no one is laughing at her; it was just him, and he is sorry. Penny shoots him… dead.
Tara knocks Penny down and grabs the gun just as the cops arrive on the scene. Penny says she is a cop, and they all believe her… because she is a cop. Good thing Nolan was wearing a body camera and caught the whole thing. As the police get the body cam uploaded, Penny screams and calls Tara a bitch. Once they review the footage, the cops take Penny away, leaving Tara with the detectives who apologize and give her a ride to the hospital. It is the least they could do.
At the hospital, Charles is up and at em. They hug, and that is the end!
Side Note
Bullying is terrible, but it shouldn’t be an excuse to do all these terrible things to popular high school students who peaked early.
Minority Report: Kuttler the cop co-worker and NO ONE ELSE
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Overall rating
🔪🔪 (2 Knives)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required)
*Photo Credit: © 2019 Lifetime
Yes, bullying is bad and not an excuse to do these terrible things, BUT they still need to learn hard lesson that its WRONG before its too late! There will always KARMA! During my grade school years, if I EVER bullied anyone, I would get “the belt” from my father. AND I AM GLAD he enforced that discipline! You are to treat others the way you want to be treated! I was also warned that these bullies can get “Revenge” if not now, then years later! Bullies get what they deserve. It’s a WAKE UP call! They better be sorry now before its too late! There’s NO EXCUSE for bullying either! I don’t care if they are still growing up! Right now, it is perceived as them getting away with it! NOT COOL!
Thank you for your comment, Audrey!