Mommy is a Murderer (2020 Lifetime)
Cast: Bree Williamson, Heather McComb, Jason Cermak
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
When Karina becomes friends with Lena and her daughter Mallie, she begins to suspect that Mallie isn’t Lena’s daughter at all, but a girl named Emily who was kidnapped from her biological parents several years prior
Thoughts
A brunette woman is tossing and turning in the middle of the night. She wakes up and finds her daughter Emily has been abducted. The brown-haired lady and her husband make press statements. Amber alerts are issued.
Five years later, a blonde lady named Karina owns a baby/child boutique. Her Canadian hunk husband, Ryan, builds a crib in the back and tells his wife that he is ready to have a baby. Karina isn’t prepared for a baby; she wants to make new friends. Her friend Cam is too busy to hang and suggests Karina befriend a nice customer from the store!
Back to the woman with the brown hair, her daughter’s case is closed, and she is presumed dead.
Another brown-haired woman named Lena has a young daughter named Mallie. Malli goes into Karina’s store, and they become friends, Karina offers to design a fairy dress for the kid. Lena is so grateful for the offer that she visits the store more often, even going so far as leaving Mallie with Karina while she runs errands.
Lean is running errands, and a man in broad daylight abducts Mallie from the store. Karina sees the car about to pull off and throws open the back door pulling Mallie to safety. Rattled, Karina shakily locks the door as Lena walks up. When Karina explains what happens and suggests calling the police, Lena adamantly says no. (She wants a fresh start and is avoiding having her daughter in the public eye.)
While having a tea party with Karina, Mallie mentions that she used to named to be Emily, and she lived in a different house. Karina is confused and mentions it to Lena who laughs it off. Karina brings up her uneasy feelings with another mommy from school named Emma. Emma confirms that Lena sticks to herself and isn’t very social.
Karina visits Lena’s house and is about to get out of her car when she sees the man who abducted going into the house. Then Karina hears screaming and calls the police. She can’t wait for the police and goes inside, bumping into the intruder and getting blood on her hands. Lena insists everything is fine and it is not an emergency, it is just a burglar! Who cares!
Lena’s low profile is very concerning for Karina and gives her pause. Karina talks to her husband, Ryan, and makes him promise her that he will intervene with Mallie if things get out of hand. He doesn’t want to because it is not their business.
Karina offers to help with a school event and design the dress from Mallie. While fitting the dress, Karina notices that Mallie is covering up a birthmark. Also, at the school event, Mallie refuses to take a group photo because it will be featured in the newspaper. Lena rushes them out of there super fast. Later, Karina brings it up to Lena, who gets super defensive. Lena tells Karina to stop trying to parent her child and worry about herself. Lena kicks Karina out of her house and breaks a vase.
Hot cop alert! Karina is visited by a hot cop who issues restraining order on behalf of Lena. Karina tries to tell the hot cop about everything she has noticed, but his eyes are so dreamy, how could she focus on the task at hand. Lena isn’t done with Karina yet. She tells the other mommies from school that Karina has crossed a line with her daughter and begs them to stay away for the safety of their kids and hers. Emma and Jen cancel plans they made with Karina
Karina catches wind of the missing child named Emily. She does research and finds old news clips. Learning that Emily Worthington was abducted, has a birthmark, and would be the same age as Mallie. She also learns that Emily’s parents died in a car crash two years after the abduction. Karina tells Ryan everything and goes back to her old friend Cam.
Cam and Karina meet in a coffee shop. Cam agrees to go to the authorities with the evidence and takes some photos. They are caught by Emma, who calls Lena and gives her the plate number on Cam’s car. Cam gets home and takes a bubble bath while looking at the pictures. She begins to feel drowsy and weak. As she is dialing 911, she passes out due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
Meanwhile, Karina is at her store and is attacked. She is stuck in the head and admitted into the hospital. Ryan is very concerned and asks his wife to stop pursuing Lena. While in the hospital, Karina gets a call that Cam is ALSO in the hospital in a coma.
Of course, Karina doesn’t let it go. She tracks down Lena’s estranged husband, who also was the kidnapper/intruder, he confirms all of Karina’s worries. They even speculate that Lena is responsible for kidnapping Emily. He also gives the backstory on Lena’s mental health issues and a daughter who was taken away from her when she was a teenager.
Lena sees them meet up and later attacks Karina with a knife in the store. Karina fends her off with some cleaning spray! CLEANING SPRAY!!!!!!
Realizing that Mallie/Emily is in real danger, Karina takes the child to Cam’s house for safekeeping. She is essentially kidnapping. Karina knows that Lena won’t go to the police, and she also has survivance. Karina leaves to get evidence leaving Ryan to watch Mallie/Emily. Ryan gets knocked out, and Mallie is taken. Once Karina finds her husband, she calls the police. The hot cop doesn’t come back, but hot EMT does. (Good casting of hot guys in this movie.)
Karina goes to Lena’s house and breaks in with a hideaway key. She searches the house and sees they have packed up and rushed off to a motel. Karina calls local hotels to try and find them. It works, and she drives to a motel to confront Lena. She gets their too late and sees Lena and Mallie switching getaway cars.
At a spot overlooking the city, Lena stands to wait to be caught. Ivan, Lena’s husband, shows up recording the whole conversation with his phone. Lena pulls a gun on him and shoots him. Karina runs up to distract Lena from finishing him off. Lena chases her through the woods, and they struggle over the gun and run around a lot more. Karina tells Lena that she found her daughter, and calmly takes the gun away from an emotionally overcome Lena.
Emily gets adopted by Karina and Ryan. They are pregnant with another baby girl. The hot cop makes a little appearance and that is the end of the movie. Turns out Mommy didn’t actually murder anyone.
Side Note
Minority Report: News Reporter, Cam, Emma, hot cop, Marcella
Lindsay Hartley is having quite the week! She directed this movie and wrote/starred in Deadly Daughter Switch. You go gurl!
Also Known as Forgotten Abduction
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Overall rating
🔪🔪🔪 (3 Knives)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)
*Photo Credit: © 2020 Lifetime
Why isn’t Emily returned to her biological family?
Exactly what I want to know
Emily’s parents died in a car crash two years after the abduction.
No grandparents? Aunts/uncles? No living relatives?