Living with my Mother’s Killer (2024 Lifetime)
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Cast: Greyston Holt, Rhiannon Fish
Director: Lucie Guest
Writer: Hilty Bowen, Riley Scott
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DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlySynopsis (via Lifetime)
Still reeling from the tragic murder of her mother years ago, Mara forgives the man who killed her mother and allows him to work on her property only to find that what’s past is not always past and now her own life may be at stake. Stars Rhiannon Fish, and Greyston Holt (2024).
Recap/Wine Thoughts.
The movie begins with a teenage Mara jumping over an estate gate of a fancy inn, where her mother runs. The estate is called ORIANA! Teen Carson steals Mara’s backpack and chases her around in a flirty way. Mara is an aspiring writer who can’t say the word “Espinoage.” (Just like I can’t spell it!) Carson has been helping Mara’s mother run the inn because they are low on staff and guests.
Randomly, some bully boys push Mara, so Carson punches them in the face. Carson is fired for assaulting a guest. The stress of everything sends Mara’s mother into a mini heart attack. (Maybe.) She dies later that night and screams in terror. Mara and her sister Joy find their mother dead at the bottom of the stairs next to… CARSON.
14 years later, Mara still runs the inn and welcomes guests back. She never became a writer because she was too focused on inn repairs and keeping up with everything. Mara takes a writing class and decides to list the inn for sale with her ex-husband’s realtor.
Carson has been in jail all this time and pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter despite maintaining his innocence. Mara sends him letters of her writing, and he keeps them all. Carson gets out of jail just as Mara is finishing up her first book based on the murder. Upon getting released, Carson just shows up at the inn?!?!?!
Joy, the redheaded maybe step-sister, is still living at the inn as well. She has bugs as friends and hooks up with the Gardener. Joy is not thrilled about Mara revisiting the past and letting Carson stay. That is until Carson offers to be the handyman for FREE! (He also apologizes for the whole killing their mother thing.) Joy asks the Gardener to keep an eye on Carson since she doesn’t trust him.
Mara has nightmares about Carson killing her, but that doesn’t stop her from appreciating his handy work (and body) during the day.
Zelda, a noisy classmate of Mara’s, wants to solve the case after hearing a piece from the book in class. Zelda is a true crime fan and a criminology major who is set on solving the case. She sneaks into the house at night and interviews Carson while he works in the yard. Zelda has a new suspect and asks Mara to meet her to find the REAL answers. Zelda doesn’t make it to that meeting because she is stabbed in the chest at the library.
Mara is pissed that Zelda stands her up and meets with her ex-husband instead. Peter tells Mara that he has an interested buyer. Carson watches them from afar and gets jealous.
Carson wants to get his memory back. He can’t remember anything from the night because he was so drunk. Mara takes him to the basement to see if she can jog her memory. She hypnotizes him with an electronic beeping, it doesn’t work… OR DOES IT?!?! Carson suddenly remembers Mara’s mother arguing with a man.
Mara talks to a longtime guest, Mr. Guttman! He called the police the night of the murder and waited with the body. Mr. Guttman identifies a man who loaned Mara’s mother 10K for medical bills. Mara wasn’t aware that her mother was sick, but Mara suffers from the same symptoms of dizzyness and heart palpitations.
Joy thinks Carson is bad news and calls Peter to convince him to help her get Carson out of the house. Peter beats up Carson and calls his parole office. Joy talks to Carson afterwards and changes her mind about him. (Wow, Joy, you are so suss.)
Mara calls the hospital for her mother’s medical records, but Zelda gets to them first. Mara decides to do research with Carson on her own, and they fall asleep together. Joy bursts in on them and screams at Mara for being foolish for trusting him because he is taking advantage of her. Joy accuses Carson of deleting security tapes, and he decides to leave. (Before he gets arrested again for something else he didn’t do!) Before he goes, he tells Mara to watch the Gardener because something is up. Mara finds the security tapes in the Gardener’s things. She fires him on the spot.
Meanwhile, Joy pokes around her bug/plant den and swabs something while someone sneaks in and lights the place on fire. Carson rushes to save Joy, but the stress of everything sends Mara into one of her dizzy spells.
Peter meets with the parole officer and learns that CARSON WASN’T RELEASED!
Trevor Walker was released, and he is Carson’s cellmate pretending to be Carson. Peter sends Mara the picture, but she doesn’t understand what is going on.
Mara confronts Carson/Trevor, and he explains that he intercepted the letters a year ago and sent back responses. Mara tries to run away, and he almost strangles her to death, but Mara stabs him with a pen he gave her!
The police show up, and Peter ties up loose ends. Joy takes the house off the market and becomes angry when she learns that Mara plans to move to New York and still wants to sell.
Mara has another dizzy spell while checking the mail. She gets a toxicology report from her hospital stay, and they find traces of Epibatidine in her system. (AKA rat poison.) Mara goes into Joy’s plant room and finds Zelda’s glasses and viles of the frog poison.
Joy stabs Mara in the neck from behind and explains how she accidentally killed Mara’s mother with a lethal dose of the frog poison to save the home from being sold. Just as Joy is about to send Mara sailing down the stairs, Peter shows up.
Mara screams for help, and Joy knocks him unconscious with a rock, leaving Mara to fight for her life herself. The women struggle atop the stairs, and Joy is the one sent tumbling to her death.
Peter takes Mara to the jail to meet with the REAL Carson before she moves to New York.
Side Note/Stray Thoughts
Greyston Holt’s got a booty on him!
Overall rating
Number of Kills: 🔪🔪🔪🔪 (4 knives)
Enjoyment Level (1-5 scale)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 Glasses of Wine)
Should you watch it?
Pour it up! (Give it a shot)
Put a Cork in It (Skip It)
What did you think of the movie? Let me know in the comments or on social media @LifetimeUncorked & @patrickmiguel
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*Photo Credit: © 2024 Lifetime® | A+E Networks®
Nice twist! I thought I knew who the real culprit was and kept thinking it is too obvious, until the fire and then became confused. You got me Lifetime. You got me😋
The ending of the move was left open. With Peter in the car. It seems she’s interested in hooking up with the real Carson.
Once again, a lifetime movie kills off a black character. Has there EVER been an LMN Movie that didn’t have a black character who was murderered and/or a suspect in some crime? I had hoped that 2024 movies wouldn’t be this way anymore but unfortunately I obviously was wrong. It’s despicable and ridiculous. And I, for one, am totally sick of it. There needs to be a boycott.
lol what?
Kind of upset they killed Zelda so soon, it would have been cool to have her sort of tag team with main character. She had a lot of intrigue and promise in this….and then no one realizes she’s gone?? And to be honest, would’ve rather this been a series instead of a movie… with Zelda making it much further along…could have been pretty promising. I am also annoyed with how quick ending was and seemed to not make sense with ex in car and she’s picking up the real Carson??? And seems to like him? Idk. Awkward? They ended too soon and didn’t have much real resolution.