Husband, Father, Killer: The Alyssa Pladl Story (2024 Lifetime)
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Cast: Jackie Cruz, Matthew MacCaull, Matreya Scarrwener, Sebastien Roberts
Director: Elisabeth Röhm
Writer(s): Stephen Tolkin
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DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlySynopsis (via Lifetime)
Alyssa (Jackie Cruz) and Steven (Matthew MacCaull) have an intense relationship from the start and move in together when Alyssa is an impressionable teen. After they have a daughter of their own, their path takes a dark turn when Steven becomes physically abusive toward the infant. Alyssa senses the situation is dire and puts the child up for adoption…little does she know, 18 years later their daughter, now named Katie (Matreya Scarrwener), would seek them out. After an instant connection when they reunite, Steven convinces Katie to move in with him, Alyssa and their two young daughters, promising her opportunities to pursue her passions. Steven starts neglecting the rest of the family and Alyssa finally has enough and moves out. When Alyssa discovers that Katie and Steven are having an affair and expecting, she confronts them and tries to convince Katie of Steven’s abusive past. Katie refuses to listen until it’s too late.
Review/Recap Coming Soon
Husband, Father, Killer: The Alyssa Pladl Story airs Saturday on Lifetime and streams the next day
Let me know what you thought of the movie in the comments below or @lifetimeuncorked
Recap/Wine Thoughts
Based on a True Story
Alyssa meets with a detective to talk about her relationship with Steven. They met in a chat room when she was 15 and he was 20. They spoke on the phone for hours and Steven love bombs the young teen. When Alyssa’s parents forbade her from speaking with Steven, The young couple ran away together and got pregnant quickly. (Alyssa was 16.) Steven isolated Alyssa from her family and moved them across the country.
Steven is not the best parent; his solution for a crying baby is to put her in a cooler. The young couple decided to give their baby up for adoption. Alyssa didn’t want Denise to be around Steven. She did what was best for the baby.
Seventeen years later, Denise is named Katie, celebrating her 18th birthday. Katie wants to open up the adoption papers and learn who her biological parents really are. Katie’s parents advise her against it, warning the couple is probably not even still together,
Alyssa and Steven are still together in a troubled marriage with money problems. They have two children, and one of the daughters is autistic. Steven is a publicly unloving guy but not so great behind the scenes. Alyssa wants a divorce, but he won’t have her ruin his public persona. Then they heard from Katie and decided to stay together and meet their long-lost daughter.
Katie’s parents dropped her off at her biological parents’ home, and the meeting was awkward. Katie promise to keep her parents updated and is excited to spend time with her new sisters. When Steven learns that Katie lives in a trailer, he becomes angry. They wanted to provide a better life, which was the reason for her adoption.
Steven and Alyssa support Katie’s aspirations to become an artist, but they have different advice. Alyssa wants her daughter to go to college and pursue her passions. Steven invites his daughter to move in and start selling art in Richmond, VA.
Steven starts pushing boundaries and takes Katie to the bar, where she drinks underage. (A harmless crime, according to him.) Katie overdoes it and throws it through the night. Steven finds this a funny rite of passage, but Alyssa scolds her husband and calls him a monster. When Alyssa saw her husband sleeping on the floor in Katie’s room, she was overwhelmed with disgust. Steven spins that Alyssa is a terrible mother who will find any excuse to vilify his actions. He manipulates Katie into distrusting Alyssa. He tells her that Alyssa is done being a mother. He claims she wants to break up the family.
Alyssa takes the younger girls and leaves Katie with Steven. Katie doesn’t believe Alyssa’s story and wants to stay. She even helps the girls pack up their car for the move.
Steven starts dying his hair to look younger and walks around with his shirt off or in tank tops. He grooms Katie over time, and their interactions make Katie’s autistic sister, Caroline, uncomfortable. (A surrogate for the viewer, no doubt.) It IS an uncomfortable watch. Steven and Katie cross a line, and Katie becomes pregnant. Katie claims it is her boyfriend’s, but Caroline knows better.
When Alyssa learns about the baby, she becomes concerned and tries to offer help to Katie. Katie isn’t interested. Steve reads Caroline’s journal and sees he has been writing about him, calling him the devil. Alyssa reads the journal and screams at Steven for what he has done. He claims they are in love and thinks Alyssa already knows. She attacks him and threatens his life if he ever touches Katie again.
Back to the Detective from the beginning of the movie. Alyssa is in the process of reporting Steven and Alyssa on incest charges. She gets an order of protection. Afterward, she takes the girls to a safe place. This happens after the papers are served.
Katie and Steven lie on their documents and marry in a small ceremony with her adopted parents in attendance. Alyssa sees a post online and is very disturbed.
Steven continues to be abusive and a poor parent. Katie and Steven are arrested. They are in jail while the baby is left in the care of Steven’s mother. The story explodes into a national story, and Alyssa gets interview calls. She decides to do an interview because Katie won’t take her calls.
Katie and Steven are released on bail, and Katie returns to live with her adopted parents. Steven stays with his mother and the baby. Katie watched the video from Alyssa and was in disbelief. She hyperventilates, decides to stop talking to Steven, and wants to break things off. Steven becomes enraged that Katie is outside of his control.
Steven kills his son and then heads to kill Katie next. He drives up to her at a stop sign and shoots Katie and her adoptive dad. Then he turns the gun on himself. Ending the horror.
Alyssa shares the news with her daughters, and they struggle to remember her father in a positive light. Alyssa remarries, and everyone is apparently thriving now.
Side Note/Stray Thoughts
Read about the actual story case here
National Sexual Assault Hotline number, 800.656.HOPE (4673) or visit online.rainn.org website
Overall rating
Number of Kills: 🔪🔪🔪 (3 knives)
Enjoyment Level (1-5 scale)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 Glasses of Wine)
Should you watch it?
Pour it Up (Give it a shot!)
What did you think of the movie? Let me know in the comments or on social media at @LifetimeUncorked and @patrickmiguel.
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*Photo Credit: © 2024 A&E Television Networks, LLC
This was beyond uncomfortable.