The Thirteenth Wife– Part 2 (2025 Lifetime Movie)
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Cast: Olga Petsa, Felicity Huffman
Director: Michael Nankin
Writer(s): Anne-Marie Hess
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DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlySynopsis (via Lifetime)
Based on a true story. Following a failed attack, Ervil’s rage reaches an all-time high and causes Rena to fear for her life and her daughter’s safety. Determined to protect her daughter and break free from the horrific cult, Rena must navigate her way to safety without falling victim to Ervil’s paranoia or his violent followers. Against all odds, Rena finds the strength to break free from the cult’s grasps and escape with her daughter. Together, they begin a new life, determined to make amends for their role in the cult’s crimes. But will she ever really be able to escape the memory of Ervil?
Recap/Wine Thoughts
TRIGGER WARNING: Dead Pet Alert! RIP Red Tabby Cat.
Based on a true story
The movie starts with almost the same opening, and I thought I was rewatching Part 1 by accident.
Rena ends up killing that doctor/Dentist or whatever at Ervils’ demand. Well, technically, she shoots him once; it doesn’t kill him, and she goes back to finish the job, but she shoots again. When the police come after them, Ervil blames them for failing the heavenly Father, and someone doesn’t believe enough.
Ervil hightails it back to Mexico and only takes one wife with him. The thirteenth wife. Rena has her baby, and the years pass. Ervil tries to start the cult down in Mexico, but everyone is arrested. Rena is taken even though she is a new mother; she is sent back to America for the murder trial.
Rena prays for 48 hours, and she is acquitted of murder. The disguises worked, and DNA wasn’t a thing back then? Rena thinks that they got off because of Ervil’s preaching and continues to be a “holy assassin.”
Ervil’s son, Heber, strangles a cat, and Rena catches him. She starts to doubt whether she is really doing God’s will. This feeling intensifies when Ervil is arrested; why would God let that happen? Then, one of Ervil’s date-specific prophecies doesn’t happen, so the cult starts to break down, and people start to have serious doubts.
Rena tries to get her mother, brother, and Ed to leave for Denver, and they agree to go. It is 1980. They are completely culture-shocked. Rena writes Ervil in prison for a divorce. He sends Lorna to spy on them, and Rena can’t turn her sister away because they are family. Lorna catches on that Rena and Ed are romantically involved and tells her sister that she is going to hell. Rena tries to convince her sister to leave the cult, but Lorna refuses.
Ervil sends Arturo to collect money from them for his commissary and to try to exert control from inside the jail. He tries to get men to storm the jail, but they are like… nawwwwww. Rena gets her divorce and marries Ed.
With everyone moving on, Lorna, the first wife, moves out with her son, Aaron; it is the last time Rena sees her sister.
Rena visits Ervil in jail and tells him that he is not a prophet. She tries to move on and feels like she has missed out on so much. Rena breaks it off with Ed and meets her next husband, John.
John and Rena marry, and at the wedding, they hear some kids playing with fireworks—everyone ducks and covers except for John. The family is traumatized from being in a cult and trusts no one.
Rena feels on edge, and her worst fears are actualized when Heber stops by her work and threatens her. (I mean, he killed a car.) Brother Dan turns up dead. The cult is revived, and Rena lies low. All her friends are killed for going against the church, and Rena herself is on the FBI list of the murdered.
Rena devoted the rest of her life/the last three minutes of the movie, talking about her foster kids and those she helped escape cults. The movie ends with Felicity Huffman looking out on her farm and closing that chapter of her life.
STRAY Thoughts
Based on the true story of Rena Chynoweth, who was the thirteenth wife of Ervil LeBaron. She escaped the Church of the Lamb of God, a violent polygamist cult.
The facial hair in this movie was an atrocity.
The two-part movie didn’t really deliver on the escaping part of the movie or the other eleven wives. Overall, this felt long and drawn out without creating characters who were enjoyable or even memorable—just such a slog.
Overall rating
Number of Kills: 🔪🔪🔪 (3 knives)
Lifetime Tropes: Cult Members, Bad wigs,
Enjoyment Level (1-5 scale)
🍷 (1 Glass 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 at @LifetimeUncorked and @patrickmiguel.
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