Do Exactly As I Say (2025 Lifetime Movie)
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Cast: Philip Prajoux, Erin Karpluk
Director: Wendy Ord
Writer(s): Joy Nicole Fox
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DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlySynopsis (via Lifetime)
Helen works as a private chef for a tech billionaire. When her daughter is kidnapped and held hostage by a mysterious figure, Helen must decide if she’s willing to murder to get her daughter back.
Recap/Wine Thoughts
The movie starts with someone driving, which means they are about to die in a car accident. The car’s technology takes over, causing the woman to be T-boned by oncoming traffic. (That is a first for Lifetime!)
Cut to a strawberry-picking and homemaking mother, Helen. It is her daughter, Penny’s, 10th birthday, and to celebrate, they have a spinach omelet. Helen is a health nut, apparently, who recently started working at a tech company called Durand. It is the company that manufactures the car, and Helen just so happens to drive a company car.
Helen isn’t a tech wiz; she is the Durands’ personal chef. Helen’s coworkers are house manager Tiffany and personal assistant, Danny. They keep the home running and make sure Roman and Auriela Durand only eat organic. Auriela is hard on the staff, but maybe has a heart underneath.
After work, Helen comes home with balloons and gifts, but finds the front door open and Penny is nowhere to be found. Then Helen receives a threatening text to do what they say, or else. Helen tries to call the police and rushes to her car, but the car turns against her, and a scary voice takes over the call. There are three rules.
- No Police
- Do what they say
- And act like nothing has changed.
The kidnappers have three jobs for Helen to do to get back her daughter. The first is to steal Roman’s phone. The next day, Helen is on edge at work, and her co-workers notice the change. Danny tries to ask Helen out at the worst time, and she rejects him. The kidnapper is in her ear the whole day, and when she is alone, he has Helen transfer movie files of Roman’s infidelities.
As a reward, Helen is allowed to talk to Penny on a video call. Penny appears to be in a nice condo, at least, but she is still scared. (of course)
The photos leak, and Roman says they are deepfakes, putting Danny on damage control. Auriela is upset and accuses Helen of being responsible for the leak. Helen promises that she wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize her job, but she would also do anything to get her daughter back.
Danny opens up about his friendship with Roman. He helps Helen speculate who might be responsible for the tech leak. When he asks about Penny, Helen rushes off, and it seems like Danny is never going to get that date he keeps asking for. Especially after Helen has a nightmare about Danny kidnapping Penny and attacking her. (So not sexy!) Helen looks into Danny’s past online and distrusts him.
The next day, Helen plans a board meeting lunch and has a cooking montage! (Which we love.) During the presentation, the voice talks in Helen’s ear and talks shit about Roman stealing his ideas for Durand Corp. Helen has to next go onto a company computer and look up incriminating information.
Roman has been catching and killing press stories about his pollution and environmental coverups perpetrated by the company. Dumping toxic waste by schools! (This feels like an episode of Captain Planet.) Helen downloads everything to a flash drive and is caught in Roman’s office by Danny and Auriela.
Danny asks Helen for a coffee, and this guy will not let up! The coffee date is perfectly normal, and Helen needs to start putting her suspicions elsewhere. She takes his cellphone, and he follows Helen, calling her paranoid. Helen is like, YOU ARE CREEPY DUDE!!!! (He isn’t tho!)
The voice is revealed to be TIFFANY, she plans one last job with Helen over the phone before someone takes over her car’s controls and runs her car into the lake. Danny and Roman get into an argument about running the company, which is in a total PR nightmare. Danny gets fired afterwards.
Helen gets a text that her final job before getting her daughter back is to kill Roman. She grills a meal and shares a drink with Roman as he asks her about her husband and her relationship with Danny. Roman invites Helen to dinner and vents about his company falling apart and Auriela being mad at him.
Drunk and well-fed, Roman stumbles off but passes out. Helen drugged him with the ice made from spotted water hemlock, the new Lifetime go-to poison. Helen sends a picture of Roman and rushes to save her daughter, who has been trapped in a meditation studio in the home, the whole time. Helen and Penny are reunited, and they rush to the car before being stopped.
Auriela has been plotting her revenge the whole time. She was tired of Roman stealing her ideas and sleeping with employees in the company. Auriela programmed the cars to turn on their owners and thinks she should have been in charge of the company all along.
Roman arrives, and a struggle ensues. Helen used sleeping pills to knock him out, but it didn’t keep him down. The couple fights over a knife and ends up stabbed. The police arrive on the scene and take Helen’s statement.
Helen and Penny are reunited, and they sell their home and move out of town. Helen gets a job at a five-star restaurant. Danny stops by to say goodbye and gives her a check for a lot of money to keep everything on the DL, because he is the new CEO of the business.,
STRAY Thoughts
Helen hating on Danny the whole movie was WILD. The poor man just wants to take you out.
The daughter being in a different wing of the house the whole time was hilarious.
This is why I don’t want a self-driving car.
Overall rating
Number of Kills: 🔪🔪🔪🔪 (4 knives)
Lifetime Tropes: SAVE MY BABY, New Job Same Me, Money Corruption, Mansions, Kidnapping
Enjoyment Level (1-5 scale)
🍷🍷 (2 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 at @LifetimeUncorked and @patrickmiguel.
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