‘Birthmother’s Betrayal’ Review: Psychopathic self-claimed birthmother takes center stage in Lifetime’s thriller
Spoilers for ‘Birthmother’s Betrayal’
Lifetime’s ‘Birthmother’s Betrayal’ has suspense written all over it. The movie, which premiered on June 20, follows a single and protective mother, Amy (Tanya Clarke), and her struggles to keep her adoptive daughter, Tara, safe from her birthmother, Grace (Aria Pullman), whose presence would wreak havoc in their lives.
‘Birthmother’s Betrayal’ opens with a scene which shows Amy bring home Tara (Monica Rose Betz) from an adoption agency, while a woman watches them creepily hiding in her car, with a knife by her seat. It’s soon established that the woman following Amy is Tara’s biological mother Grace.
Nearly 15 years later, Amy is seen throwing a birthday party for Tara, who has grown to be a stubborn teenager, often complaining about her overly protective mother. Influenced by one of her friends who wouldn’t stop bragging about having both birth and adoptive mothers in her life, Tara decided to look for her own biological mother on a DNA testing website.
When Tara finally contacts Grace, the latter uses the opportunity to find her way into Amy’s home. However, before Tara could tell Amy about Grace, the latter uses her manipulative ways to turn Tara against her adoptive mother.
Tara is deeply convinced that she has found a friend in Grace and continues to remain discreet about them meeting in the absence of Amy’s knowledge. Grace allows Tara to do everything her adoptive mother opposes, including driving a car late in the night without a driver’s license.
When Amy realizes that Tara was determined about finding her birthmother, she contacts the adoption agency to know about Grace’s whereabouts. However, when Grace learns from Tara about Amy’s interest in her life, she kills the agent from the agency and takes away her files, thus erasing all her traces.
Amy contacts Grace directly and welcomes her home, unaware of her hidden intentions. However, following Grace’s visitation, Amy meets with an accident caused by unexplainable reasons, which turns her suspicious of Grace. On digging deep, Amy learns that the woman who was trying to grow close to Tara wasn’t Grace, but her twin sister, Karina, who always wanted to adopt her sister’s baby when she was put up for adoption. When Karina’s true identity is revealed, she tries hard to make Tara a part of her life, even if it required her to kill anybody who came in her way.
‘Birthmother’s Betrayal’ skillfully retains its mystery element till the end, convincing the viewers that the birthmother is the real culprit until it brings in the least expected twist by introducing Karina. Clearly, it is Karina who steals the show throughout the movie with her twisted ways and unpredictable behavior.
The lifetime movie had done a great job in painting its antagonist as a psychopath, whose crooked intentions and dreaded actions keep the story going, making you want to see more of her. Although the movie draws a conclusion on Karina, you can’t help but wonder if she would lurk in their lives once again.
‘Birthmother’s Betrayal’ is led by an all-female cast and each of the actors has brilliantly brought their character to life. While Tanya Clarke makes for a perfect fit as a single mother Amy who is always mollycoddling her daughter, Monica Rose Betz has equally aced her role as Tara.
‘Birthmother’s Betrayal’ premiered on June 20 on Lifetime.
