Lifetime’s ‘Psycho Nurse’: Lyndon Smith's sinister nurse makes this predictable story thoroughly enjoyable
‘Psycho Nurse’ joins the network’s latest ‘psycho’ series. These movies have been exploring twisted versions of regular, daily life characters. But ‘Psycho Nurse’ takes this a notch higher.
The movie narrates the story of a young couple Todd and Mira, and their eight-year-old son, Max. They hire Gwen, a live-in nurse to take care of Max, who suffers from muscular dystrophy and needs attention 24/7.
As a mother, Mira already is struggling to come to terms with her son’s newly diagnosed condition and has been pushed to the edge. To add to this, she is also an overly protective mother. Things begin to get interesting here. Gwen, is a newly hired help and is out there to go above and beyond her key responsibilities to make herself significant for the family, especially to Todd. In her attempt to take Mira’s place as the one who drives the household, she starts drugging Mira slowly and steadily on a daily basis, making her so weak and fatigued that she can barely manage to do her chores, her work, or fulfill her role as a mother or a wife.
To make it worse, she creates a rift between the husband and wife, making him doubt her fidelity and creating a scenario where Todd actually suspects that his wife is cheating on her. This encapsulates the storyline, completely in which 'Gwen' appears as the ‘angel of death’. Anyone who comes in her way or between her and “her family” faces an untimely demise.
Now, for the moment of truth! As a plot, the base storyline of ‘Psycho Nurse’ is as clichéd as it can get. Truth be told, we have seen obsessed lovers, psycho friends, partners, parents, and so on, wanting to outdo and replace another family member and make themselves indispensable. The only difference here is that instead of a family member, it is a nurse. But we still cannot ignore the fact that it is a story of ultimate obsession that could kill.
However, if one thing that stands out, it is Lyndon Smith’s performance as the titular nurse. Smith has earlier appeared in 'Parenthood' (2010), 'Step Sisters' (2018) and 'White Famous' (2017), but as an antagonist, this tops it all. From getting into the skin of the character to giving a great performance, Smith can be called the only one to drive the entire story forward. Whether it is her sinister expressions or the calculated body language, Smith made ‘psycho’ look as realistic as ever, making her one good reason and the highlight factor of the movie.
Starring Lyndon Smith, Abbie Cobb, and Sean Faris, in leading roles, ‘Psyho Nurse’ airs on Lifetime on Saturday, January 11, 11 pm.