Reviewing Every Villainess from Lifetime's "Secrets on Maple Street" Trilogy

I've watched Lifetime's captivating thrillers for about a quarter-century now, and I've seen so much happen in these films. While I've enjoyed them all so much, I have to say that this recent trilogy of films has to be the best thing they've done. I was so excited for these films, because I knew we'd receive some good twists, an amazing pace, and I figured we'd see some amazing villainesses.

Boy, was I right!

Of course, the three films are part of a trilogy released under the banner title, "Secrets on Maple Street," and they were all filmed back-to-back-to-back. So with that, let's this thing started!

The first film in this trilogy was Lies and Ex-Wives, and of course, we are introduced to the titular Maple Street and the neighborhood's inhabitants. The central character in this first film is Katie Wagner, and about that, one of the main reasons why I was excited for this trilogy is because Ali Liebert's in it. I'm a big fan of Ali Liebert; I remember seeing her as a villainess in Lifetime's Virtual Lies, but the fandom increased when I saw her on Ten Days in the Valley as a surprise villainess. I do love that in the poster for the film, Liebert looks like her character could have some sort of evil secret, but that is definitely not the case.

So regarding Katie, she's engaged to Scott Lambert, a father of two who is divorced from his first wife, Hazel Lambert, who was revealed to have cheated on Scott. Regarding Scott's children, son Archer appears to be happy for the impending marriage, while daughter Alexis isn't, though she improves with time. That's the least of Katie's concerns, as she happens to have a stalker. A masked and hooded assailant attacked Katie in her kitchen, and she's been on the receiving end of the same harassing message: "I know who you are." Even more sinister, Hazel's body was found inside an ice cream truck, having clearly been murdered, and Katie is the prime suspect.

Regarding the message, that's tied to Katie's secret past; yes, she has a secret, but again, it's not an evil one. Turns out Katie was married before, but her former hubby, Devon, is in prison, having run a series of real estate scams. And unfortunately for Katie, prison is where Devon was when the murder happen, so he's out. Katie goes on her own investigation, and she actually finds one of her neighbors, Ellen Tolbert, leaving a hotel room with Martin Fulmer. That gets back to detective Lori Vaughn, and an interrogation reveals that Ellen was Katie's attacker, as she feared that Martin was hooking up with Katie, but he instead went back to Hazel.

As for Hazel's murder, Ellen wasn't behind that. A look into the neighborhood's gardener, Charlie, revealed that his real name was Jim Garland, and his parents were among Devon's victims. And of course, the climax revealed that the not-so-good gardener killed Hazel, and he was set to murder Katie out of a deranged revenge, even though Katie had nothing to do with Devon's crimes. Charlie's stopped in time, and we see Scott and Katie tie the proverbial knot at film's end.

The second film, A Family Nightmare, saw the central protagonist baton passed from Katie Wagner to Brittany Walker, who was played by Karis Cameron, a bit of a regular on Lifetime films. One such film, Deceitful Dating, saw Cameron deal with an evil Lisa DiGiacinto, but for this film, her character, Brittany Walker (who is in a relationship with Archer), attacked in her home--knocked out with a bat. The alleged culprit is identifed as a man named Tony Dales, who is suddenly found in the lake...dead. So we have another murder on Maple Street, and this ended up evolving into quite the twisted case.

Brittany finds Tony's ID and wallet in a dresser belonging to her father, Pete Walker, so that raises eyebrows at a Dwayne Johnson level. She later meets Tony's widow, Sandra Dales, and notices how she resembles Sandra, who mentioned that she and Tony had been married for almost 20 years, and were set to become parents, only to lose their child--a stillbirth. However, that, well, turns out to not be accurate. Lori was on that case, and a visit to a nurse who worked on the day that the Daleses were set to welcome their child revealed quite a damning secret: the stillborn baby was actually the child of the Walker family. Pete, an OB/GYN, decided to switch the babies, which resulted in Rebecca being raise for all those years as the Walkers' daughter. Rebecca had her own suspicions regarding her birth, and they were confirmed via a DNA test: Rebecca is Sandra and Tony's biological daughter.

The discovery turned into a huge blow-up at the Walker house, where Pete confessed to doing the switch, all under the nose of his wife, Betsy Walker. Meanwhile, Sandra learned the truth from Lori, though Sandra's heartbreak turned into anger when she was told that Pete would most likely bail himself out. The climax saw Archer and Brittany at the latter's home, where Sandra was sneaking in. Once Sandra entered the bedroom and saw Pete asleep, she took out a knife and held Pete at her mercy, while lashing out at Pete for taking Brittany from her and making her suffer for so long. Pete's apologies, which were weaker than the Chicago Cubs' bullpen, went on deaf ears, as Sandra was too deep in vengeful madwoman mode and was set on killing Pete. Brittany appeared and attempted to get through to her birth mother (even calling her "Mom"), but Sandra managed to attack Pete, only for Betsy to take down Sandra, while still admonishing Pete for his actions.

And with that, another case was wrapped up. Both Sandra and Pete ended up arrested, with Sandra receiving a lot of sympathy, and rightfully so.

The trilogy ended with Murder for Mortgage, and it began with a big development: the murder of one of the trilogy's regulars. Gladys Claremont, who is basically the Maple Street busybody, is murdered at the film's opening, and after the funeral, we see a couple move in to Gladys' old home. The new inhabitants of Maple Street are the Pattersons; husband Alex, who works at a bank, and wife Carlee, a store owner. They introduce themselves to their new neighbors, and they receive a warm welcome, but in true Maple Street fashion, trouble lurks.

The trouble comes in the form of a hooded figure sneaking around the Patterson home, and that same figure suddenly attacks Lori at a parking lot, and later takes the files connected to Gladys' murder. Meanwhile, there's trouble between Carlee and Alex, as the latter has been hella secretive regarding the fact that he had quit his bank job. Also, nearly all of the featured characters are suspects in Gladys' murder, mainly because she had dirt on all of them. Seriously, every time I hear the words, "Everyone's a suspect," I think back to the "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" two-part episode of The Simpsons. As for Alex, he called himself having a new job, but we see him with a bunch of money and all else, and he was about to hightail it...until that same culprit shoots him to death.

So Lori reveals that Alex had been robbing Gladys, stealing money and the mortgage to that house from her safe deposit box. In order to complete his scheme, he needed the house, and that came when Alex murdered Gladys and found the key to the deposit box. As for who shot Alex, well, that remained a mystery...until Lori visited Carlee, who found her husband's body and was stunned that she never really knew Alex. Just as Lori was about to leave, she spotted a bottle of perfume that had an aroma that Lori definitely remembered--it was the same aroma from the attack. Lori had it figured out, and Carlee knew it, as she attacked Lori with a vase. So Carlee was behind the attack on Lori, and she had found out about Alex's crimes and was looking to see how much Lori knew. Carlee shot and killed Alex and looked to get away with his ill-gotten loot, as well as kill Lori. However, the gun wasn't loaded, and Lori managed to take down Carlee with a cake platter.

So that's that. Three murders and many other crimes were solved in that neighborhood, and Lori's time on Maple Street had come to a close, as did the trilogy as a whole. And now, for the moment you've been waiting for, the villainesses.

Ellen Tolbert

Lies and Ex-Wives: Secrets on Maple Street aired on Lifetime on July 14, 2024, and the entire trilogy featured Farrah Aviva as Ellen Tolbert, who did serve as a villainess in this first film. Funny story: Aviva's only other villainous role (that I know of) was in one of the Aurora Teagarden movies as Taylor Harden. That character was a deranged stalker whose reveal came when she appeared in Aurora's kitchen, in a hoodie, bent on attacking Aurora. When I saw Aviva in this film, and when I saw Katie being attacked by a hooded figure in her kitchen, I thought about Aviva's Hallmark villainess role and went, "Is it Ellen? If it is, I'll laugh my ass off." I hardly see an actress play two villainesses who act out the exact same scene damn near, but when Ellen made her reveal, that cinched it.

I noticed something off about Ellen when she first appeared in the first film, so it wasn't that much of a surprise when she was revealed at Katie's attacker. Ellen was quite unhinged in the first film, as her villainous turn was motivated by delusional jealousy. As we see in the later two films, Ellen does redeem herself, so that is a plus. Aviva was terrific in all three films as Ellen Tolbert, but that first film saw Aviva excel in portraying Ellen's insanity and delusions during her admission. The aforementioned Aurora Teagarden film that Aviva was in was, "Last Scene Alive," which also featured Aviva's real-life husband, Robin Dunne. Aviva's also appeared in episodes of Lucifer, Supernatural, and Accused.

Check out Ellen Tolbert's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!

Sandra Dales

A Family Nightmare: Secrets on Maple Street aired on Lifetime on July 21, 2024, and featured Stephanie Van Dyck as grieving widow turned vengeful villainess Sandra Dales. So the first film gave us a redeemed villainess in the form of Ellen Tolbert, and this second film delivered with a tragic villainess in the form of Sandra Dales. In Sandra's case, the tragedy was immense. She spent 18 years believing that the one child she gave birth to died right after she was out of the womb, and that deception was caused by the actions of Pete Walker. Even more tortuous, the daughter she had was living right under Sandra's nose and was very close to where she was residing, and her husband was killed by Pete to cover up the switch.

I honestly didn't see Sandra's heel turn coming until that climax where she was in the Walker house. It wasn't until that moment that I figured that Sandra would be up to something sinister, and it was confirmed when she took out that knife with intent to plunge it into Pete. Van Dyck's performance was very stellar; she acted out Sandra's mourning very well, and she truly shined when Sandra was in vengeful madwoman mode in the climax. I hope Stephanie Van Dyck does more Lifetime movies in the future, I just know she'll do well. Van Dyck's other credits include appearing in episodes of Supernatural, iZombie, and Witches of East End.

Check out Sandra Dales' profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!

Carlee Patterson

Finally, Murder for Mortgage: Secrets on Maple Street aired on Lifetime on July 28, 2024, and featured Frances Leigh as the evil Carlee Patterson. Yes, we went from a redeemed villainess in the first film, and a tragic villainess in the second film, to a purely evil and ruthless mastermind in this third film. Carlee Patterson was definitely a cold-blooded Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, as we see her appear to be frantic, worried, and concerned about Alex's strange behavior. We see her in apparent mourning when her husband's shot to death, but once Lori puts two and two together, we see Carlee transform herself into a fiendish and sinister villainess who doesn't let anyone, not even her own husband, get in her way.

Carlee's reveal was absolutely spectacular, as I figured that she'd be uncovered as a villainess once Lori made that visit after Alex's murder. As much as I loved the other two villainesses, I really think that Carlee was the best one of the trilogy, and that was mainly because of her ruthlessness. Upon finding out about her husband's crimes, she killed Alex, and prior to this, she even went after Lori and attacked her. This was a woman who knew what she wanted and was willing to take down anyone to get it, all while hiding her evil demeanor behind an innocent face and a worrisome facade. Frances Leigh was absolutely terrific as Carlee Patterson. Her overall performance was so stellar, but her best moment was Carlee's heel turn in that climax. The villainous transformation was one of the best I've seen from a Lifetime villainess, and Leigh absolutely performed a beautiful swan dive into that demeanor, and brought home the gold medal (and yes, that reference is because of the Olympics.

Frances Leigh also had an uncredited role in Lifetime's version of the VC Andrews' Dawn series, and she has also appeared in episodes of Arrow and The Flash. I hope that Frances Leigh does more Lifetime films, especially as a villainess. I just she'll knock it out of the park if given the chance.

Check out Carlee Patterson's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!

In conclusion, I absolutely loved these films. It was something different from Lifetime, and the trilogy had a bit of the same vibe that we would see in the Hallmark Mystery movies, which I also love. While the Hallmark Mystery films are also thrillers like the Lifetime movies, the former has a bit of lightheartedness, even as a murder mystery progresses, while the latter is a bit darker. It was nice to see that lighter vibe on Lifetime, and I would love to see Lifetime give us mystery trilogies like this on a perennial basis!

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