Villainess Review: Emma Sanders (You Can Never Go Home Again)

I always get excited when a new month begins in the world of Lifetime movies; mainly because each month brings a new theme for its films. Of course, I love the month of March anyway for sports reasons and it's my birth month, but regarding this March, the first Lifetime movie in the year's 3rd month was You Can Never Go Home Again, and it centered on Isabel "Izzy" Fletcher, an artist whose mother, famed artist May Malcolm, tragically passed away. Afterwards, Izzy, her husband Jack Fletcher, and their young daughter, Taylor, move to Jack's hometown of Clinton, Mississippi, and we later see Taylor and Jack being introduced to the former's teacher, Emma Sanders.

Emma quickly draws herself to Jack within minutes, and Jack, well, seems to like it. Seriously, I could write at least 600 words on how dumb the husbands in these Lifetime movies are alone. It's not their last meeting, we see Jack and Emma encounter each other at a coffee shop, and they carry o a conversation that lasted longer than I expected. The film cut to Izzy and her friend Natalie twice, and after the second time, there they were...still together. I swear, I actually went, "They're still talking?!," when they showed Jack and Emma for the third time! Correction: I said I could write at least 600 words on how dumb these Lifetime movie husbands are. I meant to say "1600."

And it doesn't end there; clearly Jack is, for lack of a better word, sprung in regards to Emma, who just happens to run into him on a secluded trail. This time, it all goes off, Emma kisses Jack, who backs away before going all in on a make-out session. Wow! I just want to speak about the casting and say how elated I was that Omar Gooding was in a Lifetime thriller. I love anything that reminds me of the 90s, and I still remember seeing Omar Gooding on Hangin' With Mr. Cooper and Smart Guy during my childhood and teen years. In addition, Omar is the son of the late Cuba Gooding, Sr. (the lead singer of the classic soul singing group, The Main Ingredient; I thank my mom playing their classic hit, Everybody Plays the Fool, when I was a kid for that knowledge), and the brother of actor Cuba Gooding, Jr., and as we see in this film, the words of Cuba Sr. are definitely the case when it comes to Jack.

Emma clearly wants to see Jack again, but her call to Jack sees her attempts rebuffed. After various attempts to contact him are ignored, we later see Emma appear during a parent-teacher meeting at the school, and she sports dark hair! She later introduced herself to Izzy and revealed that she's a big fan of her artwork, and the encounter shakes Jack to the point where he confesses to his infidelity to Izzy, who kicks him out after Jack actually says that he felt a distance between them after May's passing. Yeah...no. Emma contacts Jack again, and celebrates the fact that he and Izzy were separated, only for Jack to tell Emma to stay away from him and his family.

Speaking of family, Izzy found comfort from her mother-in-law, Olivia, but when it came to her father-in-law, Chuck, she gained some information on Emma Sanders. First off, that wasn't her real name, she was actually Emily Sanderson, and she took May's art class years prior. It was also revealed that she had panic attacks, and upon seeing Izzy working as an assistant, Emily became obsessed with Izzy and her good life, mainly due to the fact that her parents died when she was young, and she longed for a family of her own. A trip to Emily's house unveils a shrine that sees her as Jack's wife, and we later see Izzy contacted by Emily/Emma, who threatened to take Taylor unless she and Izzy remained friendly. A meeting was arranged, only for Emma to drug Natalie and take Taylor to that same secluded trail.

Once Jack was called and Taylor was rescued, Izzy returned to Emma's house, where she found Jack tied up. Emma emerged and referred to herself as Izzy, even acting like her and voicing her desire to have Izzy's family to herself, claiming that Taylor loved her and that Jack would do the same. A scuffle followed, and ended with Emma taken down by Izzy, who untied Jack and escaped through the garage. Emma later emerged, with police waiting for her, and she was arrested.

You Can Never Go Home Again aired on Lifetime Movie Network on March 4, 2022, and featured Jackie Moore as villainess Emma Sanders. Jackie Moore's done the Lifetime villainess thing twice before; she played redeemed baddie Gina Mancetti in 2018's Nightmare Best Friend, and she turned up her villainy as Molly Cole in last year's Party From Hell. I figured that the third time would be the best one, and I was definitely proven right; the whole movie definitely gave a Fatal Attraction vibe. I know Lifetime movies can be easily be compared to that film classic, but I really felt that vibe a lot with this film. Moore's Emma Sanders reminded me quite a bit of Glenn Close's Alex Forrest (thankfully, no rabbits were harmed). Emma was immensely unhinged, dramatically unstable, and quite the fiendish femme fatale. This was an amazing villainess, and Moore played all of her facets brilliantly.

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Check out Emma Sanders' profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!