Villainess Review: Holiday Telefilm "Grinches"

A thought I've had for a few weeks now: The Grinch needs to be gender-flipped. We are almost in 2022, yet nobody has even thought of gender-flipping the iconic Grinch. That surprises me. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy the Grinch adaptations as they are, but a female Grinch would be epic. Since we have yet to see an actress take on the Dr. Seuss creation, I'll just discuss some female Grinch-types who have taken center stage in a few telefilms. That sounds like a fair compromise. As I've said before, even the holiday films aren't safe from villainesses, and here are three amazing examples.

Blythe Freeman: This is a rarity; a Lifetime holiday film with an actual villainess in it. 2019's A Date by Christmas Eve (aka The Naughty List) centered on Chelsea Simms, who had quite a few crosses to bear. One of them was in her workplace--in the form of Blythe Freeman, whose arrogance and "mean girl" attitude plague Chelsea and her best friend, Maxine. It doesn't help Chelsea that Blythe actually gets promoted with a dating app pitch that matched Chelsea's bit by bit, giving Blythe more of a reason (in her mind) to look down on Chelsea.

The app was known as "The Good List," and with the help of spokesperson Ms. Kringle (who was actually Santa Claus' wife), Chelsea used the app to put people on "The Naughty List" to make them better. Blythe was one of Chelsea's targets, as the app was used to force Blythe to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And boy, did she! Blythe revealed to boss Simone Scott that she stole Chelsea's sketches and took credit for them, and the reason for her conniving actions was that her husband's yoga studio was struggling financially, and she needed a promotion to make ends meet. Blythe also admitted that she exaggerated about her talents to make up for her insecurities, though she ended up fired as a result of her deception. Blythe was visited by Chelsea later on, and assured her that her pitch was as good as her own, while giving her bonus to Blythe, who actually turned down the offer and told Chelsea to do something great with her hard-earned money.

A Date by Christmas Eve aired on December 22, 2019, and featured Julie McNiven as Blythe Freeman. I really did enjoy seeing McNiven in this heel role; Blythe was conniving, nasty, and arrogant, but as we saw, it was all just a mask for her fear and insecurities. Though the truth was forced out of Blythe, it was the best thing for her, as her last moments showed that Blythe grew as a person after her deception was uncovered. This was an amazing performance for Julie McNiven, who would also starred in Lifetime thrillers, such as The Neighborhood Nightmare and Black Hearted Killer. I am a diehard fan of Supernatural, and I can't help but know McNiven for her appearances as angel Anna Milton from Seasons Four and Five of the series, which also included Anna's heel turn in episode 5.13, "The Song Remains the Same."

For Blythe Freeman's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here.

Mary Hamilton: 2016's A Firehouse Christmas gave us Mary Hamilton (not to be confused with the newly turned villainess from Batwoman), a former figure skating champion turned author who was returning from a book tour. Her latest book was a potential best-seller, but as her father, James, informed her, there was one problem: being divorced could prevent that from happening. Mary decided to manipulate ex-husband Tom Norris (a former hockey player) into forcing him to act as if they were reconciling, and she would use his devotion to their daughter, Sadie, to get her way.

Unsurprisingly, Mary antagonized Tom with accusations that he "brainwashed" Sadie into playing hockey, claiming that it was for boys (yeah, Kendall Coyne-Schofield would like a word with you, Mary), and demanding to have Sadie for Christmas, despite it being Tom's year. She even resorted to threatening to have Sadie sent to a boarding school in London if he didn't comply with her demands, and also threatened to withhold Tom's planned presents to Sadie, which included skates signed by legendary NHL goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Mary also antagonized Tom's girlfriend, Jenny Jenkins, every chance she got, and after a photoshoot didn't go so well for Mary, Tom informed his wicked ex-wife that he was done placating to her demands.

Incredulously, it took Tom being stuck in a chimney and the appearance of a Polly Dolly doll for Mary to realize how wrong she was. Not only that, she revealed that she was doing the same things that James did to her, as James had forced her into a career in skating due to his "winning is everything" demeanor, which also included James buying every copy of Mary's book so she could get on the list. Mary finally had enough of James' actions, adding that she became bitter and cold as a result, and wanted to prevent Sadie from that same fate, while also commending Tom for standing up to her. Mary later informed Tom that he could spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Sadie, and even helped him mend his relationship with Jenny.

A Firehouse Christmas featured Anita Brown as scheming villainess Mary Hamilton, and my goodness, she was colder than the Buffalo Sabres' playoff drought (a decade and counting). Mary was conniving, scheming, manipulative, nasty, and a tad on the fiendish side. Even though she belittled the great sport of hockey (a huge no-no), I loved Mary; she was an amazing villainess, and her uber-redemption was golden, as we saw Brown act out Mary's full emotions and her true self to perfection. Anita Brown would do the villainess thing once again; she appeared as the evil Nina Sendak in Lifetime's Cheer Squad Secrets in 2020.

For Mary Hamilton's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here.

Lois Carmichael: A recent villainess was featured in 2021's The Santa Stakeout, which centered on a wave of art-based thefts that were being investigated by detectives Tanya Morris and Ryan Anderson, with the target suspect being ex-con Francis Miller. Francis was introduced as being in the holiday spirit, which included working as a Santa Claus and being enlisted by Lois Carmichael, who owned an agency that helped out-of-work actors. Tanya and Ryan's undercover work saw them at the scene of another robbery, with two Van Gogh paintings stolen. One of them was found in Francis' car, leading to his arrest.

However, after Francis' denial, Tanya and Ryan returned to the site of the robbery, the home of Mrs. Van Houghton, who revealed that Francis was recommended by her good friend: Lois. Two and two were put together, and it ended up equaling Lois as the thief, leading to an interrogation at her agency. It turned out that the agency was struggling financially, and at some point, Lois turned heel by resorting to robbing art galleries in a desperate need for money. This included the robbery at Van Houghton's home, which saw Lois plant one of the paintings in Francis' car, with the villainess denying everything until she was shown evidence of her frame-up job, leading to her arrest.

The Santa Stakeout aired on Hallmark on October 24, 2021, and the film featured Rebecca Staab as villainess Lois Carmichael. When I learned that Staab was in this film prior to watching, I had her character pegged as the villainess right then and there. Lois was quite and elaborate villainess with an interesting double life--a business owner turned villainous art thief. This was an amazing role for Staab, who acted out Lois' attempted denial very well, as it showed that Lois was truly arrogant enough to believe that she would get away with her crimes scot-free.

Rebecca Staab is no stranger to Hallmark; she is a regular in one of their mystery film series, Chronicle Mysteries, portraying Eileen Bruce in a number of movies. She is also a soap actress, having played on The Young and the Restless and Port Charles, and she also guest-starred as villainess Greta Boyen on NCIS.

For Lois Carmichael's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here.

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