Villainess Review: Kiki Owens (Morning Show Mysteries)

Hallmark Movies and Mysteries continues to amaze and entertain with their various film series, with one of them being Morning Show Mysteries. The film series stars Holly Robinson Peete as Billie Blessings, a chef and host of cooking segments on Wake Up With Us, a popular morning show, though in this first installment, "Mortal Mishaps," Billie finds herself in the center of not one, but two murder investigations, while also facing suspicion for the one committed in this film.

The victim in the film's events was Rudy Slater, the show's executive producer, who was shown during the early scenes preparing to name a replacement co-host for Lanie Haywood, who passed away three months prior. As the announcement was set to take place, we see Rudy suddenly become (and look) very ill before collapsing...and dying. The cause of death: poisoning, and as we saw in the very first scene, a mysterious masked culprit was baking a cake laced with rat poison. Billie was questioned by detectives Ian Jackson and Vinnie Hawkins (nicknamed "Hawk" for short), and though she was on the suspect list, Billie decided to investigate on her own.

One of the people helping Billie was the show's assistant, Kiki Owens, though they had an ally in Tiffany Moon, the selected co-host, after it was revealed that Lanie was also poisoned. The film saw various ominous messages left for Billie, as well as camera operator Phil Nardi saved from an explosion in his home, and as the trio searched Rudy's home for a demo that could expose the truth, Kiki was attacked after Billie and Tiffany were locked in the champagne room. Billie had mentioned the demo because she had figured out who was behind both murders, and as she and Kiki returned to the apartment to search again, Billie ended up being held at gunpoint by Kiki, who voiced her refusal to help Billie.

Billie saw Kiki's heel turn coming, as she had figured that her friend and assistant had been behind everything. As Ian and Hawk learned during their stakeout, Kiki had auditioned to become Lanie's replacement, though Rudy stated that--in spite of Kiki's impressive audition--Lanie wasn't going anywhere, prompting Kiki to poison Lanie. After Lanie's death, Rudy quickly figured out that Kiki killed her, leading to Kiki baking the poisoned cake and sending it to Rudy to silence him as well. She was also behind the attempt on Phil, and she locked Billie and Tiffany in the champagne room before staging her own attack. Kiki was also trying to frame Billie, making the admission to Billie herself, while revealing her own jealousy of Billie's success.

Kiki planned to kill Billie and stage it as a suicide by a guilty person, only for Phil (who sent the demo to Ian and Hawk) to appear and record everything. Kiki attempted to escape and arm herself with a knife, but after being surrounded by Billie, Phil, and the detectives, she was arrested.

"Mortal Mishaps" aired on January 21, 2018, and featured Jordana Largy as Kiki Owens. Largy is no stranger to playing villainesses; not only has she played two Lifetime film baddies, but her appearance as Kiki Owens was her second time playing a villainess on HM&M, as she also played Claudia Triviano in "Death Al Dente," the third Gourmet Detective film, in 2016. IMO, this was Largy's best villainous role, and it's because Kiki was a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing; friend of the protagonist, but revealed to be a deranged murderess. Kiki was also ambitious and ruthless in her goal and quest, but as shown in her reveal, there was a lot of jealousy in Kiki. To no surprise, Largy portrayed Kiki's villainous demeanor very well; she truly gave an amazing performance in this film.

Jordana Largy also appeared in the live-action Woody Woodpecker film, and after her villainous Morning Show Mysteries appearance, she made two other HM&M appearances: as murder victim Poppy Wilson in Reap What You Sew: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, and as Laura Graham in Darrow & Darrow: Body of Evidence (both in 2018). Largy is set to appear in the upcoming Disney Channel film, Under Wraps, which is a remake of the 1997 film of the same title.

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Click here for Kiki Owens' profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!