A Lifetime of Suspicion
Emily Yates (Paloma Kwiatkowski - The Christmas Calendar) is a freshman who tends to keep to herself and suffers from depression which is why she is on medication. Her mum, Jill (Lindsay Hartley - Nightmare Nurse), is concerned especially as her relationship with Connor (Dan Payne - Cradle of Lies) is now serious and fears that Emily will resent them. But it turns out Emily has started dating and is seeing blonde haired Gary (Jedidiah Goodacre - If There Be Thorns). But that isn't such a good thing as Gary's violent temper sees him and Emily ending up in trouble with the law. Fearing he will be sent down the two of them apparently jump off a bridge, chained together and to a breeze block. But Jill is suspicious as Emily has had an aversion to water ever since the accident which led to her depression and it doesn't make sense which makes her suspect that Gary is on the run and has taken Emily with him.
About 20 minutes into "A Mother's Suspicion", which is also known as "Dying to Be Loved", there is a scene where Jill and her boyfriend Connor go to Gary's home to have a meal with his mother and we quickly learn two things. One is that Gary is bad news as he makes lewd comments to Jill and secondly his brother is a cop. Shortly after this we learn, thanks to a private investigator, that Gary has a track record for trouble but somehow is always getting off. And so we have the basic building blocks in place with lots of bits built around it so we have the troubled daughter, the protective mother, the troublesome boyfriend and of course some things which don't quite add up.
Now you may ask where all this is going, well after 35 minutes and we have the apparent double suicide, Jill's motherly suspicion leads to he investigating things off of her own back and discovering that things are not as they seem as some people are not what the appear. Of course as an audience we are already sure that some people are not how they first appear because "A Mother's Suspicion" is not the most subtle of movies. What follows is pretty typical as Jill questions whether it was suicide and finds that she is alone in her thoughts that the suicide was fake.
Here is the thing about "A Mother's Suspicion" it is all incredibly typical of a Lifetime movie with the mother never giving up and uncovering a twisted web of lies and connections. As such this is another Lifetime movie, which for fans of easy to watch nonsense, will be an okay time filler but for those looking for grit, realism and a believable mystery are likely to spend more time mocking both the flaws and also some of the acting.
What this all boils down to is that "A Mother's Suspicion" is another one of those movies which when concentrated upon is full of flaws. But for those who enjoy the easy to watch nature of a made for TV Lifetime thriller this one ticks the usual boxes.
