Lifetime Review: 'Deadly Infidelity'

After a car crash puts her in a coma for three months, Grace Patterson (Kate Watson) wakes up to the welcome sight of her family. But while she survived the accident without any serious physical injuries, she's horrified to discover she's lost her memory of the past five years. Still, Grace is happy to be back home with her husband Paul (Houston Rhines) and 17-year-old daughter Taylor (Emary Simon). With photographs and her loving family at her side, Grace hopes to reclaim the memories that the accident stole from her and get back to her normal life. But the days following her release from the hospital are fraught with strange incidents, ranging from bizarre texts to an intruder breaking into the house.

Then a man named Kyle (Jacob Taylor) approaches Grace and drops a bombshell on her: she's been having an affair with him for over nine months! Stunned by the revelation, Grace tries to break things off with her forgotten lover. But Kyle isn't ready to let Grace go, and as she continues trying to find her lost memories, more alarming events plague Grace. Will the affair she can't remember cost her more than just her marriage?

On the surface, Deadly Infidelity would appear to be venturing into familiar Lifetime territory. At first, Grace's dilemma seems to be that she's being stalked by an obsessed lover who won't take no for an answer. Then, it looks like Grace's stalker is someone else tied to her adulterous activities. But don't be fooled on either occasion: there's more to Deadly Infidelity than initially meets the eye. In addition to the handful of twists that the story has up its sleeve, the well-structured plot and compelling actors work hand in hand to make the journey towards those surprise revelations engaging. The opening scene does a good job building up intrigue regarding the events surrounding Grace Patterson. Grace's odd reaction during the plot-inciting car crash aside, the opening minutes throw the viewer straight into the action while the music speaks to the kind of atmosphere Deadly Infidelity has.

In addition to the pronouncedly dramatic soundtrack, the camerawork and editing often aim to reflect Grace's frazzled state of mind. While the editing is choppy in places and there's a moment of conspicuous ADR, it's an overall well-executed effect that doesn't overstay its welcome. From the moment she wakes up, Grace is a consistently sympathetic heroine wonderfully portrayed by Kate Watson. As Grace learns about her pre-amnesia adultery and struggles to bring back her memories, Watson makes you feel Grace's heartache over having betrayed her family. Houston Rhines and Emary Simon are no slouches compared to Watson, though. They sell Paul and Taylor as a wholesomely lovable husband and daughter respectively, with Simon's best scene being a tearful exchange that Taylor and Grace share in the third act. Roberta Hanlen has a few fun moments of her own playing Grace's supportive mother Margaret while Anna Marie Dobbins sells all the sides of Grace's sister Lisa. She's just as lovable as the rest of the Pattersons when she's in cool sister/aunt mode, but lets her fiery side come to life while laying into Grace for cheating on Paul.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

Dobbins is just as effective with the third side of Lisa that emerges in the finale: the murderous mistress. When it comes to Deadly Infidelity's quartet of villains, Lisa is notably the only one who could be described as pure evil. Tina is the first of the bunch to want to come clean, Kyle goes to the police after learning Lisa attacked his sister, and Paul (as sleazy and callous as his "frame my wife for cheating" scheme is) isn't on board with killing Grace. Dobbins digs into Lisa's smug insanity as she lashes out about her sibling envy and boasts about how she believes she can kill Grace and get away with it. Paul is more understatedly despicable, something which is supported by Rhines' subdued post-reveal performance. While not as openly slimy as Lisa, he's still a man who masterminded a plot to gaslight his wife for the sake of his reputation and livelihood. Grace becomes even more sympathetic in light of the fact that she spends the whole movie agonizing over something she never did.

As for Lisa and Paul's sibling duo accomplices, Jacob Tyler thoroughly commits to Kyle taking on the role of Lisa's fake psychotically entitled paramour. Sadly, Annika Foster doesn't fare as well as Tina, the least interesting of the foursome. Even if the promos hadn't shown that "Stacy" was going to turn out to be crazy, the unsubtlety of her first interactions with Grace makes it clear she's up to no good. After the truth is revealed, Tina goes from a generic Woman Scorned to a generic Cohort With a Conscience. It doesn't do Foster or her shaky performance any favors, especially when she's stuck with awkward lines like, "My sense of right and wrong has kicked in."

Spoilers Over

The last significant cast member to talk about is Jesus Ruiz as Detective Wallace. In addition to being compellingly played by Ruiz, Wallace proves to be a refreshingly competent investigator. While Wallace does become suspicious of Grace at one point based on circumstantial evidence, he doesn't prematurely arrest her or get overly nasty/accusatory like other Lifetime detectives have. Complementing all these great performances is Deadly Infidelity's strong pacing. Things progress at just the right speed, allowing suspense to develop while still keeping the viewer's attention from wandering. Couple that with some twists you may not see coming and you've got yourself a very enjoyable Lifetime thriller that's not afraid to revel in theatrics a little bit. Bottom line: don't forget to put Deadly Infidelity on your watchlist.

Score: 8.5 out of 10 years in culinary school.