Reviewing a Pair of Villainesses from "The Hand That Robs the Cradle"

I do love the month of April. For one, the Stanley Cup Playoffs start that month. Secondly, April's is when WrestleMania takes place, and after watching the second night of this year's WrestleMania (still not really happy that Cody Rhodes didn't win the main event), I tuned in to watch Lifetime's latest film, The Hand That Robs the Cradle (love the title). After the film kicks off with a scene where a woman is mugged and her baby is abducted, we see DeLondra Cortez hired as a nanny for the Chessman family, with the family's caretaker, Mrs. Tubbs, providing the recommendation. We see DeLondra playing with seven-year-old Danny Chessman, only for his mother, Melody Chessman, to make a not-so-positive impression on the new nanny.

It turns out that Melody's overprotectiveness is due to the backstory that Danny was abducted seven years prior, leaving Melody and husband Joel Chessman on edge. It doesn't help that a mysterious woman had been tracking DeLondra and Danny on a couple of occasions; first at the park and then inside the house. The woman was revealed as Karla Wichael, and she had lost her own son, and was introduced as believing that Danny was that very child. We later see Melody berate DeLondra and blame her for Danny nearly being taken, but after Mrs. Tubbs talks Melody down from her rant, the Chessmans decide to take Danny to a nearby cabin, with DeLondra going along.

The cabin is pretty secluded; picture where Aaron Rodgers went minus the whole "darkness" aspect. It's after their arrival that DeLondra meets a man named Caleb Janez, and it was during their second encounter that he informed DeLondra that Melody and Joel were not Danny's parents; they were actually his abductors. He also revealed that Danny's real name was Aspen, and he presented a photo of Karla, who was revealed to be Caleb's sister. DeLondra was willing to provide DNA evidence of the claim, but it was at this point that Melody started watching DeLondra very closely. Later that night, Caleb is murdered, and as for DeLondra, she received the following information about the Chessmans from her boyfriend, Rob: the couple's real names are Carol and George Probasco, and while they did actually have a son named Danny, he sadly passed away in a household accident.

DeLondra had all of the evidence she needed, and she took Danny to a neighbor's cabin, though said neighbors ended up contacting the Chessmans, and it's followed by Melody letting DeLondra have it for her "false accusations." Any doubts DeLondra may have had were gone once she found Caleb's body, and she is later attacked by Melody, who ordered Joel to hold her while she attempted to force bleach down her throat. At that moment, Joel decides that enough is enough and informed Melody that they will not kill DeLondra, and added that he was done with their dastardly charade. He provided the tragic reality that their actual son was deceased, and that "Danny" wasn't their kid, and was even willing to face jail time it if meant that they could no longer continue to run in fear.

Melody, however, was far from being a rational person, and she bludgeoned Joel to death before making a failed pursuit at DeLondra, who got away with Danny in her car. Danny was reunited with his actual parents, Karla and Todd Wichael, and all would be well...except that there were about 15 minutes left in the film. So something else had to be in store, and it started with Officer Leiker (who was present when Danny was reunited with his birth parents) visiting the Chessman house and informing Mrs. Tubbs, DeLondra, and Rob, that while Joel's body was found, Melody was on the loose. Melody was hiding out in ambush before she entered Leiker's car and strangled him to death, and in the house, Mrs. Tubbs voiced her shock over everything that occurred, all while having cocoa with the pair.

Mrs. Tubbs' shock suddenly became anger, and it was directed toward DeLondra, as she accused her of tearing Danny away from his family. Her rant continued on and on until DeLondra decided that she and Rob were leaving, but DeLondra suddenly notice that Rob was out cold. DeLondra pleaded with Mrs. Tubbs to call an ambulance, only for Mrs. Tubbs to grab a pair of scissors and glare intensely at DeLondra, who asked the suddenly heel-turned Mrs. Tubbs why she was committing such actions. Her response:

"Because you took my grandson from me."

DeLondra's escape was thwarted by a disheveled Melody, and as she and Mrs. Tubbs cornered DeLondra, the whole story was revealed. Mrs. Tubbs was actually Carol/Melody's mother, and it was actually Mrs. Tubbs who abducted baby Aspen seven years prior, doing so to replace the deceased Danny, while revealing that her daughter's mental state deteriorated after Danny's death. They sought out DeLondra to help tend to their "child," which included keeping up their delusional mindset, but both mother and daughter now believe that DeLondra has failed them, and now they are set on killing her. DeLondra escaped to the downstairs attic, while "Granny Dearest" handed the scissors to her equally crazed daughter. Melody's search for DeLondra and attempt to kill her didn't end well; DeLondra fatally struck Melody with a shovel, and after Mrs. Tubbs checked on her daughter, DeLondra escaped and trapped both of them inside the attic.

DeLondra survived, Rob survived, Mrs. Tubbs was (most likely) arrested, and Danny (Karla revealed that they decided to stick with the name his abductors gave him) not only had his real family back, he also had a friend for life in DeLondra. Now all ended well, and on to the villainesses.

Melody Chessman

The Hand That Robs the Cradle aired on Lifetime on April 2, 2023, and the film featured Lesa Wilson as villainess Melody Chessman (aka Carol Probasco). Now, the promo and synopsis make it painfully obvious that Melody is a villainess in this film, but even so, it was a fun ride for us viewers from the beginning to the exact point where Melody and Joel are revealed as conspirators in the abduction. You can see hints of Melody's insanity prior to the reveal, but when it comes out fully, it's really out there. Lesa Wilson executed a swan dive into Melody's crazy, and it was a graceful dive at the film's midpoint. She absolutely portrayed Melody's insane demeanor perfectly, especially in the climax when she confronts DeLondra and makes one final attempt to eliminate her.

Lesa Wilson is known to fans of The CW's Stargirl as Bobbie Burman, the stepmother of the series' recurring villainess (turned superhero) Cindy Burman. She's also done episodes of Drop Dead Diva, The Resident, and Monarch, and she also appeared in another Lifetime film, The Stranger She Brought Home.

Check out Melody Chessman's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!

Mrs. Tubbs

As fiendish as Melody was, she couldn't hold a candle to Mrs. Tubbs, played with great venom by Sallie Glaner. I remember being suspicious of Mrs. Tubbs at first, but that went down a bit as the film progressed. Once Danny was returned to his real parents with a lot of time left, I knew something else had to go down. That something came in the form of Melody being on the loose and hiding out, but we also received an added bonus twist: in the form of Mrs. Tubbs' heel turn. That moment saw Mrs. Tubbs go from a kindly woman into a deranged and venomous madwoman, and that was quite a delicious reveal thanks to Glaner's stellar performance.

You know, "Hoodie of Evil" really should be a trope. We see it a lot in TV and film, Pretty Little Liars made an evil uniform out of the hoodie, and of course, Lifetime films always feature their villains in a hoodie, and this was one no exception. We got to see a brief glimpse of Mrs. Tubbs in her own evil hoodie in a flashback scene to the villainess abducting baby Aspen, and this capture truly tells the story regarding Mrs. Tubbs' mindset. To me, it says that if Mrs. Tubbs did have any semblance of that kindly demeanor, she tossed it away with her actions, and not only that, she was willing to embrace being the villainess if it meant that she and her daughter could have what they both wanted. Glaner's performance was stellar; while she acted out Mrs. Tubbs' warm personality brilliantly, she shined the brightest when it came to Mrs. Tubbs' heel turn and her psychotic traits.

This isn't Sallie Glaner's first Lifetime film; she's also appeared in past films such as Marriage Killer and Friendship Never Dies, and we will see her again in the upcoming films, The Kept Marriage Killer and Crazy Pageant Moms. Glaner has also appeared in episodes of Queen of the South and The Right Stuff, and regarding this film, it proves that Glaner could play evil matriarchs to perfection.

Check out Mrs. Tubbs' profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!

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