Reviewing VC Andrews' Dawn (Part 3: "Twilight's Child")

The preview for Part 3 of VC Andrews' Dawn had me quite intrigued, and this was coming after a Part 2 that ended with such a bang. The ultimate tease was that Dawn would find herself tormented by the very monsters who plagued her immensely, to the point where she would become the very thing that she had been haunted by. Reminds me of Harvey Dent's line in The Dark Knight: "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Speaking of movies, it's nice to see the word "Twilight" in the title of a movie that's actually good and not annoying as hell. But I digress.

So Part 3, Twilight's Child, starts with Dawn working her magic as the head of the Cutler family hotel, and yes, having to deal with the antics of her sister, Karen--I mean Clara Jean (I was right the first time). All is pretty well in the beginning: Dawn and Jimmy are not only together, they're set to be married, and her daughter, Christie, is back with her. But this is VC Andrews. Some proverbial rain has to fall, and early in this film, it falls on Randolph Cutler, as he is losing it. He referred to Dawn as "mother" in one scene, and another, he didn't recognize Dawn at all. Meanwhile, Laura Sue introduced Dawn to Bronson Alcott, a "very old friend" of hers (translation: Bronson and Laura had been doing the horizontal polka for years).

The wedding takes place, and Randolph's looking around for Lillian. We later see Randolph at his mother's grave, and it's followed by Randolph taking a walk into the lake. Suicide by drowning. I have to say this. Randolph's the only one out of that family (other than Dawn, of course) that I felt bad for. The only thing he was guilty of was having an Oedipus complex that could fill up Soldier Field in Chicago. It also didn't help that Laura Sue was colder than January at that same stadium either. Lillian truly messed Randolph up, and so did Laura, to a smaller extent. Honestly, the wrong half of that couple took that watery walk.

As for Dawn, time passes, and the setting enters the 1980s, good decade for horror films (American Werewolf in London, Child's Play, etc.), great decade for hockey (the Edmonton Oilers dynasty), but a terrible decade for the Yankees (only one pennant in that decade). Regarding Laura and William, Bronson told us what we already knew: William forced himself on Laura, and that resulted in Dawn's conception. While that's true, she still allowed Dawn to be abducted by Lillian, and then Bronson reveals that he's actually Clara Jean's bio dad. That stunned me. What happened to Laura was awful, but she took it out on two innocent people: Dawn and Randolph. So my sympathy for her remains the same as the number of Super Bowls won by the Vikings: zero. Don't expect either total to change, folks.

We also get another surprise: Fern, Jimmy's little sister, has been found. She was adopted by the Osbornes following Ormand's arrest, and that led to a meeting between the family and Jimmy and Dawn, though as we see, Fern's adoptive parents are...well...pricks. Prior to this, Dawn was revealed to be pregnant again, this time with Jimmy's child, but after the meeting with Fern, we see Clara Jean drunkenly make her appearance. I couldn't help but be amused by this; for one, again, she's loaded. Secondly, her look. I couldn't help but love that all of the women had that big hair, which was prevalent in the 80s. Given the dramatic setting, it had me thinking back to those clips from shows like Dallas, Falcon Crest, and Knots Landing: Clara Jean had that typical 80s primetime drama villainess look.

So Clara Jean lashes out at Dawn for moving all of her stuff out of the hotel, with Dawn reminding her that she hadn't lived there in over a decade, as she had been living with Bronson and Laura. Sadly, Clara Jean wasn't going to let logic get in the way of her entitlement, and she totally whales on Dawn, repeatedly punching and kicking Dawn's pregnant belly while blaming her for the deaths of Lilian and Randolph. As a result, Dawn's unborn baby is no more, but thankfully, she is still fertile.

The loss isn't the only thing plaguing Dawn. As we have seen, she is haunted by the specters of both Lillian and Miss Emily, and it's been really getting to Dawn. In addition, Fern ran away from her adoptive parents (under the claim that her adopted father had been abusing her) and moved in with Jimmy and Dawn, but as we've seen, Fern's quite the bad seed (and yes, that's an intentional reference to the classic movie that has been remade twice, one of them on Lifetime). We also meet Philip's new fiancee, Betty Ann, who looks so much like Dawn, because that's totally normal. Phillip also makes another attempt to assault Dawn, who fights him off by strking him with a frame and ejecting him out of the house. Also, Fern's caught gambling with the staff, and that leads to Dawn saying these familiar words to Fern:

"You expect to be treated like some long lost princess?"

The same words Dawn heard from Lillian. Oh dear.

Speaking of demons, Clara Jean resurfaced again (this time with her lawyer, Charlie), and she's planning to contest William's will and sue for the rights of the hotel, claiming that Lillian's intent was to pass the hotel down to her and not Dawn. Dawn states that Lillian couldn't trust Clara Jean to do anything on her own, and after Clara Jean brings up this plan to have an actual Cutler run the hotel, that's when Dawn reveals everything to Clara Jean: Bronson Alcott, not Randolph Cutler, was Clara Jean's actual father. Clara Jean walks off defeated, and regarding Fern, it's revealed that she actually lied about being assaulted by her adoptive father. So yeah, her parents were pricks, but not to that extent, plus, from what we've seen, Fern was basically a brat who wanted to have everything her way. Jimmy and Dawn do allow her to stick around until the time comes to return her to the Osbornes, under the promise that Fern acts right.

Dawn also has to deal with Michael Sutton, who is planning to blackmail his way into getting custody of Christie, but that falls very short. Speaking of people falling, let's get back to Clara Jean, shall we? She's loaded again, and ranting to Charlie, ordering him to "fix this," only for Charlie to wave the white flag. It was over. Dawn won. Clara Jean, the delusional mess she is, refused to accept it, and reminded Charlie who her family was. Charlie reminded Clara Jean that she's not even a part of that family, and Dawn's the true Cutler, and in the end, Clara Jean's attempt to attack Charlie saw her fall to her own watery demise. I myself have no words for this, so I'll just let WWE's World Heavyweight Champion say them for me.

After Clara Jean's funeral, Jimmy and Dawn return to The Meadows, where Luther informed them about how Emily actually died--purely accidental, placed rat poison in her tea thinking it was sugar. As the scene showed, Dawn now owns The Meadows, and it'll be much, much different than it was under Emily's dictatorship. We are treated to an ending that sees the entire family singing and enjoying their company, as well as the news that Dawn's pregnant once again. Beautiful.

Twilight's Child, Part 3 of VC Andrews' Dawn series aired on Lifetime on July 22, 2023, and yes, let's talk about Clara Jean Cutler (aka Alcott) and the actress who played this unhinged villainess, Elyse Maloway. Where do I start? In Part 1, Clara Jean starts off as an arrogant and entitled brat, but once Dawn is returned to the Cutler family and is revealed as Clara Jean's long missing sister, that's when the insane jealousy starts to surface. We heard it in the latter quarter of Part 1; Clara Jean grew to despise Dawn because that's all the family talked about, and she used that to torment Dawn from that point and also into Part 2 as well. Part 3 is where Clara Jean's evil truly reached all twisted and depraved levels, mainly by attacking Dawn's unborn child and causing a miscarriage.

And again, I loved Clara Jean's 1980s look, because again, that's what those primetime drama villainesses looked like back then: the big hair, the power pantsuits, you name it. As for Maloway herself, she was so golden as Clara Jean, especially in Part 3, where she basically goes into madness in her attempt to one-up Dawn, only to have her whole world crash down upon her. Maloway previously recurred on the short lived Hulu series, The Watchful Eye, prior to participating in the Dawn miniseries. By the way, she's not done yet. She will be in the conclusion, and one has to believe that despite Dawn appearing to exorcise herself of two demons in the form of Lillian and Emily, we may see a third one appear in the form of Clara Jean in the conclusion, Midnight Whispers.

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