Villainess Review: Alison (Secrets of an Escort)

Double lives always seem to play a role in these Lifetime films, and this fan wouldn't have it any other way. In the case of the film, Secrets of an Escort (aka The Other Me), it is Connie Anderson, a divorced mother of daughter Christine, who is in this role after moving with Christine to Hawaii. Waitress by day, escort by night--the latter under the name, Veronica, and being done to make ends meet.

Early in the film, Connie is informed that she has a new co-worker, and she is elated and surprised to see that it is none other than her former sorority sister, Alison. After reminiscing, Alison revealed that she had been affected by tragedy: the sudden passing of her husband, after which Connie offered her condolences and mentioned her divorce. Later on, we see Connie with one of her clients, William, who voiced his adoration of "Veronica" while stating that his marriage to his wife, Lissie, was falling apart, with plans to file for divorce. Hmmm.

So we later see Connie's ex-husband, Jason Anderson, confront Connie at her workplace; it was already uncovered that Jason was abusive and a gambler, though Jason ran off before things could escalate further. The appearance of her ex was one of a number of things Connie had to deal with, as she was also having to deal with William's increasing affection towards her. However, the biggest blow would come to Connie at the film's midpoint: Christine was missing.

Connie had her suspicions; first, they were pointed towards William, though William denied everything. That led to her only other suspect--Jason, which also led to Connie and Alison searching for Jason for answers. A trip to a hotel were Jason was said to be seen resulted in Connie seeing that her frequented room had been ransacked, and later on, the women went to Jason's place as part of their search, only for Jason to arrive and be confronted by Connie. Jason denied having Christine, though he attacked Connie after blaming her for "losing" Christine, after which Connie fought off her ex.

Jason was cleared, and afterwards, Connie went to William and revealed her true self to him, after which William informed Connie that he knew people who could help find Christine. The climax saw Connie at William's house, and while William was having a glass of fine wine, Connie suddenly found Christine's bracelet, leading to William being accused of taking Christine. This is where the surprises come in. Surprise #1: William suddenly foams at the mouth, keels over, and dies. Surprise #2: Alison emerged and later rushed to William's side, much to the shock of Connie, who wondered what Alison was doing there. Which leads to surprise #3: Alison snarling at Connie and revealing that William wasn't supposed to drink the wine--Connie was, and surprise #4: William was Alison's husband.

So it turned out that Alison had found out that William was seeing someone, and after finding out that the other woman just happened to be Connie/Veronica, Alison plotted her revenge. She was the cause of Jason's arrival, as she ransacked the hotel room and lured Jason to Connie's direction. The maniacal villainess also abducted Christine, and as Alison said before, she had poisoned the wine figuring that Connie would drink it, as William had been sober for six years. Alison was "Lissie," a shortened form of her name, and she lashed out at Connie for being selfish and ruining her family. In fact, Alison's exact words were:

"You destroyed my family. It's only fair I returned the favor."

Alison's statement revealed that she had abducted Christine, adding that she had wanted a daughter before making her plan to kill Connie and Christine and set up William as a scorned and suicidal lover. Connie escaped Alison's attack before finding and freeing Christine, only for Alison to pin down Connie and wrap her hands around her former friend's throat. As police arrived, Alison attempted to accuse Connie of killing her husband, only for the evil madwoman to end up arrested.

Secrets of an Escort aired on Lifetime Movie Network on November 4, 2021, and featured Australian actress Pauline Egan as villainess Alison. Like I've done with a lot of Lifetime movies over the years, I did watch Marvista's trailer a month prior, and of course, the trailer just happened to feature Alison's heel turn and unveiling as a deranged madwoman, hence why I was immensely looking forward to this. I'm a big fan of Sanctuary, the former SyFy Channel series, and I remember seeing Egan as Erika Myers on that show, so I was elated when I saw her in an earlier Lifetime film, Designed for Death. I wanted Egan to play a villainess after watching her heroic role in that film, and in this film, she truly delivered!

Alison started off as friendly, charming, and warm to Connie, but as we shown in the film's climax, it was a huge cover for her true persona as a psychotic and vengeful woman. Alison's heel turn was immensely masterful; one of the best reveals I've ever seen in a Lifetime movie, as we see Egan portray Alison's insanity and evil demeanor to absolute perfection, which included her delivery of the aforementioned line. Overall, Alison is one of the best villainesses I've seen from Lifetime in 2021; she was that amazing, and it's because of Pauline Egan's amazing performance!

If you like this story and review, feel free to click the heart below, and if you really love this story and review, feel free to leave a tip (if you want)!

Click here for Alison's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!