Villainess Review: Nadia Sterling (Secret Life of a Student)

I learned about this film from Reel One's site, where it was listed under its original title, A Lethal Lesson, and once I saw it would air as the retitled, Secret Life of a Student, I was counting down the days until airtime. The film centered on high school teacher Lauren Beeches, who was shown tutoring one of her students, Connor Marrin, before engaging in a phone conversation with her best friend, Chloe Sterling. Little did Lauren know that it would be the last time she would ever speak to Chloe, as just moments later, Chloe was suddenly stabbed to death near her car in an underground parking lot.

Lauren was turned upside down when David York, Chloe's partner on the firm, informed her of the news. Both Lauren and David were visited by Chloe's daughter, Phoebe, as well as Nadia Sterling, who was introduced as the first cousin of Chloe's husband, Brad Sterling--who had passed on prior to the events. The subject of Phoebe's guardianship came up, with David reading Chloe's will and announcing that Lauren was named as Phoebe's guardian, which surprised both Lauren and Nadia. Nadia figured that she would get the position, as she was originally named in the will, but nevertheless, she did serve as a means of help and support for Lauren.

However, strange occurrences began to befell Lauren. First, a black car nearly runs her down, and later on, Lauren bore witness as her friend, Christine, suddenly collapsed as the pair were drinking coffee together--she ended up saved. The main plague ended up being Connor, as he developed romantic feelings for Lauren and kept pursuing her, with Connor becoming angrier and angrier as his advances were rebuffed. Nadia served as Lauren's proverbial shoulder, though she makes suggestions about David, claiming that Brad had been concerned that Chloe was having an affair with David--an affair that may have resulted in Phoebe being born.

Lauren received a shocking surprise at the coffee shop: the barista stated that Lauren's name was on the cup, which Lauren also learned was poisoned. This meant that someone was trying to kill Lauren, whose suspicions quickly turned to Connor. Lauren's suspicions increased when a hooded figure attempted to abduct Phoebe, and if that wasn't the worst of it, Lauren was facing accusations of an inappropriate relationship with Connor, which left her facing actual criminal charges. Her encounter with David has her repeating everything Nadia had said to her about him and Chloe, only for David to deny the claims and later reveal that Nadia was filing for custody of Phoebe. Lauren's call to Nadia saw her on the receiving end of a verbal lashing from Nadia, which included Nadia voicing her refusal to leave her "sweet baby angel" with a "sex-crazed monster." Ouch.

David agreed to represent Lauren, who returned home and saw Connor in her garage with the car's engine turned on. After rescuing Connor, Lauren was informed that his appearance as the house was on her own request, with Lauren denying sending messages to him. Both Lauren and Connor realized that they had been set up, and it was at that moment that the true culprit--Nadia--appeared and confronted both of them while wielding a knife.

As Nadia revealed, she had made many attempts to become pregnant, only to have nothing but failure and financial hardship afterwards. She was named by Brad as Phoebe's guardian in the event of Chloe's death, and with those words set in stone, Nadia turned heel and stabbed Chloe to death so she could have Phoebe as her own. However, upon learning that the will was changed by Chloe, and that Lauren was named as Phoebe's guardian, Nadia made the attempts to kill Lauren. When that failed, Nadia set up Lauren as a sexual predator engaged in an affair with Connor, and during her villainous confession, the madwoman accused Lauren of taking her "sweet baby angel" from her before ordering Lauren to head to the garage. Connor disarmed Nadia, leading to a scuffle between both women that ended with Nadia stabbed to death with her own weapon of choice.

Secret Life of a Student (aka A Lethal Lesson) aired on Lifetime Movie Network on September 24, 2021, and featured Tegan Moss as maniacal villainess Nadia Sterling. The film marked Moss' first time playing a Lifetime villainess, and it was a beauty. I saw Reel One's trailer, and once it revealed Nadia as the villainess, I was eagerly waiting for this film. Nadia was quite the deranged psychopath; an absolute Wolf in Sheep's Clothing. She was ruthless and relentless in her goal, and in all regards, Moss portrayed Nadia's friendly demeanor very well, but also acted out Nadia's insanity in her reveal to absolute perfection.

Which brings me to Nadia's precious words of choice for Phoebe: sweet baby angel. Those words were uttered quite a bit, especially during Nadia's reveal and murderous confession. I would like to think that it shows a bit of humanity in Nadia, as she shows that she truly loves Phoebe as if she were her own, but then there's that introductory scene. When Nadia first appeared and approached Phoebe, the young child backed away. Now, that can be taken any way, but to me, that was Phoebe sensing something very off about Nadia.

As a fan of Hallmark's mystery films, I am quite familiar with Tegan Moss, as well as her brother, fellow actor Jesse Moss, who has appeared in quite a few of those films. Tegan Moss appeared in four HM&M movies, one of them being "Dead Talk," the fourth Mystery 101 film, as villainess Rachel Knox. She has also appeared in episodes of So Weird, Fringe, and The Good Doctor.

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