Villainess Review: Nora McConnell (The Pom Pom Murders)

We are closing in on Lifetime's annual "Fear the Cheer" batch of cheerleader based movies, and I am super excited. I still remember the "Cheer, Rally, Kill" batch from 2019; those cheerleader movies have such amazing and epic villainesses--they have me salivating more than Homer Simpson does over a doughnut (among other foods). 2020's batch was amazing as well, and the best villainess from that group (as well as from 2020 overall) was featured in The Pom Pom Murders--which was originally titled, Ruthless Renegades.

The film centered on Audrey Anderson, who was one of the new cheerleaders for the fictional Los Angeles Renegades pro basketball team, and her first scene saw her accidentally bump into a woman who was introduced as Nora McConnell, the team's Executive Director, as well as the wife of Michael McConnell. Audrey is immensely embarrassed, but Nora brushed it off and acted very warmly towards her team's new cheerleader. Audrey was on the receiving end of antagonism from the squad's "Queen Bee," Bailey West, but later in the film, Bailey ends up dead, having been strangled to death.

The McConnells, along with the cheerleading squad's coach, Cassie, are shown addressing the tragic news of Bailey's death, which Renegades player Walter James ended up charged for. Walter's jersey was used as the weapon of choice, and his DNA was at the scene, so it wasn't looking good for him. We later see Nora attending one of the squad's practice, and as Audrey (as well as the film's viewers, myself especially) noticed, Nora was literally shaking--almost in apparent anger. Audrey had been asking about Bailey's murder, mainly due to the fact that Audrey and Walter were on the verge of a relationship, meanwhile, Nora voiced what appeared to be concern about Audrey's questions to Michael. Hmmm.

Later on, Audrey's best friend and fellow cheerleader, Tracy Larson, was shown with Michael, and this did not set well with Nora, who lashed out at her husband for his tryst with Tracy. The couple argues, Tracy promises not to disclose the details of their argument, but unfortunately for Tracy, she ends up "accidentally" falling to her death. Tracy's death is portrayed as a suicide, which makes Audrey even more suspicious than ever; however, Audrey ends up attacked by Lou, a custodian who had a shrine to Bailey, only for Nora to appear and kill Lou in apparent defense of Audrey.

OK, I've been quoting certain words and using the word "apparent," so I'll just get to the very juicy parts. So, Nora and Michael's argument revealed that the former was the true killer, and Tracy wasn't her only victim. As it turned out, Michael had been having several affairs with the team's cheerleaders, which explains why Nora would do everything but foam at the mouth every time she watched the squad. The couple argued over Michael's dalliances, but Bailey overheard them and decided to blackmail Nora, demanding $1 million for her silence. Nora later met with Bailey under the pretense of paying her off, only to take out Walter's jersey and strangle her to death with it. As for Tracy's death, Nora intentionally dropped her over the balcony, and regarding Lou, the couple set him up as Bailey's killer before knocking him off after his denial. Nora simply said that it was her word against Michael's, and his affairs would make him a more likely suspect.

Nora and Cassie are present at a press conference, where video of the cheerleaders is suddenly played. Nora goes into one of her fits and demands that the video's stopped, only for Cassie to refuse, as she was part of Audrey's plan to trap her. Audrey had known that Nora was the killer, and with her mother, Jessica Anderson, recording, Audrey confronted Nora regarding her murderous actions. In response, Nora went on a misogynistic rant--labelling the cheerleaders as "whores" and lashing out at her victims, all while seeing visions of them. She attempted to attack Audrey, who she believed was Bailey, but she was eventually taken away. Michael was arrested, but Nora was on the loose and appeared outside the Anderson house before entering and shooting both Audrey and Jessica dead. As it turned out, though, the shootings were all in Nora's head, and she was confronted by an officer--who later arrested Nora. We see Nora taken away as Audrey approached her, after which Nora asked Audrey to tell Tracy and Bailey about the upcoming season, as well as tell both of her victims that she was sorry.

The Pom Pom Murders aired on Lifetime on Saturday, October 24, 2020, and part of the film's cast included Jhey Castles as the evil Nora McConnell. Seriously, where do I start?! A year prior to this film's release, Castles appeared in another Lifetime film, Am I a Serial Killer?, as Caroline Weaver. In my review about that film's villainess, I said that I was actually hoping that Caroline was the true evildoer, but that wasn't the case. I also said that Castles made up for that with this film, and boy was I right! To say I loved Nora McConnell would be an immense understatement. Nora was deranged, maniacal, ruthless, sadistic, and flat out bloodthirsty. I said this before: I think that Nora McConnell was Lifetime's best villainess of 2020, and she's one of the reasons why I'm excited for "Fear the Cheer" 2021, because the cheerleader movies are villainess magnets, and it gives us a lot of very fun ones.

As for Jhey Castles' performance, it was absolutely stellar, she stole the entire film. Castles portrayed Nora's insanity and rage very well, especially in her climactic villainess rant after her crimes are unveiled. We will see Castles again on Lifetime in My Daughter's Deadly Date, and she has also appeared in episodes of NCIS, Criminal Minds, and Magnum P.I.

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Click here for Nora McConnell's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!