Villainess Review: Olivia Cranor (Suburban Swingers Club)

Suburban Swingers Club was quite an amazing Lifetime film that I truly enjoyed watching when it aired. The film centered on Lori and Grant Malick, who moved into their dream house, but were just removed from a terrible tragedy: a miscarriage. Both halves of the couple felt a strain in their marriage caused by the sudden loss, but after meeting new neighbors Derek and Rachel, and learning that they were planning to attend a "swingers" party, Grant suggests that he and Lori attend, though Lori vehemently objects. Grant states that it would help their marriage, and that they would be thinking only of each other when they are in the arms of others, but Lori still objects.

However, upon seeing hunky new neighbor Noah Cranor, Lori has a change of heart, but only after agreeing to the earlier conditions. First off, I want to say how surprised I was to see James O'Halloran in that film. James, of course, is one of the models on The Price is Right, after the long-running game show decided to start instilling male models. It was epic for this fan of The Price is Right, and gives me a bit of hope that some of the regular female models could appear in Lifetime movie. I could see Rachel Reynolds doing it, she has a villainess-type look.

Anyway, the Malicks attend, and of course, Lori is with Noah, while Grant is with Giselle, a known realtor. The experience works, and once they return home, they can't keep their hands off each other. However, we later see Noah, well, everywhere Lori just happens to be, and it gets aggressive. He's clearly obsessed with Lori, to the point where he even threatened to publicize video of the pair together. Grant finds out about Noah's stalking from Lori, leading to Grant warning Noah to stay away from his wife.

We get a scene of someone drugging Lori, and after waking up from the effects, she is encountered by Noah's wife, Olivia Cranor, who is searching for her husband. Sure enough, later on, Noah is found...deceased. Olivia breaks down after being informed by the authorities, and all of a sudden, Grent ends suspected and arrested. To Lori, something doesn't add up. She discovered a heart-shaped charm at the scene, but that's it. Nothing else. After asking Giselle about Noah (which revealed an affair and business deal), Lori visits Olivia, who isn't happy to see her, as she believed that Grant killed her husband.

Lori voiced her theory that Giselle was Noah's killer due to their past affair, though Olivia disbelieves it before going to take a call. Lori's search results in two discoveries: a passport and a bracelet with the aforementioned heart charm. Not only that, Olivia--upon seeing Lori's snooping--fixes two cups of coffee, but drugs one of them before handing said cup to Lori, who is (unknowingly) saved by the sound of a car horn from her sister Kat. Even so, Olivia is the villainess, but Lori needed proof, so she enlisted Kat to contact Olivia and pose as a person who had known about Olivia killing her husband. The ruse works and Olivia leaves for the "meeting," allowing Lori to re-enter Olivia's house. However, Olivia appeared at Lori's house and knocked out Kat, and then returned to her own place and drugged Lori before abducting her.

Lori woke up in Giselle's house, while Olivia was smashing things around as part of her latest murderous scheme. It was after Lori broke free from her restraints that Olivia, while wielding a knife, revealed everything. As Olivia stated, she had been bitter and angry over being part of Noah's swinger parties, as he used them to constantly cheat on her. She had known about Noah and Giselle, as well as Noah's obsession with Lori, and after learning that Noah was planning on divorcing her (which would leave her with nothing), the villainess enacted her murderous plan. Olivia tracked Noah to Lori's house, where Noah drugged Lori's drink, and once Lori was knocked out, Olivia entered and stabbed Noah to death.

Olivia's original plan was to frame Lori, but after Grant ended up accused and taken into custody, she decided to kill Lori and set up Giselle, while she would be out of the country. Lori's attempt to talk Olivia down was met with defiance, as Olivia accused Noah of abusing her and added that Lori would have done the same thing. Lori stated that she wasn't like Olivia, making her comment before knocking out the villainess with a fruit bowl before escaping. Afterwards, Olivia was shown in handcuffs and being taken into police custody.

Suburban Swingers Club aired on Lifetime on March 9, 2019, and featured Elizabeth Leiner as the villainous Olivia Cranor. I truly loved Olivia, she was an absolutely fantastic villainess. She was viciously evil and vengeful, as well as immensely ruthless and deranged. I truly loved Olivia's slow and steady unveiling prior to the climax; it showed how surreptitious she was after playing the role of the grieving widow directly to Lori. In that regard, Leiner acted out Olivia's heel turn brilliantly, and her shining moment was in Olivia's confession to Lori, as we see Leiner portray Olivia's scorned and insane demeanor perfectly.

Elizabeth Leiner can currently be seen on The Young and the Restless as Tara Locke, and regarding Lifetime films, her only other appearance was in 2018's Nanny Killer. In that film, Leiner portrayed the ill-fated Elizabeth Martell.

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Click here for Olivia Cranor's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!