Villainess Review: Patty Garner (10 Year Reunion)

You know, I really love these Lifetime movies that centered on a group of women getting together. One reason is because they usually involve at least one known actress who I'm a fan of, but there's also the obvious reason: one of them turns out to be evil. It's a case that has been seen so many times on Lifetime, and the 2016 thriller, 10 Year Reunion.

The film starts with a quintet of high school girls who were about to graduate: Abby Edwards, Rose Crenshaw, Patty Garner, Erica Campbell, and Carly Newman, all discussing their goals and creating a time capsule that would only be re-opened a decade from this point by the girls. What follows is a high school party, but sadly, it ends tragically, as Abby starts to feel woozy and ill before collapsing and passing on.

The film fast forwards a decade later, and the remaining quartet all get together for a high school reunion. Carly has become a photographer, Erica's married to a budding politician, Rose is enjoying married life with police officer Chase Majors, and as for Patty, she achieved her dream of becoming a lawyer. Shane Conley, Abby's ex-boyfriend, is part of the reunion, as is Chase, but when the subject turned to Abby's tragic death, the true cause is revealed as a drug overdose, which Carly couldn't believe, as Abby was against drugs.

Carly managed to get her hands on Abby's toxicology report, though we also see a mysterious person in a beekeeping outfit skulking around the house. The capsule is mentioned, and a video of Abby is played, where Abby revealed that she looked at all of the girls' confessions before closing the capsule, and (posthumously) sent them on a scavenger hunt, which had an added and unwanted searcher in the form of that same culprit, who not only took the file on Abby and burned it, but had also been after Carly on numerous occasions. The acts become even more sinister later on, as after Erica finds the capsule and opens it, she's bludgeoned to death with a shovel by that same attacker.

Secrets about Abby had been revealed bit by bit, one of them being that she had a one-night stand with Chase while they studied together. As for Shane, he became a suspect at first, but the suspicion shifted to Rose when Patty actually took out a gun and held her at gunpoint, while loudly making her accusation. With the capsule found by Rose and Carly, the former decides to open the capsule to clear the air. The first one revealed that Abby had intentionally failed her last calculus test so Patty would become valedictorian, because she knew that's what Patty wanted so much. Rose's ended up revealing that Abby was actually pregnant at some point, and Rose took Abby to get an abortion, but even so, Patty remained convinced that Rose was Abby's killer. Just as Patty was set on closing the capsule, Carly took out Patty's confession. Let's just say, it was a doozy:

"My confession: I hate you, Abby Edwards. For making valedictorian and taking my scholarship. You knew how much it meant to me! I asked you to fail one silly test, drop your GPA half a point. That’s all I needed to escape this town, but you tell me it’s “unethical.” I’ll tell you what’s unethical: screwing the guy you knew your best friend is in love with, or better, screwing your friend’s boyfriend behind her back. Rose may be nasty, Erica shallow, and Carly naïve... but at least none of them are a cheating, two-faced bitch like you.

Best of luck at Carson, Abs... and go to hell."

Don't sugarcoat it, Patty. Tell us how you really feel.

That note pretty much sealed it; Patty killed Abby on the night of the party. After denying it, Patty vented about wanting to get out of town and being isolated by her friends, adding that being valedictorian was her only chance. She had no idea that Abby went though with failing the test, because she killed her before she had the chance to know, with Patty claiming that she laced Abby's drink with ecstasy to only make her sick. Patty also killed Erica during the events, as she was close to figuring out the truth, and she planted the beekeeper's outfit in Rose's car to frame her, as she was still bitter over how nasty Rose was to her. As for Carly, she was left stunned that her closest friend was an evil murderess, and while Patty claimed that she didn't want to hurt Carly, she had to kill both her and Rose in order to continue to set up Rose as the killer.

Patty fired her gun at the pair and chased them back to the house. Rose and Carly made it to the former's car, only for Patty to shoot at Rose's car, causing an explosion that killed Rose, though Carly escaped. Believing that she had eliminated the only two people who knew her evil secret, Patty was set on packing up the capsule and running off, only to be encountered by Carly, who confronted the villainess over her actions. Carly informed Patty that she killed everyone she cared about and that she was sick, only for Patty to state that she was doing whatever she needed to do to get what she wanted. Patty's attempt to kill Carly fell short at that moment, as her gun was out of bullets. Carly was armed with gardening shears, but that didn't stop Patty from fighting against her former friend, as well as accuse Carly of valuing Abby over her. No surprise, the fight did not end well for our unhinged villainess, as Carly shoved Patty onto the shears; a terrible demise for a maniacal madwoman.

10 Year Reunion aired on Lifetime on October 23, 2016, and featured Kayla Ewell as the evil Patty Garner. I watched this film when it aired, and I've seen it a few times since then, but the feeling remains the same: I was absolutely amazed by Patty. Patty Garner does fall under the "It's always the quiet ones" category, and she definitely falls under the "Bitch In Sheep's Clothing" trope as well. If you think about it, Patty was actually a cold case villainess. She killed Abby, got away with it for a decade, and then committed murder when her sinister secret was about to come to light. When it finally does come out, we see Patty in full deranged villainess mode, and as amazing as Ewell was throughout the film, her best acting in that movie came during Patty's reveal. Ewell dove into Patty's insanity, madness, desperation, and her bloodthirsty demeanor, and it was an absolutely perfect swan dive that I can watch over and over.

Kayla Ewell is best known to fans of The Vampire Diaries as Vicki Donovan in 19 episodes of the series. She also had a pair of memorable appearances on The Rookie as eccentric actress Sabrina Fowler, and appeared in episodes of The O.C., Lucifer, and Roswell, New Mexico. Ewell also appeared in another Lifetime movie, A Friend's Obsession, in 2018, and in 2020, she played villainess Nocturna on Batwoman.

If you like this story and review, click the heart and the subscribe button, and feel free to comment below! Tips and pledges would be greatly appreciated, but only if you want to do so!

Check out Patty Garner's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!