Villainess Review: Rachel Jordan (Hiding from My Husband)

As I was anxiously awaiting the start of this current NFL season (and the current NHL season, as well), I was enjoying the bounty that Lifetime was giving us during this late summer season. Part of the goodness included this movie, Hiding from My Husband (originally titled, Rear View Mirror), and the beginning lived up to the new title, as it sees Jessica Howard frantically packing her things as she's preparing to take her son, Noah, and escape her house that she shared with husband Peter Howard, who was quickly established as being abusive and very controlling.

As Jessica was packing, she was on the phone with her sister, Rachel Jordan, who was informed by Jessica that she was finally leaving Peter. We see Peter make attempts to go after her, but once Jessica pulled Noah from school, both mother and son successfully made their escape. The pair headed to Rachel's home, and once there, Rachel vowed to serve as Jessica's legal counsel and protect her from Peter. Jessica adapts to her new life and surroundings, as does Noah, who formed a friendship with Rachel's hired handyman, Cory, a young adult.

However, the horrible memories of Peter remain fresh in Jessica's mind, but even so, Jessica continues to adapt and end up working as a teacher, where she meets Matt, a fellow teacher at her school. Sparks appear to fly, and later on, Jessica is informed by Rachel that Peter was killed in a car crash. So Jessica has a new love interest, and she would no longer be haunted by her abusive ex-husband. Everything is absolutely hunky-dory, right?

Need I remind you that this is Lifetime, not Hallmark?!

Jessica would end up on the receiving end of harassing messages that were apparently coming from Peter, with Noah's new phone being used. This led Jessica to fear that Peter was alive and somehow faked his death, though Rachel assured her sister that Peter was deceased. Jessica remained unconvinced, and that furthered when she was attacked in her home, as Jessica believed that Peter was going after her. When Matt arrived and saved Jessica, the latter was surprised when her attacker was revealed as Cory, the hired handyman. Despite this revelation, Jessica would find out that her suspicions were correct: Peter was alive, and he was attempting to take Noah, only to be confronted by Rachel before Jessica arrived.

Peter verbally assaulted Jessica while attempting to take Noah, and it was followed by a physical confrontation that saw Rachel involved before Peter lunged at Jessica. Peter's attempt saw him fall over the cliff and to his now-actual death, while Rachel takes out her phone and calls the police...to report Jessica for murdering Peter in cold blood.

Wait, what?!

Jessica was shocked by Rachel's call to the police, and it's followed by Rachel lashing out at her sister and accusing her of being selfish; claiming that Jessica left Rachel behind to tend to their ailing parents on her own, and also accused Jessica of ignoring her pleas. As it also turned out, Rachel was no longer a lawyer, she lost that job. As Jessica pinpointed, Rachel was the true mastermind in an insidious plot that included sending Cory to kill Peter by tampering with his car. while Cory's attack to Jessica was also under Rachel's order. Rachel was also behind the stalking messages, and as the villainess herself revealed, the motive was Noah. She planned to become Noah's legal guardian and benefit financially, and needed Jessica to be incarcerated to fulfill that goal. As Rachel boasted that Jessica would be blamed for everything that occurred, as well as the fact that they were the only witnesses, Noah appeared and revealed that he recorded Rachel's admission and had called the police, who arrested Rachel.

Hiding from My Husband aired on Lifetime Movie Network on August 24, 2023, and featured Betsy Stewart as the evil Rachel Jordan. I had been waiting for this film ever since I watched Reel One's trailer, which gave away Rachel as the villainess, and she was quite delicious. Rachel stayed true to the trope, "Bitch in Sheep's Clothing"; she portrayed herself as a caring and concerned sister who wanted to help Jessica and Noah hide out from an abusive environment, but the climax revealed that Rachel was a greedy and sinister villainess who was out for herself and wanted to flat out destroy Jessica. I really loved Rachel's heel turn in the climax; the phone call followed by her true evil and jealous demeanor coming out in spade with her self-serving rant. As ruthless as Rachel was in her villainous quest, she was also every bit as insane, as she truly believed that Jessica was her main enemy instead of a woman who went though years of abuse from Peter.

Betsy Stewart's performance was absolutely golden. She acted out Rachel's apparent warmth and familial generosity quite well, but when it came to Rachel's heel turn in the film's climax, Stewart delivered an amazing performance in regards to Rachel's fiendish conduct. This was Stewart's first Lifetime film, I truly hope it's not her last!

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Check out Rachel Jordan's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!