Villainess Review: Tracey (The Pregnancy Promise)

Whenever a Lifetime film involves pregnancy, and especially has that word in the title, expect a villainess to appear. It's like clockwork. Pregnancy, babies, motherhood in Lifetime films? Hotbed for villainesses. The latest example comes in the form of The Pregnancy Promise, which centers on best friends Lucy and Skye. Their friendship is a close one, and Lucy enjoys spending time at Skye's home, with one side reason being that she's involved with Skye's brother, Aaron. As we would quickly learn, there's another reason: the environment at the Simmons household is a breath of fresh air compared to her own house.

Lucy returns home and sees that her mother, Tracey, had found someone in her life, and it's established that Tracey...well...isn't exactly "mother of the year." Later on, Skye sneaks out of the house and joins Lucy at a high school party, where both halves of the duo hook up. In Skye's case, her lover is Jake Dawson, but as Skye suddenly discovers, she became pregnant afterwards. The news shocks Skye, as she had been ardent in taking her birth control pills, but afterwards, Lucy tells Skye that she's also pregnant, and Aaron is the father.

Needless to say, Skye's parents (who are a bit in the helicopter category) were stunned that both of their kids are becoming parents, but they decided to talk things out with all parties involved. The visit to Jake's household saw Jake's father voice his bitterness over Charles' construction project getting the nod over his, and the meeting with Lucy and Tracey saw the latter make her daughter's pregnancy all about herself. Lucy voiced her idea to live with the Simmons family, but Tracey shot that down quickly, accusing Lucy of becoming pregnant just so she could get away from her.

It's at this point that things become quite sinister. Charles and Diane are subjected to stalking and harassment--in the form of slanderous social media posts, and even some vandalism. Meanwhile, Skye is subjected to cyberbullying and harassment of her own, which included a plethora of pacifiers being stuffed in Skye's locker. Each side had their suspects: Diane and Charles felt that Jake was behind everything, mainly because of his father, but also, Jake's proposal to have the couple pay for his college was turned down. As for Skye's harassment, Lucy pointed the finger at head cheerleader Brooke, and she would be on the receiving end of verbal lashing from Tracey, who blamed her own daughter for having to go back to work, and after getting into a fender bender (which was her own fault), Tracey accused Lucy of ruining her life.

The mystery regarding Skye's harassment ended up being solved by Jake, as Skye was stunned to find out that Lucy was behind it all. A confrontation revealed that Lucy tampered with Skye's birth control pills, and had been sending her the bullying messages, though during Lucy's confession, she stated that she stopped once she saw Skye stand up to Brooke, and she denied harassing Skye's family. This was all part of Lucy's plan to fulfill her "pact" with Skye, who walked away from Lucy, leaving their friendship in immense jeopardy.

Three months pass, but the main harassment doesn't stop, even after Charles' business is saved. In addition, Lucy isn't seen as well, though Skye does receive a message from Lucy, which asked Skye to meet her at their usual hangout spot. Skye shows up, but while waiting for Lucy, she is drugged and abducted by a mysterious attacker, leading to Charles and Diane searching for their daughter. While Diane visits Jake's house, Charles visits Tracey, who informed Charles about Lucy and Skye being separated from each other. Charles later noticed a packed suitcase nearby, but he later ends up drugged from behind by Tracey.

So Tracey was behind everything, with the revelation being cemented after she contacted Diane. The evil Tracey demanded $500,000 from Diane, promising to reveal Skye's location if she acquiesced, and it was followed by Diane and Jake attempting to find Skye themselves. The plan included stalling Tracey long enough to get a location; meanwhile, Skye saw that Lucy was tied up in the same location, and it was Lucy who revealed to Skye that Tracey was behind their abductions, as Tracey had been attempting to blackmail Skye's family. Diane and Jake later found the girls at an empty house, where they were tied up in the basement, but after the duo freed the girls, they all found themselves being confronted by a gun-wielding Tracey.

Tracey had her sights set on killing Diane, but she was stopped by Lucy, who stood in front of Diane. Tracey ordered Lucy to move out of the way, only for Lucy to stand her ground and attempt to get through to her maniacal mother, who (again) voiced her jealousy over Lucy's adoration of the Simmons family and accused Lucy of not caring about her and seeing her mother as an embarrassment. Tracey claimed not to care about Lucy as well, but once Lucy dared her mother to actually shoot her, of course she couldn't do it. So the nightmare was over; both girls gave birth to their children, and as for Tracey, she was in psychiatric care (according to Lucy), though Lucy still introduced Tracey to her new granddaughter, Emma.

The Pregnancy Promise aired on Lifetime Movie Network on May 11, 2023, and featured Gabriella Schaefer as villainous madwoman Tracey, who was as delicious as she was delusional and insane. Tracey didn't start off in a good light; she was quite self-serving and narcissistic from jump street, but as the film's climax revealed, she became outright criminal and unhinged in the months leading to Lucy and Skye's due dates. It was also clear that Tracey was immensely jealous of the Simmons family, not only because of their status, but also because of the fact that Lucy preferred their company over her own mother, and with good reason. I couldn't help but love Tracey's expression during her on-screen heel turn, as it showed that she was completely far gone and all in on her insanity, but that last moment with Lucy was definitely eye-popping. As deranged as Tracey was, she couldn't bring herself to actually kill her daughter, proving that her earlier statement that she didn't care about Lucy was just Tracey lying to herself.

Gabriella Schaefer played Tracey immensely well; she acted out Tracey's self-serving nature to perfection in the earlier scenes, but when it came to Tracey's unveiling and her insanity, Schaefer really went all out in giving a stellar performance. This film marked Schaefer's debut in the world of Lifetime films; I hope she does many more, and honestly, I see her playing the villainess a lot in these films.

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