Villainess Review: Wendy Bouchard (Fatal Family Reunion)

I was quite elated when I learned that this film, Fatal Family Reunion, would hit Lifetime Movie Network on Thanksgiving weekend, which has featured its share of amazing thrillers over the years. Another classic from Marvista, I learned about this film on their site a few months ago, and of course, it comes just two weeks after we were treated to one amazing villainess, and regarding this film, it also delivered.

As a vast majority of Lifetime thrillers do, this one started with an unexpected tragedy. In this case, it was the sudden death of Avery Harrington, who suddenly fell from her stepladder and over the ledge. Avery's body was found by Ellie Harrington, who was pregnant at the time, with her husband, David Harrington tending to his wife after the discovery. Avery's death led to her stepdaughter, Sloane Harrington (who was also David's sister) returning to the family home she left behind years prior, where she not only reunited with David, but with Wendy Bouchard, who worked as the family's housekeeper.

Of course, there were also Sloane and David's stepsiblings, Blake and Lexi Klein, and I just want to say how elated I was to see Paige Evans in her second Lifetime film as Lexi. The character was a huge 180 from her Lifetime debut as maniacal villainess Grace Jenkins in Trapped With My Husband, which aired just five months prior on June 24, though from what I saw from Lexi in her first appearance, she may have been crazier than Grace Jenkins. Anyway, Avery's inheritance is discussed, and the aforementioned Lexi is the majority inheritor, which angers Blake to no end.

After Blake nearly runs down Sloane and teases her, Sloane believes that Blake would resort to all sorts of dangerous methods to get what she believes is his. The suspicions increase when Lexi is shockingly found dead in her room, while Blake's anger increased over the revelation that he wouldn't inherit anything. In addition, Sloane ends up a target herself, and David is nearly run off the road, and by this time, Sloane is thoroughly convinced that Blake's behind everything.

So I mentioned that Sloane hadn't been at her family home in years. She reveals her reason to David: she had found out that their father was cheating on their mother, and she figured that his mistress was Avery, as they got married so quickly after the Harrington matriarch passed. While Sloane continued to be targeted, she would learn that she wouldn't have to worry about Blake anymore: as Blake was dead of an apparent suicide--having been murdered earlier in the film. Later on, Sloane discovers Lexi's cellphone just outside the house, and turns it on in her quest to find evidence of Lexi's murder. Sure enough, she finds video of Lexi taking what would be her fatal botox injection, and afterwards, she sees Wendy entering the scene, giving an ominous expression.

So Wendy is the villainess behind Lexi's murder, and her reveal is cemented when she knocks out Malik Walker (Sloane's boyfriend) with a croquet mallet. Sloane confronts Wendy for her role in the murders, with the villainess boldly confessing, claiming that her victims "probably" deserved what happened. However, Wendy informed Lexi that she wished she could take all of the credit, and it was at that moment that David appeared and chloroformed his sister! So David and Wendy were having an affair (quite a villainous May/December romance), and they colluded in this murderous scheme together, and following their reveal, the pair planned to kill Sloane and Malik; setting up the deaths as suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning. David revealed his reasons; he felt abandoned by Sloane and wanted revenge, while also disbelieving Sloane's statement about their father having an affair with Avery, referring to the marriage as that of convenience while stating that their father's affairs were with "townie trash."

Sloane (after revealing that she's pregnant) stabs David and escapes, only to be pursued by Wendy. The pursuit ended at the balcony, where Sloane's attempt to call the police was thwarted, and afterwards, Sloane informed David that she was right about the affair, but wrong about who the mistress was. As Sloane revealed, her father's affair was with Wendy, not Avery, with the giveaway being Wendy's flinch when David insulted his father's mistresses. Wendy confirmed Sloane's statements, adding that she expected Harrington to marry her, but he married Avery instead. She spent years vowing to become a Harrington and gaining the family's wealth, and it led her to kill Avery and have her affair with David, while also coercing him to act as a co-conspirator in Blake and Lexi's murders. Wendy attempts to kill Sloane and orders David to help her, but David simply stood shocked over the revelation that Wendy lied to him and used him. The scuffle saw Wendy going over the ledge and hanging on to Sloane's arms, with Sloane attempting to help Wendy, who refused Sloane's help and ended up falling to her death.

Fatal Family Reunion aired on Lifetime Movie Network on November 25, 2022, and featured Stephanie Herrera as the film's hidden main villainess, Wendy Bouchard. For Herrera, this was her third time in a Lifetime thriller, but her first time playing a Lifetime villainess. After appearing in 2021's Bury the Past, Herrera appeared in the aforementioned Trapped With My Husband as Detective Holloway, meaning that she went from arresting an evil Paige Evans in that film, to turning heel and masterminding a babyface Paige's murder in this film. Wendy was quite fiendish and devious; masterminding a series of murders just so she could get a piece of the proverbial pie, but as it turned out, while greed was definitely a motive for Wendy, her main reason was scorn, as she was angry over being rejected by her actual lover, who just happened to be the father of her current one. Wow.

Which brings me to the climactic scene where Wendy is on the verge of falling to her death. It was two weeks prior that I saw the same scenario in Mother's Deadly Son, with the film's villainess, Tara, coming close to falling off a cliff. Now I figured I'd see the same thing here: Wendy's about to fall, and Sloane saves her despite everything, and Wendy's arrested. Instead, Wendy actually refuses Sloane's help, even telling Sloane that she would rather die. It was very clear: whatever goodness that was in Wendy's heart was replaced with a cold, bitter, and evil soul that despised the Harringtons. Her hatred was even displayed towards Sloane, who had to serve as a daughter-figure for Wendy for all those years, but in the years that passed, whatever love Wendy had for Sloane was replaced with bitterness, greed, and absolute hatred, and in the end, Wendy paid the ultimate price.

Other than her Lifetime thriller appearances, Herrera has appeared mostly in holiday films. She has also appeared in episodes of Titans and In the Dark, while her appearance in this film is her most recent. Herrera truly showed out in this film, I honestly think she stole it with her performance as the evil Wendy Bouchard. I hope to see her in more Lifetime films; I could easily see her play a heroic mother in one.

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