Lifetime
After the success of Amish Stud, it was inevitable that Lifetime would delve back into the land of the Amish and the network is certainly hoping that Amish Affair will bring them more ratings gold. They really should have thought the title through though, and turned this into a franchise of ‘Amish Stud’ movies with a new hunky actor playing the latest stud. Ryan McPartlin certainly fits the bill. It’s almost as if this role was created just for him … because he’s also the film’s executive producer.
Amish Affair is another of what Lifetime calls a ‘Ripped from the Headlines’ movie inspired by actual events, but it also comes with the disclaimer that all of the characters and incidents portrayed are a work of fiction. This could be any affair gone wrong story with Amish people substituted for the real folks involved because who doesn’t want to see a juicy, Amish forbidden love and murder story? The facts of Amish Stud, on the other hand, were very easy to verify, and according to some media reporting on the current film, its story is basically a reworking of Amish Stud. No wonder it all feels so familiar.
Amish Affair is set among the family of Aaron (McPartlin), wife Sara (Dana Stoutenburg) and their two daughters. Aaron has hired Hannah (Mackenize Cardwell) to help care for Sara, who appears to have ALS and has chosen to not seek medical treatment because of her religious beliefs. It’s in God’s hands. Hannah has past experience as a caretaker but … her last patient died under mysterious circumstances in what appeared to be an assisted suicide for which Hannah was blamed. She claimed innocence and was never charged but she was basically shunned by her community that believed she was indeed a murderess. Aaron is well-aware of Hannah’s past but he’s willing to give her a second chance. He obviously — and quickly — develops an attraction for Hannah, and while she tries to deny it she does too. Sara becomes a little suspicious when she sees the two coming home from the store, looking a little more than friendly. At Aaron’s business, his administrative assistant Laura (Gigi Neil) is obviously jealous of Aaron’s new employee. After a tryst in the barn, Hannah decides that she cannot continue the affair and accepts a date from Aaron’s employee Jacob. Sara is thrilled to hear that Hannah is dating someone who isn’t her husband, but Aaron is not too tickled. In fact, he warns Jacob of Hannah’s dark past and suggests the bishop would never approve their marriage so he might as well dump her. And dump her he does, on the day he was taking her to meet his family.
Aaron suggests that this was obviously God’s will for them to be together, and before you know it Sara has an episode and dies. God works in mysterious ways, don’t he? Of course, the timing could not be worse because if Aaron and Hannah suddenly appear as a couple in the community, all eyes will be on her with whispers of a possible crime having been committed. Well, it doesn’t take the police long to swoop in to question Hannah, because her past experience is a giant red flag that can’t be ignored, and a warrant is granted to exhume Sara’s body. Yep, she was definitely murdered with rat poison but they still don’t have enough evidence to pin it on Hannah. But Hannah spotted Aaron leaving Laura’s house, always suspicious that she and Aaron were also having an affair, so she goes through the dresser drawers and finds two vials of brown powder. Seeing Aaron coming from the barn, he collapses and is rushed to the hospital — rat poison, in a non-lethal dose! It’s not looking good for Hannah, but she finds a box of poison in the barn and now believes Aaron is the culprit because Laura wasn’t even home that day she saw him exit the house, according to Jacob who now also believes Aaron is up to some shenanigans. But Aaron is now on to her. Can Hannah get her name cleared before she becomes Aaron’s next victim?
Amish Affair isn’t as sexy as it needs to be outside of the barn scene — which is edited so oddly that it’s initially hard to know if it’s really happening or something Hannah is fantasizing about because it just comes out of nowhere. Other than that, Aaron really isn’t the Amish lothario we want him to be. Another member of the community, Miriam (Georgia Waters), is shunned by the church for her part in seducing a married man and it seems like it could have been Aaron … but wasn’t? Aaron seems to dodge any real explanation when Hannah asks about the shunning. There’s also the question of Laura. Does she have a relationship with Aaron, which explains why he’d even have a woman working for him (how is she educated enough to be handling paperwork and things like insurance claims???), is she lusting for him, or does she know Aaron is a horndog and is concerned about Sara finding out? That also is never clear as Aaron just tells Hannah she’s jealous because she does want to be with him since her husband died. Of course, it’s also a convenient plot device to pin the poisoning on Laura since she sent some food over to Aaron’s household. Allegedly. And she was the one he said made tea that day Hannah saw him exit the house. Laura is just basically one big red herring, but Gigi Neil seems to be doing all she can to give this movie the camp it so desperately needs with her over-the-top expressions and side-eye, garnering her the nickname ‘Sassy Susan’ in this reviewer’s home.
Speaking of plot devices that go unanswered, Aaron’s daughter Rachel (Maemae Renfrow) — who bears the slightest resemblance to Hannah — knows of Hannah’s experiences in the ‘English world’. (Hannah got a butterfly tattoo on her shoulder and seems to have only one set of undergarments, a hot pink bra and panties.) Who better to ask to borrow an ID so she can buy some alcohol? It’s ‘Rumspringa’ time, when the Amish teens can experience the outside world to see where they really belong (as seen on TLC’s Breaking Amish series), and Hannah surprisingly hands it over. Rachel is thrilled and surprised it’s not just an ID but a driver’s license! We never know, however, if Rachel got her booze (or drove, since she had the license). Instead, Rachel and her sister Grace (Evelyn Burke) turn on Hannah when their mom dies.
Lifetime
Sebastian Greaves as Jacob and Georgia Waters as Miriam actually turn in some good performances. It was nice to see Hannah befriend Miriam when no one else would, and perhaps her motivation was to find out if Aaron was the man she had an affair with … but didn’t. The relationship with Jacob is also a nice touch — and the pair of them being side-eyed by an ‘English’ couple like a pair of aliens eating ice cream is hilarious — but it would have been nice if the story had allowed Jacob to be far less trusting in Aaron, actually working with Hannah to find the truth after Sara’s death.
Ryan McPartlin is okay as Aaron. He does give himself a couple of shirtless scenes to show us he is indeed an Amish stud — and he thankfully has a real beard (although to be fair, it’s not entirely accurate because if he’d been married long enough to have two daughters, one of them a teenager, it would have been much longer than the close-cropped one he sports). His portrayal of Aaron is a bit stiff and more predatory than sensual, especially after Hannah rebuffs him as he tries to teach her the best way to churn butter (no, that’s not a metaphor) as if he’s trying to teach her how to golf. He’s hot, he’s good looking, but he doesn’t really have the personality that any woman (other than an Amish one?) would be attracted to. Looks and a strapping body can only carry you so far.
Mackenize Cardwell is very good as Hannah. The audience must be able to connect with her so that we remain invested in the character, especially after she’s accused of the murder and attempted murder. Cardwell is appropriately cautious with Aaron, but much more relaxed with Jacob. She also has a real connection with Miriam and Sara and the girls. She is fully believable as she protests her innocence which makes the viewer all that more empathetic with her because we believe what she’s saying and we are fully on board, rooting for her to prove her innocence and take Aaron down. Cardwell has a nice list of career credits (Supernatural, When Calls the Heart, Upload, Fire Country) so maybe her wonderful lead performance here can be a calling card to even bigger and better things.
If Lifetime is going to keep going to the Amish sex and murder well, they’re really going to have to move on from remaking and retooling Amish Stud. What these movies desperately need is a little more humor, a bit more campiness because Amish Affair is slow as molassas at a running time less than 90 minutes (minus commercials). Yes, sex and murder sells, especially if it all happens in a world many are unfamiliar with, but Lifetime really needs to start spicing these stories up with more humor and salacious content or that well’s going to dry up pretty quickly. Viewers are only going to give you so many chances before moving on to the next sordid tale.
Amish Affair has a run time of about 1 hour 26 minutes, and is rated TV-14 for mature themes.
Lifetime
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