Lifetime
Lifetime’s ‘Sunday Night Thrills’ actually lives up to the name this week with a nifty, and dare I say complicated, mystery-thriller, The Prep School Disappearance, featuring a terrific ensemble cast headed by Tara O’Brien.
O’Brien stars as Lilly Sulda, an art therapy instructor at a prep school where troubled students let out their feelings through art. A lot of very dark and disturbing imagery, but better to release that with charcoal and paper than in more dangerous ways. One of the students, Elise, turns out to be the niece of Lilly, her mother and the instructor were sisters. Lilly’s mother died under not quite clear circumstances, but it seems everyone wants to blame Elise’s father, Donovan Parker … who is also the headmaster at the prep school. Like I said — it’s complicated. Elise has a major chip on her shoulder against her father, as does Lilly it seems, and there are also suggestions that Donovan has been physically abusive to Elise, to the point that Elise has decided to leave the school, stopping by her aunts house to say goodbye. Lilly convinces her to stay the night to just think about what she is doing, and if she chooses to leave in the morning Lilly won’t stop her. Elise agrees, and while she sleeps on the couch, Lilly decides this would be a good time to toss away her sobriety and get passed out drunk on the kitchen floor while grieving the loss of her sister. Awakened by her phone in the morning, the vodka bottle is smashed and Elise is gone, Donovan promptly blaming Lilly for getting drunk and not asking Elise where she planned to go.
Meanwhile, two students are rehearsing for a production of Romeo & Juliet, and they both have a complicated relationship with Elise. ‘Romeo’ Joey was Elise’s boyfriend … until he started dating ‘Juliet’ Kaylee, who was Elise’s bestie. Complicated. These relationships also put them in the spotlight of suspects in Elise’s disappearance when it becomes clear she did not leave her aunt’s house of her own accord. Lilly’s sponsor Brian shows up at her place to offer support, and when Lilly spots Elise’s necklace in the bushes outside the house, half of a ying-yang symbol, she gives it to Brian to take to the police. But before he can do that, he hears someone calling him and by the time he gets back to his car the necklace is gone. Then out of the blue, a new student shows up in Lilly’s class and she eventually reveals that she sort of knows Elise and gets involved with Lilly in trying to locate her. But with so many suspects and difficult relationships between them and Elise, will Lilly be able to solve the mystery and find Elise before it’s too late?
Lifetime
The Prep School Disappearance turned out to be a much more impressive production than expected. first of all, it has some really excellent production value from the art room, and the amazing works of art on display, to various homes that never look overly opulent, to the school’s theatre and outdoor locations. Director Alexandre Carrière uses the camera and locations to tell this story, and guides the cast expertly with their performances, never giving anything away about the plot twist until the time comes (even if you figure out the true identity of one character); it still all pays off well. If there’s one minor complaint, it’s a bit of continuity issues involving a filling bathtub that seems to take forever to fill, then the water recedes in another shot, then it’s filled up more again in another shot. Liquids are always the bane of a director’s, and continuity person’s, existence!
The screenplay by Richard Pierce expertly weaves all of the elements of the story together, skillfully giving us a few red herrings, importantly, without making them seem like red herrings. Even when things begin to go off the rails as the story barrels to its climax, it all still works extremely well and the franticness of the climax feels completely intentional. Really excellent work on display here.
The cast also works extremely well together. O’Brien could be considered the lead, but this really feels more like an ensemble with O’Brien’s Lilly one of the more prominent characters. She brings a lot of different emotions to the role, struggling both with the loss of her sister and keeping her sobriety in check, while never quite trusting her brother-in-law. She brings a genuine sense of interest to her students, and she cares about Elise, but she’s never overbearing, and best of all she doesn’t get an attitude when Brian shows up to make sure she’s doing okay. O’Brien really is the glue that holds the story together.
Lifetime
Matt Wells really makes it his mission to appear as the villain of the piece, not in Elise’s disappearance but certainly the impetus for her decision to leave. He always seems like he’s hiding something which is why he seems constantly angry, and he takes all of his repressed feelings out on Lilly. But is he as bad of a guy as people make him out to be? Melissa Bray is perfect as the bestie-turned-mean-girl and despite her frosty relationship with Elise, is still concerned that she’s gone missing. Brennan Clost is also good as Joey, still trying to maintain some kind of friendship with Elise when she’s not having it, and somehow finding himself dragged into the situation surrounding her disappearance. He does get in way over his head but perhaps, as we see at the end, he’s just a tool bouncing from one girl to the next. But to his credit, Clost never makes him seem anything other than a boy in an extraordinary situation not of his making.
Brett Geddes, unfortunately, doesn’t have a lot of screen time but he does make Brian a man with sympathy for Lilly’s situation and is always there to offer support, but he also gets caught up in a situation that does not end well for him. Magalie Langrais also has very little screen time, but she makes Elise feel like an authentic teen seeking guidance but willing to take things in her own hands if need be. Kamilla Kowal as Wren, the girl Elise was actually going to run away with, really seeming concerned about her disappearance, very involved with helping Lilly figure things out. We won’t say more about some of these actors so as not to ruin any surprises that may be revealed about their characters, but suffice it to say they all do some terrific work here, all working in concert with the director and the terrific script.
The Prep School Disappearance really surprises with its quality, in the production, the writing and the acting. The mystery is a solid one, leaving us to wonder if Elise is alive or dead until her fate is revealed in the climactic scenes, never being overly obvious therefore always offering several surprises along the way. This one was totally enjoyable.
The Prep School Disappearance has a run time of 1 hour 27 minutes, and is rated TV-14.