V.C. Andrews’ Dawn: Midnight Whispers Review: Christie’s Revenge, “Feel Her Up” Philip’s Downfall & A Lackluster Conclusion

Properly, the Daybreak Saga has concluded with Midnight Whispers, and boy, was it a journey.

We went full circle from Longchamp to Cutler to Longchamp yet again, as Christie might have formally freed herself from the curse of that blasted Cutler household and located one thing akin to happiness.

However, after all, happiness all the time comes at a price, and it was main.

Is it doable to stay fortunately ever after within the V.C. Andrews Universe? It does not look like it.

And this last installment was an ideal reminder because it was riddled with darkness and loss of life, together with of our treasured Daybreak and her beloved Jimmy.

Clearly, this sequence is not a stranger to darkish themes. It virtually relishes them at each conceivable flip, incessantly gearing towards the melodramatic.

However off, this was a darkish one, as we realized bits and items in regards to the household’s previous, and we needed to watch Christe battle for her life in opposition to her lecherous Uncle Philip and spineless Aunt Beth.

Christie had a great factor going for her for a while, in order that’s one thing. She not less than obtained to make it by most of her life, dwelling in a privileged, well-adjusted, loving, supportive household and minimal scars.

Midnight Whispers had some enhancing points. It began with how they dropped us into this random level in Christie’s life after which relied so closely on exposition to hold many of the story.

With the lengthy, convoluted historical past of V.C. Andrews’ Daybreak Saga alone, not to mention all the opposite tells, one barely batted a watch over the truth that someplace in time, Christie began courting her step-uncle Gavin Longchamp.

Positive, a few of this franchise’s enchantment is watching the forbidden, and lots of notch posts of inappropriate relationships truly play out in entrance of us. We will not all the time have romance, I suppose.

Gavin Longchamp was a bit one-dimensional, regardless of Emrik Lopez’s admirable makes an attempt at bringing the character to life.

Gavin had that Longchamp appeal and swagger if the bike and that chain round his neck did not make that clear. Oh, I see you, sir.

It was exhausting to get connected to the character or their romance when it principally felt like background fodder in an aimless chapter of this saga.

However he undoubtedly had his brother’s goodwill and “Captain Save a… Healthful Blond” high quality. It is a Longchamp superpower.

Presumably, the most effective issues about their romance is that if she inevitably ties the knot along with her Step-Uncle now that her precise uncle is locked away and never chasing after her, she does not even have to vary her identify.

She’s destined to be Christie Longchamp for the remainder of her life, and he or she does not even must abide by all that Cutler nonsense and the hell that identify brings.

The Longchamps weren’t significantly cursed a lot as humble, working-class folks with a penchant for bother right here and there, save Fern, who’s a hellish anomaly not value claiming.

Did any actual good even come from her studying her twisted household historical past on the Meadows?

It did not really feel like we realized a lot of something we did not already know or could not guess, and we already noticed a lot of what Christie pieced collectively.

However her studying the reality did not appear to have a lot bearing on how she operated since Christie already acknowledged that anybody who wasn’t her dad and mom was batshit cray.

As a substitute, we borderline obtained one other rudimentary albeit traditional Lifetime fictional piece a few younger woman making an attempt to flee the sexual assault of her obsessive uncle.

Frankly, Dane Schioler is just too good at taking part in this crazed, entitled, creepy man, and I totally count on to see him in comparable Lifetime films.

This dude is tailored for this particular style and could possibly be deep in his bag with these roles. He has that Lifetime antagonist position down pat. Extra, please!

The movie peaked when our woman Daybreak died in a blaze of glory and love with Jimmy in that resort inferno after Philip clocked Jimmy within the head with a wrench within the boiler room, like a live-action sport of Clue.

Relaxation in peace, child woman. You died method too younger, trying each little bit of a youngster regardless of taking part in 33, however alas, I admire they did not do something too drastic to age up her, Jimmy, or Philip. My ego could not have taken a success in the event that they obtained too loopy.

I am nonetheless mad that the Longchamps obtained blown to bits when Beth was proper there.

I hate to be that one that would sacrifice a lady’s life for a sizzling dude, however Beth was the worst, and so they might’ve stored their household issues inside their internal circle as a substitute of spilling over into the Longchamp bubble, dammit.

The truth is, this film sucked for making me advocate for violence in opposition to girls. In hindsight, issues may’ve been higher if Philip had killed Beth and gone down for it.

Goodness is aware of she had no sense of sisterhood solidarity by laying by and permitting her psycho husband to sexually assault a youngster within the subsequent room.

And her personal violence in opposition to Christie was abhorrent.

And a woman should not have been virtually feral when Homer snatched Fern up.

Homegirl in some way managed to make The Craft her whole character 5 years earlier than it even got here out, and doubtless simply wanted a great old-fashion ass-whooping.

Her lack of sympathy when she realized the true cause Christie fled Philip was abhorrent and but not all that shocking from a woman who cried abuse to govern Jimmy into taking her in and proceeded to offer Daybreak holy hell throughout Twilight’s Baby.

The Meadows had been creepy, even with electrical energy, and Charlotte and Luther had been joyful out of their minds.

It wasn’t shocking to be taught that the satan’s youngster Charlotte supposedly had was truly a biracial son with Luther. Emily and all of her pseudo-Christian, sexist, racist evil bullshit would freak out about her sister having a toddler with a Black man.

They usually implied that the household was paying for sins from slavery. And hey, a woman will not knock a generational curse within the identify of justice.

However throwing all this stuff out into the environment felt foolish once they did not quantity to something or lead anyplace.

Discovering out that Lillian obtained offered to Large Daddy Cutler for the Meadows was simply an errant story that supposedly defined away why Lillian was hardened broad.

However all of it felt like random issues from the guide thrown at us to pad this story additional for a film that did not really feel prefer it wanted to occur.

In the event that they selected to finish the story with Midnight Whispers as a substitute of tossing us that Darkest Hour prequel, they might’ve simply left issues at Twilight’s Baby, alluded to Daybreak and Jimmy’s loss of life on the finish with a flashforward or one thing and left issues there.

Watching Pedo Philip lose his thoughts over unintentionally killing the girl he obsessed over and harassing his niece to the excessive heavens sucked.

And it felt like manufactured contrivances to have Zaddy Bronson unavailable and unable to take Christie and Jefferson in.

They teased that he and Christie had been like “two peas in a pod” and that man was mainly conscious of all of the household’s nasty, soiled secrets and techniques.

The person knew rattling properly that Philip was a creep and that his spouse was a jealous, wounded lady with a vendetta, and that the twins had been evil spawn youngsters.

It additionally did not make any sense that Daybreak and Jimmy would not have any will or paperwork to handle what occurred to the resort or, extra importantly, the youngsters if something occurred to them.

Why would not Tricia take them in or one thing? Even when she introduced them again to her residence in NYC and organized for them to have supervision, it could’ve made extra sense than leaving them with Philip and his spouse.

And as a lot as a woman enjoys laying eyes on Joey McIntyre, particularly since he stopped trying like a Ken doll within the newer installments with the blond hair, Christie seeing her father once more did not quantity to a lot both.

However so ends the V.C. Andrews Cutler Saga. Was it every part you wished it to be and extra?

Which V.C. Andrews sequence do you hope they cowl subsequent? Pontificate under with all your ideas.

If you have not already, you possibly can try all of our V.C. Andrews critiques right here at TV Fanatic.

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