I am not ashamed to admit that Lifetime movies are my guilty pleasure. Unfortunately, I no longer have marathons because I switched from cable to streaming services. In fact, I don’t watch these movies often anymore. However, I always watch the Lifetime V.C. Andrews movies. They’re addictive, and the Dawn movies are the network's latest adaptation of her book series.
These films are always the upcoming book to screen adaptations that I look forward to; they’re just so ridiculous and fun. Occasionally, they’re also done really well in terms of acting, writing, etc., which was the case with most of The Flowers in the Attic: The Origin movies. Dawn is not one of my favorite Andrews adaptations, but it does have many fun and crazy elements that make the journey of watching worth it.
Warning: V.C. Andrews’ Dawn spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.
They Made Me Root For A Semi-Incestuous Relationship…Again
Anyone who read Flowers in the Attic or saw any of the adaptations knows that incest plays a major role in the story. However, it may surprise you to learn that almost all of these adaptations have some form of incest, either actually blood-related or technically not blood-related, but once believing they were siblings or as adopted siblings.
I usually don’t root for fictional incestuous couples, except maybe for the incest in Game of Thrones, but I did enjoy the complicated romance between Bart (James Maslow) and Cindy (Samantha Hanratty) in Seeds of Yesterday. They aren’t blood related but they are adopted siblings. Therefore, only semi-incestuous.
I liked their relationship, but Dawn made me love the one between Dawn (Brec Bassinger) and Jimmy (Khobe Clarke). They thought they were siblings all their lives only to find out that she was kidnapped by his parents. Almost immediately, he reveals he has feelings for her. Yes, it is very creepy that once he hit puberty, he was probably having inappropriate thoughts about who he assumed was his sister.
Knowing this fact, I was completely against their romance at first, but throughout the first three movies, their chemistry and love make it hard to root against them. Their whole dynamic takes the forbidden romance genre to another level. I don’t like that I am rooting for fictional characters who were once siblings, but here we are, and it’s not the first time and probably won’t be the last.
Dawn And Her Family Have Comically Bad Luck
The third Dawn movie, Twilight’s Child, has so many death. Some of them are actually funny. They show how Dawn’s birth family, the Cutlers, have been cursed. The family is full of jerks and abusers, so you kind of can’t help but cheer for their demise, but it’s all fun and games until Dawn’s family karma catches up to her.
That’s when the family curse goes a little too far. Until that moment, though, it’s a welcomed karmic solution to punishing the wicked. The best Cutler karma comes to Clara Jean (Elyse Maloway); I enjoyed her death the most.
She deserved her demise and it was done in such a funny way, including the dramatics at her funeral, that you couldn’t help but smirk at it, like Dawn herself.
The Villains Are Over The Top In A Way Only Lifetime Can Accomplish
Speaking of Clara Jean, she’s a villain that you love to hate. If she wasn’t so annoying, she could be as iconic as Disney villains or even great Marvel villains. While she's fun, the show has some not-so-fun villains, such as Lillian (Donna Mills) and Emily (Jennifer Higgins). It also has baddies who aren’t fun or extremely wicked, such as Michael Sutton (Joey McIntyre) and Betty Ann (Chelsey Reist). They’re not boring, but I don’t hate or love them.
Basically, Dawn is full of a variety of antagonists. They all represent different levels of Lifetime villainy. You have over-the-top ones, predator ones, silly ones, and wicked ones. It’s a villain buffet. They are some of the best parts of this network's movies, especially the ones not based on real events.
They’re so ridiculous in a way that’s not realistic. Some of my favorite Lifetime movies are the ones where the bad guys continue to escalate events until they’re just setting themselves up for failure. Dawn has plenty of those; they don’t learn from their mistakes, and karma always gets them in the end.
Dawn Has So Many Soap Opera Aspects, Including Kidnapping And Teen Pregnancy
Soap operas were a big part of my life as a teen. Therefore, I am no stranger to their outlandish nature. I enjoy it when a show or movie embraces soap opera elements. Dawn, like many Lifetime movies, fully embraces these dramatic aspects and tropes.
I was fully expecting evil twins, fake deaths, and amnesia by the end. We don’t get some of those most famous soap opera tropes, but we get plenty of others. Dawn’s entire story revolves around her being kidnapped. That’s pretty soapy. Then she gets pregnant as a teen. That’s not a big soap opera theme, but it occasionally happens in them.
Most, if not all, of these villains are like the ones you would find in various soaps. Dawn embracing those elements makes it more fun to watch.
The Entire Final Episode Just Shifts Perspectives
The movie does a good job of making you grow to really like Dawn. Then they kill her…and Jimmy, off. To say I was a little annoyed by this twist is an understatement. Hasn’t the character been through enough? The film series then tells the story through her daughter, Christie’s (Megan Best) point of view. We watch her go through some of the same nightmarish situations as her mother.
Making Christie the lead in the final part isn’t necessarily a bad idea, but it comes out of nowhere if you’ve only watched these episodes and have not read the books, then it’s shocking and feels unnecessary, because Christie’s story is basically a repeat of Dawn’s with a few changes.
It’s Melodramatic In A Fun Way
Lifetime does melodrama best. It might be the best network to watch if you want that kind of content, because it fully leans into it. Dawn is a perfect example of this because the entire limited series just becomes increasingly melodramatic.
This further proves that Lifetime has a winning combination with their V.C. Andrews’ collection. This isn’t the best one of these film series, but it’s still fun enough that it’s worth a watch.
