Upamanyu Biswas
In Lifetime’s ‘Killing the Competition,‘ a mother in her 40s named Elizabeth Fenwick becomes obsessed with her daughter Grace’s high school life after the latter misses out on an opportunity to enter the school’s dance team. Under the direction of Lee Gabiana, the thriller movie uncovers Elizabeth’s unhealthy exploits as she tries to force her will upon her teen daughter, hoping to shape her according to her expectations. When it leads to a rift in their relationship, Elizabeth’s life starts falling apart as she becomes more and more desperate to have her own way with things, even descending to gaslighting and coercive behavior. Eventually, the psychological spiral leads to a catastrophic event that shocks the community and tarnishes the Fenwick family name. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Killing the Competition Presents a Dark Look Into a Mother’s Fixation
While ‘Killing the Competition’ can be viewed as a generic thriller that touches upon well-versed tropes and themes, it stands apart due to a compelling and often frightening performance by Melissa Joan Hart, who plays the role of Elizabeth Fenwick. The film’s dark and relatable subject matter is brought to life in an eerie fashion by Hart’s Machiavellian performance as Elizabeth. The mother is cringy to watch because of the realistic nature of her interactions with Grace, especially how she overlooks the boundaries between her and her daughter’s lives. It leads to some chaotic conversations that can make the audience cringe, owing to a lack of self-awareness in Elizabeth’s personality makeup. However, it also lends a sinister aura to her character, one that she uses to subjugate her will on everyone around her.
To that end, the film almost depicts Elizabeth as a force of nature. She views anything in her daughter’s life as a threat to her future success, even if it may be innocuous or supportive by nature. This makes her delusions all the more disturbing as she takes it out on teenagers who have yet to build strong willpower against combatting aggressive adults like her. Naturally, it also creates a great deal of suspense and tension while watching her character descend into hell as she tries her best to “protect” her daughter, only to bring about something terrible and ugly. As a result, the film draws up some thought-provoking questions about parental responsibility, childhood innocence, and the balance between healthy criticism and unhealthy fixation.
Killing the Competition Plot Synopsis
The movie begins with a look into the Fenwick household on a random evening as Elizabeth walks in with some food for everyone. Grace, her dad, and her brother welcome their mom home and have a regular family night. However, the peaceful atmosphere is interrupted by a police call outside the door. The family watches in shock as Elizabeth is arrested and led away in front of them, unsure what the commotion is all about. We then go back a few months as Elizabeth is preparing her daughter Grace for her upcoming trials to enter the Thresherettes dance team at her high school. Despite her best efforts, Grace misses out on a spot, and Elizabeth is enraged. She lodges a complaint in court about the unfairness of the incident and gets her daughter admitted into the Thresherettes. The other parents are also overjoyed as their daughters are allowed to be a Theresherette member.
While Elizabeth is happy with her legal victory, she is frustrated that her daughter now has to compete with even more students to shine in the dance troupe. She also becomes fixated on Grace’s boyfriend, Tyler, who she believes is a bad influence on her. Elizabeth begins harassing the boy behind Grace’s back with the sole intention of driving him away. When Grace finds out, she is apoplectic and tells her mother to stay out of her life. Sensing that she may be on the losing side, Elizabeth concocts a story about how Tyler is cheating on her with one of her dance team members, Hannah. However, this is shown to be false, as Tyler is simply seeking Hannah’s help to plan a surprise for Grace. Elizabeth also urges her daughter to listen to her advice as it will help her become the lead member of the band, even though no such position exists in reality.
The mother and daughter’s conflict continues as the former tries to vicariously live out her own life and success through Grace’s exploits. However, Grace feels suffocated by her mother’s overbearing and overzealous attitude. The two continuously keep clashing, and Elizabeth is forced to abandon her interference. However, there is clearly frustration brewing within her, especially after she finds out she has been rejected in one of her job applications. It is evident that she is trying to cover up for the holes in her own life by assuming she is still living out her high school dream as Grace. However, the young girl will have none of it, setting up boundaries against her mom’s desperate attempts to make it all about her. This reaches a boiling point when Grace forbids Elizabeth from watching her live performance at a game, which she takes as a step too far.
Killing the Competition Ending: Why Does Elizabeth Abduct Hannah?
While Grace and her dad prepare for the final game of the high school season, Elizabeth decides to take a drastic step to ensure her daughter’s life belongs to her and only hers. She takes the gun she bought from a store previously and drives to Tyler’s house with the motivation of getting rid of him. She sees the boy as the primary source of disruption and the reason why Grace no longer wants her help. However, she does not find him at his house. Subsequently, she drives to Hannah’s house, where her mom, Nicole, the coach of the Thresherettes, allows her to enter the house. As Elizabeth is wearing a brunette wig, Nicole is unable to identify her, while Hannah does so in an instant. By this point, Elizabeth runs out of patience and takes out her gun. She asks Hannah where Tyler is at gunpoint, thinking that she has the answer, which she doesn’t.
Elizabeth realizes that she is out of options. So, she takes Hannah as a hostage and drives her away while letting Nicole go. She takes Hannah to the garage of her house, where all her previous medals with the Thresherettes are stored. It is evident from the trophy room that Elizabeth bestows an incredible amount of emotional investment to her high school success as a troupe member. Now, she has lost everything, including the possibility of a life free from the town’s machinations. Her own frustrations have left her in a volatile situation, and Hannah becomes the victim of that rage. After years of masking her hollow inside with a fake exterior and an unhealthy attachment to her daughter’s life, Elizabeth’s spiral into darkness is complete, and she fails to recognize the real reason her life is falling apart.
How Does Hannah Escape? What Happens to Elizabeth?
Elizabeth forces Hannah to dress up in the Thresherette costume and perform her routine, almost as a way to humiliate the girl. The girl tries to stall in the hopes of escaping. However, Elizabeth catches on and strangles her in a state of panic. She then leaves, thinking that the girl is dead and she no longer has to bother with the situation. Moments later, Hannah wakes up from her unconscious state, noticing that she is alone in the garage. She finds an exit and dashes out of the place. Meanwhile, Nicole and the police are sent a tipoff about Hannah’s whereabouts. Nicole urges the officer to verify the information in the hopes that it may be her daughter, even though the latter dismisses it initially. However, Nicole’s faith pays off as she reunites with her daughter. Subsequently, Hannah reveals everything about who was responsible for her abduction.
The movie then cuts to the opening scene, where we watch Elizabeth arrive at the Fenwick household, arms laden with food for her children and husband. Grace takes her mother aside and apologizes for not letting her come to the game, stating that she wants her to watch all her games in the future. It plays as a tragic moment as Elizabeth has already committed a horrifying crime that she clearly regrets as she goes to bed. Moments later, the cops arrive to arrest her and take her away. The entire family is unaware of what Elizabeth has done and tries to defend her. However, it proves futile as Elizabeth is taken away in a cop car. Months later, the family enters a court where Elizabeth is being tried for her crime. She delivers an impassioned speech showing remorse for her actions. Unfortunately, it still ends with a guilty verdict.
Grace, her brother, and her father visit Elizabeth in prison a few months later. From the exchange that takes place between the family, it is evident that Grace is preparing for university life. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is no longer as obsessive or controlling as she used to be and urges her daughter to do the best she can. The intervening months have allowed the mother to reflect on her past actions. As such, one of the most significant changes in her behavior is how she takes accountability for her faults, which she failed to do for large chunks of the narrative. It plays a tragic note at the end of the film as the damage has already been done, and Elizabeth’s realization has come far too late. When her family leaves, she notices a shy prisoner in the visiting room and offers her advice on how to be more confident. The scene signifies that she is now trying to be a better mother overall.
Read More: Is Killing the Competition a True Story? Is Elizabeth Fenwick Based on a Real Person?
