What is it about the ’80s that it delivers on all the campy, juicy drama?
V.C. Andrews’ Twilight’s Child was a particularly soaptastic edition in the Cutler Saga with a wedding, two funerals, and the return of not one but two hellions from Dawn’s past.
All Jimmy and Dawn were trying to do was live their lives happily with sweet Christie, but family, am I right?
Alas, our girl Dawn is finally holding her own, though, dysfunctional AF family and all.
She started from the bottom, and now she’s here.
Credit where it’s due, Twilight’s Child, unlike V.C. Andrews’ Heaven Saga or The Landry Series, actually did things like remember to bring up those long abandoned siblings and pull on dangling strings that would typically leave us hanging.
We were up to our eyeballs in side kids during this film, weren’t we? It was a genuine shock that they did, in fact, revisit Fern, and boy, was that regrettable in the long run.
But they even threw Gavin, who, like the redheaded stepchild, I forgot existed.
Dawn’s family tree isn’t even a tree. It’s like a tangle of weeds that deceptively looks like a pretty flower but gives you shingles. It’s a hot mess, basically.
It’s just a mess of so many things, and all of that came to fruition during this chapter of the series where no one would let Dawn breathe for a second before she got hit, pun not intended, with something else.
The early days of her adjusting to running a hotel were entertaining. The poor girl was out of her depth with that bit, but Ms. Boston reassured her that she was better off than Queen B. Lillian was when she first started.
It left the opening, one of many through the film, at insight into Lillian’s own convoluted and complex past, but unlike with V.C. Andrews’ Web of Dreams in the Heaven Casteel Saga, we’re not getting that deep dive, a prequel featuring Lillian’s life story.
Boo, hiss, and sorrows to that.
Dawn should’ve been in her bag and at the peak of her life. She successfully got baby Christie back, and inquiring minds would love to know how she got a little bouncing baby girl back from whatever family had taken her.
And sweet (not) brother-boyfriend, Jimmy-cakes dropped on his knee and proposed to Dawn before he left for more Army business. She finessed her way into being a Longchamp one way or another, baby.
All was well.
Dawn and Jimmy’s wedding was shockingly endearing if you set aside that no-predator Philip sweet-talked his way into being Jimmy’s Best Man, most likely so he could pretend it was him standing at the end of the aisle.
Also, scrumptious Bronson had to walk her down the aisle since her “Daddy”- Brother was too busy hurling himself to his death.
I mean, ASIDE from that, the wedding was sweet, and I wasn’t even mad at the powder blue suits and ruffles because, dammit, it was the ’70s, and the guys had the nerve to pull those ridiculous things off.
How unfortunate was it that Dawn was the only one who seemed to give a damn about Randolph?
The guy was not doing well since Lillian died, which tracks since he wasn’t functioning without her. Lillian had a single brain cell between the two of them.
Jason Cermak is done so dirty in these films.
Randolph’s wig was blown back for none of the fun reasons.
It deserved its own recognition, though.
Then he just died without ever seeing a professional about his weird Oedipal stuff or whatever other mental and emotional deficiencies were happening up there.
It was cackle worthy that they squeezed in that little funeral, and then we were right back to Dawn and Jimmy finally getting to jump each other’s bones after waiting literally all their lives to do it.
Given the circumstances, Jimmy’s plan to wait until they were married was quite sweet.
It still felt like he was getting over the last bit of his weirdness over them being raised as siblings but no longer siblings, but maybe I’m projecting because I needed SOMEBODY to be in their feelings about this more.
But I was happy for our girl. Dawn had been craving Jimmy’s long champ for a minute, and she finally got to take it for a spin.
Once a girl could get past the fact that all of Dawn’s sexual experience was because of her inappropriate relationship with Michael and that her boasting about her sexual skills was due to Michael’s teachings, if you will, I was vibing with them.
Unlike the campy ridiculousness of Dawn and Michael’s, their love scene was endearingly sweet, intimate, and romantic. It was special.
Jimmy routinely delivers as one of the strongest romantic leads of the franchise. He’s just that dude.
He built our girl her dream house on the property to get them out of that freaking hotel, which was beautiful. He didn’t disregard her feelings when she said Lillian and her religious nut sister were haunting her.
And he was lowkey speaking facts when he said that Dawn was looking for a new villain in her story.
To be fair, there always is one for her, but she’s been in constant survival mode in that regard, and Jimmy wasn’t wrong for pointing that out.
Jimmy puts up with all that kooky family nonsense and the constant disrespect because of where he comes from, assists with running the hotel, and happily raises another man’s kid as his own.
Jimmy deserved to be sitting in that tacky masquerading as an elegant golden throne at the film’s end. Jimmy was a King.
His only downfall was how clueless he was regarding Fern.
The return of Fern was one for the ages. It’s funny how you could go from being happy to see her to being put off by all her mischievous, young teen antics.
Fern was such an uncouth little hellion that it’s no wonder her adoptive parents were exasperated with her. She faked abuse to stay with Dawn and Jimmy and then spent most of her time there messing with Dawn and almost putting a wedge between her and Jimmy.
She was a full-blown troublemaker. Hilariously enough, she was everything that Lillian and others used to accuse Dawn and Jimmy of being.
Clearly, Fern will spend a significant of time in their lives being a challenge, but it seemed like once Jimmy asserted himself with her, and she realized that despite her antics, they still saw her as family, she simmered down some.
For a minute, it felt like it would be a The Good Son situation or something with her and Christie.
Speaking of Christie, how could someone so sweet share genes with Michael?
The return of Michael Sutton was one of those unexpected things they didn’t necessarily need.
But a girl will never turn her nose up at seeing Joey McIntyre grace the screen, even if he’s playing such an asshole. Michael seemed genuine when he saw Christie for the first time, so we know he’s not a total cad.
But then he was using her to blackmail Dawn, and he was back to being on the crap list. The dude needs to get sober, get his life together, and maybe track down all the other kids he probably has.
Dawn pulling a Lillian with him to get out of the blackmail was an epic moment, though. Say what you will about Lillian, but she was a savvy woman and a survivor through and through.
The parallels between her and Dawn were strong during this one as we saw so much of Lillian in Dawn with how she took charge. She took the best of Lillian and implemented it, showing that she could be a better version of herself.
We saw it in so many little ways, and there was some truth in her taking her experiences and learning from them, getting the best out of those situations.
Her navigation of Michael was great, but then so was how she handled Philip. It was a tense few moments when he came barging into her apartment, trying to assault her again.
Philip’s inability to keep little Phil in his pants is a problem that no one wants to address, and it’s disturbing. Poor Betty Ann didn’t know what she was getting herself into with her blown-out, Aquanet hair.
Goodness, the ’80s costumes, hair, and makeup were GLORIOUS. It really added to the 80s primetime soap goodness.
Philip is having twins with this woman and is still obsessed with Dawn. But Ms. Dawn “Cut a Bitchass” Cutler literally left her mark with that warning she gave him with that shard of glass.
Messing up that pretty face of his seemed adequate enough, so maybe now he’ll get a grip, and hopefully, we won’t have to learn that he’ll turn his lust to little Christie or something because you can’t put anything past these Cutler men.
Ultimately, Randolph was too soft and sweet to be part of that family. Granddaddy Cutler was a piece of work too, and by “piece of work,” naturally means P.O.S.
It was apparent he assaulted Laura Jean, even if Dawn couldn’t piece that together without Bronson’s help.
Laura Jean got some strong redemption and more presence during this film, and it was all the best for it. You could understand her complicated feelings towards Dawn.
And honestly, scrumptious Bronson was such a fantastic addition to all of this that he doesn’t even feel like he belonged here.
He was handsome, level-headed, genuinely loved Laura Jean, and had her and everyone’s best interest at heart. He was a patriarch, and the Cutler lacked that.
His attempt at smoothing things over between Dawn and her mother was admirable, and it’s hard to believe that he was Clara Jean’s real father. She may have been less of an entitled brat if he got the opportunity to raise her.
Unlike Laura Jean, Clara Jean still didn’t have time to redeem herself or have any depth.
She was downright villainous when she assaulted Dawn and caused her to miscarry. By the time she fell off a cliff, it was a relief that it was the end of her.
Although, sadly, the ocean had to deal with that type of toxicity, aren’t we supposed to be saving the sea, not punishing it?
The reality check that she wasn’t a Cutler was beyond satisfying.
We didn’t get enough of Tricia in this, but it was great to see her.
And Dawn’s trip to the Meadows was anti-climactic, but at least Charlotte is happy, and they can turn that place around so it isn’t a dungeon of hell anymore.
What’s the over-under that someone spiked that old bat’s sugar with rat poisoning? May she rest peacefully in hell, and God help the Devel for having to deal with her.
Dawn dealt with so much adulting during this film, and Brec Bassinger transitioned to this version of her so well.
We have one more chapter of this mini-series ahead of us, and we’ll have you covered for the final stretch.
Over to you, V.C. Andrews Fanatics.
Did you love Twilight Child? What was your favorite part? Sound off below!
Midnight Whispers, the fourth and final installment of the Dawn miniseries, airs July 29 at 8/7c on Lifetime.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You’ll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on Twitter.