‘A Nurse’s Revenge’ Is a Classic Lifetime Thriller [Review]

With a title like A Nurse’s Revenge, there’s no pretense about who the “villain” of the piece is. Thankfully this is never an issue for screenwriter Daniel West, who delivers a classic Lifetime film that never disguises the fact that it’s a thriller, not a mystery.

The opening of the film is particularly efficient in how it quickly and easily introduces its characters and the source of the conflict. Initially we’re introduced to Nurse Sharon (Kristina Clifford) as she tends to a young boy (Carter Hurst) with a broken arm. It’s clear that she’s compassionate, not just in her ability to administer care, but also to empathize with her patients. “The young ones are easy” she remarks to Dr. Park (Michael Whang) with a smile.

Then a group of teens are rushed in. There’s been a car accident (glimpsed in brief flashes) and though the kids in the car are scraped up, they’re mostly okay. One girl, Cassie (Carissa Murray) desperately enquires about the teen boy they hit; alas, when Sharon checks on Cassie’s behalf, it’s revealed that the victim died.

This instigates an immediate change in Nurse Sharon’s personality and tone. Suddenly her responses are clipped, her tone is curt, and when the kids are being discharged the next day, Sharon deliberately goes out of her way to nudge Braden (Joe Sterry)’s broken arm, admonishing him to watch where he’s going when he cries out in pain.

Clearly Nurse Sharon has a connection to the dead boy and, while this is the film’s main mystery, there is never any doubt that she is the one exacting revenge.

Of course, since Cassie is the main protagonist, there can be no doubt as to her character and she is presented as completely pure. The teen girl lives with her single mother Diane (Tammy-Anne Fortuin); she’s applying for College scholarships because they’re “poor” (they do, of course, live in a giant Lifetime house, though) and unlike her friends, Cassie believes that they deserve to be held responsible for the boy’s death.

Cassie’s early reactions come off as too altruistic. While West’s screenplay makes it clear that the teens were speeding, there’s never any question that Todd Alcott (Julian Moser)’s death was accidental. There’s even repeated dialogue that no drugs or alcohol were involved. So Cassie’s insistence that they be held accountable when the judge rules in their favour and their sole punishment is 200 hours of community service is a bit odd.