Cheryl Gordon is the main antagonist of the 2013 Lifetime movie, The Good Mother.
She is portrayed by Helen Slater.
Biography[]
As a child, Cheryl has a neglectful mother, which made her vow to always make sure her own children were loved. In adulthood, she became a nurse that specialized in chidren and it is implied this was the beginning of her twisted methods of giving "love and attention" to children by deliberately making patients sick, losing her job when one of her patients died as a result of her actions. Cheryl's family consisted of her husband Scott and their daughters Melanie and Hillary. She's also became a surrogate mother of sorts to Melanie's troubled best friend, Jillian, the main protagonist, whose mother was a neglectful mother.
Events[]
The movie opened with Cheryl bailing Jillian out of jail after she was caught stealing food from a grocery store. After going at Jillian's house and finding the home in disarray, she offered to let Jillian stay at her house. There, we see that Cheryl has begun her twited treatments on Melanie, poisoning her with ricin and claiming she has a rare illness. Soon after Jillian's move-in, Melanie's health worsened and she died in the hospital, much to Cheryl's dismay. At the funeral, Cheryl gave a big sppech and made a scholarship in Melanie's memory, rewarding it to Jillian. After that, Cheryl began drugging her younger daughter Hillary, lying and telling Jillian that she could have inherited Melanie's "disease". Cheryl's first sign of villainy came when she snapped at Jillian for packing up Melanie's things, which she apologized for soon after.
At this point, Jillian began to uncover Cheryl's secrets, learning about the death of Cheryl's former patient and discovering syringes in a drawer in Melanie's bedroom. She later winessed Cheryl dispose of the needles in a dumpster near her school and has her brother (who worked in a lab) test the substance within them. Cheryl attempted to have Hillary start drinking the same poisoned milkshakes she made for Melanie, but the ailing girl would only take a sip. When Hillary was eventually place in the hospital, Cheryl Altered her daugther's medical records before demanding Hillary be released which the doctor allowed.
Having realized that Jillian was catching on to her crimes, the evil Cheryl planted drugs in her bag and calls the police, claiming she has been stealing them from her. As Jillian learned that the syringes she found contained ricin, child services came to the Gordon home and forced Cheryl to let them take Hillary back to the hospital, having been called by the doctor after the altered records were discovered. Jillian rushed to the hospital to save Hillary after informing Scott of his wife's twisted actions, finding Cheryl waiting with a syringe. She then went into a speech about her neglectful mother and how she hadn't wanted her children to feel invisible. She then attacked Jillian and growled that she would have been nothing without her and that she's the best mother Jillian ever had, but Jillian rebuts that Cheryl never has been a good mother, nor will ever be, and is just an insane woman. When the police arrived and tried to force their way inside Cheryl injected herself with the ricin. It was later revealed that Cheryl survived and has been institutionalized.
Trivia[]
- Helen Slater previously portrayed Stella Andre from the 2006 film Jane Doe: The Harder They Fall.
- It is strongly hinted Cheryl suffered from Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, a psychological disorder, marked by attention-seeking behavior by a caregver through those who are in their care.