Villainess Review: Lark Embridge (Bodyguard Seduction)

Lifetime was reaching the end of their "Love, Lies, and Seduction" month, and the final weekend began with a huge bang with the Lindsay Hartley-directed film, Bodyguard Seduction (also known as Her Bodyguard). The film centered on Charly Huxton, a successful businesswoman who was the majority owner of Singular Sportswear, and was also coming off a divorce. As we see, Charly doesn't pull any punches, and this is shown when she reprimands one of her employees, Godfrey Lewis, and even when she's conversing with her junior partner, Lark Embridge, who begins to wonder if she has any say in the company she helped build with Charly. Things come to a head when Godfrey is caught on Charly's computer, and as a result, Godfrey gets a pink slip.

Later on, Charly receives a package, which contains a doll with a threatening note, and afterwards, Lark decides to hire a bodyguard to protect Charly. Enter Jonathan Makepeace, whose past revealed that he served in the military (which makes the surname that much more fitting), though the working relationship between Jonathan and Charly is rocky at best. As they try to get to know each other, Godfrey is at his home mulling over his future when he receives a text from someone mentioning a bomb threat at the company, while revealing that they were behind said threat and enlisting Godfrey in a plan to eliminate Charly, who later avoids being struck down by an oncoming car. After a threatening phone call is made to the office, Lark enlists Jonathan to take Charly to her home, and it's at that point that we finally see sparks between the pair take place--though it was a bumpy road to get there.

What we also see is Godfrey out at night before a car drives in and parks, and exiting said vehicle: none other than Lark! So Lark was behind everything; the threats and enlisting Godfrey to run down Charly and Jonathan, while adding that she hired Jonathan because he was incompetent. After removing the bullet from Godfrey's car, Lark presents Jonathan's gun and later shoots Godfrey to death. The plan? Godfrey was most likely a loose end, but she was attempting to set up Jonathan in Godfrey's murder, which hits the Singular Sportswear company on the following day. After the news breaks, police enter and grill Jonathan and Charly, with the former being informed that evidence pointed to him as Godfrey's killer. Not only did Jonathan face arrest for the murder, Charly also faced being charged as an accessory, leading to Jonathan fighting his and Charly's way out.

While they're on the run, Lark uses this opportunity to arrange an interview, where she portrays her business partner as a self-centered criminal involved in Godfrey's murder. Jonathan takes Charly to one of his good friends, Anthony Vargas, who agrees to help the pair...until he doesn't. Vargas decided to go in to business with Lark; telling her their location before being paid $100,000 and stock options by the villainess to eliminate Charly and Jonathan. Of course, Vargas (being a gun for hire) accepts, though Jonathan fights off Vargas and escapes with Charly. Even prior to this, they realize that Lark was behind everything, and they hide out in Lark's home, where Vargas finds them.

Lark later arrives and holds Charly at gunpoint, and it's at this point where Lark reveals her true motive for her heel turn against Charly. Lark accused Charly of shutting her out; claiming that it was her money and vision that led to their company, but she felt that Charly took over from under her. She wanted something of her own, and figured that taking full control of their company by having Charly knocked off would be a huge boost for her. Charly was sent to be eliminated with Jonathan, though Charly had recorded everything, and after fighting off Vargas, she revealed to Lark that she had called the police and sent the recording of Lark's confession to them. Lark's attempt to kill Charly was stopped when the police arrived, and it was followed by Lark's final attempt to have the couple arrested failing, as they had all of the evidence against Lark. The villainess ended up arrested, and she continued to berate Charly afterwards.

Bodyguard Seduction aired on Lifetime on August 27, 2022, and featured Alicia Blasingame as the evil Lark Embridge. Oh man, where do I start? I absolutely loved this villainess, and no, it's not because I knew it was her within the first few minutes of this film. I love a ruthlessly evil businesswoman, and Lark Embridge pleased every fiber of my being who enjoys seeing those type of villainesses. From Lark and Charly's first encounter in the film, I just knew that Lark had to be evil, and in that scene where Lark turned heel during her appearance to Godfrey, I literally beamed. Lark's heel turn was the best part of that film, solely because of the way she got out of that car; definite "like a boss" vibes! From that point, we see Lark transform from a supportive friend to an ambitious and venomous villainess hellbent on taking what she believed was hers. Lark was a woman whose greed and jealousy consumed her, and she didn't care what crimes she had to commit; if she got what she wanted, it was fine with her.

The epicness of Lark Embridge is due to the performance of Alicia Blasingame, who was in her first Lifetime film. Blasingame acted out Lark's frustration and friendly demeanor well in the early scenes of the film, but following her character's villainous turn, we see Blasingame shine when it came to Lark's ruthlessness and her sociopathic nature. I truly hope that we see more of Alicia Blasingame on Lifetime; her appearance in this film truly showed that she should be a regular on the network's batch of films.

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