‘The Pregnancy Scheme‘ is a Lifetime original thriller directed by Ann Marie Fleming and written by Ansley Gordon. It stars Greta Carew-Johns, Ruth Bidner, Nick Preston, Lauren Akemi Bradley, and Amanda Wong. The old adage about a good actor being capable of saving any film holds true for this thriller. Carew-Johns, as Jules, performs pretty well as a soon-to-be mother whose life is falling apart as she tries to bring a new life into this world. A somewhat unpredictable twist, good pacing, and some decent performances overall make this a pretty strong Lifetime offering.
The Pregnancy Scheme (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Jules is a graphic designer who has recently been laid off after the company she worked for decided to downsize in the wake of a merger. She has also just broken up with her boyfriend, Drew. He is a sweet man she still loves, but they no longer wish for the same things. She is struggling financially, and all her applications for a job keep getting canceled. So, she decides to start her own graphic designing business while working as a freelancer in the meantime. Times are hard, and she struggles to find clients, but her friend from school, Celia, is extremely supportive. At a party arranged by Celia, Jules meets a charismatic young woman, Alana, who has recently broken up with her boyfriend. The three ladies bond that night, and Alana suggests they meet for lunch the next day, where they can set up dating profiles.
The following morning, Jules finds out that she is pregnant and Drew is the father. Drew reacts positively to the news and pledges his support to her during the pregnancy. Jules tells Celia and Alana about this at lunch, and they are both glad for her. Following her ultrasonography, Jules finds out that she is reaching the end of her first trimester, much to her surprise. This means that the baby will be arriving sooner than she expected. Because she does not have medical insurance, the medical expenses start getting to her. Drew is a struggling artist whose graphic novel is not getting picked up by a publisher, so he, too, is not financially sound enough to support Jules.
Alana, one day, comes up with a get-rich-quick scheme. She tells Jules about some pregnant woman in Royal Oak who was selling positive pregnancy tests for large sums of money. Alana suggests that she and Jules go into a similar business together. Their clientele would include women wishing to coerce their boyfriends into marriage, wanting to take extended breaks from work, and so on. She would come up with the clients, Jules would give her the positive tests, which she would deliver, and then, they would divide the money – 70% for Jules and 30% for Alana.
Jules is not entirely taken by this idea, feeling it is too immoral and unethical for her to go ahead. She is reluctant though not outright dismissive. Three months later, with her back against the wall from all the medical expenses, Jules decides to go ahead and test Alana’s scheme. She quickly makes $2,000 and is offered $10,000 more for another job.
However, Jules never quite buys into this scheme, and her ethics soon prevent her from continuing with it. The problem is, by then, she is already in too deep. Alana turns out to be a scary figure as she begins to threaten Jules regarding her involvement. Violence enters the picture, and soon enough, Jules’s life is turned upside down as she tries to find a way to save herself from this mess while also trying to keep her loved ones safe.
What happens to Celia?
Jules shares what she is going through with Alana. Celia is most disturbed by the revelation and decides to take matters into her own hands with Alana, despite Jules insisting her not to. Celia feels responsible since the two got to know each other because of her party. She goes to Alana’s and asks her to back off of Jules’s life. Consequently, a shadowy figure breaks into Celia’s house and beats her up, making it seem like she slipped and fell in her bathtub.
As we will later learn, the assailant was none other than Alana. She does this to remove Celia as an obstacle in this scheme of hers that she plans on milking out of Jules no matter what. After hearing from the nurse at the hospital that Celia’s injuries are not consistent with her fall, Jules instantly starts to suspect foul play and Alana’s involvement in it.
Who is Bridget, really?
Bridget is another expectant single mother who Jules meets at the birthing class. She is someone who deliberately chose to be a single mom, and the two form a friendship because of the similarity of their situations. She is also the first person Jules talks about regarding her problem with Alana after Bridget witnesses Alana’s hostility in class one day. Bridget, though, is not the person she appears to be.
One day, Jules receives a package outside her door. It contains information about Bridget being an undercover journalist whose real name is Maureen Quinn. It is from Alana, who believes that this revelation will distance her from Maureen because of her having kept her real identity a secret. Maureen is not actually pregnant and works for The Daily Gazette. When Jules confronts her, she tells her that she is doing research for a story about the kind of pregnancy scheme Alana roped Jules into.
Turns out, it is a common practice, and she wishes to expose the people behind it. Alana is an interesting case as she is the first person to engage in this who is not pregnant herself. According to her research, pregnant single moms, who are financially struggling, are the ones who engage in this business. As Jules is both pregnant and single, Maureen takes a chance on her to see if she is involved in this racket or not.
The Pregnancy Scheme (2023) Movie Ending, Explained:
Who is the shadowy figure that keeps tailing Jules?
Following Celia’s injury, Jules keeps getting followed by a mysterious person that we are made to assume is Alana. When Alana shows up to deliver Jules’s share one day, she outright denies following Jules around. Then, we find out that the shadowy figure is a man whose life was ruined by Alana’s scheme.
He is a married man who had a one-night stand with a woman named Sheila. Following that, Sheila showed up with a fake positive pregnancy test and started blackmailing him for money. The man’s wife, Megan, found out and left him with their kids. He lost his job after word got around regarding his domestic situation. He then found out from Sheila that she got the test from her friend, Alana. Moreover, he started following Alana around till he found her interacting with Jules. Seeing the pregnant woman, he realized that Jules was the person behind the positive test. So, he decided to follow her around to find a way to make her pay for making him lose his family, job, and house.
Why did Alana trap Jules with her scheme?
In the climax of ‘The Pregnancy Scheme,’ we get to see Alana as her deranged self. She once got married to a loafer and gave him access to all her money and property. He gambled everything away under her name (there is an implication of him putting her in debt, but it is never explicated), so she was left with nothing.
After they got separated, Alana met Jules at Celia’s birthday party and saw her as a kindred spirit. As a single woman, she thought of building a supportive community of women with her and Celia, without men interfering and ruining their lives. When Jules became pregnant, Alana saw this as her golden ticket. She planned to exploit it as much as possible and make back all the money her deadbeat husband lost.
Alana has no plans of letting Jules out of the scheme. But when she informs Jules about having hit Drew with a moving car, consequently putting him in a hospital, Jules is enraged. She attacks Alana, overpowers her, and knocks her down unconscious with her vase that Drew had initially dismissed as a poor weapon to use against an intruder. The police arrive soon, having been tipped off by Maureen earlier on.
At the end of the film, six months have passed since the traumatic incidents with Alana. Drew and Celia have both recovered. He is now living with Jules, and they are bringing up their baby girl. Maureen is about to receive the ‘Best Undercover Story’ award for her work on the pregnancy scheme racket. Alana has been convicted for her crimes.
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Watch The Pregnancy Scheme (2023) Movie Trailer
The Pregnancy Scheme (2023) Movie Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes
The Pregnancy Scheme (2023) Movie Cast: Greta Carew-Johns, Ruth Bidner, Nick Preston
Genre: Mystery & thriller
Original Language: English
Director: Ann Marie Fleming
Writer: Ansley Gordon
Runtime: 2h 3m
