The crazed Taryn James (aka Tina Jensen)
Taryn James, aka Tina Jensen (Sarah Lind), is the main villainess from the 2019 Lifetime film, Recipe for Danger (alternately titled, Fatal Friend Request; airdate June 7, 2019).
Backstory[]
Tina Jensen's backstory revealed that she is the mother of a young girl named Patrice, though her mental stability decreased once Patrice was born, leading to Patrice being given up for adoption and taken in by Vanessa and Mark Peters (the former being the main protagonist), who named her Lacy. Tina had an extensive criminal history, which led to her being imprisoned three years prior to the events, as she was arrested for stabbing her daughter's case worker eight times (her intended victim survived).
Tina's obsession with Patrice continued from behind bars, which included her cellmate, Ginny Garretti, knowing about Patrice from Tina. She served as a cook at the prison, and both she and Ginny were eventually paroled and released from prison, with Tina saying all of the right things to win her release.
Events[]
Taryn in her hooded disguise
Once she was out, Tina went on a mission to reclaim her daughter, beginning with tracking down and killing the lawyer who handed Patrice's adoption. The murder took place one month after Tina and Ginny's release, with the villainous former bludgeoning her victim to death. Afterwards, Tina began stalking Vanessa's social media and becoming her 10,000th follower, while learning about her restaurant business and planning to get hired by Vanessa, which included killing Vanessa's sous chef, Ricardo Gomez, by bludgeoning him with a wrench. After killing Ricardo, Tina introduced herself to Vanessa as Taryn James, charming Vanessa with her stories about Patrice.
Taryn ended up hired by Vanessa, and she later charmed not only Mark, but Lacy as well, with Taryn expressing elation over seeing her daughter for the first time in years. All the while, Taryn continued stalking the couple and furthering her plan to reunite with Lacy. When she spotted her parole officer, Phil Amherst, at her door, the evil Taryn bludgeoned him to death, and while meeting Vanessa's best friend, Chelsea, she was encountered by Ginny, who referred to Taryn by her real name. The villaness later phoned food critic Dirk Vole while posing as Vanessa, making a request to reschedule their meeting before slashing the tires on Vanessa's car.
Chelsea became suspicious of Taryn's demeanor after briefly seeing her with Ginny, though Vanessa refused to believe her friend's claims until she spotted Taryn at Lacy's school during her story time, as Taryn conveniently didn't tell Vanessa that it was rescheduled. She was encountered by Ginny once again, with Ginny demanding money under the threat of revealing Taryn's true identity to Vanessa. Later on, Mark is introduced to Taryn's manipulative and deranged behavior when she makes a pass at him and removed her top, only to act appalled when Vanessa appeared. Later on, Taryn tracked Vanessa as she was dropping off Lacy at school, only to appear to Lacy and coerce her into going with her.
Climax & Arrest[]
Taryn drove Lacy to her home with the promise of having her meet Patrice, but later on, Taryn presented Lacy with a birthday cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to her, while referring to Lacy as Patrice and revealing herself as her biological mother. She instructed Lacy to blow out the candles and "do as her mommy says," only for Lacy to become frightened over Taryn's unstable demeanor and tell Taryn that she wasn't her mother and she wanted Vanessa. In response, the callous villainess tore Lacy's drawing of Vanessa, while telling her that Vanessa wasn't her real mother before locking Lacy inside her room. The demented Taryn returned to Willy's, her former workplace, and attacked Mark after spotting him, resulting in Mark's hospitalization. She continued her insane manipulation of Lacy, stating that she would protect her while forcing Lacy to refer to her as her mother, adding that Vanessa never cared about her.
Chelsea later tracked Taryn to Willy's, only for Taryn to knock out Chelsea and intercept her message to Vanessa. Lacy later drew a picture of her and Taryn together and showed it to her captor, appeasing the villainess as part of her plan to escape. However, Taryn caught up with Lacy and took her back to the house, after which she tore down all of the photos of Vanessa from her wall. Vanessa ended up finding Lacy, but she was confronted by Taryn, who let Vanessa in and lashed out at her for (in her mind) stealing Patrice from her. The crazed villainess ordered Vanessa to leave her and Lacy alone, after which she took out her gun while holding Lacy and accusing Vanessa of stealing Lacy from her. Vanessa appeased Taryn by apologizing to her and telling her that she worked hard to get Patrice/Lacy back, leading to Taryn confessing to killing Ricardo and attacking Mark and Chelsea to fulfill her quest.
In response to Vanessa asking what she needed to do, Taryn coldly stated that Vanessa needed to die, but after Lacy's protests, Taryn informed Vanessa that she needed to leave them alone. After Vanessa gave Lacy a signal, Lacy bit Taryn and escaped, which was followed by the two women brawling. The confrontation ended with Vanessa grabbing Taryn's gun, and as Taryn yells "No!", realizing what Vanessa is about to do, she shoots the villainess. Tina/Taryn survived, but afterwards, since her evil nature and crimes were completely exposed, she was arrested, and it was revealed that she would end up serving three life sentences for her various crimes.
Trivia[]
- Sarah Lind also appeared as the evil Nancy Clarke on Taken.
Gallery[]
