A Mother's Secret
When her daughter, Lori (Tracey Gold - Midwest Obsession), and grandchild moved out Beth (Patty Duke - Courting Justice) found it hard as whilst she had husband, Ken (David Ogden Stiers - Wife, Mother, Murderer), the house felt empty. But not long after Beth receives a call as Lori has been taken ill and rushed to hospital where it is discovered she has an aggressive form of leukaemia. With both Beth and Ken not being matches Lori's best hope is if Beth can confront some thing from her past, a secret which Lori knows nothing about.
Technically this review of "To Face Her Past" features a spoiler but within the first 20 minutes of the movie starting something is strongly hinted at and before you hit the half hour mark it tells us what the past is that Beth has to face. That past is a child which Beth had when she was young with her boyfriend at the time but was forced to give her up with her boyfriend's parents choosing to adopt her daughter Megan. As such Beth has to not only confront her guilt over abandoning her daughter but also her feelings towards the child's father who she secretly had a tryst with after she married Ken.
Now I have told you a fair bit but "To Face Her Past" is still worth a watch because it has more going on with more twists and plenty of emotional conflict as Beth not only seeks out Megan for her help but comes face to face with her father. But this is a movie which rests firmly on the shoulders of Patty Duke to carry it and she does her usual good job. What Patty Duke does is to bring out the emotional conflict of her character as she wants to save her daughter but would love for Lori not to know about Megan as she carries the guilt of abandoning her when she was a baby and kept secrets which could affect relationships now.
But credit where it is due and Gabrielle Carteris does a good job of playing the secret daughter who finds her life becoming confusing when she learns that her grandparents kept things from her growing up, including all the letters which Beth sent her. And Carteris is not the only one as the entire cast all get some dramatic scenes to shine in.
What this all boils down to is that "To Face Her Past" is a solid 90s TV drama, another which uses illness as big part of its storyline but brings in another staple of 90s TV movies with a character having secrets they need to confront.
