Main cast: Megan Gallacher (Jessie), Mimi Dykes (Debra), Jim Jacobson (Ed), and Rip Torn (Narrator)
Director: Stuart Taylor

In Step Sister, the unfortunately named Mimi Dykes plays Debra, an infuriatingly stupid and spineless woman that recently lost her husband Steve to a “massive heart attack”. At the neighborhood support group, she declares that she is completely helpless without a man in her life, so naturally she falls for the support group attendee Ed and marries him. Ed displays all the red flags of a psychotic abuser with an eye for young children, much to the mounting terror of Debra’s daughter Jessie. As things escalate, Debra insists on disbelieving her daughter, because she is far more concerned with keeping a man in her life, and even castigates her for making things unpleasant for her and Ed.

Fortunately, Jessie’s stepbrother Andy is here to protect her. Oh, and he’s dead, supposedly due to being unable to get over his mother’s death, or so Ed says.

This is a predictable but watchable episode marred considerably by hilariously bad green screen moments (check out Ed’s death scene). The showdown with the villain is pretty anticlimactic too, making this episode feel quite the waste of time by the time I’m done with it.

Then there is the acting, yikes, especially from the kid actors. The young lady playing Jessie, especially, is pretty robotic and her character resembles more of a ghost than Andy! Come to think of it, there is pretty wooden acting all around.

Worst of all, Debra emerges from the episode without having to be accountable in any way for being easily the worst piece of dung mother of the year—that is easily the most unsatisfying pay-off in an overall already middling episode marred by cheap special effects and bad acting. Additionally, the actress playing her is pretty monotonous in everything she does in this episode, which only makes the character even more annoying to follow.

All in all, just step out of the way when it comes to Step Sister.