Deadly Midwife (2023) Ending Explained
Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are going to be explaining the ending to Tubi Original Thriller Deadly Midwife. My Ending Explained articles are normally a ridiculous number of words. I rant a lot and go into a lot of detail so consider this a forewarning that you might want to skip to a specific section or grab a coffee or tea. It’s gonna be a long one.
Deadly Midwife is a Tubi Original thriller that feels very much like a Lifetime made for television crime movie. In fact, Deadly Midwife’s director Monika Mitchell has a pedigree in made for TV movies having directed a ton which might explain a lot. I found the movie to be a bit silly and predictable but, ultimately, quite enjoyable. You can take a look at my review right here. This ending explained article is not spoiler free so if you haven’t watched the movie yet, check out my review first. My reviews are always spoiler free. Without further ado, let’s explain the ending to Deadly Midwife.
Deadly Midwife Ending Explained
We start Deadly Midwife in the middle of an ultrasound scan. Lauren (Jessica Lowndes) and Anthony (Matthew MacCaull) are expecting a baby and Lauren is undergoing a routine procedure. This is, apparently, something of a risky pregnancy. We can assume the pair have been trying for some time and perhaps had to use IVF treatment for Lauren to become pregnant. During a scan the nurse tells the pair that the baby has a Nuchal Cord. This is a condition where the umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby. It is typically harmless but would, understandably, cause alarm. Lauren relates that she has been feeling nauseous and that she doesn’t want to know the sex of the baby. Both of these points are important later.
Lauren is distressed that Julie (Lauren K. Robek), her midwife, is not able to be with her at the scan. The nurse recommends a program that the hospital are running to provide them with a midwife. Lauren refuses as she is happy with Julie. Lauren is planning a home birth and everything has been keenly planned out beforehand. I don’t know what it is like in the United States. But in the UK it would be unlikely that you would be permitted to have a home birth if the pregnancy was considered high risk. It would be considered too dangerous for the child and mother so this is a potential plot hole here. Either way, Julie is not at the scan.
Who is Julie and What Happened to Her?
The movie opens up with bags of exposition on who Julie is and her connection to Lauren. Julie is a midwife who delivered Lauren when she was born. Lauren’s mother passed away years ago and Julie actually raised Lauren like her own child. We see the pair chatting before the opening credits role. Julie has just purchased a security camera for the front door but the question is, why?
Apparently Julie has a secret she isn’t telling Lauren. Some friend, right? Julie has spotted Lauren’s husband Anthony cosying up to another woman. We don’t know this until later in the movie but it is likely the reason that Julie is acting a little strange. The security camera is, we can assume, supposed to protect her from Anthony given that Julie is hiding his secret.
Of course we learn that it is actually pointless as Anthony breaks into her home wearing a mask, attacks Julie and abducts her. When we first see Julie being abducted, we don’t know who it is attacking her. We later learn that it was Anthony as he was captured on the security camera arriving at the door and putting on his mask. Subtle! Anthony takes Julie to the home that Lauren’s mother died in. It’s all part of an elaborate plan that we will learn more about later on.
Enter New Midwife Olivia
So we know that Julie is missing and we know that this is a risky pregnancy. We also know that the baby has the umbilical cord wrapped around his body. Lauren has reported the disappearance of Julie to the police but they aren’t particularly interested. After all, everyone has the right to go missing. Everyone around her is telling her to chill the hell out but Lauren knows Julie. She knows she wouldn’t just up and leave without warning.
In the meantime, the police contact her claiming to have found correspondence to suggest that Julie has gone to London to help her ailing ex-husband. Lauren immediately smells a rat as, apparently, Julie hated her ex and he was abusive. Still, the police buy this explanation and wipe their hands of the investigation. Julie even receives an email from Julie explaining her disappearance but Lauren is still not convinced. We later learn that Anthony was responsible for planting the evidence the police found and was also responsible for sending the email to Lauren to deceive her.
It is very clear that Lauren is going to need a new midwife as Julie’s absence has left her in a troubling predicament. Anthony basically arranges this without Lauren’s knowledge and claims he has done it through the hospital’s aforementioned midwife program. This is obviously a lie and just a way for Anthony to get his new squeeze Olivia (Elysia Rotaru) into the house. Olivia meets Lauren and passes the interview with flying colours. Apparently these two don’t background check or ask for proof of qualifications?
Olivia and Anthony are Having an Affair
Anthony and Olivia have been dating for some time behind Lauren’s back. They met at the university where Anthony was a professor. It seems that Anthony has a history of hitting on students and staff there. We learn this when Lauren marches into his office only to find student Rachel (Gabrielle Jacinto) there searching his computer for information about her missing friend. That friend just so happens to be Olivia.
Anthony had made sexual advances to Rachel in the not so distant past. When Rachel refused, Anthony attempted to have her removed from the college by claiming harassment. This, obviously, didn’t work as he was fired and hasn’t been working at the college for a while. Something which Rachel relates to Lauren and something which sows the first seeds of doubt in Lauren’s mind about her husband.
Anthony moved on to teaching assistant Olivia. Something which caused a fracture in the relationship between Rachel and Olivia. Rachel tried to warn Olivia about the greasy sleazeball Anthony but instead of heeding her warning. She instead broke off their friendship claiming Rachel was jealous. Olivia and Anthony are now having an affair and have hatched an elaborate plan so that they can be together and raise Lauren’s child. Did everyone else completely see this coming? Anthony is almost comic book levels of scummy. He gave me the creeps from the get go.
What is Anthony and Olivia’s Plan?
When looking at Anthony and Olivia’s plan; we have to remember that Lauren has a history of mental health issues, suicidal ideation and self harm. This is how she met Anthony in the first place, he was her therapist. In relationships between two people where one suffers from a serious mental health condition and the other doesn’t. There is often a tremendous imbalance of power. Especially if the person with the mental health condition has a history of suicidal thoughts or harm. Typically this should not be a huge problem and most couples will be able to achieve a normal relationship. But in some situations people can use this power balance issue to harm their partner.
In the case of Anthony and Lauren, the power balance is even more severe. He was her therapist and took advantage of that power imbalance to seduce Lauren when she was at her weakest. He has been manipulating her ever since. Olivia arrives as the new midwife and immediately begins making “healthy” smoothies for Lauren. We can assume that she is spiking these smoothies with something as Lauren becomes even more nauseous.
The elaborate plan the pair have concocted involves undermining Lauren’s belief in herself and in the people around her while distancing her from people she can trust. Anthony repeatedly manipulates Lauren and, as much as I hate using this ridiculously overused term, gaslights her.
Gaslighting
Gaslighting, or extreme psychological manipulation as it is more accurately termed, is the long term process of undermining a person and making them doubt themselves. With the ultimate intention, historically, being to have the person committed to a mental institution. The term, nowadays, is majorly overused, typically incorrectly, to describe basic human disagreements between partners and differences in belief systems.
Actual gaslighting requires a consistent and repeated pattern of coercion, undermining, and controlling with an end goal of removing the victim from the people around them and making them doubt their own belief system. For example, a person repeatedly telling their partner that they are irrational for feeling the way they do. Telling them that a situation didn’t occur in the way they thought it did. Or telling a person that their emotional response to a situation was disproportionate. Again, consistently, over a long period of time and with a deliberate end goal. These are just a few examples among hundreds of ways a person may gaslight their partner over a long period of time. Most people who do it use a wide range of techniques to mask the overall abuse.
A person having a different recollection of an event from their partner is not them gaslighting them. A person disagreeing with their partner on something is not gaslighting. A one time occurrence of thinking a partner acted irrationally is not gaslighting. It is normal human behaviour and an important part of healthy relationships. Gaslighting has to be consistent and deliberate. Anthony is very clearly gaslighting Lauren and it is one of the more accurate depictions of it I have seen.
Why Are Olivia and Anthony Doing This?
They want to make her question her own sanity. Remember, Anthony is a psychologist so has plenty of experience in this and connections to the mental health community. They spike her drinks to keep her sick and repress her mental faculties. The ultimate aim is for them to have Lauren give birth at home with Olivia delivering the baby. Take advantage of Lauren’s less than stellar state of mind and have her involuntarily committed to a mental health hospital.
When she is released they will take her to the house where they have Julie tied up. They plan to kill Julie and hang Lauren from the ceiling to make it look as though she held Julie hostage, murdered her and then killed herself in the home her mother died in. Purely for attention and due to her unstable state of mind. The location is important as it is a point of trauma for Lauren.
What is the Ultimate Goal?
When the plan finally comes together, Olivia will call the hospital and claim that she gave birth at home. She will notify the hospital immediately and take the baby in with her to have it registered as her child. Effectively completely eliminating Lauren from the picture and making Olivia the maternal parent as far as the law is concerned. Lauren and Julie will be dead. Olivia and Anthony will be together and the child will be registered as there’s.
Obviously things go pretty badly wrong for them. Lauren meets Rachel who lets her know that Anthony has been fired due to sexual harassment. This begins a cycle of discovery for Lauren as she fights back against Anthony’s manipulation. Lauren asks Rachel to trace the IP address of the email. This is possible if the email header contains the sender’s IP but an IP can only give you a general location. Not an exact address as if often portrayed in movies. Lauren learns from Rachel that the email was sent from Julie’s town, not from London meaning that Julie never actually left.
Meanwhile, we see Olivia telling Anthony the sex of the baby. Remember how Lauren didn’t want to know without Julie there? Well Anthony did want to know and so did Olivia. They are going to be raising the child, after all, as far as they are concerned. Olivia slips up and refers to the baby as “he” greatly angering Lauren and earning Olivia a ban on numerous Reddit groups for assuming gender. That’s just a joke reddit, don’t cancel my site please. Lauren heads out to do some more investigating. After all, she has received a call from Rachel with some information.
Lauren Makes a Big Mistake
Now that Lauren knows that Julie never left. She heads to her house to look around. Inside she finds her laptop. While leaving the house Olivia unexpectedly shows up. It turns out that the pregnancy app on Lauren’s phone allows her to be tracked by Olivia. Unfortunately, Lauren tells Olivia about her concerns relating to Julie and how the email was sent from this town. Olivia lies to Lauren and tells her that Rachel is infatuated with Anthony and not telling her the truth. Lauren buys into Olivia’s claims that Rachel is not to be trusted.
Realising that Lauren is starting to get wise to their plan. Olivia takes things to the next level. She repeatedly smashes her head against the worktop to give herself bruises and, probably, a lifetime of Chronic traumatic encephalopathy which is bad news considering she was already pretty crazy as it is. She heads to Lauren’s home where Lauren is shocked to see the state she is in. Olivia tells Lauren she has been beaten by her boyfriend and Lauren agrees to let her stay with them.
Putting the Plan In Action
Lauren is now at the mercy of Olivia and Anthony. Anthony keeps undermining and gaslighting her while Olivia makes her spiked drinks causing her to be increasingly sick and increasingly weak. Anthony forces Lauren to visit the doctor to sow seeds of doubt with the doctor regarding Lauren’s mental health. He insists that she is put back on medication for her depression. Medication that Lauren almost immediately throws away. Again, hinting that she is on to Anthony. Meanwhile, Olivia prances around the house naked and in lingerie greatly upsetting Lauren for obvious reasons.
Whenever Lauren relates her fears and anxieties to Anthony he undermines them and blames it on her mental health. Meaning that Olivia gets to stay regardless of Lauren’s concerns. I am, personally, bipolar and people have done this to me. It’s extremely frustrating so I sympathise with Lauren. After many days of strife and many nights of Olivia stealing cheese from the fridge while looking rather busty. It’s finally time for Lauren to give birth. The child is born in a rather uncomplicated delivery that takes place on the bed… We can just flip that mattress over.
Olivia immediately puts the plan into action. She takes the baby claiming she is going to wash him but, in reality, she is actually going to call the hospital. With the baby crying in the background, she informs the hospital that she has just given birth and will come in to have the baby checked and to register the birth. She then hands the child back to Lauren so she doesn’t suspect anything.
Lauren is Committed to a Mental Hospital
Lauren sees Olivia gallivanting through the house naked again so confronts her about it. Remember, this is part of the plan. Olivia is trying to antagonise Lauren so that Lauren will confront her. Lauren tells Olivia she wants her out, prompting Olivia to ask her why she would leave her own house. Olivia smashes a glass and screams at Lauren while grabbing the baby. Lauren is understandably a bit miffed here but it will all make sense in a minute. Anthony runs into the room hearing the noise and asks what is going on. Olivia tells him that Lauren was trying to drown the baby under the sink and threw a glass at her.
Olivia claims that Lauren is over medicating and that her pill bottle is empty. Potentially causing psychosis and making her homicidal. Anthony checks the pill bottle which is nearly empty. Not because Lauren has been over medicating but because the pair have emptied it. Anthony accuses Lauren of sleeping all the time and being erratic which is, obviously, because she has been being drugged by the pair. He then phones one of his colleagues to have Lauren committed to hospital on an involuntary 72 hour hold for the safety of the baby and herself.
This was all part of Olivia and Anthony’s plan. They need her to be committed to the psych ward for a few days so that her mental health troubles are on record. When the plan is completed and Julies body is found along with Lauren’s apparent suicide attempt. The police will see a recent spate of erratic behaviour from Lauren on record including attempted murder of a baby. The events will make sense to them and Lauren’s death will be recorded as a murder-suicide. Allowing Olivia and Anthony to live happily ever after because apparently that happens with people who meet due to infidelity and murder?
Rachel to the Rescue
What Olivia and Anthony didn’t count on, however, was the addition of Rachel to the equation. Lauren calls her up while she is at the hospital and asks her to come visit. Rachel agrees and while visiting explains to her that she was sexually assaulted and harassed by Anthony. He threatened to ruin her schooling if she didn’t agree to have sex with him. Rachel only came forward when Anthony moved on from her to her friend Olivia. Olivia believed that she was special, much like Lauren did when Anthony attempted to seduce her during her therapy sessions. When Rachel tried to warn her about Anthony, they fell out and then Olivia vanished. She reported the harassment and Anthony was fired.
In a moment of selfishness from Lauren. She asks Rachel to find a way into her house and to break into Julie’s laptop where she can view the security camera footage. Rachel agrees and gets in to the house via an unlocked door. For some reason, rather than take the very portable laptop with her. She sits in the bedroom hacking the bloody thing there and then. There she sees Anthony on Julie’s door cam leaving the house wearing a mask. She sends the information to someone, we can assume either the police or Lauren. And then finds herself getting shot for her trouble by Anthony. Nice one Lauren, poor Rachel.
Lauren Walks into a Trap
Olivia takes a trip to the hospital to register the baby while carrying the child. Apparently they keep the psych ward on the ground floor as Lauren hears the baby and, somehow, instinctively knows it is her child. Meanwhile the useless detective has finally decided to do his job and headed to the hospital to inquire about Olivia. There he learns that there is no search person on their Midwife program. Seemingly suggesting that Lauren might be correct after all.
Lauren is finally released from the psych ward and Anthony arrives to collect her. The doctor lets Anthony hold Lauren’s phone where he deletes a message. Presumably the one that Rachel sent telling her about Anthony being the one that abducted Julie. When they get back, Lauren attempts to pull the wool over Olivia and Anthony’s eyes. She says she knows what they want and that they can have the baby and the house if she can have Julie back. Little does she realise she has fallen into their trap. They tell her where Julie is and Lauren heads to the house where her mother died to save her.
She enters the house and finds Julie tied up. Hearing a car approach, she tells Julie to act like she is still tied up. Lauren runs back into the living room and grabs a hatchet. Olivia runs in and Lauren swings the hatchet at her. It turns out, however, that Olivia is not just busty and conniving, she is also really strong. She blocks Lauren’s swing and takes the hatchet off of her. She then knocks Lauren unconscious and now its time for a bunch of exposition.
Tons of Exposition and Evil Plan Explaining
Like a comic book villain, Olivia explains the plan to Lauren. She tells her they are going to call the psych doctor and tell him what happened. It was clear now why Lauren didn’t want Anthony to go to the cabin. It was because she had been holding Julie hostage. Her depression had gotten really bad and so she has decided to kill her friend and herself at her late mother’s cabin. Apparently depression makes you homicidal in the world of Deadly Midwife? Those SSRIs are worse than I thought. Lauren claims they will never believe her. Anthony turns up super villain style and puts on his glasses. Telling her that they will believe them because of Lauren’s psychiatric record and history of harm.
The script has been pretty bad throughout this movie but, potentially, the worst line is “first you shot Rachel and now you put our son in danger”. That had me laughing out loud. Anthony claims that all he ever wanted was to be a father. They tried for years and it never happened leading him to resent Lauren. Pretty cruel, to be fair, but Anthony is an evil prick hole so makes sense. Apparently Lauren suddenly became pregnant which prevented Anthony from leaving when he met Olivia. Which prompted the pair to come up with this elaborate plan. I don’t think the timeline checks out on this claim to be honest given when he was fired for assaulting Rachel.
Olivia’s motive for all of this was simple greed and jealousy. She wanted what Lauren had and felt she deserved it whereas Lauren didn’t. Olivia places a noose around Lauren’s neck and then pulls on it to raise her into the air. Olivia must be seriously hench under that unassuming blouse. Lauren hangs in the air choking while Anthony looks away.
Julie to the Rescue
The side characters are the real heroes in this movie and don’t really get the credit. First it was Rachel who ate a bullet for her trouble and now it is Julie who has been through hell already. She runs out of her hiding place and tackles Olivia sending Lauren crashing to the ground. Lauren clocks Anthony around the face, a moment I am sure we have all been waiting for. Sending him off to dream world in what turns out to be a rather comical prat fall.
Meanwhile poor Julie is getting the life choked out of her by Henchlivia. With how strong she is I am surprised she didn’t snap her neck like a twig. Lauren runs up to Olivia with the hatchet and hits her around the head before holding the hatchet to her throat, ending the whole ordeal. I kinda thought she would cut her throat here and then realised I probably watch too much horror.
A Happy Ending… Kind Of
Everything ends with something of a whimper after all this build up. The cops arrive and they have Lauren’s baby which is just chilling in the car and doesn’t wake throughout this scene. I swear they must have given it ambien or something. The useless detective apologises for being useless and not believing Lauren. Her claims were a bit far fetched, though, but that is the nature of thriller movies I guess.
Julie’s going to be just fine. It’s just a few abrasions and multiple fractures throughout her body that will require pinning to reset and will cause horrible arthritis for the rest of her remaining days. Nothing serious. And Rachel is “probably” going to live after hours of reconstructive surgery to put her face back together again after being shot in it. We are all hoping she will relearn how to smile one day.
Lauren asks what will happen to Olivia and Anthony. The detective reels off a bunch of things they will be charged with which is strange considering that is the job of the prosecutor and not the police. It’s the happy ending we all hoped for… Except for Rachel and Julie who will likely never experience another day without post traumatic stress for the rest of their lives. Lauren asks the detective to let Olivia know that Rachel is okay. I don’t think Olivia will give a monkey’s toss though considering it was her boyfriend that shot her in the first place. This scene reminded me of Home Alone when they are in the police car at the end. I quoted it to my fiancee “We’re the wet bandits.. W.E.T”.. I think I talk too much during movies.
And That is That
The movie wraps up with a lovely scene of Rachel, Julie and Lauren all standing with the baby and looking like they haven’t just been through the most traumatic ordeal of their entire lives. Apparently it’s been three months and Lauren still hasn’t told them the name of the baby. Little bit shitty considering Rachel took a bullet for her and Julie was repeatedly beaten up by her husband and his lover.
She tells them the baby’s name is Anthony… Wait, no, it’s Bailey. I think that was the name of her mum or something? I can’t quite remember so I will check. Edit: Yeah it is.. Julie says “after your mother, that’s beautiful” but I think Lauren was actually naming him after the cream liqueur that she probably turned to after all the trauma. Baileys is amazing, though, especially in hot chocolate at Christmas. Interestingly, a lot of the supermarket own brands are almost as good. Give the Aldi ones a try, big savings right there. The orange version is incredible.
Thanks for reading. Believe it or not I wanted this one to be quite short but I am poor at summarising, apparently. If you made it to the end, great. I really appreciate your time. As I always say, I try to do things a little different here. I like to write as if we are two friends chatting in a room together. Why not stick around and check out some Horror Movie Reviews, some Horror Movie Lists or some Horror Movie Ending Explained articles? October is coming up so have a look at last year’s 31 Days of Halloween feature or our brand new list on A Tubi 31 Days of Halloween for some awesome free horror movie content. Catch you later!
