Jodie Sweetin is a newly-separated mom who must fight to save her son from falling victim to the dark side of the internet in the new Lifetime original movie, Dateless to Dangerous: My Son’s Secret Life.
Entertainment Weekly can exclusively reveal the trailer (below) as well as several first look images featuring Sweetin and cast mates Nikki Roumel and Alexander Elliot ahead of the thriller’s network premiere on June 21.
The film, which is directed by Degrassi alum Stefan Brogren, sees the Full House alum star as Noelle (Sweetin), a mom who becomes increasingly concerned about her teen son Miles (Elliot) and his internet usage after a failed romantic pursuit — which he’s encouraged to undertake by his sister Haley (Roumel) — makes him the laughing stock of their school.
“I’m really worried about by son Miles. He’s kind of sensitive,” Noelle confesses in the clip. “I just don’t want him to get involved in something he doesn’t understand.”
With support from his sister Haley, Miles can be seen in the trailer asking a fellow classmate to their Homecoming dance by posing dead in front of her locker with a sign that reads, “I’m dying to take you to HOCO.” When the girl reveals that she’d already agreed to go with someone else, Haley worriedly stares at her brother as he storms away from the scene.
It’s then that Noelle begins to catch onto her son’s troubling behavior as he becomes isolated, angry, and hostile toward her, Haley, and his friends at school.
Instead, Miles spends his time in his room playing video games, where faceless men chatting with him in-game remind the teen that there’s “tons of guys like you” and that he’s “not special.”
When Miles is rejected by another classmate, however, he finds himself spiraling even further into the dark depths of incel culture. A shortened form of the term “involuntary celibate,” incels are a group of misogynistic men who blame women and society itself for their lack of romantic prospects.
Kam Sylvestre/Courtesy of Lifetime
“Girls suck,” a bruised Miles declares at one point in the clip, prompting Noelle to respond, “Excuse me? I did not raise my son to hate women.”
But it may already be too late for Noelle and Haley to change Miles’ mind as he continues to lash out in more and more violent ways as he launches a backpack during an argument, threatens physical violence toward a classmate who rejected him, and shoves one of Haley’s friends.
“You don’t understand!” Miles shouts in a voiceover. “It’s a female-dominated society!”
Kam Sylvestre/Courtesy of Lifetime
He later adds, “You take and you take — just like every other female!”
Given its sensitive subject matter, Dateless to Dangerous will also provide a call to action to viewers notifying them of the Jed Foundation, which helps prevent suicide among teens and young adults, as well as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline following its presentation.
Kam Sylvestre/Courtesy of Lifetime
Will Noelle and Haley be able to save Miles from himself before it’s too late? Well, viewers will have to find out when Dateless to Dangerous: My Son’s Secret Life airs on Lifetime on Saturday, June 21 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT.
