Terri Blackstock’s If I Run, on Lifetime

Dr. Richard Kimble had to have a lot of faith to keep chasing the one-armed man week after week on The Fugitive. Casey Cox has little faith, at least not the religious kind, but she finds herself in a similar position. However, as she scrambles to clear her name, she slowly starts to absorb the faith of unexpected allies in Michael M. Scott’s Terri Blackstock’s If I Run, based on Blackstock’s Evangelical novel, which premieres tonight on Lifetime.

When Cox stumbles across the body of her best (but to her, platonic) friend Brent Pace, she immediately goes on the lam. She knows it makes her look guilty, but she suspects crooked cops were involved. Pace had been investigating the unjust corruption allegations that ruined her late policeman father’s career. Supposedly, he had uncovered damning evidence. Consequently, Cox cannot trust anyone in law enforcement.

However, she might be able to trust Dylan Roberts, but she does not know that yet. Ironically, Roberts is not yet a member of the Shreveport police department, but Det. Gordon Keegan enlists the Afghanistan veteran as an outside investigator, as sort of an audition, to track down Cox. Roberts happened to be the late Pace’s best friend in high school, so the bereaved family trusts him. Roberts would indeed make a fine lawman, but he still struggles with his untreated PTSD.

Yet, despite his nightmarish memories, Roberts still maintains his faith. So does Miss Lucy, an older woman Cox meets on the bus to Atlanta, even though her beloved granddaughter Laura remains missing for well over one year. Indeed, Miss Lucy turns out be a godsend, because she offers “Grace Newland” (a.k.a. Cox) a place to stay, without any inconvenient background checks.

While Roberts investigates Cox’s case, Cox inadvertently finds herself looking into Laura’s disappearance. Cox makes much quicker progress, but there isn’t much she can do about it, given her circumstances. That might seem like a contrived plot twist, but Scott (a Lifetime movie veteran) keeps the film largely grounded and believable. When the Evangelical themes emerge, they do so in credible ways, related to the characters’ travails and their resilience dealing with them. They are noticeable, but they are not cringe-inducing (assuming you are relatively accepting of Christian themes, in the first place). The film also leans into its Red State roots, taking the action from Shreveport to Durant, Oklahoma, and then down to Atlanta.

Regardless, Kat Graham and Evan Roderick (who recurred on Arrow) are both surprisingly charismatic and compelling as Cox and Roberts. It is easy to root for them. Likewise, James Tupper chews the scenery with glee as dodgy Det. Keegan. Admittedly, all the Shreveport cops are conspicuously questionable in If I Run, but to the credit of Blackstock and screenwriters Allison Lea Bingeman and Kelly Fullerton, the good guys start suspecting them almost as soon as the audience does.

Frankly, If I Run plays more like a TV-movie-pilot-episode rather than as a self-contained film. Of course, Blackstock’s If I Run series runs for three books, so presumably everyone hopes to make more films. They probably should, because If I Run is one of the more professionally crafted Lifetime original productions over the last two years (if not longer). Recommended for Blackstock readers and general fans of women’s thrillers, Terri Blackstock's If I Run airs tonight (8/2) on Lifetime.