WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Ma, in theaters now.

Ma follows the basic thread of most thrillers, introducing increasingly bold and preposterous story shifts to keep the audience guessing and the tension rising. That's perhaps the film's biggest problem: It never takes time to resolve plotlines after introducing twists. The clearest indicator of that is the biggest twist, that Ma -- Octavia Spencer's Sue Ann -- is actually a mother.

That's genuinely surprising and could have tied together many of the established plot threads and character motivations. However, because the film is so distracted by other topics, it fails to explore that revelation with the depth it deserves.

The Problem With Genie

Ma

Sue Ann is introduced in Ma as the only adult willing to buy alcohol for some teenagers. She then integrates herself into the group of friends, and encourages them to party in her basement, which becomes their drinking spot. But when the teens become uncomfortable with Sue Ann's behavior, and try to stop hanging out with her, she becomes increasingly menacing and unhinged. It's revealed traumas from her own teen years inform her actions, leading her to become more twisted as the film progresses. But one of the big plot swerves is that Sue Ann is actually the mother of Genie (Tanyell Waivers).

RELATED: Octavia Spencer Can't Elevate the Formulaic Ma

Genie is introduced early in the film when main character Maggie (Diana Silvers) helps push her wheelchair up a ramp. However, after that brief meeting, Genie fades from the narrative. The film quickly moves on to Maggie's new friends and, then, to Sue Ann. Maggie never actually befriends Genie or wonders what happened to her. If she had, then her attempts to save the girl when she's discovered trapped in Sue Ann's basement might have been more powerful.

In the fiery climax, Maggie risks her life, and fatally wounds Sue Ann , to rescue Genie. But instead of it being a cathartic moment as Maggie fights to save a friend, it's little more than a rushed act of kindness. She even whispers to Sue Ann that she's "not weak," but it comes off more like revenge than an act taken to protect someone she cares about. That would be a powerful arc for Maggie, but it's undercut by its haphazardness.

Like Mother, Unlike Daughter

Ma

More than expanding Maggie's motivations, it could have been used as a perfect mirror for Sue Ann's descent into madness. Over the course of Ma, we learn the history of Sue Ann, who was unpopular in high school. Her crush, Ben, only paid her patronizing compliments, and popular girl Mercedes tricked her into performing oral sex on a guy Sue Ann believed to be him. The traumatic experience left her bitter and desperate. Given the chance to be "popular" again in her later years, she manipulated and killed to maintain her desires, in the process targeting an entire town.

That same trauma could have also fueled Sue Ann's "overprotective" nature of Genie. None of the other teenagers knows of her existence. After Maggie bumps into her on her first day of high school, she never sees her again. In contrast, the more popular and established Haley (McKaley Miller) has no idea who Genie was upon meeting her. Genie has no life at the school, much like her mother, but it's not the cruelty of her classmates that lead her to be ostracized; Sue Ann forces her to be alone.

In her own mind, Sue Ann may intend to protect her daughter from the same kind of mistreatment she herself suffered. But that element is never explored beyond a brief exchange between the two, juxtaposed with Sue Ann heading out to enjoy her newfound popularity. It's a moment of flippancy that doesn't recur in the film. If Ma had leaned into that familial conflict and explored the tragedy inherent in their situation, it might have fueled some of the film's themes. Unfortunately, however, Ma doesn't do that.

The Problem With Genie

Ma

It would also make Genie's eventual rebellion more justified. As it stands, it's because she recognizes how far gone Sue Ann is once she shoots a cop. However, it's in a sudden blast of violence instead of a rightful release of tension. It could have meant so much more to see Genie employ the same lying and violence as her mother if we'd seen more of their relationship onscreen.

The twist that Genie is Sue Ann's daughter makes perfect sense for this narrative. It's just a shame the film didn't realize how perfect it was and exploited the revelation to greater effect. Instead, Ma introduce six other twists, and a host of other plot threads that go nowhere.

Directed by Tate Taylor from a script by Scotty Landes, Ma stars Octavia Spencer, Juliette Lewis, Diana Silvers, McKaley Miller, Corey Fogelmanis, Luke Evans, Dante Brown and Allison Janney.