The 2020 Hulu psychological thriller Run recently made its way back to the spotlight around Mother's Day this year as a reminder of the lengths mothers will go to protect their children. The concept is arguably an amazing advertising technique that worked, but there was one element of the film that consistently came up short, almost ruining the experience. Sarah Paulson is an amazing actress, making most of her horror fame from her return appearances on the hit FX show American Horror Story, which premiered in 2011 and was recently renewed for another season. That said, her character in Run is a different story.

Paulson might have mastered her place as a scream queen, but something was lacking in the unhinged mother role of Run, as Paulson's character seemed just a little too deranged with the way she was trying to capture and hold her daughter hostage. At the beginning of the movie, Diane (Paulson) is seen giving birth to her daughter prematurely, and the baby has a whole list of medical issues. The audience doesn't find out until later in the movie that Diane actually lost her daughter that day, and the immense grief of losing her child pushed her to steal Chloe (Kiera Allen) from her real parents. The movie then jumps forward 17 years; Chloe is leaving for college soon, and Diane seems thrilled.

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The scene portrays Diane as a supportive mother, wanting her daughter to leave the nest and go live a normal life, but Chloe's life at home doesn't fit the story. Abusive people usually do hold a narrative in public that differs from their behavior behind closed doors, but Chloe seems happy with her life at the beginning of the movie as well. She trusts her mother and doesn't appear to have an issue with her homeschooled life or limitations. The trouble doesn't begin for the family until Chloe realizes that one of the medications she takes was actually prescribed to her mother.

Chloe's suspicion grows exponentially, and she suddenly has a major distrust of her mother. Normally, cognitive dissonance might keep someone from suspecting something they've always thought was true to suddenly be a lie, but Chloe jumps to conclusions rather quickly. Through her suspicions and investigations, Diane quickly goes from loving and doting mother to creepy and unhinged. The shift is incredibly jarring, and her actions to cover her minor slip also don't seem to fit in the movie, as she's grasping at straws to appear reliable and stable to her daughter, but all her performative actions fall short or flat.

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The moment in Run where Diane seemed to lose complete credibility to the audience (and not in a normal antagonist way) was when she gave the mailman a sedative to steal Chloe and bring her home. Diane was backed into a corner in that situation, as the mailman refused to leave Chloe with her, and she could've lost her daughter if he took her straight to the police department as Chloe had asked. Panicking from the loss of control, Diane grabbed a sedative from her first aid kit and punctured him with it. Then she left him on the side of the road by his mail truck on her private road, as if no one would notice he was missing and he wouldn't remember her when he woke up.

From there, Run becomes almost cartoonish with the moves Diane makes to ensure she gets her daughter home. Chloe swallows poison, so Diane has to take her to the hospital, and then they call for a psych evaluation of Chloe, which is standard. By this point, no one seems to know or be looking for Diane after what she did to the mailman. Diane also creates a diversion and disconnects Chloe from the heart monitor without being noticed. Even with an emergency taking place in the hospital, she wouldn't have been able to get away with this.

By the end of the movie, there's a dramatic shootout where Diane loses. Pointing a gun directly at a squad of policemen wasn't the smartest idea, and her actions landed her in a correctional facility. Chloe comes to visit, and Diane is sick and confined to a hospital bed. Her actions throughout the movie didn't make much sense and weren't smart moves, especially when comparing the entrapment to other popular horror films like Stephen King's Misery. That one consistent issue could have ruined the film, but the thrilling aspect of Run still kept the story interesting enough to be enjoyed.