The Girlfriend Review
Every parent wants the best for their child in any aspect of life, from when they’re under their care as a minor to when they meet somebody they may want to spend the rest of their life with. Having recently become a father myself, it’s a few years until the latter occurs, but for Robin Wright in The Girlfriend, it’s very much a current problem in the form of Olivia Cooke, her son’s girlfriend.
Laura’s (Wright) picture-perfect life starts to unravel when her son, Daniel (Laurie Davidson), brings home a new girlfriend named Cherry (Cooke); she becomes convinced that Cherry is a manipulative social climber — or is she just being paranoid? If you’re a fan of cat-and-mouse thrillers, then this is the show for you. The Girlfriend pits an overbearing mother against a mysterious potential daughter-in-law, who seems a little too good to be true. The show is adapted from the novel of the same name by Michelle Frances, with Gabbie Asher and Naomi Sheldon taking ownership of that particular challenge.
There are a further seven people with writing credits throughout the episodes, and what truly stands out is the narrative structure of each episode. Each starts with a flashpoint that is then built towards by showing both Laura’s and Cherry’s perspectives of how we got there. It’s a narrative device that really does crank up the paranoia between the lead characters, and gives the audience an entertaining insight into how we arrive at each particular flashpoint.
The show depicts such a lavish lifestyle that Cherry wants to latch on to; Laura’s family home itself provides a grand setting for the first part of the show. Events then move on to a luxury villa in Malaga, as well as a yacht, where moments of distrust only escalate the tension between Laura and Cherry. Prepare for things to get a little bit ridiculous as the two battle to be the number one woman in Danny’s life, concluding in a rather rushed finale that doesn’t match the quality of the show’s catty antics in the first half. It’s at its best when smaller measures are being taken to outwit each other, the larger scale finale feeling a little out of place in all honesty, especially as the stakes aren’t really felt. Suspension of disbelief is well and truly required as it draws to a close.
Headlining the show, and making it worth watching, are Wright and Cooke, themselves used to all the scheming their characters faced in House of Cards and House of the Dragon, respectively. The former has the feel of a lioness – proud of her family but going to great lengths to protect them – while the latter is the snake, manipulating her way through life and not afraid to bite back if required. Both are easily the best things about the show, and their scenes together are what give it the real spark to keep it going until the end.
While The Girlfriend proves to be an entertaining affair, there’s no denying that it loses steam towards the end. Wright and Cooke are game for throwing themselves into the shenanigans, the former even directing some episodes; their game of cat and mouse is hard to take your eyes off.
★★★ 1/2
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video from September 10th / Robin Wright, Olivia Cooke, Laurie Davidson, Waleed Zuaiter, Anna Chancellor / Dir: Robin Wright, Andrea Harkin / Amazon MGM Studios
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