Stream It Or Skip It?

One of the things we appreciate a lot in the first episode of a thriller series like The Girlfriend is when the characters defy what’s expected of them. On the surface, it seems that this series is going to be about “doting mom vs. crazy girlfriend”, but as the first episode goes along, we see that the doting mom perhaps dotes a bit too much and the “crazy girlfriend” might have reasons for her irrational behavior.

Opening Shot: We see the windows of a nice house from the outside. We hear a muffled argument between two women going on inside, with things crashing. Eventually there’s blood.

The Gist: “5 Months Earlier.” Laura Sanderson (Robin Wright) is running around her palatial home, making calls about the art galleries she owns. She hears a noise, and is relieved to find out it’s the cat. While swimming in her pool, she is surprised by her son Daniel (Laurie Davidson). While they sit in the sauna, he tells her that he’s got a new girlfriend named Cherry Laine (House of The Dragon star Olivia Cooke), and he wants her to meet Laura and his dad Howard (Waleed Zuaiter).

When Cherry comes over with Daniel, she makes an immediate impression, but not a good one on Laura. Cherry’s answers to some of Laura’s probing questions are suspicious. Then Laura finds out that Cherry has encouraged Daniel to change what he’s concentrating on as a medical resident. After she “accidentally” pours hot gravy in Cherry’s lap and then checks on her in the bathroom, Laura sees one of her bracelets in Cherry’s purse. The next day, the cat is missing.

This sends Laura’s suspicion into overdrive, as she tells her best friend Isabella (Tanya Moodie), which only gets worse when Cherry and Daniel leave a big gallery opening early. It gets to the point where Laura actually goes to the estate agent where Cherry said she worked, only to see Cherry punch another man square in the face.

We then see the story from Cherry’s point of view, starting from when she met Daniel while showing him a luxury penthouse (the Sandersons have oodles of money). Cherry lives with her working-class parents, but wears designer clothes and tries to make her way among London’s wealthy in order to get ahead.

The reason why Cherry had the bracelet is because she and Daniel snuck into his parents house to have sex, and she was trying on the bracelet when Laura came home. They left the opening early because Cherry spied her ex and his new fiancée. That same ex is whom Cherry punched in the face when Laura saw her, a result of invective he spewed her way. But as we see at her ex’s wedding, Cherry isn’t beyond being extreme in how she responds to being rejected.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Adapted by Gabbie Asher and Naomi Sheldon and based on the novel by Michelle Frances (Wright is an EP and directed the first three episodes), The Girlfriend reminds us of shows like The Undoing or Expats. In fact, we were surprised that Nicole Kidman didn’t play Laura instead of Wright.

Our Take: It was very easy for us to dismiss The Girlfriend during the first half of the first episode, as it seemed that the depictions of both Laura and Cherry were insanely cartoonish. While it did seem like some of the things Cherry said during her first meeting with Laura was suspicious, we felt that Laura was so overprotective of her adult son — and their relationship is so, um, close — that we were just going to get an escalating number of incidents of “paranoid vs. crazy”, with us not knowing which woman was which.

But the second half, which concentrated more on Cherry, redeemed things a lot. For one thing, we were able to see a more nuanced performance from Cooke as Cherry. Yes, she is likely unhinged. But she’s also an achiever and striver, and it seems that her attraction and love for Daniel is genuine. Her behavior with the Sandersons may be a bit bold, but there are lots of moments that explain why, for instance, she lies about knowing who did the painting in the dining room, fabricated where she went to school or had Laura’s bracelet in her purse.

The two-sided first episode is supposed to keep the audience from taking sides. Is Laura being an overprotective mom with a reason to be suspicious or is she being irrationally paranoid? Is Cherry just trying to make herself be seen and heard in a world where she normally wouldn’t belong or is she completely insane?

Because of the way the first episode was structured, we were left unsure of where the series was going to go. Yes, we do know that the incidents between Laura and Cherry are going to spiral out of control and likely culminate in the bloody argument we get hints of in the first scene. But will we get the rationalizations for the seemingly irrational behavior from both sides that we saw in the first episode? Because those rationalizations gave us more insight into each woman’s character than the irrational events themselves did.

Wright actually anchors Lauren more than the aforementioned Kidman might have; because of how much gravitas Wright brings to her roles, we are led to think that some of the irrational things Laura is doing are just her being cautious and protective. But that starts to go out the window when Laura basically stalks Cherry at her workplace. Again, we’re not supposed to settle on one side or another, and Wright effectively shows how calmly she can display Laura’s ever-escalating paranoia.

Sex and Skin: Sex is more than implied, but not really all that explicit, and we don’t see a whole lot of skin.

Parting Shot: After leaving a surprise in the wedding cake of her ex and his new wife, Cherry leaves the venue as chaos reigns, whipping off a chef’s jacket to reveal a bright-red dress.

Sleeper Star: We’d love to see a spin-off about Tanya Moodie’s character Isabella and her daughter Brigitte, played by Shalom Brune-Franklin. Apparently, Isabella is also stinking rich, but somehow refused to ask her 4th (!) husband, whom she’s now divorcing, for a prenup.

Most Pilot-y Line: We wanted to mention a side plot involving Laura and Howard’s open marriage, but couldn’t find a spot to work it in, because it seems to come out of left field. We’re not even sure if the marriage is fully open; Laura seems to be turned on by Howard’s side relationships. Does that speak to her character or is it just a distraction?

Our Call: STREAM IT. We’re still not sure if The Girlfriend is going to be a taut, gripping thriller or just make us roll our eyes so much that they get tired. But the first episode shows enough promise, and makes viewers ask enough questions about both of its main characters, to keep us watching.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.