Original caricature by Jeff York of Olivia Cooke and Robin Wright in THE GIRLFRIEND. (copyright 2025)
You can sense the mature, female sensibility in Amazon Prime’s sublime new miniseries THE GIRLFRIEND from first moment to last. The story may pit a possessive mother against her grown son’s new girlfriend, but their battles never digress into silly cat fights and bitchy soap opera putdowns. Additionally, the male gaze is nowhere to be found when it comes to showing off these two antagonists even when dressed in swimwear. Indeed, the series adapted by Gabbie Asher and Naomi Sheldon from Michelle Frances’ bestselling novel, strives to dimensionalize the female characters at every turn, not demonize them. (The restrained direction courtesy of Robin Wright and Andrea Harkin underlines those goals as well.) Eschewing the camp of fare like DYNASTY, ONE SIMPLE FAVOR, or just about any Lifetime TV movie, THE GIRLFRIEND traffics in intellectual rigor and emotional nuance. This twisty drama plays like a cross between BIG LITTLE LIES and SLEUTH. It’s about how women relate to each other, and compete for love and power. And as their gamesmanship escalates, the narrative turns into a taut, twisty, cat & mouse thriller.
It’s a fascinating contest between two formidable opponents. Two strong women, each from a different generation, let alone a different class, are well-matched as they fight for their position in the son’s life. They are both smart, strong, often admirable, frequently fraught, and occasionally, more than a bit monstrous. And as acted by Olivia Cooke and Robin Wright, THE GIRLFRIEND even becomes a master class in layered and nuanced acting.
Wright plays Laura Sanderson, a successful gallery owner in London who lives the high life with her hotelier husband Howard (Waleed Zuaiter) and adult son Daniel (Laurie Davidson). Right off the bat, we get the sense that mom and son have a ridiculously close relationship as they share secrets, feelings, and touch each other frequently during their frequent interactions. Laura can be less than loving though too and is shown to be quite arrogant bossing around her employees. It’s also revealed that she and Howard enjoy an open marriage, but nonetheless, Laura mostly displays a keen intellect and plenty of passion for her interests and friends.
But her insecurities come out when Daniel brings home his new girlfriend, a wide-eyed young woman from a working-class background named Cherry (Cooke). Laura and her bestie Isabella (Tanya Moodie) laugh at the name, thinking that such a moniker belongs to a stripper. It doesn’t help either that Cherry shows up in a clingy red dress, showcasing her confidence rather emphatically as well as curves. And when Laura continually makes snide remarks about her, Cherry is quietly taken aback. We feel for her all the more too as director Wright lingers on Cooke’s soulful eyes trying to process such rudeness as she’s supposed to be a welcome guest in the Sanderson home. The direction will find a lot of hurt in between the actions and dialogue, letting a lot of the physicality of the two women tell us volumes about what they’re going through.
Shortly thereafter, the story introduces the first of many delicious twists and turns. The events we are watching will be presented twice, first from the perspective of Laura, and then through the eyes of Cherry. Or vice versa. This almost RASHOMON-style conceit forces us to note the subtle details that differ in each perspective and implore us to try to figure out exactly where the truth lies. Such different perspectives find their way across every location in the drama, be it a party, gallery opening, or excursion to a tropical paradise. The show is not only utter compelling because of such tropes, but it keeps us on the edge of our seat because we cannot be sure of what’s coming next. Then in the third episode, several events occur that change the dynamics of the story irrevocably. Talk about rug pulls – whew! I’ll leave them for you to discover but suffice it to say, they are doozies.
Wright is terrific in front of the camera and behind it here. She directs with utter assurance, never letting the drama turn melodramatic, never underlining clues in the mystery at hand. (The same goes for the episodes Harkin helms.) There are plenty of gorgeous locations and frocks, but character development is the driver. And even as her character becomes more and more desperate, we still find plenty to sympathize with within Laura. Cooke has played innocents to villain on screen and the blending of both here makes for some of her best ever work in an already sterling career. Others in the cast, including Karen Henthorn as Cherry’s mum, and Shalom Brune-Franklin as the daughter of Isabella, make for terrific support as do the male characters, though the crux of the series remains the emotional chess game between the ever riskier and competitive opponents.
Right up until the end, you may not be entirely certain whom you think will or should prevail, or even what side you’re on as you watch it all unfold. What does prevail is the unerring quality of this brilliant production and the captivating stakes at play when such strong characters play for keeps.
