What’s it rated? TV-MA
When? 2025
Where’s it showing? Prime
Cherry (Olivia Cooke) is rich boy Daniel’s (Laurie Davidson) new sexpot girlfriend, and to say his mother, Laura (Robin Wright), is suspicious is quite the understatement. Cherry seems to have expensive tastes, and Laura is sure she’s wooing her precious baby boy to gain his wealth.
Laura and Daniel have what I would classify as an odd mother-son relationship. She’s far more in love with her son than her husband, protective in a way that she can justify as motherly but to anyone outside feels overbearing and frankly creepy. The show switches perspectives from Cherry to Laura, which proves an interesting way to examine the complicated nature of these relationships and the situations that go with them.
We learn that Cherry’s true self is something much more authentic than what Laura sees, and that Laura’s life and relationships are weedier and more complicated than her luxe life suggests. Daniel is the poor puppy in the middle, being told to “come” by two different owners who each hold a treat in their hand. If you like shows like White Lotus and Big Little Lies, The Girlfriend offers the same kind of salacious yum factor. (six 45- to 52-min. episodes)
This article appears in Autumn Arts Annual 2025.