The Girlfriend Review: Things We Do for Love

In The Girlfriend, Olivia Cooke and Robin Wright compete in a masterclass cat-and-mouse game, putting audiences on the edge of their seats.

If it’s any consolation, unless you have the absolute worst luck in the world, there is no way this meeting could go any worse than it does in the new Prime series The Girlfriend. The show is an adaptation of Michelle Frances’s 2017 novel of the same name, which explores a mother-son-girlfriend type dynamic in an entirely new and wickedly twisted light. 

The Girlfriend begins in media res with muddled shouting of wild accusations, broken glasses spilling red wine and finally, a deafening splash and a bloody knife floating in water. After this silencing shot, the story cuts to five months earlier in order to explain to the audience the events that caused this mysterious and tense showdown. 

We open on a picture-perfect London townhouse, highlighting a garden statue in a shape reminiscent of a piece of DNA. Here, we meet Laura Cavendish (Robin Wright, of Here) as she stands on her dreamy bedroom’s balcony, shouting on the phone at her employee, begging to work with anyone with a sense of competency as she hangs up the phone. While we hear Laura’s inner frustration, on the outside, she is the picture of serenity. We see Laura’s name flash across the screen, indicating we will be following her perspective as this story unfolds. 

Laura works as a gallerist while her husband, Howard (Waleed Zuaiter, of Amira), has amassed a fortune in property management. The Cavendishes are blessed with a bountiful life, but the primary object of their affection is their only son, Daniel (Laurie Davidson, of A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story). When Daniel tells Laura he is eager for her and his father to meet his new girlfriend, Laura is overjoyed as she’s never heard her son fawn over someone like this before. 

However, Daniel’s girlfriend, Cherry (Olivia Cooke, of House of the Dragon), and Laura quickly get off on the wrong foot. Laura thinks the couple is inappropriately touchy and feels Cherry isn’t terribly concerned with making a good impression. Tensions rise when Daniel begins to tell Laura about plans to shift the focus of his medical career, which he seems to have discussed at length with Cherry but mentioned only in passing to her. It becomes clear to Laura that she is no longer the most important person in her son’s life. 

Laura believes she gave Cherry a real chance, but after this interaction, she decidedly does not like her, and worse, she doesn’t trust her. Since we are seeing events play out through Laura’s eyes, we, as an audience, begin to distrust Cherry and her dodgy backstory as well. That is, until the perspective of the episode flips to Cherry’s and we see how the same events have played out in her eyes. 

Cherry’s perspective brings us further back to the day she met Daniel and our understanding of their relationship changes entirely. Their connection is undeniable and the two match each other in every single category. Cherry is tough, sure, but not the brut, distant ice queen Laura perceived her to be. She has worked tirelessly for her professional success as a real estate agent and has grand ambitions to give back to her community, to help those who struggle financially, like her and her family did when she was younger. 

When we finally reach the night Cherry meets Laura and Howard, her perception of how events transpired is completely different from Laura’s. Laura is immediately dismissive of Cherry and only interested in hearing from Daniel. Worse, every word out of Cherry’s mouth, Laura meets with judgment or suspicion. 

While Daniel can acknowledge that Cherry and Laura’s first meeting was tense, he makes it clear how important both women are to him and shares his hopes that they eventually can find a way to get along. Both women promise to Daniel they will try, but regardless of whose perspective we’re in, it’s clear that both Cherry and Laura are determined to be the only woman in Daniel’s life.

The Girlfriend is one of the most exhilarating series of 2025. With each episode shifting back and forth between Cherry and Laura’s perspectives, the show tests the limits of its audience and pushes the envelope further than one could ever predict. The constant shift of perspective and almost side-to-side comparisons of Laura’s version of events versus Cherry’s will have you second-guessing to the very end who’s story you trust more. 

Through the shifting perspective, we are able to understand both women’s views of one another and understand the motives behind their actions on a deeper level. We see how their pre-existing biases play into how the situations they simultaneously encounter feel totally foreign to one another when played out side by side. From Laura’s perspective, everything she does is to protect Daniel. From Cherry’s perspective, everything she does is to hold on to this person, whom she believes truly sees her for the first time in her life.

 At first glance, Cherry and Laura seem poised to be foils of one another, but the more we learn about their inner lives, the more we see the similarities in the ferocious ways they love as well as the dangerous consequences of their unchecked ambition. 

The comparisons and similarities between the two women are furthered by Aaron Timperley’s brilliant costume design and the characters’ color stories that play out throughout the series. At the start of the show, Laura is shown strictly in white, while Cherry is always wearing red. However, as the seasons continue and the audience begins to understand these women are more alike than they ever would admit, their color palettes playfully shift to underline both their shared traits and ever-changing positioning as the top woman in Daniel’s life. 

While you certainly do not always agree with these women, being shown both of their perspectives is the key to the genius way the show allows audiences to build empathy and allegiance to these utterly flawed, entirely complex characters. Seeing their inner worlds and being given the opportunity to understand each woman in their entirety keeps the audience hungry for what’s to come next.

Robin Wright anchors the show as Laura and Laurie Davidson plays Daniel with the perfect degree of naivety and charm, but Olivia Cooke’s Cherry steals the show entirely. She oozes charisma and steals every scene she is in with what can only be described as a natural-born allure. If House of the Dragon is the program that put her star on the map, The Girlfriend launches it into orbit. The dynamic between this central trio is the heartbeat of the show, and watching Wright and Cooke’s game of cat and mouse feels like watching an on-screen chemistry masterclass. 

The Girlfriend sinks its claws into you from the very beginning and refuses to let you go till its last shot. It’s an utterly fascinating and endlessly entertaining story about class, power, femininity and ambition all shown through an unflinching lens. Chalked full of pitch-perfect performance and challenging moments of introspection, The Girlfriend should be at the top of everyone’s watchlist this September.

The Girlfriend available to stream globally on Prime Video from September 10, 2025.