Amazon dropped all six episodes of The Girlfriend on Prime Video in September 2025, and since I love Olivia Cooke, I couldn’t wait to dig into it. The premise is a nightmare: a mother becomes suspicious of her only son’s new girlfriend.
Being the mother of an only son myself, I found the pilot hysterically uncomfortable. I recognized the instincts, but the methods? Oh, hell no. When my son first introduced me to his now longtime girlfriend, there was tension, but I wasn’t spilling hot coffee on her or rifling through her purse. (And now I love her to death; she’s a great girl.) Watching Laura (Robin Wright) was like looking into a funhouse mirror version of maternal anxiety.
S1E1: “Episode #1.1” opens with a flash-forward involving a knife, a fight and a swimming pool. It’s a standard hook, but when “Sunny Afternoon” by The Kinks kicks in, I already knew I was going to love it.
Daniel (Laurie Davidson) is smitten with Cherry (Olivia Cooke). Laura, however, is conducting a forensic examination from the moment Cherry walks in with flowers. Then comes the “Incident.” Daniel takes Cherry upstairs and Mom goes looking — only to find them in a state of undress and activity that requires one simple rule: Close the f*cking door.
Meeting the mother for the first time is probably not the moment to go upstairs to give her son a bl*wjob. Laura is horrified, and as a mother, I’m right there with her on this one. I’d prefer not to see that either. Have some decorum, “little girl.”
Maternal Instinct or Restraining Order?
Laura doesn’t just dislike Cherry; she becomes obsessed. She questions her job, digs into her family history, and “accidentally” spills coffee on her. This is where I started laughing. I understand how her brain got there: her husband is screwing around, her son is growing up, and now some woman she doesn’t trust has suddenly become the center of his universe.
Laura is way past “protective mom” and deep into “stalker” territory. And then just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, the script flips.
Cherry is Nuts, Too
The episode rewinds and shows us Cherry’s perspective. And guess what? Laura isn’t imagining everything.
Cherry is competitive, jealous and obsessed with an ex. She spits in her boss’s drink. She scopes out Laura before they’ve even formally met. She goes through Laura’s bedroom and walks away with her bracelet.
Then there’s the issue of Laura’s missing cat Moses. Cherry threw the cat out the window. Like WTF.
I am officially withdrawing my application for “Team Cherry.” This is what makes the show Fire — neither woman is trustworthy. It’s not “Crazy Girlfriend vs. Innocent Family”; it’s “Sociopath vs. Obsessive Mom.” Good luck, Daniel. You’re going to need it.
The Verdict: Exploding Cakes and Fire Performances
The highlight is seeing Olivia Cooke let loose at her ex-boyfriend’s wedding, dressing up like one of the chefs, and making the wedding cake literally explode as the newlyweds cut into it. She plays Cherry like someone constantly running 25 lanes of mischief in her head while pretending to be normal. Robin Wright is just as good, giving “Helicopter Motherhood” a cold, sophisticated edge.
The perspective shifts actually add value rather than just filling time. It changes how you see every scene. I want to know who ends up in that pool with the knife.
🔥 Final Verdict: WATCHABLE. Olivia Cooke is deliciously unhinged, Robin Wright is giving motherhood a restraining-order makeover, and the story actually moves. This isn’t “watching water boil” — it’s a high-stakes war.
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