I thought I knew what The Girlfriend was doing after Episode 1.
Laura doesn’t trust Cherry. Cherry knows Laura doesn’t trust her. Daniel is stuck between his girlfriend and his wildly overprotective mother while remaining almost impressively oblivious to the fact that the two women are sizing each other up like they’re waiting for somebody to ring the bell.
Fine.
Episode 2 just made the whole thing considerably more f*cked up. Because now I don’t know if I can trust either one of them.
“The Girlfriend” takes us on a family vacation that should be absolute paradise and turns it into psychological warfare. Cherry and Laura give us different versions of the same events, details change depending on who’s remembering them, motives shift, and even something as simple as Daniel scraping his knee becomes completely different depending on whose eyes we’re looking through.
By the end, I stopped trying to decide which version was “the truth.”
I think they’re both full of shit. And I’m loving every minute of it.
Everybody’s Lying
Cherry arrives already carrying enough red flags to decorate the entire estate.
Daniel gives her $800 to fly British Airways business class. Cherry pockets the difference, takes a cheaper flight, goes shopping with the money, changes clothes and returns to the airport in time to make Daniel believe she just stepped off the flight he paid for.
Holy hell, this girl commits to a bit.
It gets better. She literally tears the airline tag off her luggage before Daniel can see it.
Then she discovers Laura’s friend Isabella was on the British Airways flight Cherry was supposed to be on.
Whoops.
Cherry isn’t merely insecure around Daniel’s wealthy family. She’s performing a version of herself that she thinks will survive in their world. The clothes, the flight, the lies about Laura’s art, the things she takes — it’s all part of an act.
And Olivia Cooke is f*cking fire.
There’s a fascinating vulnerability underneath Cherry’s scheming. She genuinely seems to love Daniel. When she finally tells him she doesn’t feel good enough because their lives are so different, I believe her. That’s what makes her more interesting than a straightforward con artist.
Cherry wants Daniel.
She also desperately wants to be the woman she thinks someone like Daniel would want.
Unfortunately for her, Daniel comes with Laura.
Mommy Needs to Back the F*ck Off
If Cherry is a walking red flag, Laura is an entire f*cking parade.
Daniel gets a little scrape on his knee and Laura immediately goes into Mommy Emergency Mode. Lady. He’s an adult.
He’s about to become a trauma surgeon, for Christ’s sake. I was waiting for her to ask whether he wanted Mommy to kiss his boo-boo.
Apparently Cherry was thinking the exact same thing, because the next morning she asks him basically that.
AHAHAHAHA.
But the episode keeps f*cking with us because when we eventually see the same incident from Laura’s perspective, it isn’t quite the ridiculous spectacle Cherry showed us. Daniel’s injury looks worse. Laura doesn’t fuss nearly as much. The other people laugh at Cherry’s remark, and Laura seems embarrassed.
That’s when The Girlfriend really gets interesting. These aren’t flashbacks showing us additional information. They’re perspectives.
Cherry experiences Laura as a suffocating, manipulative mother who wants her gone. Laura experiences Cherry as a lying, thieving, potentially dangerous girlfriend who has invaded her son’s life.
And each woman has enough evidence to make her case.
Poor Daniel Doesn’t Know What F*cking Show He’s In
Meanwhile, Daniel is merrily wandering through all of this thinking everybody’s going to get along.
He brings Cherry into a family environment where Laura has invited Isabella and Isabella’s daughter Brigitte — who happens to have a romantic history with Daniel.
Nothing awkward about that!
Daniel and Brigitte flirt. Laura and Isabella openly fantasize about the two getting back together. Cherry gets humiliated during tennis. Everybody knows the rules of this wealthy little universe except her.
Daniel doesn’t seem to understand how exposed Cherry feels. He also doesn’t understand just how deep Laura’s claws are in him.
At one point he describes Brigitte, a woman he’s had a relationship with, as the closest thing he’s ever had to a sister.
Cherry’s reaction was basically mine: That’s f*cking weird.
Even Howard, Daniel’s father, seems to recognize something is wrong with the family dynamic. He’s the only person who consistently treats Cherry like a human being. Their conversation about the death of his daughter Rose is one of the episode’s quieter and better moments. Cherry asks how he’s doing years after the loss, and Howard appreciates that someone finally acknowledges that fathers grieve too.
For a moment, Cherry stops performing, and Howard notices. That relationship could become very interesting, particularly because Howard knows Laura better than anyone.
Then the Episode Pulls the Rug Out
The yacht sequence is where the storytelling really clicks.
We’ve already seen Cherry struggling in the water at the beginning of the episode. When we finally reach the moment through Cherry’s perspective, Daniel is distracted with Brigitte while Cherry is drowning.
She looks toward Laura, she screams for help, Laura watches, and does nothing. Holy shit.
Except…That’s not what Laura remembers.
When we reach Laura’s version, she jumps into the water and saves Cherry. Now we’re cooking.
And I don’t think the episode necessarily wants us to choose one version. Cherry’s perspective ends before we see what ultimately happened, so Laura very well may have saved her. But the emotional truth of Cherry’s version still matters: in Cherry’s mind, Laura is a woman who would happily watch her disappear.
Laura’s version has its own suspiciously rosy bullshit.
Suddenly Laura and Cherry are strolling through town together, sharing secrets, shopping, eating ice cream and behaving like the mother-daughter relationship Laura claims she always wanted.
I didn’t buy this shit for a second. But apparently it did happen.
That’s what makes it better. They aren’t suddenly friends. They’re playing chess.
Laura learns Cherry speaks Spanish and therefore understands far more of the conversations around her than anyone realized. Cherry learns Laura once had a female lover she nearly married — a secret Howard apparently doesn’t know. Laura gets Cherry talking about her past. Cherry gets Laura talking about hers.
They’re smiling. They’re shopping. They’re gathering ammunition.
The use of “Femme Fatale” over their happy little afternoon couldn’t be more perfect.
Who’s building whom up just to knock her down? Probably both of them.
Two Women, Two Stories, One Very Clueless Man
By the end of the episode, the temporary ceasefire is already over.
Laura discovers video from the wedding involving Cherry’s ex. She also catches Cherry swimming after Cherry claimed she couldn’t swim. She confronts her and makes it clear she’s prepared to tell Daniel everything.
Cherry reminds her that they agreed to keep each other’s secrets. And there it is. They both have bombs now.
Laura has evidence that Cherry is lying about who she is and what she’s done. Cherry has information Laura doesn’t want Howard — or possibly Daniel — to know.
Neither woman can expose the other without risking something herself.
And Daniel? Daniel walks into the middle of them, thrilled that Mommy and Girlfriend finally appear to be getting along.
Oh, Daniel. You poor stupid bastard.
The episode even sends us out with “GTFO,” which is hilariously appropriate because that’s essentially what Laura and Cherry have been saying to each other for two episodes:
Get the fuck out of my son’s life.
Get the fuck out of my relationship.
Nobody’s going anywhere.
🔥 Our Verdict: WATCHABLE
The Girlfriend is getting juicy.
What looked like a relatively straightforward mother-versus-girlfriend thriller has turned into something much more fun because neither woman is a reliable guide to what’s happening.
Laura has baggage. Cherry has baggage. They’re manipulative, territorial, sneaky as f*ck and far more alike than either would ever admit.
That’s probably exactly why they can’t stand each other.
And yes, I’m still Team Cherry.
Not because I think she’s innocent. She’s obviously not. She lies, steals, snoops, manipulates and has a past that’s getting harder to hide.
But Laura was looking for reasons to hate this woman almost from the moment she appeared, and now she’s finally collecting the ammunition she wanted.
Cherry has some ammunition of her own.
So let them dig in.
Because somewhere ahead of us is that bloody knife and swimming pool from Episode 1, and I still don’t know whose version of this story is going to get us there.
The battle has officially begun.
