How do you select between two individuals you’re keen on?
In Prime Video’s “The Girlfriend,” the selection is as grueling as attainable, pitting Daniel (Laurie Davidson) between his girlfriend Cherry (Olivia Cooke) and mom Laura (Robin Wright). From the skin, Laura might be loving, protecting, overbearing, even intrusive — whereas Cherry sows doubt for hiding items of her previous regardless of ostensibly adoring her new beau.
On paper, it might be any soapy summer time learn or weekend binge, however the restricted collection manages to hit the precise tonal candy spot for this type of story. Just like the supply materials from writer Michelle Frances, Naomi Sheldon and Gabbie Asher’s TV adaptation is instructed from a number of factors of view, leaving the viewers and remaining characters to make their very own selections about who’s truthful and who’s mendacity — and why.
The present begins out by depicting every part from each Laura and Cherry’s perspective, together with their particular person scenes. By the center episodes, every POV strikes the story ahead in its personal time, both recounting separate occasions, or choosing up chronologically the place the opposite left off. By the tip, each girls are arguably being trustworthy — in regards to the lies they’ve instructed one another, Daniel, different individuals, and themselves — however the dissonant lenses on their shared actuality (a.okay.a. Daniel) can not coexist.
That balancing act wouldn’t be attainable with out the mastery of Cooke and Wright (who additionally directed the primary three episodes), whose pressure kinds the idea of each relationship and plot level within the six-episode collection. Wright hits the precise proper observe of determined willpower; typically the present pulls again or adjustments perspective to protect Laura’s picture, however midway via the season she lets free with an unhinged flip that can assure viewers keep via the tip.
Cooke is irresistible as at all times, taking part in a scrumptious mixture of femme fatale, woman subsequent door, and real psychopath — relying on who you consider. As regal as she is in “Home of the Dragon,” “The Girlfriend” provides the actor a palpable bodily freedom (to not point out a really beautiful trendy wardrobe).
With the main focus primarily on Cooke, Wright, and Davidson, the ensemble is tight and rounded out by supporting performances from Waleed Zuaiter, Tanya Moodie, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Karen Henthorn, Anna Chancellor, Leo Suter, and Francesca Corney. Niamh Coulter’s manufacturing design and modern costuming by Joanna Johnston and Aaron Timperley sells the pocket of British wealth that Daniel and people near him occupy, and which Cherry gained’t relaxation till she acquires. Music supervisor Matt Biffa relishes various needle drops catered to scandalous character beats that solely enrich this viewing expertise.
It’s finest to depart the story there for spoilers’ sake, however “The Girlfriend” is strictly the type of psychological and soapy binge to kick off the autumn TV season, simply devoured in a single indulgent sitting with a cheeky drink and many yelling on the display screen. The twists fluctuate in precise shock worth, however the pressure gives sufficient of a hook to observe this warped love story to its conclusion. Possibly you don’t select between individuals you’re keen on; perhaps they select for you.
Grade: B+
All six episodes of “The Girlfriend” are actually streaming on Prime Video.