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\u201cThe Girlfriend\u201d is the biggest fraud in recent TV memory. It wears its influences like a badge of honor, but don\u2019t be fooled by its hot young stars, exotic locations and high production values. Beneath the surface, there is an extraordinary amount of nothing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Laura Sanderson (Robin Wright, \u201cHouse of Cards\u201d) is a wealthy London art gallery owner and doting mother to her son Daniel (Laurie Davidson, \u201cA Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story\u201d). Daniel\u2019s got a new girlfriend, Cherry (Olivia Cooke, \u201cHouse of the Dragon\u201d), and she\u2019s got everything going for her. She\u2019s a successful real estate agent that is also smart, funny and beautiful. But Laura knows something\u2019s up with Cherry. She lies about having attended a prestigious secondary school, loves to spend Daniel\u2019s money and (GASP) can\u2019t play tennis. Laura is determined to keep Daniel and Cherry apart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The two views above encapsulate what it\u2019s like to watch an episode of \u201cThe Girlfriend.\u201d The show is told from the perspective of both women, with the first half of each episode highlighting one\u2019s perspective and the second recapping the same events from the other\u2019s. It is a miniseries about two women fighting over the most important man in their lives through increasingly high-stakes humiliation, backstabbing and cancelling. It\u2019s a fun premise, but it ultimately suffers from horrible execution.<\/p>\n
Cherry and Laura are both liars, but not particularly skilled ones. The two construct unbelievable lies \u2014 fabricating a character\u2019s death, creating fake social media posts in the other\u2019s name, etc. \u2014 that are easy to pick apart with any level of critical thinking. Instead of being strung along for a nail-biting ride, desperately trying to figure out how these two characters will hurt each other next, the viewer sits back, waiting to see how the next in a series of convoluted schemes will fall apart. \u201cThe Girlfriend\u201d is not a high-wire act; it\u2019s a series of increasingly implausible falls.\u00a0<\/p>\n