The Girlfriend, featuring stellar performances by Robin Wright and Olivia Cooke, has premiered on Prime Video. The psychological thriller revolves around the tussle between the elite Laura Sanderson and her would-be daughter-in-law, Cherry Laine.
Tensions are established between the two from the very first episode. As Laura’s son, Daniel, brings Cherry home, Laura senses that something is wrong with her, and she might not be who she is pretending to be.
The episode is told through the perspective of both Laura and Cherry, which makes the audience wonder who is right and who is wrong. Here is the complete The Girlfriend Episode 1 recap.
The Girlfriend Episode 1 recap: Cherry arrives at the Sanderson house
The first episode of The Girlfriend begins with chaos as Laura Sanderson, a wealthy London art dealer, hears a noise and fears that an intruder has barged into her home. While the noise is actually made by her cat, the false alarm reveals that Laura is very vigilant and suspicious.
Soon after that, Laura’s son Daniel comes home. He is a medical student who has a close bond with his mother. However, their relationship seems obsessive at times, and it becomes clear that Laura is having trouble with Daniel growing up and living life on his own terms.
Daniel then tells her that he is dating a girl named Cherry, who is different from all of his previous girlfriends. This makes Laura worried, but she forces a smile on her face. Daniel later brings Cherry home for dinner with his parents.
While Cherry makes herself comfortable by cracking jokes about her name and tries to impress Laura with her knowledge of art, Laura notices that little things about her do not actually add up. She feels Cherry is lying about the school she went to, and also notices her making mistakes while talking. Thus, tensions rise between the two from the word go.
The Girlfriend Episode 1 recap: Laura follows Cherry
The episode showcases Laura’s point of view, who feels that Cherry is hiding something. She notices a gold bracelet in Cherry’s bag that looks just like one of her own. She also sees her getting overly bold in front of Daniel. All this makes her believe that Cherry has put on a pretense.
Meanwhile, The Girlfriend Episode 1 also reveals why Laura is overprotective. She has a tragic past, as she had a daughter named Rose who died years ago. Laura never fully dealt with the grief and clung to Daniel. She struggled to let him make his own choices in life, including those about his career.
As her suspicions grow, she begins following Cherry to work. She sees her punching a man in public during an argument, which makes her believe that she is a dangerous woman who is manipulating her son. Meanwhile, her own love life is falling apart as her husband is having an affair with another woman, Marianne.
The Girlfriend Episode 1 recap: Cherry’s point of view
The events of the episode are then retold from Cherry’s side. She comes from a working-class family, as her mother runs a butcher shop, and her late father was a builder. She works hard as a real estate agent but is often overlooked at her job.
From Cherry’s perspective, Laura treats her less like a guest and more like a suspect. Every question at dinner feels like an attack on her. To survive in Daniel’s wealthy world, she changes her personality. She buys a dress she cannot afford, borrows lines from art books, and alters some details about her past.
While these actions make her seem dishonest, Cherry feels they are just ways to protect herself. For example, she admired the bracelet and was only trying it out. She planned to return it, and that is why it was in her bag. As for why she punched a man: he was her ex-boyfriend Nicholas, who insulted her and accused her of stalking him.
The episode ends with Cherry planning revenge against Nicholas at his wedding. She hides an animal heart in the cake, which shocks everyone at the ceremony. Hence, Cherry does have a darker side, but at the same time, she does not show any ill will towards Daniel and his family in the first episode.
The Girlfriend is available to stream on Prime Video.