The Girlfriend review just how much of an incest vibe can one TV show get away with? A lot

"Welcome, friends, to The Girlfriend, an adaptation of the excellent psychological thriller by Michelle Frances, and an answer to the question many of us have surely pondered just how much of an incest vibe can one get away with instilling in a shiny prestige miniseries, and can anyone get Robin Wright to star and make the whole thing disturbingly credible?"

"The answer to the first half is, Yikes, quite a lot, starting with a reunion in the family home's basement pool and catchup chat in the sauna. The answer to the second is, Yes you can, and how had we all forgotten how good she is when she spent five years as Claire Underwood in House of Cards? God, who'd be an actor when ungrateful viewers' memories are so short?"

"Laurie Davidson, who plays him, conveys abundant charm and intelligence that prevents the character from being sappy or stupid, which would immediately sink the multivalent narrative. But would Daniel still be so important if her husband, Howard (Waleed Zuaiter) were not having a long-term affair and if she hadn't lost a baby daughter years before? Perhaps not. But perhaps yes. The Girlfriend is a brilliantly slippery beast it employs Rashomon-style flips between Laura's and the eponymous girlfriend's perspectives and likes to keep its options open."

The Girlfriend adapts a psychological thriller by Michelle Frances and centers on Laura, a wealthy gallery owner whose son Daniel is the focus of her emotional life. Daniel meets Cherry, an estate agent, and their relationship exposes tensions in a family marked by a husband's long-term affair and a lost baby daughter. The series cultivates uneasy, incestuous undertones through intimate settings like a basement pool and sauna and through Laura's possessive attachment. Rashomon-style perspective shifts between Laura and Cherry maintain ambiguity and keep the narrative slippery. Performances by Robin Wright, Laurie Davidson and Olivia Cooke heighten the drama with nuanced, unsettling portrayals.

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