Unravel the mystery: ‘The Girlfriend’ on Prime Video – The must-watch thriller of 2025
Robin Wright speaks onstage during Cocktails and Conversation with Robin Wright: Prime Video's "The Girlfriend" x Cosmopolitan at Maxwell Social on September 16, 2025 in New York City. Picture: Valerie Terranova/Getty Images for Prime Video/AFP
Image: Valerie Terranova/Getty Images for Prime Video/AFP
The Robin Wright-led ‘The Girlfriend’ is currently on Prime Video and might just be the best thriller series you watch in 2025.
Starting out as a simple boy-meets-girl story, it rapidly evolves into something far more sinister.
It explores themes of gaslighting, possessive and controlling behaviour, and how our perspectives can be completely warped.
Wright plays a domineering mother, Laura, as her son Daniel (Laurie Davidson) becomes quickly infatuated with his new girlfriend, Cherry (Olivia Cooke). Cooke and Wright are incredible as their characters battle each other throughout the story.
Gripping Psychological Thriller with Twists and Gaslighting Themes
The show boasts a plot that expertly tells a tale that keeps the viewer guessing, and you’re never really sure just who the bad guy is (Cherry or Laura).
It does this by switching the narrative from the point of view of the main characters, and if you’re paying attention, you’ll notice scenes play out differently according to each character’s perspective.
This is perhaps the best illustration of gaslighting that any show has managed on the topic of manipulation and narcissism.
Exploring Class Differences and Gaslighting in The Girlfriend
Adding to the solid plot is that Cherry is from a poor background in London, while Daniel, in contrast, has always had everything money could buy.
His privileged upbringing, however, has come at a price as Laura has dictated every aspect of his life right into adulthood. We learn that even the clothes he wears after the age of 30 are picked out by his mother.
The viewer is also constantly made to question which events matter most in the history of the characters’ lives. The constant second-guessing, of course, is another feature of expert gaslighting.
It’s therefore not a stretch to say that both the characters and the viewers are subject to this subtle form of manipulation.
I’m hesitant to call anything a masterpiece so soon after viewing (I watched all six episodes over two days last week), but with The Girlfriend, I have no problem making an exception.
If you haven’t watched The Girlfriend yet, that’s just a poor life choice.