Note: Major spoilers ahead for the season finale of “The Girlfriend” on Prime Video
Well, Daniel doesn’t have to worry about choosing between the two most important women in his life anymore. Now there’s only one.
Episode 6 of “The Girlfriend,” now streaming on Prime Video, saw things finally come to a head between Laura (Robin Wright) and Cherry (Olivia Cooke), as Laura drugged her own son to keep him away from his fiancée. This, of course, was after she had Cherry arrested at her own wedding shower, which itself came after a series of increasingly bad choices.
“I think getting engaged behind Laura’s back, with Howard’s consent, to Cherry, I think that was her breaking point,” Wright told TheWrap. “I think it was ‘OK, no one believes me,’ one. And number two, ‘I’ve lost my husband because of it, and now he’s aligned himself with Daniel and Cherry.’ And I think that would make any woman go mad, knowing full well that what is to come in Episode 6 from Tracy, Cherry’s mother, just validates everything that Laura was feeling.”
“And everyone was like, ‘You’re just being crazy and neurotic and hysterical, like women are,’” she continued. “You know, it’s that cliché thing, ‘like women are.’ It’s like, ‘Well, guess what? I was right. I was a little bit right.’ So there’s a lot of that in there, that we deal with as women in the world. And I wanted to tap into that.”
Convinced that Cherry is not only trying to take Daniel (Laurie Davidson), but trying to kill him, Laura attempts to murder Cherry herself, and nearly succeeds in drowning her. Fortunately for Cherry, Daniel manages to regain enough consciousness and mobility to rip his mother away, and shockingly ends up drowning Laura himself.
Realizing what’s happening, Cherry yells at Daniel to stop, but it’s too late. Laura is gone, and neither Daniel nor Cherry move to try and revive her.
And so comes the big question mark: did Cherry intend for this to happen? Was it all a master plan executed to perfection by a psychopath who played the long game? Cooke doesn’t think so.
“I don’t think Cherry is that calculated,” Cooke explained to TheWrap. “I think she’s just incredibly volatile. I think Laura’s a little bit more calculated. I think Cherry’s emotions just get the better of her, and the red mist descends and that’s it.”
“I don’t think she meant for it to happen, but is she maybe pleased with the outcome in the end? You know, she’s got the house, she’s got the lifestyle, the guy, she’s got the security that she’s always wanted,” she continued. “She’s definitely benefited from what has happened.”
Ironically, it was actually Wright, who was also an executive producer and director on “The Girlfriend,” who came up with the idea for Laura to die at the hands of her son. The choice, conscious or not, by Daniel not only fed the Greek tragedy elements, but specifically the Oedipal facet.
“He’s been trapped in that his whole life. He’s never going to get out,” Wright explained. “And it’s not that he was coherent enough, as we are today, saying, ‘Oh, well, I’m going to kill my mom because she’s trapped me, she’s smothered me.’ He’s under the influence caused by his mother, to keep him safe from her.”
She continued: “So that kind of Greek tragedy triangle is why I chose Laura to be killed, because everybody’s going to expect, ‘Well, of course Cherry is going to kill mom because she wants the house, and she’ll kill the cat later!’”
In the final minutes of the episode, we flash forward a few months after Laura’s death. Cherry is now pregnant, and she and Daniel are happily visiting his father at the house. But, thanks to that darn cat, Daniel finds his mother’s cell phone, which she dropped on the night of her death.
On it is a video she recorded for her son, with the recording of Cherry’s mom warning that her daughter will do absolutely anything to remove a threat and get her way. Visibly panicked, Daniel looks to Cherry, happy outside, and the episode ends. So, what does that mean for their future?
“Well, it’d be interesting if she ends up, you know, sort of walking in the footsteps of Laura with that child,” Cooke said.
“I think she would definitely kill the cat before she had the baby,” Wright said with a laugh.
“The Girlfriend” is now streaming on Prime Video.
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