Elena Nicolaou is a senior entertainment editor at TODAY.com, where she covers the latest in TV, pop culture, movies and all things streaming. Her superpower is matching people up with the perfect book. Previously, she covered culture at Refinery29 and Oprah Daily.
Warning: This post contains spoilers for “The Girlfriend.” Nobody could have seen the twist in the last episode of “The Girlfriend” coming — except Robin Wright. In an interview with TODAY.com, the show’s star and director reveals that she, in fact, came up with the twist.
“It’s more of a surprise,” she says with a smile. 'The Girlfriend' is based on a novel of the same name by Michelle Frances and follows the two most important women in an aspiring young doctor's life: His protective mother, Laura , and his new girlfriend, Cherry . The series takes alternating viewpoints to unspool the story. Laura is suspicious of Cherry, fearing she's more attracted to the family's wealth than to her son, Daniel — and soon, fearing Cherry herself. Cherry, in Laura, sees an adversary and an obstacle to her ultimate happy ending and ladder up from her lower class upbringing. How does this tale end? Find out. How does 'The Girlfriend' end? Laura and Cherry's battle for Daniel goes from passive aggressive to straight-up aggressive as the show unspools. Cherry tries to paint Laura as crazy; Laura tries to prove that Cherry is the crazy one, but is losing credibility. Then, Laura makes a drastic decision that changes the course of the show, and her son's life. After an accident during a weekend getaway with Cherry, Daniel falls into a coma. Laura sees his injury as an opening to get rid of Cherry. She tells Cherry that Daniel has died — but he hasn't. Eventually, Cherry and Daniel figure out the betrayal and reunite. Still, even after Daniel shuts her out of his life, Laura is desperate to show him who his girlfriend really is. Laura speaks to Cherry's mom and learns all about her past, including the lengths she's willing to go to get what she wants. Cherry's mom paints her as a dangerous figure. Laura visits Daniel and drugs his drink. All she needs is a moment to play the recording, she says. That, of course, is not what happens. Cherry bursts in and Laura, now desperate herself, chases her around the mansion. It culminates in a showdown in the London home's pool, where Cherry and Laura try to drown each other. Then, Daniel wakes up from his valium-induced stupor and finishes the job for Cherry. 'He drowns her in the pool,' Wright says. Wright says the twist came during early discussions for 'The Girlfriend' and how it would compare to the book. 'Initially, everybody thought, 'Well, this going to be a no-brainer. Cherry kills Laura, then she wins. And I was like, No, let, my baby kill me,' Wright says, calling it a twist out of a Greek tragedy. Wright says Laura's decisions are controversial, but Laura's impulse to find fault with her son's partner is relatable. 'It's always going to be that way . Not to that degree. But it'll be like, 'Oh, I don't like the way she puts her hands in her pocket,'' she says. In this case, though, Laura's worst fears of her son's girlfriend were likely real — she would do anything to get what she wanted. Is Laura really dead in 'The Girlfriend'? 'She could still be alive,' Wright says. 'If he resuscitates her her, that's not on camera.' Wright says the ending is 'open-ended' in the sense of Laura's fate. When asked, straight-up, if she's alive, Wright responds, 'We'll see.' The ending is open-ended when it comes to Daniel's next move, too. The series ends at a gathering of Daniel, his father and Cherry, now pregnant. Daniel finds the phone that his mother had used to record Cherry's mom's confession, then watches it. All these months later, Cherry's secrets are out. In Daniel's face is a pained look: He killed his mother and now he's stuck with the woman who led him to that point. 'I said, 'If you guys want to do a Season 2, it should be called 'The Boyfriend.' And he kills her,' Wright jokes.
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