Cherry’s Secrets & [SPOILER]’s Death Revealed

Warning: This article includes MAJOR SPOILERS for The Girlfriend!

Prime Video’s The Girlfriend is a wildly Oedipal thriller that plummets towards a dramatic ending that breaks down Cherry’s secrets and one shocking death. The story features three main characters: Laura (Robin Wright), Cherry (Olivia Cooke), and Daniel (Laurie Davidson). Daniel, a wealthy cad, becomes a customer at Cherry’s real estate company, hoping to meet her.

After Daniel and Cherry start dating, she tries to hide her poor background. She leans into the lie about her upbringing when meeting Daniel’s parents. Unfortunately, Daniel’s mom, Laura, is possessive of her son, whom she treats more like a boyfriend than a son. Though she tries to be open to Cherry, she quickly becomes jealous, as shown in The Girlfriend‘s trailer. Her jealousy leads her to uncover Cherry’s lies.

After a rock-climbing accident leaves Daniel in the hospital, Laura lies to Cherry, saying her son died. Additionally, she also lies to Daniel, convincing him that Cherry abandoned him because of his accident. When the truth is uncovered, this leads to a dramatic ending, which pits Laura and Cherry against each other in a competition over who is more unhinged.

How Laura Dies In The Girlfriend

The dialogue in the cryptic first scene of The Girlfriend leads to the belief that Laura will kill Cherry at the end of the show. However, the finale flips this dynamic. Laura does plan to kill her son’s girlfriend. First, she tries to stab Cherry, and then she attempts to drown her. Laura ends up dying, though, not Cherry.

The interesting part is that it doesn’t occur at the hands of the expected individual. Instead, in true Oedipus Rex style, Daniel unknowingly kills one of his parents. Except, in a twist from the fable, he kills the mother whom he adores more than anything. In a drugged haze, Daniel stumbles to the basement to see Laura drowning Cherry.

Daniel’s protective instincts kick in, and he’s forced to choose one of the women. Rather than standing by his mother, he’s her undoing. He separates the women by pushing Laura underwater. In the midst of checking on Cherry, Daniel doesn’t realize that he’s held Laura’s head underwater for too long, killing her.

Ultimately, the way Laura dies is tragic for a few reasons. Daniel will have to live with the guilt of having murdered his mother, who engaged in emotional incest with him. He’s also stuck with Cherry, whom he’ll undoubtedly grow to resent. Additionally, no matter who Daniel had chosen, he would be stuck with a manipulative and dangerous woman.

Cherry’s Secret Past In The Girlfriend Explained

Leading up to the ending of The Girlfriend, the show reveals that Cherry played a part in her father’s injury, which we’ll dissect in the next section. However, the most disturbing reveal comes in the final moments of the show. When Daniel finds his mother’s phone, he sees the video Laura recorded of her conversation with Cherry’s mother.

In the audio, Cherry’s mom mentions that the attack on Cherry’s dad wasn’t an isolated event. Instead, she reveals that Cherry did worse than “glassing her face” when dealing with kids in school who took her toys and the boy who stood her up at the college dance. It’s implied that she might have killed the latter.

Finally, Cherry’s mom warns that Daniel needs to be careful with Cherry because, eventually, she’ll find a way to “get rid of him” when he doesn’t give her what she wants. This aligns with her behavior towards Laura, who Cherry’s friendly towards until Laura stops acting the way she wants.

What Really Happened To Cherry’s Father

When Cherry goes to visit her father, he has a very dramatic reaction to her presence, so she leaves. This is the first hint that she was responsible for his condition. Later, it comes out that Cherry went after her father to confront him about leaving her and her mom. Ultimately, she pushes him, causing him to fall.

Based on the way she addresses the incident in the final episode, it seems like Cherry did this on purpose out of anger, rather than acting on impulse and feeling bad about it. This shows that her previous drastic steps, like hitting her head with a glass and vandalizing the art, weren’t done from a place of emotion. Instead, it was likely a calculated move.

Is Cherry After Daniel’s Money?

The Girlfriend bounces back and forth between Cherry’s and Laura’s perspectives, with each painting the story in a drastically different way. Laura’s perspective shows Cherry to be a woman who is only with Daniel to get his money.

In the book by Michelle Frances, there’s a much stronger argument for this being the truth. However, that really doesn’t seem to be the case in the Prime Video original show.

Cherry isn’t against using Daniel’s money for things, but she doesn’t do that often. Even when she takes the extra money from the flight, she buys clothes specifically meant to impress Daniel’s family so that she’ll fit in with them. It’s less about herself and more about making a good impression on the family of the man she loves.

More frequently, she puts herself into debt to impress Daniel, without ever telling him how much she spent. She’s trying to succeed on her own merits at work, despite her upbringing putting her at a disadvantage. Plus, she’s apprehensive about dating Daniel because he’s rich and “a wanker.” As such, it’s more likely that she chose Daniel based on personality.

Is Laura In Love With Her Son?

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While Laura spends the series convinced that Cherry is after Daniel’s money, Cherry spends the series confident that Laura is essentially in love with her son. It’s easy to dismiss the former, but the latter is unfortunately not entirely baseless. Though she might not be in love with him, per se, Laura engages in emotional incest with her son.

She expects him to fulfill her emotional needs in the way a partner would. He’s not allowed to put his own desires ahead of his mom’s, even though he’s an adult. What’s more, they become so enmeshed that he lies about Laura’s bad behavior to protect her reputation, and he feels guilty when she’s upset.

She’s also very touchy-feely with her son, to the point where I said “yikes” multiple times throughout The Girlfriend. At one point, they even kiss on the lips. For these reasons, and even more, this story is simultaneously Oedipal, which is when a son is in love with his mother, and Jocastal, which is when the roles are reversed.

Howard & Laura’s Open Relationship Explained

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Throughout The Girlfriend, Howard tries desperately to please his wife, Laura. At first, this means opening up their marriage. He finds a girlfriend named Mariane, thinking that’s what his wife wants. Then, when she approaches him about closing the marriage, he agrees and breaks up with Marianne.

Unfortunately, nothing Howard does ever seems to be good enough for Laura. She continually puts all her time and attention into her son at the sacrifice of her husband. The only person, aside from her son, who actually seems to bring her joy is her ex-girlfriend, Lilith.

However, it’s unclear whether she’s truly happy with Lilith or if she finds comfort in Lilith because the ex-girlfriend enables her toxic relationship with her son. There may be some of both going on, as there is genuine chemistry between the women. Either way, it’s understandable why Howard is so quick to side with Cherry, who validates his feelings, and Daniel.

The Significance Of The Song “Everybody Supports Women” In The Girlfriend

The song “Everybody Supports Women” by Sophia Isella is played multiple times in The Girlfriend, which is especially notable since the bingeable show is only six episodes long. Ultimately, the lyrics directly connect to the central conflict of the raunchy thriller.

As much as this is about the terrible relationship between a girlfriend and a mom, it quickly becomes more akin to a love triangle, due to the Oedipal undertones. While they genuinely love Daniel, the competition quickly turns into a battle between two women who hate each other, despite seemingly supporting other women in their general lives.

As Isella’s song says, “Everybody supports women until a woman’s doing better than you.” Cherry hates Laura for being richer and having Daniel’s admiration. Laura hates Cherry for being prettier and having Daniel’s love. It ends up being a battle over who can manipulate Daniel more effectively.

How The Girlfriend’s Ending Sets Up Season 2

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The Girlfriend doesn’t necessarily need a second season, as it feels complete as is. Daniel discovers he’s trapped in a marriage with a woman who is both dangerous and unhinged without an easy out. However, one aspect of the ending does set up a storyline for a possible second season.

In the final scene, Cherry is extremely pregnant, looking like she’s about to give birth any day. Now that Daniel knows about Cherry’s secret past and her manipulative behavior, The Girlfriend season 2 could delve into how Daniel copes with the information now that they’re going to be parents.

Additionally, Cherry and Daniel’s child could cause conflict that leads to Cherry going after her husband in The Girlfriend‘s second season. She could become increasingly hostile and controlling as he tries to leave with their child.