'The Girlfriend' Trailer Explores the In-Law Relationship

There's been a spate of thriller shows recently that take an "expected" trope and attempt to turn it on its head for dramatic purposes. The Bodyguard comes to mind, a show where the hero refuses to believe a grieving woman is a terrorist just because she is brown, and is made to look foolish for the benefit of the doubt. The Ex-Wife (which returned for Season 2 sans original ex-wife) was a less successful model, where the "women catfighting over a man" trope turned out to be the husband manipulating his new wife while the first one tried to rescue her before she was killed. Now, there's The Girlfriend, which, from all appearances, looks like it belongs in the same lane as Jennifer Lopez's big-screen hit Monster-in-Law, and countless other shows and films that feature two women fighting over a dopey man-child.

However, the all-star cast and the director, Andrea Harkin, whose credits include The Confessions of Frannie Langton, Season 2 of Time, and The Trial of Christine Keeler, suggest otherwise. Based on the Michelle Frances novel of the same name, it's a psychological portrait of a woman who has been given everything she wants in life by operating by the patriarchy's rules. When her son brings home an ambitious girlfriend, she immediately drinks in the Kool-Aid of how younger women are only seen as a threat to usurp the places of older ones in male-dominated society, and reacts accordingly.

Taking the usual antifeminist trope and running it through a feminist lens is an interesting twist, and one that could make for a remarkable series. Or it could turn out to be another Ex-Wife. The trailer says the jury's still out.