For the old rivalries and tensions that have simmered since their school days, still linger. Tensions and rivalries that are exacerbated by age, ambition, careers, kids, no kids, marriage, divorce and all the rest that life hurls at you by the time you reach middle age. Add their individual varying levels of entitlement and unsurprisingly all these tensions boil over into backstabbing and betrayal, but all delivered in ways that only long-term friends can.
Take this excerpt of dialogue from episode two, between Kate and Laurie, onto the third bottle of wine back in their villa after dinner, after Jaclyn’s gone to bed.
Laurie: “She’s so funny…”
Kate: “So competitive…”
Laurie: “No, no, no, but she’s always been like that. But you’d think with all her success, she’d have mellowed out….”
Kate (whispering): “Narcissist?”
Laurie (nodding): “A little bit.”
Kate: “And the vanity…I mean, I know she says she has to maintain it, because it’s her career, but did she sandblast her face or something? It’s very waxy.”
Laurie: “She’s still gorgeous though.’
Kate: “Oh no definitely, definitely…Gosh she had the face that everyone wanted…”
Laurie: “Oh I know…”
PAUSE
Kate: “And the thing with her husband?…”
Laurie: “Yes! She goes on and on, they’re so in love, so addicted to each other, but I mean, are they ever even in the same room?”
Kate: “I don’t think they ever see each other.”
Laurie: “See that’s what I’m saying!”
Kate: “You know, I think she’s just lonely.”
This dance of love, hate, accompanied by knowing looks, eye-rolls and micro judgements (and all out aggressive judgements) is performed alternatively between all three women throughout the series. None of them are immune and it eventually culminates in a girlcode (and marital) betrayal when Jaclyn sleeps with Vlad. I can’t wait to see the fallout in the final two episodes.
“Bloody hell, are women really like this?” asked my boyfriend while watching. And I am ashamed to admit that if I am being really honest, in my experience, yes, they can be. Me included.
And just to check that I am not a toxic friend, in a circle of toxic friends, I asked two female colleagues who had also seen the show. And they too agreed that yes, this behaviour is indeed uncomfortable, because it is indeed relatable. Especially as women get older. And it got me thinking as to why this is. Why do we feel the need to dissect our female friends’ shortcomings with our other female friends? There’s no doubting that Kate, Laurie and Jaclyn do love each other and share a fond history, but the oneupmanship, the gossip, the projection and prejudice all tempered with protestations of love for one another are painfully familiar.
Fabio Lovino/HBO