My Girlfriend's Mom review

The setup

Three weeks earlier he had the night of his life, courtesy of a woman he had never met before. Today his girlfriend brings him home to meet the family, promising her mom will adore him. The mom does, in her way: while the daughter fetches wine, she notes that he failed to recognize her fully dressed, and admits she has replayed that night daily. Later she follows him outside and sets the terms. He keeps dating the daughter and keeps the mother satisfied, or the daughter hears everything.

Episode 2

Frank, the husband, arrives in episode 2, greeting his wife and hunting for scotch, oblivious to everything. That obliviousness becomes her cover. She summons the boyfriend to her room for later, has him fix her dress with the family just outside, and brushes off her daughter's complaint about monopolizing him. He swears this ends now, then turns up at her door that night anyway. She shuts it behind him and declares the games over.

Who's who

• The mom: a stranger from one wild night, now his girlfriend's mother and his blackmailer
• The boyfriend: came to meet the parents and left with a secret he cannot afford
• Frank: the husband, cheerful, thirsty for scotch and blind to whatever happens in his house

Verdict: 6.6 out of 10

The one-night-stand reveal is an old trick, and this version executes it with confidence: recognition, panic, terms, all inside about a minute. Episode 2 smartly adds a husband who notices nothing, which turns every room in the house into a hazard. The mother is a compelling villain-heroine; the boyfriend is mostly a set of nervous objections. Still, the plot has momentum, and the door closing at the end makes the rest hard to ignore.

Episode guide