Based on the memoir by Stephanie Land, the Netflix mini-series explores the damage caused by her performance and endless cycle of abuse.
watching an exceptionally entertaining limited series MaidOne wonders once again how different the lives of domestic workers are in India and the US. They are practically different worlds. Alex (Margaret Qualley), the protagonist, has government aid, student loans, and an education in the form of a road map out of her rock-bottom. This is something that no domestic worker in India can aspire to in their wildest dreams.
Once you put that gaping gap aside, you’re quickly drawn into Alex’s world as he finds his abusive boyfriend Sean (Nick Robinson) with his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Maddie (Rylia Neva Whitett). leaves. In the middle of the night.
Without any skills (Brian Mills, where are you?) catch 22, Alex contacts Value Made, a cleaning service for the well-heeled. His bullshit boss, Yolanda (Tracy Willer), tells him the ground rules and sends him on his way.
As Alex cleans the merciful houses with killer ideas, she learns about the people she works for, including Regina (Anika Noni Rose), a high-profile lawyer, and a strange, barefoot burglar. who was abused as a child. Seeing Regina parting ways on Thanksgiving makes Alex realize that money is no barrier to suffering and exploitation.
Maid
- Episode: 10
- Producer: Molly Smith Metzler
- Starring: Margaret Qualley, Nick Robinson, Anika Noni Rose, Tracy Willer, Billy Burke, Andy McDowell, Raelia Newah Whitett, Javier de Guzman, Raymond Ablac, BJ Harrison, Amy Carrero, Mozán Marno
- Story: Leaving an abusive relationship a young woman creates a life for herself and her daughter
Plus, we get to learn about Alex’s strained relationship with his father, Hank, (Billy Burke), and his free-spirited mother, Paula (Andie McDowell), who is not bipolar. It takes time for Alex to accept that she is a victim of domestic violence, because Sean hasn’t killed her (yet), and emotional abuse qualifies as abuse just like physical violence. As Danielle (Amy Carrero), who lives in the same domestic violence shelter as Alex, says, “before they hit you, they hit you”.
Alex’s journey of self-realization begins with friends such as Denise (BJ Harrison) who run the shelter and Nate (Raymond Eblack) whose help is not entirely altruistic. Thanks to Regina, Alex is able to have Tara (Mosan Marno), a tough lawyer, in his corner.
Based on the memoirs of Stephanie Land, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to SurviveThe show is excited to showcase and explore the loss caused by an endless cycle of abuse. While the show is a revelation on living below the poverty line, thankfully without resorting to poverty porn, one has to question how different Alex’s experience would have been if she hadn’t been white.
Motherhood is also a strong motive in the show. Alex has a jail d’etre to give Maddie a good life, but she is also Paula’s mother, who needs to save herself.
Qualy carries the show on her shoulders, and the work she has put into bonding with four-year-old Whitett shows in the chemistry between the two. That whitet is cute as a button is an added bonus. McDowell created a wonderfully-realized character as Qualy’s real-life mother, Paula. Who can suppress the shock of recognition when she says, “I just caught a wave I can’t handle”?
Alex has to cross despite all the dark spots, and the toilets he has to clean, at Last Count Maid is optimistic; We rejoice with Alex and Maddy as they climb a hill on their way to college and a scholarship in Missoula. It’s time for Alex to snap fingers.
Maid is currently streaming on Netflix
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