‘Stephanie Land’ writes about poverty in the United States. Her book ‘Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive‘ is one of the New York Times’ best sellers. Now Netflix has made a show based on Stephanie Land’s book which has gained lots of attention and appreciation from the day it was released. Currently, ‘Maid’ is one of the top ten shows on Netflix and it will stay there for at least a few weeks because of its brilliance and a wonderful performance by the cast.
The Storyline..
Alex, the mother of three-year-old baby girl ‘Maddy’ been living with her boyfriend for the past few years. The show opens up at midnight with Alex leaving along with Maddy in her car. To protect herself and her daughter, Alex leaves her boyfriend in the middle of the night. She has no money, no savings, no plans! From then her struggles starts. Without a roof on their head, food to eat, or money to spend she struggles to live. She struggles to take care of her daughter. The Domestic Violence shelter comes to her rescue. However, she has to work to earn money hence she chooses to be a ‘maid’. She starts cleaning houses, scrubs toilets, washbasins, and works for hours to earn a little amount of money.
Having a psych mother as her only family Alex tries to find ways to take care of Maddy. It wasn’t easy for her. Her abusive father offers help but knowing him very well Alex tries to maintain distance from him. Her boyfriend Sean, one night sober and the next night drunken, create lots of chaos in Alex’s life. Even after she finds a way to live happily with her daughter, sean ruins everything for her.
The most compelling part..
This show certainly highlights emotional abuse. Many women are struggling without even knowing that they are getting abused. The show brings awareness for emotional abuse and how much courage it takes to face such abuse. In fact, emotional abuse is way more dangerous than physical abuse because people won’t see it. There will not be any bruise marks or scars or any witnesses. It all happens between four walls. Victims keep falling into the abyss as it takes a rollover their mental health. High chances of losing self-confidence and the will to live life.
As told by the DV shelter manager, victims go back to the place from where they have come. For the fear of losing a kid’s custody or being unable to live life alone, victims go back to the same house and again start living inside those four walls. It takes three-four tries to finally come out. Sometimes people will never come out.
The show highlights the collective failure of the family, system, and humanity. ‘Maid’ on Netflix portrays the role of mom, dad, and friends to have a healthy relationship. When Sean is trying hard to be better for his daughter he gets in touch with Alex’s dad who himself forgot that once upon a time he hit his wife. Alex’s mom always believed that Sean is a good guy and she never believed there exist a thing called emotional abuse. She gives herself into the hands of a cunning man who escapes with her money and takes ownership of her house. And there are people who waste their food in the fridge but refuges to show kindness to people in need. A lady goes out to charity on Thanksgiving but fails to notice a maid who hasn’t eaten for the whole day.
Like most of the women, Alex goes back to Sean. She surrenders herself for the second time even after knowing his other face. Sean tries to be a good man by working two jobs but there is an evil living inside him which comes out even without his knowledge. There are other characters such as Nate, Regina, Denise helping Alex to find her path. Every character has its own weight. The show might seem slow as Alex keeps doing stupid mistakes which makes the audience wonder ‘why does she have to ruin everything with one single mistake?’ ‘Why can’t she think?’… That’s why the show has been successful when it comes to touching people’s hearts. It makes you think. It makes you get angry at Alex for not speaking, for believing everything, for not protesting.. At the same time her strength, will to survive, love for her daughter, and resilience inspire everyone. The performance of Margaret Qualley as Alex is outstanding. The real-life mother-daughter duo Andie MacDowell and Margaret Qualley as Paula and Alex, rock every inch of the screen.
The most intriguing part is, Maid is based on a real-life story. The show takes you on an emotional ride with its 10 limited episodes, each with a 1-hour duration. If you have already seen ‘Maid’ on Netflix, leave your thoughts in the comment section.