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Maid is now streaming on Netflix (Photo provided via @meetyourmovie_ on Instagram).

TV Review: ‘Maid’ is a heartbreaking journey of self discovery

Maid follows the story of newly single mother, Alex (Margaret Qualley), fleeing from her abusive boyfriend as well as juggling financial issues. At the onset of the series, we are thrust into the story immediately; something that actually makes the series more interesting because no time is wasted for a build up.

Instead we jump into the action with Alex having just escaped from her house with her daughter, Maddy (Rilea Navea Whittet), after an argument with her abusive boyfriend, Sean (Nick Robinson), after punching a hole in the wall right next to Alex’s head. This starts the ongoing struggle of the series that is getting away from Sean, the main aspect of the show. 

Throughout the series, Alex does whatever possible to become independent of Sean, not for the safety of herself, but more so for the safety of Maddy. She goes to the depths of the social work system to try to lead her on the right path, which inevitably turns complicated. 

Alex moves nine times throughout the show, staying with each of her parents, with friends, in a DV shelter, in a halfway house, in an apartment and even being homeless for a night. Alex never finds a place that she can call home, but none of that matters. She finds peace in protecting her daughter from life and being a buffer between the hardships of their life together. 

The show examines the hardship of motherhood. Not being able to express her emotions in an effort to preserve the innocence of her daughter shows just how much Alex may struggle. You’d imagine that she wouldn’t appreciate having Maddy, that she would feel that the child took away her youth and the future she thought she had. That’s not the case, however, and it is the essence of true motherhood, feeling as if you’d give up anything in order to protect your child.

The “maid” aspect of the show is lost in a way. It provides a driver for the plot, but doesn’t speak to the storyline as a whole. The storyline mainly focuses on Alex trying to provide for her daughter and her journey to self-fulfillment, finding independence and through that, finding inner peace. 

Throughout the show, Alex experiences not only the heartbreak of losing jobs, struggling to pay the bills, struggling to find places to sleep, but also the ever-evolving struggle to get Maddy and herself away from Sean and his emotional abuse. 

She struggles to get away from an abusive relationship, and it doesn’t help that everyone she looks to for help fails her. In a way, the relationships she has with her parents, friends and advisors help to emphasize Alex’s bravery and independence, as everyone around her seems to be M.I.A when she needs them most.

Alex wills herself through the struggles of single parenthood, all the while juggling the struggles with not having steady income. This show explores insurmountable heartache and the twists and turns of trying to become independent from someone that is leeching off you for their own self-interest. 

Sean holds her back simply because he wants to prove that he can be a functional parent and a good parent, even though he can’t be either. Alex faces so many challenges, to the point that you feel she’ll never find relief from the problems she faces. Seeing someone try and fail so many times makes the show more real.

It’s not a cookie-cutter conflict that Alex faces, which makes the show more believable and acknowledges the seriousness of the issue the show is about. Domestic violence, homelessness, custody battles, these are all real things and the show does them justice. 

Qualley offers some really terrific acting that has the same effect on the show. The whole cast goes above and beyond to make the show feel as real as possible. Undeniably, this show is a perfectly shaped expose of how a mother’s love goes beyond all other understanding. It tells us that the fight to protect your child gives you the drive to keep going in everyday life and nothing else can match it. 

@eifert_sean26 

se538920@ohio.edu

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