By Dahlia Alanis, Staff Writer
A single mother, Alex (Margaret Qualley), is in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend. One day, she packs up her things and her daughter, Maddy (Rylea Nevaeh Whittet), and leaves in the middle of the night. Trying to get back on her feet, she applies for work at a cleaning company.
This is the story behind The Maid, a limited series created by Molly Smith Metzler for Netflix and inspired by Stephanie Land’s memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive.
Alex struggles to get full custody of her child, and ends up with only shared custody. She takes classes on how to be a parent and attempts to navigate government assistance programs. She needs help from her mother, Paula, (Andie MacDowell) but Paula has bipolar disorder and is an artist. Meanwhile, Alex dreams of continuing school and becoming a writer.
I love how realistic the show is at representing Alex as a single mother, struggling with mental health and living in a shelter. For instance, as she’s disassociating and depressed, they show she’s stuck in a deep well.
The Maid tackles real challenges the poor face just trying to live day to day. It underscores the shameful stigmatism society places on people who have to use an EBT — electronic benefits transfer — card that holds food stamps and cash
benefits. In the scene, Alex imagines what everyone will be
thinking about her as she uses the card for the first time. The
cashier says something along the lines of, “Clean up on aisle
poor, clean up on aisle poor,” but it’s all in Alex’s head.
As the series progresses, Alex starts to get the hang of working and tries to go back to school, which made me really want to root for her more; she wasn’t a damsel in distress. However, Alex is challenged with having to take care of her mother too. I could relate to this; the constant struggle of wanting to take care of my parents as they grow old yet have my own life.
Paula is married to a man that scams her for her money and then gambles it away, which creates another set of problems.
The acting was magnificent. I truly believed Paula’s character was suffering internally. And I truly appreciated that the show was realistic on mental health and what women go through living in an abusive relationship. The pace of the story’s progression was good; it wasn’t too slow. I enjoyed the fact they gave more background on Alex and what she went through.
I recommend this binge-worthy series because it shares what it is like for a single mother that goes through an abusive relationship, determined to survive, and take care of her family. It demonstrates how much you have to fight to get benefits and to get people to believe what you went through, so they will fight for you. It makes you wonder how many people suffer.