Yesterday we watched the tenth and final episode of the Netflix dramatic series called Maid. It is about a young woman named Alex who makes the difficult decision to leave her alcoholic and emotional abusive partner for her safety and that of her three year old daughter, Maddy.
Alex finds herself homeless, penniless, and bewildered by the social welfare system which can seem like a hindrance rather than a help in the midst of the trauma of departure from abuse. To add to it all, Alex's mother is a wild and unreliable soul who left her father, with her, year's before and for similar reasons.
Alex ends up working as a maid for a sketchy company which pays low wages and shows no sympathy for a struggling single mother. To tmost her clients she is virtually invisible with no interest in her as a person.
The story is based on the Stephanie Land's memoir, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother's Will to Survive. In Land's case she worked as a maid for six years before getting into a college English program and beginning her writing career, rather than the year for Alex. According to a Newsweek piece, in 2019 Land told The Telegraph that she was "overwhelmed by how much work it took to prove I was poor. America lives by the myth that if you work hard enough, you'll make it," she said. "For me, I felt like if I wasn't making it, I wasn't working hard enough."
I watched Maid with Ruth, my wife, who worked for a decade in a shelter for women and children leaving abusive situations. Alex spends time in a shelter not once, but twice, and while she is reluctant to do so it is an oasis, an ark, when there are no other options Ruth was impressed and moved by how accurately the circumstances for Alex and other women leaving abuse are portrayed, including the powerful temptation to return to the abusers because of the bleak prospects for a decent life.
There are scene in a courtroom where custody of Maddy is decided which are somehow both gut-wrenching and humorous. As an outreach worker Ruth would accompany women to court and knew their fear and their confusion.
When Ruth did this work she was able to raise the profile of the shelter in the congregation I served as pastor and the good folk responded with generosity and compassion. Sadly, her attempts to reach out to local pastors and priests and even church women's groups were often declined because they felt that abuse didn't happen in their congregations. In fact, roughly ten women from our congregation reached out to Ruth through the years, admitting that they kept a facade of happy family life out of shame and fear of judgment, even as they struggled.
The acting in Maid is exceptional throughout, including the adorable child who plays Maddy. And Andie McDowell, the unpredictable mother/grandmother, is the actual mom of Margaret Qualley, who plays Alex.
Yes, this a unsettling topic and the series can be hard to watch at times. This is a worthwhile story to be told, just the same, and does have its moments o humour and hope.
1 comment:
I watched this series, on the recommendation of a friend, and I thought of Ruth often during the episodes. I agree with all of your assessments of this series.
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