A few weeks ago I decided to watch Maid on Netflix, a limited series of 10 episodes, and I was not expecting to be immediately drawn into the emotional lives of the characters. The first episode places the reader right into a household where a woman flees in the middle of the night with her daughter of just two years old.
Maid tells the story of Alex, a young mother who leaves an emotionally abusive alcoholic husband with her precious daughter Maddy. Alex leaves in the first episode, not even knowing where she will go for even the first night. Alex learns to navigate single parenthood and begins to make a living cleaning houses for some of the richest women in the neighborhood. One struggle she faces is that she is continually told that her abuse is not “real abuse” because it wasn’t necessarily physical. However, she is in constant fear of her husband who drinks and throws things, and knows that she has to leave and find safety for her and her 2 year old daughter.
What most stuck out to me about Maid was the authenticity of the characters. For example, Paula, Alex’s mother, is also a victim of domestic violence and struggles with undiagnosed bipolar disorder. The two struggle a lot in their relationship, but ultimately come through for each other in hard times. Paula internalizes a lot of her trauma from domestic violence which shows the generational differences and the importance of therapy and support for survivors.
I found the story inspiring and a true eye opener when it comes to domestic violence; it may not always look the same, but involves fear and drives one out of a household. Maid also shows that abusive relationships are not always easy to escape because of the manipulative nature of the abuser. Alex and other women in her domestic violence shelter go back to their abusive partners before finally leaving for good, sometimes out of desperation for somewhere to stay or childcare while Alex needs to work.
Maid is a captivating cliffhanger. It is a very quick watch and keeps the viewer on their toes, waiting for Alex to finally be free from her abuser and start her new life with Maddy as she faces legal battles, for instance. It does not shy away from exposing the realness of domestic violence and hooks the audience in from the first episode.