MAID
My fun weekend plans are to catch up on all of the incredible new shows released recently—one of them being MAID (trailer here) on Netflix. Adapted from Stephanie Land’s memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother’s Will to Survive, MAID follows a young mother’s journey as she cares for her daughter after escaping the abuse of her partner. This miniseries’s opening moments had me holding my breath: Watching Alex (played by Margaret Qualley) intently watching her partner’s sleeping chest rise and fall, quietly sneaking through the house with evidence of domestic violence sprinkled throughout her path, and finally grabbing her daughter and tearing out of there was so harrowing and raw. And as her limited funds and resources diminish, Alex pushes forward because she’s a mom and has a kid who needs her. The show's scenes of domestic violence feel all too familiar, which is both heartbreaking and terrifying. But ultimately, this is a story of survival—taking house cleaning jobs to provide for her daughter, battling with the shackles of poverty, and finding chosen family and stability. It’s all really well done and worth a watch.
—Erin Harris, Development Assistant
