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Maid is a new Netflix series centred around young mother Alex (Margaret Qualley – Once Upon a Time In Hollywood), who’s escaped in the middle of the night from her abusive husband Sean (Nick Robinson – A Teacher) with their 2-year-old daughter, Maddy.
At some point, she’ll need to call on her mum, Paula (Andie MacDowell – Ready Or Not), an artist who’s eccentric as hell – and is actually the lead’s real mother – but initially, she’s so short on options that she has no alternative but to sleep in her car. She certainly doesn’t expect anything positive out of Paula’s waster of a husband, Basil.
Alex doesn’t get a huge amount of help from social services, either, finding herself in a Catch 22 situation, in that she can’t get a job, but if she does, she’ll be able to apply for subsidised day care for Maddy. However, it’s difficult enough to get that job first, and she needs the day care immediately!
Oh, and when asked to provide proof to them that Maddy is her child, she sarcastically quips, “I can show you my stretch marks(!)”
The easiest course of action is to apply to be a… maid, as you’d expect from the title, and to say she has the day from hell in the opener is – as you’ll find out – an understatement, and she feels her life has hit rock bottom.
All the way through, various notes pop up onscreen, such as text messages Alex receives, or as she calculates what little she has left of her budget after taking into account petrol, cleaning supplies, etc; and when it comes to her first customer, she deals with a sarcastic cow of a house owner to clean for… Jeez, I have a cleaner and I’m respectful to them!
Overall, after watching 2 episodes so far – the second of which includes flashbacks to when she first met Sean, Maid is well-acted and a decent watch, but I’m not gripped by it. As for whether I’d stick with any more episodes, I’m not sure at this point. Depends on whether the story really ramps up a gear or two since, so far, it’s fairly interesting, but not essential.
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Maid is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Netflix from Friday October 1st.
Episodes 1-2 Score: 6.5/10
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 50-55 mins per episode
Release date: October 1st 2021
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.00:1
Series Directors: John Wells, Helen Shaver, Nzingha Stewart, Lila Neugebauer, Quyen Tran
Producers: Bonnie Benwick, Colin McKenna
Creator: Molly Smith Metzler
Writers: Molly Smith Metzler, Bekah Brunstetter, Marcus Gardley, Colin McKenna, Michelle Denise Jackson
Cast:
Alex: Margaret Qualley
Paula: Andie MacDowell
Sean: Nick Robinson
Regina: Anika Noni Rose
Yolanda: Tracy Vilar
Hank: Billy Burke
Maddy: Rylea Nevaeh Whittet
Denise: BJ Harrison
Sharlene: Erin Karpluk
Basil Desmond: Toby Levins
John Marshall: Alessandro Juliani
Brandi: Hilaria Larriva
Tara: Mozhan MarnĂ²
Jody: Amy Reid
Nate: Raymond Ablack
Kiara: Alison Araya
Gene Kelly Lookalike: Michael Culp
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.