- Network: Netflix
- Series Premiere Date: Oct 1, 2021
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Critic Reviews
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There are many moments found within Netflix’s limited series “Maid” where I just said, “Wow.” It wasn’t strictly the moving performances from an all-around talented cast, nor was it the empathetic and complex relationships that develop and change over 10 episodes. It was the overall package, one that blossomed into a show that left me laughing as often as I was crying.
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Affecting. ... With Alex’s face constantly crunching the calculus of survival, Maid never lets the audience forget it. At that point, the ugly mess of poverty becomes the viewer’s responsibility to witness—and a group imperative to scrub such a blot from the American narrative.
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[Alex and Paula] are each other’s worst enemies and greatest advocates, and watching them dance through their complicated love for one another is one of the most enriching experiences of the fall TV season. Like so much in Maid, you don’t just observe what’s happening to them. You feel like you’re in it right along with them.
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Maid may fall short as a cultural study, but regarded as an intimate personal story, it’s a triumph — a sensitively written, superbly performed drama that finds the humanity even in the coldest of days, and keeps you hooked until the very last minutes.
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Instantly addictive. ... A drama of remarkable potency, its bloated length notwithstanding.
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Poignant, layered and persuasive drama. ... Maid’s greatest strength is its multidimensional characters.
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Maid is not a cozy weekend binge nor is it a crackling murder mystery. That said, it does deserve to be your next Netflix watch. The series tells a haunting, but ultimately inspiring, human story and features a next level performance from Margaret Qualley. It might also change the way you think about poverty.
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Overall “Maid” is a quality series with a pro-social message that brings to mind Netflix’s 2019 limited series “Unbelievable,” another worthwhile story of a woman’s empowerment and recovery from difficult circumstances.
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Maid takes a seemingly familiar but important story, making it one of the most quietly compelling dramas of the year so far.
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Despite its economically oriented title, “Maid” is most compelling as a tale of healing and self-discovery.
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The detail, the tenderness, the authenticity, the brilliant performances make the whole thing both a compelling drama and a potent testimony to the suffering of too many.
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The very structure of Netflix’s new drama “Maid” means it will always threaten to drift into melodrama, the kind of clichéd series that pulls at the heartstrings in a way that feels manipulative, but it always comes back to its realistic, moving center because of two words: Margaret Qualley.
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Many of the performances, including Robinson’s Sean, are layered and specific, but none so much as Qualley’s. She puts a face on the hard-working people, so often dismissed and ignored, who slip through the cracks in this country.
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Maid is careful in how it details each step of Alex’s attempt to escape poverty, so that little things that would be forgettable elsewhere — a small job going well, a friend opening her door without judgment — land with thunderbolt force. Have tissues handy as much for the happy parts as the sad. This is a great one.
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Qualley and Metzler give us a heroine too smart to ever mistakenly believe that the abuse is her fault, that her circumstances cannot be overcome and that if the supportive strangers surrounding her could do it, that there’s any reason she won’t be able to either.
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There are times when, like Alex, we feel as if we’re experiencing downbeat déjà vu. Ultimately, though, this is a worthwhile journey containing valuable insights into the myriad of ways the system works against those who need it most, how emotional abuse is abuse nonetheless, and how one young woman climbed her way to success by sheer determination.
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“Maid” shines a warm, personal light on all this while telling a story that’s enlightening and entertaining. It’s never really heavy-handed but it can be exhausting. It should be.
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This is Qualley’s show, and her performance anchors us even when the show seems to spin its wheels. ... Slowly she comes back into herself, and reveals herself to us as a character. “Maid” begins as a race to freedom. But it’s in the treadmill of days of Alex’s life that follow that we see what about this story is most exciting.
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“Maid” itself can be a frustrating experience, sometimes moving and convincing, sometimes scattered and trite.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 28 out of 38
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Mixed: 5 out of 38
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Negative: 5 out of 38
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Oct 1, 2021
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Oct 2, 2021
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Oct 2, 2021Ms. Qualley acting is once again on point! The true naked reality of emotional abuse being showed in a show.