Released on Oct. 1, the emotionally moving Netflix show “Maid” follows the story of newly single mother Alex Russell and her two-year-old daughter, Maddy Russell as they battle the system.
Alex is met with a handful of challenges as she juggles removing herself from an emotionally abusive household with no stable support system to supporting her child with essentially nothing.
Her ex partner, Sean Boyd, is another main character who has an active problem with alcohol and anger issues that are exhibited during his drunk nights at home.
His struggles with maintaining his sobriety as well as controlling his anger are shown throughout the show as Alex scrambles to find anything that would help her with Maddy and her unstable financial situation.
“The show really hit home for me. I was raised by a single father so I know how difficult it can be to raise a kid under immense financial stress,” senior Jorelle Aguiluz said. “Watching Alex do her best really felt like I was watching my dad struggle with almost the same kind of things.”
Multiple scenes show her many attempts of trying to get help and how the system fails them time and time again.
She fights through everything presented to her in order to ensure her daughter a stable and happy life all while trying to keep herself together and making a life for herself.
The show is brilliant at demonstrating how families walk around a revolving glass door, showing how difficult and stigimized receiving government aid really is. It portrays the judgement that women and families face when they are struggling and need the help because of harmful stereotypes.
These stereotypes portray them as people who just take advantage of the system rather than victims of a system.
Oftentimes, I found myself and other viewers feeling the roller coaster of emotions Alex felt when she found herself in the same situations over and over again.
“Maid” is on streaming platform Netflix now.
