Maid is an American drama miniseries created for Netflix and is based on Stephanie Land's memoir book - Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive. It premiered on Netflix on October 1st, 2021. When I first saw the series I didn't know whether it was based on true story. The series are well produced, acting is great and storyline is interesting. Being based on a true life story and experiences makes it even more interesting.
After watching all of the episode, I was curious to find out what inspired these series and came across Stephanie Land's website Stepville that informed more about the series, the book, and made me reflect about the life, people around us, challenges we all face on daily basis. Life is beautiful and challenging at the same time. It can also be brutal and devastating at times. To echo Stephanie's words - everybody deserves a good life.
Good life may mean different things to different people. However, I would think most people would agree it doesn't necessarily mean excess wealth, mansions, and yachts. Good life in my opinion has more to do with financial independence, friends and family, their health and well-being, pursuit of activities we find joy in as a hobby or a profession.
The series are great. I enjoyed it. If you like interesting and thought provoking storyline series, I would recommend watching Maid. That's my review lol. If you don't want any spoilers, this is a good time to stop reading the post and start watching the series.
The series start with protagonist, Alex leaving her home in the middle of the night with her 2-year old daughter in a car. She is escaping a dangerous domestic abuse situation while her boyfriend is asleep. She has no plans, she has very little money, and has nowhere to go. Just need to go away from home. As she is driving her daughter, Maddy starts crying and asking for her favorite music and a doll. Alex gives her the doll and Maddy stops crying.
Then comes the most shocking scene that I can never forget. Maddy asks Alex to roll down the window and extends her arms outside the window and keeps her doll out enjoy the wind. Of course she ends up dropping the doll and starts crying again. Alex pulls over and stops the car. She gets out of the car and starts running to find the doll. After a minute or so she finds the parts of the doll. And then...bang...somebody crashed into her car while Maddy was still in it. I don't remember if I was screaming in my mind or out loudly - "Noooooooo! Don't!" Don't ruin the netflix time now. Can you imagine the shock that must have put Alex into? Of course, they had to slow motion the part she is running back to the car to find out if Maddy is ok.
Fortunately, Maddy was fine. But the care was totally destroyed. When you find yourself in a situation that you are escaping a danger for yourself and child, with no money, and nowhere to go; only thing left is your car that can at least give some shelter and move you around, and that car is gone now. That probably would seem to be the worst thing that can happen. But that accident and Maddy surviving without any injuries makes you look at it from a very different perspective. It could have been worse, much much worse. As if all these troubles weren't enough, the police gives her a ticket. At this point I can't decide to laugh or cry.
From that point on, it becomes clear what Alex is trying to do is to reach a financial independence so she can care for her daughter, provide her with the best care possible, and also pursue he passion for writing. The series go on revealing more about her life and people around her and how all of them serves as challenges she needs to overcome to achieve her goals. It is really tough when you don't have anybody who you can rely on and go to when you are in trouble. Even the government agencies that suppose to step in to assist in such situations are entangled in their bureaucracies and create more headache rather than help.
Determined to gain her financial independence and build a better future for her daughter, Alex starts working as a Maid, which of course also come with a lot of unforeseen challenges and drama. Ok, you can watch the series yourself to find out if she makes it or how far she goes. That is if I haven't ruined it for you yet.
When I watched the series I didn't know if it was a complete fiction or based on a true life story. But that thought didn't leave me until the end. How can one person face so many challenges and still have a perseverance to keep pushing forward against all odds? Fact of the matter is, life is difficult. Many many of us go through difficulties and challenges of life all the time. These stories we care about. These stories are interesting. These stories are educational. Most importantly these stories make life worth living for and sharing them makes us human.
This reminds me another awesome feature of Hive. It empowers people to share their stories. In fact, post button before used to be named Share Your Story. The Hive front end condenser itself has a component that is named storyboard (correct me if I am wrong). Hive has a potential to contribute people's financial freedoms for sharing their stories, talents, knowledge and skills.
I found out that Maid was inspired by and based on Stephanie Land's memoir book - Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive and the struggles she lived through. What an amazing story. She was able to overcome all the challenges and obstacles, pursue her passion in writing, became a great write who wrote a bestseller book, and her story was turned into a Netflix series. Oh wait, did I just reveal the ending of the show? By the way, series usually don't follow books or lives they are inspired by word for word. Stephanie's success doesn't mean the series end the same way.
Everybody Deserves a Good Life.