As the finale of Maid begins, Alex (Margaret Qualley) watches as Paula (Andie MacDowell) gets out of her car in the morning at the Walmart parking lot. She follows her mother down by the water where he gets a chair and sits down near the water’s edge. Then, we join Denise (BJ Harrison), Brandi (Hilaria Larriva), and the others in the group meeting at the DV shelter. Denise hands the floor over to Alex as the women snap their fingers. Alex reveals Denise convinced her to volunteer to work with the women. She talks to the women about writing and who they’re writing for. Alex explains writing is where she goes when she wants to be honest about how she feels, and it helps her see how she feels about something. She goes on to say nobody can tell you that what you’ve written is wrong because the words are yours.
The women are asked to write about a day in their life when they were really happy. It can be a real day or imaginary day. Once the session ends, Denise tells Alex she did great back there before the conversation turns to Alex’s homeless mother. Alex can’t have visitors and her mom likely won’t enroll in the DV shelter despite being a chronic victim of domestic violence. Denise tells Alex about the government program that puts homeless people in senior centers, but Paula would have to enroll on her own. Alex admits she has been caring for her mom since she was six. Denise wonders what would happen if she stopped doing that. Alex visits her mother who is still down by the water. Paula explains she downloaded a dictation app on her phone because she is giving a lecture on the Neolithic concept, and she is there to watch the cotton candy sunset. She wasn’t talking to the birds.
Alex gets upset with her mother when she discovers she let Micah (Steve Bacic) saw the cast off her arm. Then, she invites her mother to come to Montana with her so she can hang out with Maddy and paint all day, but Paula claims that sounds boring. Before Alex leaves, she wants her mother to go to several appointments including a visit to the wrist doctor. Paula nods in agreement while Alex tells her she doesn’t want to have to worry about her when she is gone. Paula changes the subject to the magnificent cotton candy sunset in the distance. Alex returns to Maddy (Rylea Nevaeh Whittet) and shows her the path they’re going to take to reach Missoula. She goes back to cleaning. Once she finishes with that, she calls the college to buy a book for class only to be surprised by how expensive they are. She decides to buy the used book since it is much less expensive.
She gets a call from her attorney letting her know they’ve filed a no-contact order against Sean (Nick Robinson) so he cannot contact her, and the sheriff should be serving him this morning. We rejoin the group session and Brandi begins talking about her happiest day ever. She tells them about going on walks with her father in June before the sticky late-summer heat and getting a Flintstone push-pop from the 7-Eleven. Her father would point to the sky and tell her he was the Big Dipper and she was the Little Dipper. They stopped going when her father got sick, but she recently took her child on the same walk. The Big and Little Dipper were still there as if zero time had passed. Alex asks the others to mention some of the images that will stick with them from Brandi’s story. The session end and Alex goes to the wrist doctor to wait for Paula, but her mother never shows. When Paula doesn’t respond to her messages, Alex goes down to her shop to confront her and finds her running the shop with Micah.
Alex says the wrist doctor has agreed to see her in a few hours, but her mom isn’t eager to leave the shop. She tries to force her mother to go with her. However, Paula isn’t going to go and instead returns to running the shop. Alex immediately gets a call from her lawyer Tara (Mozhan Marno) who says they must meet because there has been a change in their plans. Once they meet, Tara says Sean’s attorney is rejecting the motion completely citing a lack of evidence regarding domestic abuse. Sean isn’t willing to change the parenting plan or give up any of his rights, and he gets to see Maddy for four hours. There will be a hearing in 14 days to determine the validity of Alex’s claims, but she doesn’t have 14 days since she is leaving for college soon.
Tara explains it’ll be a win-loss case too. If they lose, she won’t be able to take Maddy anywhere. Tara says they have 14 days to find someone who will say they saw Sean abuse her. Alex complains about missing college and the $9,000 student loan she just took out. Although Alex doesn’t want Sean to see Maddy, she doesn’t have a choice. She is forced to let him see her and she will need someone to supervise the meeting. She immediately goes to the Walmart parking lot where her mother is sleeping because she needs her help. Paula makes up several excuses about why she is sleeping there, but Alex knows the truth. Paula gets out and explains they have a nice group of people here and they look out for each other. Alex asks why she can’t take care of herself, but Paula argues she is taking care of herself. She goes on to say she stays with Micah when his wife Aliana-May isn’t there.
Paula says she likes being a gypsy and being mobile. When Alex admits she doesn’t know what to do with her mother, Paula reminds her that she isn’t her problem. Then, Paula is asked if she will supervise the meeting between Sean and Maddy. She agrees to be there, but she refuses to go to the doctor. Alex gets angry and tells her she is going to the doctor. In the morning, they meet at the park and Alex is glad her mother decided to go to the doctor after all. Sean arrives moments later and complains he can’t come any closer due to the protective order. While Sean hangs out with Maddy, Alex meets Hank (Billy Burke). She tells him Maddy is at the daycare at the DV shelter where she is staying. Alex explains this is the second time Sean sent her to the DV shelter. Hank wishes she’d reached out to him first because he’d do anything to help her. He says she made everyone worry including Sean.
Alex admits she needs his help. She begins telling him about the order she filed to get full custody of Maddy. Hank says Sean isn’t doing well right now, but Alex doesn’t care. She describes what her lawyer is doing and the fact she needs evidence the Sean emotionally abused her. Hank isn’t sure he ever witnessed that so Alex reminds him of the time at the trailer, but he says that was just a couple going through a rough patch. He says Sean is an alcoholic and has a disease that turns him into a monster. When he says the booze is the enemy, Alex asks if it was the booze that hit mom. She wants him to admit that he hit her mom, but Hank says he doesn’t remember that. Alex says Hank hasn’t been there for her in her entire life but she wants him to be there for her now. She asks him to stand up for her and write a testimonial, but Hank says he can’t do that.
She rushes off after saying they don’t have much to say to each other. Then, Denise tells the women about her happiest day in which her daughter touched her for the first time. Once Denise finishes, Trina (Nhi Do) begins telling everyone about the night out with her girls. Paula enters with Maddy and tells Alex that she got a little upset. They step out as Paula explains Maddy had a little meltdown, couldn’t recover and wanted her mommy. Sean is outside and he wants to talk to Alex about something. When she goes outside, Sean confesses he is sober and lost his temper with Maddy causing him to yell at her. He was trying to be straight for Maddy, but it didn’t work out. Even while playing with Maddy, Sean was thinking about his next drink. If Paula wasn’t there, Sean would’ve found a drink with Paula in tow just like his mom. Since he doesn’t want to do that to Maddy, he is going to sign over full custody to Alex.
He apologizes for being such a bad person, but she says he is doing the right thing for Maddy. When Alex returns inside, she finds her mother hanging out with the others. Paula wants to recite her happiest day but Alex convinces her to step outside. Alex and Paula take Maddy down by the water and Paula says Sean looked bad and Alex’s father shook like that as well. Alex asks Paula if she wants to tell her the happiest day of her life. She says it was their first day in Alaska and they left her dad in such a panic. She dumped all the clothes from the suitcase on the floor and they just slept there. She tells her she went outside in the morning and make a snow angel.
Nobody was there to tell her she was crazy or explode at her for something. They were back in less than a year and they were broke. Paula says the whole trip was dumb, but Alex doesn’t think so since the trip got her away from her abusive father. Paula asks if she is still invited to Montana. She admits she wants to come so she can get a job painting murals and to find herself a mountain man. Alex agrees she can ride with her since Paula’s car might not make it. Once Alex finishes packing, she tells Sean he can come and see her as much as he wants. Sean claims he is going to get himself cleaned up and come see her all the time. He tells her good luck before Alex drives away. She goes back to the shelter to finish packing up there and to get Maddy. She passes by Denise who seems to be bringing in a new client. Then, she drives out to see Regina (Anika Noni Rose) to give her cashmere sweater back. Regina knew she had it since she was wearing it during Thanksgiving.
They thank each other for being such good friends and Regina tells her to keep the $1,400 sweater. Alex says she is going to buy her own one day before changing her mind and keeping it. Alex goes to Paula only to find out she has moved in with Micah since he kicked his wife out. When Alex says she can’t wait on her, Paula says she shouldn’t because this is her moment. She asks for the address and promises to meet her there later. Alex warns her mother she is going to go without her. They say goodbye before Alex drives away. As they drive toward Missoula, we get to hear Alex’s happiest day during the group meeting. She admits it hasn’t happened yet, but it is about to. She is going to get into her vehicle with her belongings and daughter. She is going to drive 9 hours to Missoula, Montana so she can spend the next four years learning to be a writer.
She says most would bet against a single mom putting herself through college, but they don’t know what it took to get there. They walk up to the big M as Alex tells the women how she intends to take Maddy up to Sentinel Mountain so she can show her their new home. She says she’ll tell her daughter the big M stands for Maddy. They make it to the top as the episode ends.
Maid Review
When compared to the prior episode, the finale of Maid was emotionally mild despite some good moments here and there. Although necessary, it didn’t bring anything new to the table considering anyone could’ve guessed what was going to happen. Even in the end, things were still a bit too easy for Alex considering Sean caved so quickly and she got exactly what she wanted.
Most abusers aren’t willing to give up so easily considering they take the “if I can’t have you, no one will” mentality. Those who’ve made it this far likely appreciated getting a somewhat definite conclusion though. In this regard, the finale served its purpose and gave a glimpse of what happened to the main characters including Alex and her mother, but there could’ve been more.
It is interesting that the creators decided to create the Paula character since Stephanie Land’s mother was nothing like that. I’d like to have seen how the show would’ve been without this and their reasoning behind it. Regardless, Maid was one of the better Netflix shows in recent months. Again, I felt the finale was a step back compared to the 9th episode, but it was necessary to finish this part of Alex’s story. The finale deserves a 7 out of 10. All recaps of Maid are now available on Reel Mockery here.
By the way, am I the only one who felt the pacing was off in this episode? When Alex met with Hank, she said Maddy was at the domestic violence shelter’s daycare, but she was actually with Sean and Paula at the playground. Then, it seemed like forever before Paula rushed into the group meeting to tell Alex what happened with Sean freaking out. That was weird unless the playground was somehow a part of the DV shelter or I am just missing something.
