As the fourth episode of Maid begins, Alex (Margaret Qualley) prepares breakfast while Maddy plays with her dolls. Since they don’t have syrup, Alex gives her daughter and dolls pretend syrup. Then, she begins preparing her daughter for her upcoming Thanksgiving with her father. She says it is a very complicated day, but she’ll tell her about it later. While Maddy is away, Alex is going to clean houses since a lot of people want their houses cleaned before Thanksgiving. Once Maddy (Rylea Nevaeh Whittet) finishes breakfast, they go outside and check the mail where Alex gets her SNAP benefits card. Next, they meet with Nate (Raymond Ablack) who gives them his grandpa’s old clunker which he says is safe. He promises this isn’t putting him out since it just sits in the garage anyway.

Alex thanks him and calls the vehicle a game-changer. Nate tells her to keep it for as long as she needs to before inviting Alex to Thanksgiving dinner. She wants to make sure the vehicle is being borrowed without any strings attached. She makes it clear she doesn’t want it otherwise and Nate promises there are no strings attached. After that conversation ends, Alex and Maddy go to the grocery store to spend the money on their EBT card. Alex imagines the cashier ridiculing her when she asks to use the EBT card, but it is only her imagination. When she puts a few items back, the guy behind her scoffs, or at least she thinks he does. They leave and go hang out down by the water. They meet with Sean (Nick Robinson) a bit later so he can take Maddy for Thanksgiving. Sean complains about Maddy not getting a snack or nap.

Alex asks what is wrong with him, so Sean explains he worked late. Sean promises he is not drinking and says it feels good that he is on the verge of getting his white chip. Alex admits her mother has gone AWOL, so she doesn’t have plans for Thanksgiving. Sean invites her over but Alex refuses. Then, Alex cleans a woman’s house and takes two cans of food that the woman was going to take to the homeless. She cleans another house where a young girl plays piano. The arrangements on the dinner table remind Alex of better Thanksgivings when she was pregnant. When that ends, she goes to Regina’s place and finds her cooking. Regina (Anika Noni Rose) and Alex agree to call her the maid before she is introduced to Regina’s husband James.

Alex tells them that business is busy while Regina says they can put the pies out after they make the announcement to celebrate. Alex apologizes for coming when Regina is there, but Regina admits they are running late and should’ve been done. Then, she thanks her for giving her another chance to clean her home. Regina admits she doesn’t like the way the other girls clean. She agrees to let Alex have her WiFi password so you can stay in touch with her daughter. Regina says she is sorry for leaving such a mess but instructs Alex to clean the house thoroughly since it is still on the market. Alex mentions the guest bathroom and the fact the grout could use a deep clean. She offers to come back tomorrow and do it since the bleach would be too strong for them tonight.

Alex promises not to charge extra, so Regina agrees to let her do it. Once Regina leaves with Mr. Darcy, Alex gets to work. She watches them leave in separate vehicles before finding a present from Mr. Darcy. She finishes and spends the night eating microwaved noodles and watching videos about cleaning grout. Then, she sits down and begins writing with the heading being “Confessions of a housekeeper”. She scratches through housekeeper and changes it to maid. She gets bored and signs up for a dating app to find someone to bone until she runs across Sean’s profile. In the morning, she calls her mother Paula (Andie MacDowell) and has to leave her a voicemail message. Later, she contacts her daughter and learns she went to a Thanksgiving parade and saw Santa. Sean interrupts and says they have to go so he ends the call abruptly.

She looks at the dating app again but doesn’t find anyone who interests her. Instead, she goes to Regina’s place so she can clean the grout. Once she finishes with the grout, she looks around the house and checks out Regina’s pictures and other belongings. She goes through Regina’s closet and fridge before having a glass of wine. When she finishes hanging out, she gets a message from Wayne (Theodore Pellerin) who says his family is driving him insane. They chat about Wayne going to NYU and the fact he is half French. He is going to school for film. She lies and pretends to be a junior at Montana College of Fine Arts and studying creative writing. Alex asks if he wants to play a game. He says yes and she says the game is “meet in person”. Moments later, they agree to meet at Alex’s house which is really Regina’s place. Before Wayne arrives, she chugs a few glasses of wine.

Wayne arrives with a gift before Alex tells him the house is her dad’s. Wayne says he is so nervous, and Alex is so pretty. He formally introduces himself and she does the same. They grab a drink and Wayne asks for a tour. She rushes through it. Then, they sit down and begin talking about Missoula. When he tells her about an expensive school in New York, Alex says she doesn’t take money from her father who divorced his mother when she was 6 and became a born-again Christian. He started a new family that she isn’t a part of and her mother is undiagnosed bipolar so she doesn’t have much to do with her either. Wayne says he feels bad now since he can only complain about his parents sending him too many emails.

As for his expenses, his parents pay for his apartment and not school. His parents bought him the apartment in Manhattan as an investment. He doesn’t like taking money from them and admits being with them makes him feel lonely. When they’re together, they just sit around and look at their phones. Alex says she normally spends Thanksgiving with her boyfriend and his little nieces, but they broke up so this is her first holiday without them. Wayne says he is sorry, but Alex says don’t be because this is what she wanted. Then, they begin talking about Alex’s writing work. She says she is writing about a woman who lives in a big, beautiful house. The woman is a personal trainer and financial adviser. She has been to the Louvre multiple times and spends Saturdays getting hot-stone massages. Alex says she has a cashmere sweater that makes her feel like she is being hugged by a thousand baby lambs.

She has enough time to bake seven pies from scratch if she wants to and wakes up with a view of the ocean. When asked about the woman’s conflict, Alex says there isn’t one because people with money have everything. Wayne says otherwise since he has a Peloton, and he is still miserable. Alex freaks out when she hears a car outside, so she tries to rush Wayne to leave. Once Wayne escapes, Alex apologizes to Regina and says she was only here for the grout. Regina invites her to have another glass and pie while Alex continues apologizing. Regina sits down at the table which she says they sit at once a year, and she paid 8 grand for. She goes on to say she paid for everything in the house. She works so much that she never has time to sit at the table and it was important for her to keep working.

James and her girlfriends wanted her to quit but she refused because she wanted to respect herself. She wanted him to respect her too. Regina grabs another drink and says you have to worry about the ones you think you know. She admits her husband has become a stranger to her. She knows she loves him, but she doesn’t recognize him. Alex listens as Regina says she just wants the alien to get the heck out of her house. She wants the real him to come back. Then, she confesses he left his wife for her because she was young, he never had a good relationship with his kids, and he wanted a do-over. However, Regina wasn’t able to get pregnant. Alex admits she got pregnant easy but she had to bust her butt for everything else. Regina tells her about the baby that made it to nine weeks and had a heartbeat as well as the other IVF treatments.

She also went to meditation retreats and to Mexico for a uterus massage in hopes of getting pregnant. $300,000 later and there is a woman named Joanna in Oregon who is five months pregnant with their son. She says they used a donor egg, and it took three women to make the baby. The woman sends her pictures although she doesn’t know what she is looking at. They look at the pictures before Regina wonders why she doesn’t feel anything. After everything she went through to get the baby, Regina doesn’t feel love when she looks at the pictures. Instead, she just feels desperate. She never thought she’d do this part alone but James wants a divorce so she might have to. She says James told her on the way to Thanksgiving dinner although she knew anyway. Regina tries to pay her for the grout, but Alex turns it down.

Regina tells her to never let anyone take advantage of her or make her feel less than for all her hard work. She tells Alex to take the pies too before asking to see a picture of her daughter. Alex admits she is doing it alone and she lives for her daughter. Regina tells her she can go and close the gate on her way out. As Alex drives home, we hear her talking about the things people hide in their drawers. She writes that she often covets the lives of the people she cleans for because their lives look so pleasant. Despite living in such a beautiful house and having so much money, their lives are still lacking. She wonders if you lose yourself when living in a house so big and admits her dream house for herself and her daughter isn’t that big. Their space is a home because they love each other in it.

The next day, Wayne asks to see Alex again. She uses the opportunity to tell him the truth about her lies just before Sean arrives with Maddy. Sean says they missed her too and thought she’d change her mind and come around. Alex says she didn’t want to confuse Maddy about where mommy lives. They talk about Alex’s lonely Thanksgiving which she says was nice actually. Then, Sean tells her he saw her on Tinder and she repeats the same. Sean says goodbye to his daughter before they go separate ways. Alex tells Maddy about the seven pies she has at home.

 

Maid Review

I’ve enjoyed each episode of Maid equally and felt this one was likely the most powerful yet thanks to Regina’s revelations. However, a few things irked me in this episode. The series is really a deep dive into the struggles of a single mother, and it has covered the subject well. I felt disappointed that they decided to let Nate give Alex a vehicle since that might’ve made it too easy for her. Viewers might’ve appreciated getting to see Alex bum rides, ride public transportation, and attempt to pay for Uber.

It would’ve been more effective to tackle all the struggles a single mother without support is going to face and transportation would be a huge one. Nevertheless, I am over it. Secondly, I hope Alex doesn’t make more silly decisions such as staying and using Regina’s house for her Tinder date. I might be nitpicking here but still felt it was important to mention these things. Despite these minor complaints, I like Maid and suspect most viewers will enjoy it as well.

The episode was entertaining and deeply emotional. It scores an 8 out of 10. All recaps of Maid will be available on Reel Mockery here as soon as they’re finished.