Cashmere
Episode 4 of Maid Season 1 starts with Alex cooking breakfast for Maddy. She’s en-route to Sean’s house for Thanksgiving and thanks to Nate, she has some wheels now to get her there. He very clearly wants to get in her pants though, and encourages Alex to join him and his family for the holidays. Alex refuses though and remains fixated on turning her situation around, working hard and cleaning numerous houses before the holidays. Is Sean working as much as her? Well, apparently yes. When he comes to pick up Maddy, Sean appears to be hungover and is annoyed about having to “accommodate Alex’s schedule.” As Alex heads back to work, she winds up cleaning at Regina’s place again. Regina points out that she doesn’t like the way the other girls clean, and even allows Alex to have the WiFi password too. On Thanksgiving, with Alex on her way to work, Sean refuses to let her speak to Maddy for long. At work, Alex cleans Regina’s bathroom as promised. The trouble is, she stays there long past her due hours, pretending to be part of the family and messaging a guy called Wayne on Tinder. Alex is very obviously lonely, and the pair sit and talk on the sofa. Alex concocts her own story, claiming to be a writer and living her fantasies, referring to Maddy as her niece to make sure Wayne isn’t scared off. As the night draws on, Regina heads back and pours herself a glass of wine, forcing Alex to end this little shindig in a hurry. While he slips out the back, Alex sits with Regina at the table, as she reflects back on her work and how invested she’s been. Unfortunately in the process, it’s caused her to become alienated from James, her partner. Some of this stems from Regina’s struggles to get pregnant. In fact, they’re currently undergoing IVF treatment and as a result, Regina is now the one feeling alienated. Alex listens intently as Regina opens up, tears welling in her eyes, revealing that James now wants to get a divorce. And worse, she doesn’t feel anything for their baby-to-be. For her efforts, Regina gives Alex some extra money for such an amazing job and implores her not to be pushed around again.
The Episode Review
Money doesn’t buy happiness. It’s a quote that’s thrown around a lot and something that’s misunderstood by many people, claiming that money can indeed buy materialistic goods and as such, happiness. I mean it helps but there are also hedge fund managers making six figures a year that are deeply ingrained in depression. And yet, there are others just scraping by that live life to the fullest and make the most of a bad situation. This episode of Maid does a pretty good job showing these divides, expanding out beyond the simple rich/poor divide of the first few episodes. Seeing Regina deeply depressed and stuck in a loveless relationship with a baby on the way that she doesn’t feel anything for is really tough to see, and no amount of money can change that. This also goes some way to explain her prickly behaviour too, although by the end of the episode Regina warms and opens up to Alex. I wonder if we’ll see her again before the season is up? One thing’s for sure though – this joint custody gig is actually helping Maddy to feel stable. So naturally, this is going to go very wrong in the near future. It’s only a matter of time before something else messes up this arrangement and the signs are all there that it’ll be Sean and his drink/drug addiction.
