Maid (2021) summary and ending explained

Maid is a drama series featuring a young single mother, Alexandra, and the hardships she goes through to provide for her 2-year-old daughter, Maddy. ‘Maid’ was released on October 1, 2021, on Netflix.

‘Maid’ is a story about a young mother, Alexandra, who lives in a trailer along with her 2-year-old daughter, Maddy, and her husband, Sean Boyd, in Port Hampstead. Sean is abusive and an alcoholic who frequently passes out and throws things at Alex and Maddy. Following a horrific incident, Alex flees with the little girl in the middle of the night.

Alex and Maddy spend the night in the car because they don’t have a lot of money, and nowhere to go. The next day, Alex decides to go to the shelter registration office to get accommodation.

She meets Jody, who advises her that she is not eligible for subsidized accommodation until she finds work and gets two pay stubs. To assist her, Jody recommends Value Maids — a local cleaning service.

Not able to afford a daycare center for Maddy, Alex decides to leave her daughter with her mother, Paula. Paula is a painter who never had her big break but lives in denial. She lives in an RV with her boyfriend, Basil, and rents out her house to cover her costs.

After leaving Maddy with Paula, Alex goes to see Yolanda, the owner of Value Maids, for her job interview. She is assigned her first job on Fisher Island for a three-hour cleanup. The lady at Fisher Island is Regina, a lawyer.

Alex completes the task gracefully, but when she returns, she comes to know that the lady whose house she did the cleanup at didn’t like her work and doesn’t pay her. She wants her to come back to clean everything again.

Later, she discovers that Paula has sent Maddy with Sean. Alex rushes to Sean’s trailer and confronts him about the emotional abuse. She takes Maddy and leaves.

On the way to Fisher Island, Alex is involved in a car accident and ends up sleeping on the ferry station floor. Jody recommends she goes to the Domestic Violence (DV) house, which is a place for domestic violence victims to stay.

The following morning, Alex is contacted by Sean’s lawyer, John, about Maddy’s custody suit, which Boyd’s family has filed because of the accident.

Sean brings Ethan and his mother, Doreen, to court, both of whom are very disrespectful to Alex. When asked what her plan is throughout the hearing, Alex seems perplexed.

She mentions that she was emotionally abused because of which she left Sean, but the court can’t do much in her favour because Alex did not file a police report against him. Hence, for putting Maddy’s life in danger, Sean is granted custody of Maddy until the court date in 7 days.

Following this development, Danielle, a friend from DV house, consoles Alex when she is upset. They then head to Regina’s place and go inside after learning that she never paid Alex for her cleaning services. Danielle steals Mr. Darcey, Regina’s dog, in order to pay the amount she owes her. 

Regina hurries to pick up Mr. Darcey after Alex reports she spotted him in the street. Despite the fact that she does not identify Alex at first, she threatens to call the police once she realises what Alex has done. Here, Alex confronts Regina and tells her how she lost her job and her daughter because of her.

Throughout the series, Alex is seen going from one cleaning job to another in order to survive. She faces a lot of difficulties, like moving to a house with mold which leads to Maddy having an infection.

She eventually decides to move in with her father and stepmother. Her childhood memories with her father are a blur since she and her mother moved out when she was little.

However, when she sees an old cupboard in her father’s kitchen, memories come flushing and she remembers the domestic abuse her mother faced, and how she hid in that cupboard. Angry with her father and his ignorance about his fault, she moves out.

She goes to her mother, where she realizes that Basil took her RV and is missing. Paula says that he just went to blow off some steam and will come back, but Alex doesn’t believe her. She keeps warning her that something is fishy when it comes to Basil, but her mother stays in denial.

Seeing her mother homeless and without any money, Alex takes her along. Nate, an old friend of hers, decides to help Alex. He had feelings for her but she had made it clear that she doesn’t want a relationship yet. He understands and helps Alex, Maddy, and Paula by letting them stay at his house.

One night, Sean comes to Nate’s and informs Alex that her mother will lose her house because the mortgage has not been paid. They inform Paula, but she refuses to believe them. They decide to look for Basil and find him in a gambling place. They ask him for the mortgage money.

Basil confesses that he has a gambling problem and used all of the money on bets. Paula is heartbroken. On their way back to Nate’s house, Sean stops at a gas station and Paula has a meltdown.

She shouts at Alex and blames her for everything. She gets down from the car saying she wants to go to the washroom but instead goes to her house’s renters, breaks windows, and injures her hand. She shouts at them to leave her house. The police arrive and takes her to the hospital.

At the hospital, the official present informs Alex that the renters do not want to press charges but Paula needs to go to a mental ward, as she seems mentally unfit. Alex agrees, and this makes her relationship with her mother bitter. She decides to spend the night at Sean’s.

When Alex comes back home to Nate’s in the morning, Nate asks about where she had been and Maddy had been asking about her. She confesses that she slept with Sean.

Hurt, Nate kicks her out saying that he won’t take care of Maddy when her mother is out with her abusive ex. Dejected, Alex decides to stay with Sean. However, she realizes that he hasn’t changed and is still abusive.

One night, Sean comes back home and informs that he lost his job. Alex says that he needs to do something because their daughter needs food. Irritated, he throws a glass at the wall and leaves the house. She’s shocked.

She turns to go to Maddy’s room but she isn’t there. She searches everywhere but isn’t able to find her. After some time, she hears something from the cupboard and sees her hiding, scared. This reminds her of her own childhood and she decides to take Maddy away and goes back to the DV house.

During all this, her relationship with the Fisher Island lady, Regina, improves dramatically after her outburst. Regina apologises for her behavior. She hires her for cleaning, as well as being a nanny for her kid.

Going through her hardships, Alex finds her way back to writing. She thinks about the time she got into a college, in Missoula, but did not take up the opportunity. She calls the college authorities and asks them if she can get the previous scholarship again. They refuse, but inform her that is she re-applies, they can consider her application.

Elated, she goes to Regina’s computer and writes her essay for the application. She puts her heart into the essay and writes about her experiences from the diary she had. This proves to be a turning point for her as her application is accepted.

To pay for the housing and daycare program at the college, she works hard and takes up more cleaning jobs. After earning the money she needs, she’s elated to think about the fact that she’d be able to get out of the toxic place she lives in and have a better future for her and Maddy.

Does she succeed in her endeavour?

Here is the Maid ending explained in detail

Sean’s reaction

When Sean comes to know about Alex’s college acceptance, he refuses and says that he would not let her take Maddy away.

When Alex talks about this to Regina, she tells her to talk to her friend, Tara who helps her with the papers and tells her that she doesn’t need Sean’s ‘permission’, even if he has joint custody of Maddy.

He just needs to sign relocation papers. If he refuses to do so, they can give him a restraining order and get someone to testify as a witness of his abuse towards Alex.

Alex’s father, Hank, has seen the abuse, and Alex asks him to be the witness. He refuses, saying it was just a rough patch and not abuse. With no witnesses, it is impossible for Alex to get the court to allow her relocation.

One day, Alex leaves Maddy with Sean and asks Paula to be there as well. The restraining order did not apply to Maddy yet, so Sean could spend some time mandated by the court.

During his play-time with Maddy, he gets pissed at her and shouts. Realising what he had done, he confesses to Alex. He says that not been a great father, and even with Maddy around him, all he thought about was his next drink.

He informs her that he needs to get rid of his alcohol problem and it is best for Maddy to go to Missoula.

He is shown working towards his sobriety as he promises to ‘clean up’ and then come to visit Maddy in the future. He gives full custody of his daughter to Alex.

Paula’s future

After being in the mental health facility, Paula is discharged with Basil’s signature. Alex is perplexed and she goes looking for her, eventually finding her in the farmer’s market with her new boyfriend, Micah.

She apologises to her and asks her to come for a drink. Paula agrees and meets up with her. Alex asks about where she has been living, and she informs her that she lives with Micah’s friends, they are artists and she is very happy with them.

However, when she leaves, Paula can be seen sleeping in her car. Seeing her condition, Alex asks her if she would accompany her to college. Paula rejects the offer, saying she is happy with where she is in her life, and she doesn’t wish to move places. Alex respects her decision and hugs her goodbye.

Alex and Maddy’s new beginning

In the closing moments of the show, we see Maddy and Alex taking the ferry to leave the city, with wide smiles on their faces. Despite several hardships, Alex was able to take her daughter out of the toxic environment.

She gives her the childhood she deserves, away from the shackles of an abusive father and temporary houses.


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