At the end of episode one in Lulu Wang’s miniseries “Expats,” a grieving Margaret (Nicole Kidman) and her friend Hilary (Sarayu Blue) dance to Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” in a noodle shop. As the pairs’ bare feet sashay across the flooring and their flouncing window reflections are abruptly sliced off by worn menus taped up to the walls, the cooks in the kitchen watch on unfazed. It’s a quiet and lively scene, the first one where the two women, guards down, are having a good time. But it’s also wild — because it’s as though every dance move Margaret makes feels as though it could lead to a complete breakdown, because two foreign women are making a local eatery their late-night disco, because they have a personal driver in a luxury car just outside at their whim, ready to swoop them wherever they wish to go.
Who possesses the ability to live like this? Well expats. Shorthand for “expatriate,” the term refers to an individual who lives outside of their native country and usually intends to return to their country of origin. Wang’s series follows three, Margaret (Kidman), Hilary (Blue) and Mercy (Ji-Young Yoo), all of who call Hong Kong home, though knowing it’s only temporary. Margaret and Hilary make up the typical expatriate, very well-to-do, households-run-by-low-paid-helpers — the former living in the city due to her husband Clarke’s (Brian Tee) job and the latter because of her partner David’s (Jack Huston) law career. On the other end of the spectrum, Mercy has ended up in a weary Hong Kong apartment alone, the recent-ish college grad insisting on needing a “fresh start.”
This intricate mise-en-scène is where “Expats” takes off. The hardship of the series is a multitude of things, but the catalyst of it all is the disappearance of Margaret’s youngest son, during an outing to the night markets under Mercy’s watch. This spirals into a spiderweb of plotlines, including Margaret’s parental struggles, Hilary’s infertility and Mercy’s guilt-ridden, romantic escapade with David. At its strongest, the show finds a center in how these individuals react in the face of grief. Director Wang explains that the strength of these women ties the melodrama together. “The main [theme], as a show that deals with grief, was looking at women and different types of resilience,” she says. “One of the questions asked a lot in the writer’s room is, ‘Do you stay and fight, or do you endure?’ Either way, it’s a form of resilience when people make different choices, and Hong Kong as a city is [also] grappling with that.” Wang is referring to the fact that “Expats” is a period piece set in 2014, when the “Umbrella Movement,” a political uprising demanding more transparent election practices, was at its peak. The city is in uproar, but full of life, making it the perfect place for Margaret, Hilary and Mercy’s stories to unfold.
Even with the political unrest of the setting,“Expats” firmly centers these women and their inner lives. Wang didn’t make a searing thriller about the Umbrella Movement of 2014, she made a warts-and-all drama about three individuals with their own minds and hearts, and she did it while championing women on-and-off screen. “It’s a show written by, produced by, starring, shot by, directed by women,” says cast member Huston.
Tee explains what working with this female-forward team and project was like. “When you have these women, all of them, at such a level of brilliance and talent — you want to elevate your game,” he says. “These three [Kidman, Blue and Yoo] really carry our show and it’s helmed by one of the best and strongest and brilliant, Lulu Wang. We love being along for the ride.”
And it’s not just the female protagonists that the show digs into; “Expats” also explores side characters. In the series’ penultimate installment, which plays more as a film than an episode of TV, the audience follows helpers Essie (Ruby Ruiz) and Puri (Amelyn Pardenilla) for 96 minutes. Wang’s decision to dedicate so much time to this ensemble came as a requirement. “I said, ‘I’m not making this series without this, so you have to say yes.’” she says in an interview with The Daily Beast. “Let’s tell a story where we break out of the expats’ bubbles the audience has been insulated in,” she continues. “We can now observe them as opposed to seeing the world through their eyes.”
Breaking out of the “bubble” means not pulling punches when it comes to highlighting the inequity between Essie and Puri and Margaret and Hilary, who have access they can only dream of. On their day off each week, Essie and Puri join other helpers in local parks and gossip, FaceTime their families across the ocean and share food — no matter what: rain, or shine. This is juxtaposed with the return to their jobs, where they take back on housekeeping duties, but now the audience is aware that Essie has a new grandson in the Philippines awaiting her return, and Puri’s only wish is to win a local singing competition. Seeing them relegated back to preparing food for their employers, and especially hearing Margaret refer to Essie as family, one can’t help but cringe, knowing the nature of their relationship is marked by survival. Hilary and Puri spend the night bonding over wine, the former even loaning her helper a beautiful gown for the contest; but, when it comes down to it, a nasty hangover is enough for Hilary to request Puri stay home and tend to her instead of taking the day off for her musical endeavors.
Wang doesn’t invoke this episode as a “gotcha” for audience members who have spent the last four episodes empathizing with Margaret, Hilary and Mercy; instead, it’s an extension of the honesty of “Expats.” Our heroines are as flawed as they are strong, and the people who take up space in the background of their lives have just as much to give. By the finale of the series, questions about Margaret’s son’s mysterious disappearance fade, and questions about how the trio will push onward is the story’s central point.
At least, that’s what cast members take away as well. “There was a real growing process I felt I did playing Hilary,” says Blue. “Playing her grew me as an actor because of the caliber of the project — working with Lulu and Nicole, with our entire cast [who are] so incredible. There’s a resilience she has and an ability to handle the punches of life. That is the gift she’s starting to give to me. I’m learning that better after playing her.
Since premiering, the series has received lukewarm reviews from audiences — with a 49 percent on Rotten Tomatoes; critics seem to be keener on it at 83 percent — part of the criticism garnered for its portrayal of expatriates combined with the melodramatic premise. An article by the South China Morning Post documents critiques from real expats, whose criticisms focused on specificity: Mercy’s apartment was far too big, one couldn’t lose their child at the night markets like Margaret did and the general extravagance of expat life showcased was too grand. Accounting for personal expatriate experience is fair, but Wang’s “Expats” makes it known that before everything else, this story is one about the universality of grief and resilience — who it affects, where it affects and how we go forward — a story it tells very well.
