Expats review: An enthralling tale of loss and grief

Expats miniseries review

Created and directed by Lulu Wang, the show that is set against the backdrop of the growing political tensions in Hongkong, becomes a commentary on the apparent class divide in the country. There are political protests everywhere and the disgruntled working class find themselves questioning the motives of their employees. Some of these people get involved in the tumultuous lives of the employees. Nicole Kidman, plays a mother who is an interracial marriage and has reluctantly moved to Hongkong from US. She is playing the role of a woman stuck in a toxic and a dysfunctional family for the fourth time in a row. Sarayu Blue looks resplendent and is a treat to the eyes as she plays a woman who has been on the receiving end of her husband’s philandering. However, it is really Ji-Young Blue who stands apart as ‘Mercy’ who believes that she is cursed and she brings misfortune to the people around her. The acting prowess of each of these ladies is compelling as they all struggle with loss and the imminent need to seek happiness. However, there is nothing new to what we see when it comes to Kidman. She has played the role of the wife-in-distress role far too many times for us to want to sympathise with her character.

Ji-Young, brings a whole new freshness and naivete to Mercy who is struggling with problems that most of us can find relatable. An expensive college education with no job in hand and having to struggle to make a living by doing odd jobs. Special mention to the cinematographer who has captured the dark skies and rainy weather of Hongkong to make a statement about the impaling darkness in the lives of the characters. The supporting cast too have done a great job in playing their parts. What strikes the most in the mini-series is how every character is dealing with grief in their own ways. You can sense their personal turmoil in every scene, dialogue and frame. From a broken marriage to having an affair with a married man to accepting that your family will no longer be the same to living in constant dread that you might never meet your loved ones again, every character speaks to the audiences. In the apparent class divide, the only unifying factor is the love for their families and how they seek companionship in the unlikeliest of places.

Expats – final words

The episodes dropped weekly. And it was hard to keep in touch with the storyline which is a heavy watch. The episodes are timed are over an hour each as a lot of backstories are presented to us in flashbacks. Some of the characters do not get their closures and maybe the makers and writers intended to keep it that way. For people who have read the book, they might find that the show makers have taken a lot of creative liberties and have changed certain storylines in the series. Without giving the spoilers, the ending of the series is totally different from the book. We wish that Prime could have dropped all the episodes at the same time, because by the end of the final episode you struggle to find some key plots from the first episode. Nevertheless, Expats is a brilliantly written and directed series running on Amazon Prime Video