Are we there yet?
Are we there yet? So goes the child’s universal cry from the back seat of the family car on a road trip. Are we there yet? When the destination is known and the trip has been mapped, the answer is probably fairly straightforward. Nearly there, darling, the adult driver might say, telling either the truth or a version thereof to quiet the child. But when the destination is less clear, the trip too complex to plot on a map, or when there is no GPS in the car, the answer is a lot more difficult to give. In the recently released Netflix series Maid, I am asking the question, Are we there yet?, in just about every single one of the ten episodes. And the answer every episode is a very clear, No. Because every episode takes us on a side trip of single motherhood, poorly paid manual work, mental illness, domestic abuse, home and food insecurity, addiction…you name it, we see it. Any hold on the wheel or ability to stick to the original route is precarious at best, impossible most days: Alex,