Expats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I kinda wish the show had explored what all Margaret was actually *doing* to try to find Gus. And what is she exactly is she doing now that she’s stayed behind? It seems like she’s just wandering in the hope she’s spot him on the street some day - wut?

If he was killed by a crazy serial killer, there is nothing to be done except maybe investigate similar disappearance and try to track it back to the same culprit? Is she doing that? How when she doesn’t speak any local language? If he was kidnapped to trafficked, likely he would have been taken out and probably far from Hong Kong, right?

Point being, I think I would feel *worse* staying in Hong Kong and basically having no skills to actually make any progress on finding Gus or improving prospects for lost kids period. From what we see, Margaret is not even involved in any local anti-trafficking NGO or something like that.

Given the family is rich with rich friends, the best you can do in this situation is create a foundation in Gus’s name and give Margaret the job of running it so she remains connected to Gus’s memory.

Child sex trafficking is big over there. I was horrified thinking what might be going on with him. Not serial killer---they know kids are kidnapped routinely over there (kids that look like Gus--not white--because nobody looks for them--that was actually said).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The husband alluded to what a mark Gus was due to young age, looks half asian, can smuggle him out easier/faster than a white boy, etc.

State Dept has the data on this.

Young children are abducted and whisked away to beach markets in SE Asia. Pedophiles are the frequent buyers of boys or girls. Same on Ivory coast beach markets for the sick European pedophiles.

Yes. I was horrified thinking about this and his parents having to go thru the agony imagining of what is happening to him. It's a lot of why his dad 'prayed for it to be him' at the morgue. Closure for them and Gus vs the agony they are all experiencing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The husband alluded to what a mark Gus was due to young age, looks half asian, can smuggle him out easier/faster than a white boy, etc.

State Dept has the data on this.

Young children are abducted and whisked away to beach markets in SE Asia. Pedophiles are the frequent buyers of boys or girls. Same on Ivory coast beach markets for the sick European pedophiles.

Yes. I was horrified thinking about this and his parents having to go thru the agony imagining of what is happening to him. It's a lot of why his dad 'prayed for it to be him' at the morgue. Closure for them and Gus vs the agony they are all experiencing.

Absolutely. It's such a horrific situation to be in that while I was originally interested in reading the book, now I know I won't. Because I get it -- having your child go missing and never knowing if he's alive or dead is basically worse than knowing he was killed because he have to live every day with the reality of what might be happening to him. It would be torture that I think would be inescapable. I agree with the conclusion the show, and I think many viewers, seem to reach that the only solution would be religion, because how else could you move forward? Believing that there is a god who might watch over him wherever he is would probably be the only way to find any solace at all. I totally understood why Margaret's husband found himself hoping the dead child was Gus, and was devastated to realize it wasn't, even though without understanding the backstory, this seems like a backwards reaction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didnt love the ending.

The only character I felt was happy at the end was Hilary. Got rid of her cheating husband? Check. Got rid of her abusive cheating dad and got her feelings off her chest? Check.

She started wearing colors and got a colorful new rug. I was wondering if her love of beige colors was in some way a rejection of her indian heritage/persona/identity. The first time we see her in colored clothing is at the indian prayer thing. Now that her dad is dead she feels free to re-embrace that part of her identity.

Mercy, ugh. Idk what I feel about her. She is a crappy person who constantly makes bad choices and blames it on the curse (I was so glad when her HK gf called this out). I dont see any growth.
David was a garbage person throughout and I hated him and hated seeing him on the screen. Dude must be a good actor to elicit this sort of rage lol.

Margaret abandoning her two living children was so wrong to me. I cannot - cannot- imagine the pain of losing a child. But you can't just give up on the ones that are still alive. Her husband wasnt even surprised or sad. Just "Ok fine, bye". He was tired of her sh!t. And where is she gonna live? Her crapshoot apartment?

I'm a bit conflicted at Esse going with the fam, because I really wanted her to be able to go be with her own family. But considering what Margaret did, it's good that Esse is there. And I wonder if that's why she wanted to convince her to go so bad? She doesn't feel as bad abandoning her children knowing that Esse is there to look after them?

Oh, please. Margaret wasn't abandoning anyone. In fact, she felt she would be abandoning Gus if she left HK, which I can *completely* understand. Obviously, her husband knows she'll meet up with them in the States. She just needed a little more time before she felt ready to "leave" Gus. I honestly don't know if I could ever have left.

I definitely think she is abandoning her two kids. Her husband was praying Gus died so they could all finally move on. He is trying to move on, the two elder children are trying to move on. Margaret is stuck. She can't. She is choosing a ghost over her two living breathing children.

She isn't planning on staying in HK. She just wasn't quite ready to head back to the States. Are you one of the posters who insisted Margaret and Hilary were "cruel" and horrible people? Good grief.

And how long are her other children going to be without a mother while she stays in HK? It doesnt say how long she's planning to stay or if she is ever planning to come back. Maybe the book says something different, but the show leaves it ambiguous for a reason.

"Without a mother"?? Did you even watch the episode at the airport when she says she can't go back to the States and her husband agrees and says they will meet up with her back home? Obviously she will be returning.

[Anonymous]

My horror while watching this is that Gus was probably taken by someone who lived in the apartments surrounding the market. He could have been in any one of them. We never see the police doing searches, or see Gus's face on posters anywhere. I would want every single place searched. I know he could have been whisked away within seconds, but it seems like the obvious place to start would have been a huge police force searching the market area and apartments. And closing all the borders/ports immediately. But we never see any of that happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The husband alluded to what a mark Gus was due to young age, looks half asian, can smuggle him out easier/faster than a white boy, etc.

State Dept has the data on this.

Young children are abducted and whisked away to beach markets in SE Asia. Pedophiles are the frequent buyers of boys or girls. Same on Ivory coast beach markets for the sick European pedophiles.

Yes. I was horrified thinking about this and his parents having to go thru the agony imagining of what is happening to him. It's a lot of why his dad 'prayed for it to be him' at the morgue. Closure for them and Gus vs the agony they are all experiencing.

+1
I honestly don't think I could have continued living, with every waking thought being consumed by these nightmarish visions. I knew immediately that his dad was praying for the body to be Gus. That would be the only way to find some sort of closure.
DP

[Anonymous]

Since this is now over, what else have you guys been watching?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since this is now over, what else have you guys been watching?

I'm waiting for the Diplomat season 2!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didnt love the ending.

The only character I felt was happy at the end was Hilary. Got rid of her cheating husband? Check. Got rid of her abusive cheating dad and got her feelings off her chest? Check.

She started wearing colors and got a colorful new rug. I was wondering if her love of beige colors was in some way a rejection of her indian heritage/persona/identity. The first time we see her in colored clothing is at the indian prayer thing. Now that her dad is dead she feels free to re-embrace that part of her identity.

Mercy, ugh. Idk what I feel about her. She is a crappy person who constantly makes bad choices and blames it on the curse (I was so glad when her HK gf called this out). I dont see any growth.
David was a garbage person throughout and I hated him and hated seeing him on the screen. Dude must be a good actor to elicit this sort of rage lol.

Margaret abandoning her two living children was so wrong to me. I cannot - cannot- imagine the pain of losing a child. But you can't just give up on the ones that are still alive. Her husband wasnt even surprised or sad. Just "Ok fine, bye". He was tired of her sh!t. And where is she gonna live? Her crapshoot apartment?

I'm a bit conflicted at Esse going with the fam, because I really wanted her to be able to go be with her own family. But considering what Margaret did, it's good that Esse is there. And I wonder if that's why she wanted to convince her to go so bad? She doesn't feel as bad abandoning her children knowing that Esse is there to look after them?

Oh, please. Margaret wasn't abandoning anyone. In fact, she felt she would be abandoning Gus if she left HK, which I can *completely* understand. Obviously, her husband knows she'll meet up with them in the States. She just needed a little more time before she felt ready to "leave" Gus. I honestly don't know if I could ever have left.

I definitely think she is abandoning her two kids. Her husband was praying Gus died so they could all finally move on. He is trying to move on, the two elder children are trying to move on. Margaret is stuck. She can't. She is choosing a ghost over her two living breathing children.

She isn't planning on staying in HK. She just wasn't quite ready to head back to the States. Are you one of the posters who insisted Margaret and Hilary were "cruel" and horrible people? Good grief.

And how long are her other children going to be without a mother while she stays in HK? It doesnt say how long she's planning to stay or if she is ever planning to come back. Maybe the book says something different, but the show leaves it ambiguous for a reason.

"Without a mother"?? Did you even watch the episode at the airport when she says she can't go back to the States and her husband agrees and says they will meet up with her back home? Obviously she will be returning.

DP. Sure, but when will she be returning? In another month? In a year? Two years? Meanwhile, her kids are indeed motherless.

Also, not to state the obvious, but her husband saying she will return is different from she saying she'll return.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didnt love the ending.

The only character I felt was happy at the end was Hilary. Got rid of her cheating husband? Check. Got rid of her abusive cheating dad and got her feelings off her chest? Check.

She started wearing colors and got a colorful new rug. I was wondering if her love of beige colors was in some way a rejection of her indian heritage/persona/identity. The first time we see her in colored clothing is at the indian prayer thing. Now that her dad is dead she feels free to re-embrace that part of her identity.

Mercy, ugh. Idk what I feel about her. She is a crappy person who constantly makes bad choices and blames it on the curse (I was so glad when her HK gf called this out). I dont see any growth.
David was a garbage person throughout and I hated him and hated seeing him on the screen. Dude must be a good actor to elicit this sort of rage lol.

Margaret abandoning her two living children was so wrong to me. I cannot - cannot- imagine the pain of losing a child. But you can't just give up on the ones that are still alive. Her husband wasnt even surprised or sad. Just "Ok fine, bye". He was tired of her sh!t. And where is she gonna live? Her crapshoot apartment?

I'm a bit conflicted at Esse going with the fam, because I really wanted her to be able to go be with her own family. But considering what Margaret did, it's good that Esse is there. And I wonder if that's why she wanted to convince her to go so bad? She doesn't feel as bad abandoning her children knowing that Esse is there to look after them?

Oh, please. Margaret wasn't abandoning anyone. In fact, she felt she would be abandoning Gus if she left HK, which I can *completely* understand. Obviously, her husband knows she'll meet up with them in the States. She just needed a little more time before she felt ready to "leave" Gus. I honestly don't know if I could ever have left.

I definitely think she is abandoning her two kids. Her husband was praying Gus died so they could all finally move on. He is trying to move on, the two elder children are trying to move on. Margaret is stuck. She can't. She is choosing a ghost over her two living breathing children.

She isn't planning on staying in HK. She just wasn't quite ready to head back to the States. Are you one of the posters who insisted Margaret and Hilary were "cruel" and horrible people? Good grief.

And how long are her other children going to be without a mother while she stays in HK? It doesnt say how long she's planning to stay or if she is ever planning to come back. Maybe the book says something different, but the show leaves it ambiguous for a reason.

"Without a mother"?? Did you even watch the episode at the airport when she says she can't go back to the States and her husband agrees and says they will meet up with her back home? Obviously she will be returning.

DP. Sure, but when will she be returning? In another month? In a year? Two years? Meanwhile, her kids are indeed motherless.

Also, not to state the obvious, but her husband saying she will return is different from she saying she'll return.

PS, the show didn't bother to make the other kids particularly likable. At least it didn't spend a lot of time showing us their likes and hopes. You know they had feelings about their mom's emotional and physical (that weird apartment with the bath that she went to) distance, but we never got to see that. Instead we were all supposed to breathe a sigh of relief that they had a motherly maid, and that was supposed to help us excuse Margaret. It's not the same, though, and we know her other kids were still hurt and confused.

Margaret being gone for even a few months is just going to underscore this in her other kids' minds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didnt love the ending.

The only character I felt was happy at the end was Hilary. Got rid of her cheating husband? Check. Got rid of her abusive cheating dad and got her feelings off her chest? Check.

She started wearing colors and got a colorful new rug. I was wondering if her love of beige colors was in some way a rejection of her indian heritage/persona/identity. The first time we see her in colored clothing is at the indian prayer thing. Now that her dad is dead she feels free to re-embrace that part of her identity.

Mercy, ugh. Idk what I feel about her. She is a crappy person who constantly makes bad choices and blames it on the curse (I was so glad when her HK gf called this out). I dont see any growth.
David was a garbage person throughout and I hated him and hated seeing him on the screen. Dude must be a good actor to elicit this sort of rage lol.

Margaret abandoning her two living children was so wrong to me. I cannot - cannot- imagine the pain of losing a child. But you can't just give up on the ones that are still alive. Her husband wasnt even surprised or sad. Just "Ok fine, bye". He was tired of her sh!t. And where is she gonna live? Her crapshoot apartment?

I'm a bit conflicted at Esse going with the fam, because I really wanted her to be able to go be with her own family. But considering what Margaret did, it's good that Esse is there. And I wonder if that's why she wanted to convince her to go so bad? She doesn't feel as bad abandoning her children knowing that Esse is there to look after them?

Oh, please. Margaret wasn't abandoning anyone. In fact, she felt she would be abandoning Gus if she left HK, which I can *completely* understand. Obviously, her husband knows she'll meet up with them in the States. She just needed a little more time before she felt ready to "leave" Gus. I honestly don't know if I could ever have left.

I definitely think she is abandoning her two kids. Her husband was praying Gus died so they could all finally move on. He is trying to move on, the two elder children are trying to move on. Margaret is stuck. She can't. She is choosing a ghost over her two living breathing children.

She isn't planning on staying in HK. She just wasn't quite ready to head back to the States. Are you one of the posters who insisted Margaret and Hilary were "cruel" and horrible people? Good grief.

And how long are her other children going to be without a mother while she stays in HK? It doesnt say how long she's planning to stay or if she is ever planning to come back. Maybe the book says something different, but the show leaves it ambiguous for a reason.

"Without a mother"?? Did you even watch the episode at the airport when she says she can't go back to the States and her husband agrees and says they will meet up with her back home? Obviously she will be returning.

DP. Sure, but when will she be returning? In another month? In a year? Two years? Meanwhile, her kids are indeed motherless.

Also, not to state the obvious, but her husband saying she will return is different from she saying she'll return.

PS, the show didn't bother to make the other kids particularly likable. At least it didn't spend a lot of time showing us their likes and hopes. You know they had feelings about their mom's emotional and physical (that weird apartment with the bath that she went to) distance, but we never got to see that. Instead we were all supposed to breathe a sigh of relief that they had a motherly maid, and that was supposed to help us excuse Margaret. It's not the same, though, and we know her other kids were still hurt and confused.

Margaret being gone for even a few months is just going to underscore this in her other kids' minds.

That “weird” apartment she went to was when the kids were at school - they had no idea she went there. Have you ever lost a child? Or even worse - has a child abducted? She went there because she needed a place to just be, where she could grieve in whatever way she needed to.

Yes, her kids were hurt and confused by her behavior, but I’m inclined to give any parent going through that living nightmare a little grace. You seem to expect her to behave perfectly, regardless of this horrific trauma she has experienced.

[Anonymous]

And PS, I give her credit for simply staying alive after Gus was abducted. I don’t know that I would have even made it that far. But glad to hear you’d have been perfectly in control and an excellent, attentive mother, even after your child was kidnapped!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kidman is waaaay too old for this role. A mother of a 4 year old? Riiiiiiight. She looks much older than her husband and friends.

The first two episodes were very, very boring.

I totally agree! She is not believable as a young mother. Sorry. It is distracting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And PS, I give her credit for simply staying alive after Gus was abducted. I don’t know that I would have even made it that far. But glad to hear you’d have been perfectly in control and an excellent, attentive mother, even after your child was kidnapped!

No, but many of us would have tried a little harder than Margaret did. Even if our hearts were broken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kidman is waaaay too old for this role. A mother of a 4 year old? Riiiiiiight. She looks much older than her husband and friends.

The first two episodes were very, very boring.

I totally agree! She is not believable as a young mother. Sorry. It is distracting.

She's not really supposed to be a young mother. They explicitly say Gus was a mistake and she didn't want another with two tweens/teens. Menopause baby. That roughly tracks.