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[quote=Anonymous]I feel like some of the themes of this episode went over a lot of your heads. Why do you think the episode focuses on (1) two young Hong Kong natives involved in the Umbrella Movement, which arose to protest the political oppression of the Chinese government in Hong Kong after the city was turned over by the British, (2) the helpers in two expat households in Hong Kong, and (3) the wife of an expat business man who is openly cheating on her and tells her that she agreed to this arrangement, where he does whatever he wants and she gets to live in his house and spend some of his money.

The episode is about oppression by the powerful of people with less power.

Each of these oppressed entities struggle with what it means to live under these conditions, and what lengths they are willing to go to in order to liberate themselves.

With the Umbrella Movement folks, one of them chooses to literally fight by attending a nighttime protest where it appears he was likely injured and taken into custody, and may even be dead. The other decides to stay home and study, and then meet up with a friend, accepting the political oppression in exchange for some freedom to live a life she obviously enjoys. Though when she gets the call from her friend's mother at the end of the episode, it's not clear this tradeoff will have been worth it -- it is easy to look away from political oppression when it doesn't touch you directly, much harder to do this when it begins to impact you and your loved ones.

With the helpers, they have made a more explicit deal for their oppression, where the transaction (money and lodging in exchange for loyal, dedicated, mostly silent, always uncomplaining, service). We also see how they are mostly more comfortable with the situation, joking about it with each other under the underpass, singing and playing games, taking their paychecks to Western Union to send them to their families, etc. However, we also see a darker side to it when Puri gets dragged into her employers' marital troubles and she winds up spending the evening drinking with and performing emotional labor for Hilary (when she'd probably prefer to be resting in preparation of her competition) and then likely missing the competition altogether due to Hilary's hangover.

We also see how Essie struggles with her emotional involvement with Margaret's family, and how that involvement in some ways conflicts or supersedes her relationship with her own family. We also see how quickly a helper's entire life can be turned upside down when Essie hears Margaret announce the family will be moving back to the US, and for Essie this means not only losing her employment, but also her home and potentially her immigration status. Though the family treats her fairly well and there is real affection between her and the kids for sure, Essie's life is not her own and is completely subject to the whims of her employer.

And finally we watch as the expat wife struggles with her miserable marriage and the tradeoff it entails. Like the helpers (and unlike the Umbrella Movement kids) her deal is more explicit and fairly transactional. We don't get a ton of info about her background as we do with the others, so it's not really clear to what degree she had other, better options in life. Could she have pursued a career? Did she have other options in marriage? We don't really know. At first she seems totally content with her situation, as she explains to Hilary that she can leverage David's cheating for to get "whatever she wants." But then at home, we see that she is not getting what she wants, namely a husband who even pretends to be in a partnership or a loving relationship. We watch her go so far as to begin packing a suitcase to leave, before gettin distracted by the collapsing ceiling. And then she is the only one to make an affirmative choice to stay in her oppressive situation, choosing to patch up the ceiling and her own feelings and resign herself to the agreement she has made.

The episode is drawing parallels between these situations, and that's why it highlights the aspects of the helpers' situations that are oppressive, and the aspects of Hilary's and Margaret's behavior that plays into and in some cases exacerbate the oppression. Other episodes which tell this story more from Margaret's and Hilary's perspectives cast their lives in another light. Neither perspective is "correct" nor is either one a lie. Hilary is a wronged wife married to a cheating alcoholic, who had a bad childhood in an abusive home. She is also a pretty crappy employer who abuses her relationship with her helper in really inappropriate ways. She deserves both empathy and criticism. Like most people.

And I know I didn't touch on the storyline with the pastor and Margaret's husband. There are some parallels there -- the family's grief over Gus is the oppressive force there, and when Margaret's husband confesses that he had hoped it would be Gus's body at the morgue, it's clear that it's because Gus's death would liberate them from the horrible grief of wondering if their son is out in the world, being harmed, while they go on living their lives (it's unimaginable, I just can't). But this is a very different kind of oppression and liberty and I think that while thematically it fits with the series, it didn't belong in this episode.

I actually wish the entire series focused more broadly on all these different characters and the interplay between them, exploring the ways in which power structures alter our relationships to each other and with ourselves, and impact how we seek both security and freedom. But then it would be a very different show, and not really based on the book in the same way. But I would watch it.[/quote]

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