The Amazon Prime streaming series, Expats, is winding its way towards a conclusion after weeks of the platform drip feeding episodes to global audiences, except in Hong Kong, where it was filmed but hasn’t been released.
The series, which is set during the 2014 umbrella movement protests in the city but also shifts around its timeline, courted controversy from the moment the cast and crew arrived in Hong Kong in 2021 to begin filming. The production was given exemptions from the strict Covid-19 quarantine rules that were in place in the territory at the time and became a lightning rod for commentary about the rights and wrongs of that eventuality.
The finished product does not bear the tell-tale hallmarks of some other Covid-19 era produced dramas, such as socially distanced principal players or small casts. The reverse is true, in fact, with a densely populated family function, an upscale weekend trip on a party boat and a visit to a crowded night market all being key narrative scenes in a drama that has also provoked a strong critical response since it began streaming.
Bloomberg’s Janet Paskin called it “bleak and boring”, The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan said Nicole Kidman was “running on fumes” in her starring role as Margaret, a privileged American expat who describes herself as “not a housewife” when asked by a young, enthusiastic party planner at the beginning of the series about what she does. The Daily Beast’s Fletcher Peters, meanwhile, rated Kidman’s performance as “pitch-perfect”. Others have been equally effusive in their praise.
So is this slow-burn drama based on the 2016 book The Expatriates by Janice Y K Lee flawed or flawless? It’s probably both.
Some of the criticism of Kidman has suggested she is reprising a role audiences have become familiar with in several recent big-budget series, including The Undoing and Big Little Lies. While there is an element of that, her portrayal of Margaret in Expats also holds a very nice line in gilded-cage tragedy.
The series is also very astute in the more subtle and multiple observations on how some expats intersect with the cities they build lives in – as well as the "high days and holidays" calendar planning of the wealthy.
The adverb there is important, however, as Expats is largely a tale of privilege rather than an every person fable. Only Mercy, played by Ji-young Yoo, shuttles properly between the world of cloistered wealth and a more regular version of Hong Kong not often seen by those well-off temporary implants.
It is a moment of distraction from Mercy – no massive spoilers here – that is at the heart of the storyline and which all the characters are ultimately defined by. That moment occurs during an almost anthropological visit by Margaret, her three kids and Mercy to a busy neon lights and puppy dogs night market. It is also deliciously on point as a route to illustrate the limited ways those who live in gated enclaves appear to intersect with the city.
The hired help they employ are used to illustrate the bubble the central characters exist in and their lack of curiosity about the world
In the opening episode, we also see Hilary, played by Sarayu Blue, and the third of the principal women at the centre of the tragedy, on a morning run around the leafy residential development where both she and Margaret live. It’s high up in the rarefied environs of Hong Kong’s peaks, which as some critics have already noted, is a not-so-subtle way of establishing the world of wealth that both women live in.
What quickly becomes clear is that Hilary and Margaret were once inseparable fast friends, bonded by the experience of arrival and rebirth in a city they have now lost their way in. By the time we meet them there is an awkwardness about their relationship caused by the fallout from the tragi-mystery at the centre of the piece.
The visual shorthand for that distance – again a clever touch – is Hilary pressing the button to close the doors of their apartment building lift so she doesn’t have to share the elevator as Margaret and family race towards it through the building’s lobby. Margaret’s kids refer to Hilary as "aunty" as they bustle across the foyer, another nice throw to friends being family in unfamiliar environs.
Both Hilary and Margaret are bound by living in relationships and families where the cracks are ever more exposed as the series progresses.
We see Hilary’s husband David, nursing his on-off alcoholism in an Irish bar and Hilary addressed as Harpreet by her visiting mother. The former vignette suggests an alien transplant retreating to familiar but poisonous solace and the latter speaks to the reinvention process of moving to a new city and shedding the conventions of the past.
Margaret’s daughter, Daisy, meanwhile obsessively watches rolling news coverage of the MH370 tragedy, which slipped from radars in March 2014, another pointer towards the missing person storyline at the heart of the series and, perhaps, as a cipher for the lost lives of the family’s own frayed existence.
The hired help that both Margaret and Hilary employ – domestic workers and drivers – are used as ways to illustrate the bubble the central characters exist in and their almost total lack of curiosity about the world beyond their high-end apartments and the back seats of their limousines.
As an observational piece, the series scores points consistently. As a drama series, we will have to wait and see, but these sideways glances at expats are so well realised – with all their attendant discomfort – that it is hard to keep your eyes off this Lulu Wang-directed tale of wealth, glamour and boorish party guests who are completely lost in their own opinions and biases.
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MATCH INFO
Liverpool v Manchester City, Sunday, 8.30pm UAE
The specs: 2018 Peugeot 5008
Price, base / as tested: Dh99,900 / Dh134,900
Engine: 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power: 165hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 240Nm @ 1,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.8L / 100km
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
MATCH INFO
Championship play-offs, second legs:
Aston Villa 0
Middlesbrough 0
(Aston Villa advance 1-0 on aggregate)
Fulham 2
Sessegnon (47'), Odoi (66')
Derby County 0
(Fulham advance 2-1 on aggregate)
Final
Saturday, May 26, Wembley. Kick off 8pm (UAE)
Tewellah by Nawal Zoghbi is out now.
More on Coronavirus in France
Anxiety and work stress major factors
Anxiety, work stress and social isolation are all factors in the recogised rise in mental health problems.
A study UAE Ministry of Health researchers published in the summer also cited struggles with weight and illnesses as major contributors.
Its authors analysed a dozen separate UAE studies between 2007 and 2017. Prevalence was often higher in university students, women and in people on low incomes.
One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms - five times the global average.
It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked."
Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.
“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress," said Prof Al Adawi.
“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression."
Daniel Bardsley
The BIO
Favourite piece of music: Verdi’s Requiem. It’s awe-inspiring.
Biggest inspiration: My father, as I grew up in a house where music was constantly played on a wind-up gramophone. I had amazing music teachers in primary and secondary school who inspired me to take my music further. They encouraged me to take up music as a profession and I follow in their footsteps, encouraging others to do the same.
Favourite book: Ian McEwan’s Atonement – the ending alone knocked me for six.
Favourite holiday destination: Italy - music and opera is so much part of the life there. I love it.
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The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
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How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
'Laal Kaptaan'
Director: Navdeep Singh
Stars: Saif Ali Khan, Manav Vij, Deepak Dobriyal, Zoya Hussain
Rating: 2/5
The Baghdad Clock
Shahad Al Rawi, Oneworld
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
TUESDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 2pm:
Elina Svitolina (UKR) [3] v Jennifer Brady (USA)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) v Belinda Bencic (SUI [4]
Not before 7pm:
Sofia Kenin (USA) [5] v Elena Rybakina (KAZ)
Maria Sakkari (GRE) v Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) [7]
Court One
Starting at midday:
Karolina Muchova (CZE) v Katerina Siniakova (CZE)
Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) v Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR)
Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) v Dayana Yastermska (UKR)
Petra Martic (CRO) [8] v Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) v Anett Kontaveit (EST)
ORDER OF PLAY ON SHOW COURTS
Centre Court - 4pm (UAE)
Gael Monfils (15) v Kyle Edmund
Karolina Pliskova (3) v Magdalena Rybarikova
Dusan Lajovic v Roger Federer (3)
Court 1 - 4pm
Adam Pavlasek v Novak Djokovic (2)
Dominic Thiem (8) v Gilles Simon
Angelique Kerber (1) v Kirsten Flipkens
Court 2 - 2.30pm
Grigor Dimitrov (13) v Marcos Baghdatis
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Christina McHale
Milos Raonic (6) v Mikhail Youzhny
Tsvetana Pironkova v Caroline Wozniacki (5)
