Expats Series Review: Alienation, despair, grief, guilt, and wistfulness — these are the ingredients of Lulu Wang’s savoury Expats. The Amazon Prime Video series is empirical of the fact that the right actors can make or break a story. Nicole Kidman might be the incandescent tip of refulgence. And Ji-young Yoo, Saraya Blue, and Jack Huston match up to her luminosity with their applaudable acting chops. The immersive cinematography seizes the nuances of human emotions in the backdrop of chaotic and bleached-out Hong Kong, a city that celebrates diversity but is a hazy quagmire for those who don’t belong to that world.
The stage is set by Mercy’s (played by Ji-young Yoo) voice that narrates a string of unfortunate incidents caused due to callousness, and how that is a subject of morbid fascination for her. The frame cuts to Margaret (Nicole Kidman), a seemingly nonplussed landscape architect amid a meeting with an event planner for a special birthday party for her husband. In that conversation, the name ‘Gus’ props up and pulls her out of her mental reverie. Her husband Clarke (Brian Tee) is attending a sermon at church, for what seems like an undisclosed tragedy. We are then introduced to other characters like Hilary (Sarayu Blue) and David (Jack Huston) who are Margaret’s neighbours but have grown some animosity towards them.
Mercy, the voice in the prologue, is working in the catering industry and feels disjointed from her surroundings despite belonging to the same racial identity. She is a Korean who often gets mistaken for a Chinese local, an occurrence that is too common for her and yet oddly alienating, as reflected through her eyes. This close-knit community of expatriates is connected by a tragedy that is not instantly shared with the viewers, but the hint of it in the narrative keeps one invested throughout.
‘Expats’ is like that chocolate truffle cake that you eat on your cheat days. With every bite, it tastes even yummier. The more you indulge in, the more you get sucked into the storyline.
Expats is a show that will come across as relatable not only to the expatriates who are mingling with a different diaspora but also to the folks sitting in the comfort of their native countries. The Hong Kong aesthetics is interspersed with themes about universal alienation. For instance, in a scene, David tries to chat with his chauffeur but gets disappointed when he doesn’t get an expected reaction, something he would have gotten if he was in his native country London. In a different scene, Mercy feels invisible to his group of friends and individuals around her. She finds herself alone in the crowd more often than not and is fixated on something that her mother has said to her in her childhood.
Several instances like these bind you to the dysfunctional lives of these characters. Despite ‘thriller’ being the crux of the main story, Expats vows to deconstruct a lot of social issues around it through a profound feminine lens. Perhaps what lends to the inclusive and intersectional tone and style of visual narration is Lulu Wang’s quest to present human emotions with no compromise to depth.
Whether it’s feminism, mental illness, the politics of Hong Kong, or the two different sides of China, it’s all enmeshed within the premise of Expats. The dialogues pour in inconspicuously, without hampering the main storyline.
Expats is thoroughly nuanced but to get there, one has to sift through the first two episodes that might test your patience. The non-linear style of storytelling might discombobulate you but the gravity around ‘Gus’ will keep you by the hooks and eager to find out the reason behind the mess in their upscale expatriate life. Many poignant shots of the actors in different situations form the subtext of their expressions and reactions. Expressions of anxiety, grief, longing, non-belongingness, fear, dejection, trauma, companionship, and intimacy are accompanied by visually appealing shots often a mirror to their predicaments.
The cast of Expats couldn’t be more perfect than what it delivers. Nicole Kidman as Margaret conveys the soul of a mother and an expatriate longing for home and identity.
Ji-young Yoo speaks through her eyes in between scenes where there is no dialogue. She represents most of us who feel lost and out-of-sync with our surroundings, someone who is trying to hustle in a foreign country. Sarayu Blue as Hillary treasures friendship but aptly portrays the struggles of her character, the pressure from her Indian parents to have a baby and the conundrum of whether she wants to take up that responsibility. Brian Tree as Clarke might not be explicitly expressive with his share of grief but he is mindful of his wife and kids. Jack Huston as David aces the role with his ability to empathise with others, all while dealing with a falling marriage in the household. Other actors like Bonde Shamz and Ruby Ruiz have played their parts equally well.
Expats is a melting pot of a thriller laced with emotions that are raw but too heavy to process. It is impeccable to witness a story by a director that incorporates multiple genres within the various timelines and characters of the story. It does the job of presenting a gripping and thoughtful portrayal. It unpacks a lot at us in a short period. But if one resists that overwhelming feeling, it introduces you to a lot of cultural tidbits, of course, all within the purview of morality regarding what’s right and what’s not. Expats undeniably exceed in all departments and it would be a disappointment if it doesn’t secure a string of Emmys.
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