Expatsis an expensive , prestige TV production that never quite click . Based on a 2016 novel by Janice Y. K. Lee , it ’s the a la mode lowly - screen offering from its manufacturer and star , Nicole Kidman , whose TV track platter has turn shockingly unimpressive in late long time . Even more importantly , the show is writer - director Lulu Wang ’s long - awaited follow - up toThe Farewell . That ofttimes - glorify , Awkwafina - led dramedy annunciate its theater director as a film maker with a clear eye and a endowment for capturing sincere , culturally rooted strain of comedy and grief on - screen .
WithExpats , which she directed entirely on her own and co - wrote alongside a pocket-size team of author , Wang has only further honed her knack for crafting well - pen , unobtrusively esthetic images . The often grueling drama , however , lack both the tonal precision and authenticity ofThe Farewell . It ’s a TV series overflowing with musical theme about womanhood and class , but it lacks the emotional depth and honesty ask to communicate them in effect . As a follow - up to Wang ’s breakout 2019 Sundance smasher , it ’s a stupendous disappointment — and an undeniable misfire for everyone involved .
At the center ofExpatsare three women : Margaret ( Kidman ) , a well - to - do American mother of three based in Hong Kong ; Hilary ( Sarayu Blue ) , Margaret ’s neighbor and on - again , off - again champion ; and Mercy ( Ji - young Yoo ) , a young Korean emigrant whose liveliness becomes irreconcilably crossed with Margaret ’s and Hilary ’s after a tragic chance event postulate Margaret ’s youngest son . WhenExpatsbegins , the small son in question has already blend in missing , but it is n’t until the Amazon Prime series ’ second instalment that the details of his disappearance , as well as Mercy ’s role in it , are bring out .
That decision is very much by design . As a series , Expatsdedicates a surprisingly little amount of sentence to its central calamity . It ’s more implicated with exploring the radioactive dust of the event itself , with its six episode lingering in the layers of psychological and emotional psychic trauma inflicted not only on Margaret and her folk , but also on Mercy , Hilary and her alcohol-dependent married man , David ( Jack Huston ) , and even several figure who apparently subsist only around the edges of their lives . It charts the complication of Margaret ’s hereditary cataclysm at a pace that never once seems to quicken .
At first , the miniseries ’ narrative tempo seems assess . By the clock time one has reached the show ’s halfway scar , though , its glacial pace does n’t feel purposeful anymore so much as it does indulgent . That only make the overlong runtimes of its episodes experience all the more plain , which in turn cause it hard to ignore the feeling that Wong , Kidman , and company have taken what should have been a two - hour movie and unnecessarily stretched it into a six - and - a - half hr serial publication . Before long , Margaret , Hilary , and Mercy ’s tenacious stares at rain - inebriate Hong Kong and slow walks through urban corridor have lose their aroused weight and begun to palpate like progressively frustrating instances of pure , unadulterated omphalus - gazing .
Expats ’ unrelentingly ego - serious flavor makes it unacceptable to brush aside the unauthentic nature of its storytelling . Throughout its episode , the serial forces its characters — and the actors portraying them — into situations and modality of behavior that push one ’s hiatus of incredulity past its break point . In its quaternary sequence , an lift partitioning results in an argument between Blue ’s Hilary and her condescending female parent that goes to bafflingly personal places , despite the presence of a pure unknown less than a ft away from them . Expats alsostruggles to find any shade in the heartache experienced by Kidman ’s Margaret — alternately qualify her in its latter episodes as either cartoonishly paranoid or appallingly refractory and selfish .
Kidman has long been truly considered one of the most gifted performers of her propagation , but she frequently feels misuse inExpats , a show that does n’t acknowledge how to let her perform at anything other than extreme levels . Of the show ’s lead actor , only Blue emerges unfeignedly unharmed . She plays Hilary with an adorable balance of insecurity and obliviousness that allows the fiber to grow into something more than just another rich socialite . In plus to Blue , Ruby Ruiz also turns in a standout performance as Essie , Margaret ’s consecrated nanny , whose complex personal affixation to her workplace family is movingly , subtly explore throughoutExpats ’ concluding episodes .
As the show ’s exclusive conductor , Wang brings a level of optic craftsmanship toExpatsthat reflects its considerable budget , but she struggles to work the same artistic restraint throughout the series that she did inThe Farewell . The drama ’s directorial influences seem to graze from formal Japanese master like Yasujirō Ozu and Hirokazu Koreeda all the way to American auteurs like Jonathan Demme and Mike Mills , and Wang does n’t always manage to blendExpats ‘ disparate stylistic brainchild together successfully . Its latter installment include an emotionally jarring Katy Perry needle drop-off , a medicine television - esque collage of Yoo ’s Mercy walking through the street of Hong Kong that feels all out of place , and a collection of Demme - inhale , straight - down - the - barrel stuffy - ups that do n’t forge almost as well as Wang intends them to .
In its penultimate installment , Expatsgoes bigger and long than most TV show would dare . It blows aside the once - curb scope of its story by turning its attention to the service actor who take care of its productive characters ’ houses and the Hong Kong residents who are determined to continue fighting for its ethnic and political independence . The episode is , at times , astonishing , but it also experience mislay in a serial that had antecedently shown little interest in both the complicated contemporary political landscape of Hong Kong and the life of its natural - deport citizens . It ’s an admirable roundabout way , but one that will provide you infringe over its spot within the show ’s large story .
That ’s becauseExpatsoften seems , like its core character , confounded , unmoored , and unsure of itself . It ’s an vivid drama that goes in a dozen dissimilar stylistic and thematic directions over the course of its six episode , but without a clear hold on its textile and tone , the series ’ many flourishes and tangents do n’t so much highlight its deepness as much as they bring out just how wanting it is in that regard . It ’s a skyscraper without the inviolable foundation necessary to support all of its idea and desire , and so to watchExpatsis like seeing one of the yr ’s most promising productions slowly , but sure enough crumble right in front of your eyes .
The first two episode ofExpatsare streaming now on Amazon Prime Video . New episodes premiere weekly on Fridays . Digital Trends was give early access to all six of the show ’s installments .
