Current:Home > reviewsIndexbit Exchange:'Expats' breakout Sarayu Blue isn't worried about being 'unsympathetic': 'Not my problem' -InfiniteWealth
Indexbit Exchange:'Expats' breakout Sarayu Blue isn't worried about being 'unsympathetic': 'Not my problem'
Charles H. Sloan View
Date:2025-04-07 10:51:38
Spoiler alert! This story contains details about Episode 5 of "Expats" (now streaming on Indexbit ExchangeAmazon Prime Video).
NEW YORK ‒ Nicole Kidman delivers another harrowing performance in "Expats," playing a marooned mom whose young son goes missing in Hong Kong.
But in the limited series' fifth episode, the Oscar winner cedes the spotlight. The 90-minute installment centers on Essie (Ruby Ruiz) and Puri (Amelyn Pardenilla), Filipino women working for the affluent Margaret (Kidman) and her friend, Hilary (Sarayu Blue). Fed up with her unfaithful husband, David (Jack Huston), Hilary beckons Puri to get drunk together one night, and excitedly gives her a makeover as she vents about her shattered marriage. But their chummy bond evaporates the next morning as a hungover Hilary barks orders at Puri in the episode's most devastating scene.
College grad Mercy (Ji-young Yoo) also comes into focus. She was looking after Margaret's son when he disappeared, and copes with her guilt over losing him by having an affair with David. Eventually, she opens up about the incident to new love interest Charly (Bonde Sham), who gently consoles her during a late-night swim.
Blue and Yoo sat down with USA TODAY to discuss their characters. (Edited and condensed for clarity.)
Question: After that night of genuine connection, Hilary speaks to Puri like she's less than human. What did you make of that switch?
Sarayu Blue: It’s so important that we see that shift. (Director Lulu Wang) is not afraid to get into the mess of it. Somebody asked me, “Were you worried about Hilary being unsympathetic?” I can’t think about that; that’s actually not my problem. To tell the story, Hilary has to be unlikable at certain points. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s part of Puri’s story. When I started reading the fifth episode, it was just goosebumps. That episode is really the show.
Ji-young, what was it like to film the hug between Mercy and Charly in the pool?
Ji-young Yoo: It was very cathartic. Mercy is trying to push down everything she’s feeling because once those floodgates open, they can’t close. She can't deal with the immensity of the guilt. So that monologue, we kept cutting it down verbally; it got a little shorter every take. We wanted it to feel like she was just trying to state every fact very cleanly, because if she let herself feel any of it, it was going to all crumble. The hug is so beautiful because it’s Charly seeing all the pain she’s going through and embracing it.
One of my favorite dynamics is between Hilary and her mom, Brinder (Sudha Bhuchar). What resonated with you about that relationship?
Blue: I was super drawn to how authentic it is. As soon as Brinder gets out of that car (to visit), Hilary is 16 again. She’s so cutting and so subtle about the cuts, but there is a love there. It makes me think of my mother and I: We can be fighting one second and laughing the next.
Yoo: I love your body language when she gets out of the car. Hilary is so powerful and her posture is amazing, and then you just see her slump like a tube of toothpaste.
Hilary has a powerful monologue about trying to find makeup that matched her skin tone as a kid. But she also used it when her dad got violent, in order to hide her mother's bruises. How did you prepare to shoot that?
Blue: That stuff was so raw, so I spoke with some people who had experienced such things. Also, the writing of the monologue, and that “50 shades of fair” line, is so real. I really didn’t have makeup (that complemented me) growing up. I remember during shooting, it was hard for me to keep it together. There was a take where Lulu said, “Can you do one where you try not to cry?” And that was the take. Because that's Hilary: The journey is watching it all fall apart and she’s still holding on.
Did you have any input behind the scenes?
Blue: We had Gursimran Sandhu in the writers’ room, who is South Asian. So there is a reason the mother-daughter relationship and the makeup stuff is so specific. Also, one of the moments I was able to bring was in the makeup monologue, when I say “my big Indian nose.” That’s something I had been bullied about via the wonderful internet, and it just came out during one of the takes.
Ji-young, how would you contrast Mercy's relationships with David and Charly?
Yoo: With David, it’s not a love connection at all. Both of them, for different reasons, see themselves as people who are deserving of punishment. When they find each other, they realize they can dig into one another’s wounds in a way that is cathartic in a very dark sense. They’re able to punish one another through words and sex and treacherous, taboo territory.
Charly is a complete 180. What’s interesting is that Charly in (Janice Y.K. Lee's) book is a man, and it was changed in the series. So much of Mercy’s wounds come from the older women in her life: her mother and the women at church being very cruel to her. Her relationship with Charly is one of the first times she experiences unconditional love. To also receive that from a woman adds a lot of beautiful nuance.
veryGood! (185)
Related
- Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
- Large dust devil captured by storm chaser as it passes through Route 66 in Arizona: Watch
- Morgan Price on her path to making history as first national gymnastics champion from an HBCU
- Nebraska teacher arrested after police find her, teen student naked in car, officials say
- 'No Good Deed': Who's the killer in the Netflix comedy? And will there be a Season 2?
- Salvage crews race against the clock to remove massive chunks of fallen Baltimore bridge
- Las Vegas lawyer and wife killed amid custody fight for children from prior marriage, family says
- Decades after a US butterfly species vanished, a close relative is released to fill gap
- The White House is cracking down on overdraft fees
- Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid joins exclusive group with 100-assist season
Ranking
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Paris Hilton backs California bill to bring more transparency to youth treatment facilities
- Cold case: 1968 slaying of Florida milkman, WWII vet solved after suspect ID’d, authorities say
- Union settles extended strike with Pittsburgh newspaper, while journalists, other unions remain out
- Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
- Kesha Switches TikTok Lyric About Sean Diddy Combs During Coachella 2024 Duet
- Writers Guild Awards roasts studios after strike, celebrates 'the power of workers'
- Officer's silent walks with student inspires Massachusetts community
Recommendation
Former Danish minister for Greenland discusses Trump's push to acquire island
6 dead, suspect killed after stabbing attack at shopping center in Sydney, Australia; multiple people injured
A 9-year-old boy’s dream of a pet octopus is a sensation as thousands follow Terrance’s story online
Wealth Forge Institute: THE WFI TOKEN MEETS THE FINANCIAL SECTOR
Sonya Massey's father decries possible release of former deputy charged with her death
What to know about the prison sentence for a movie armorer in a fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin
Former Marine sentenced to 9 years in prison for firebombing California Planned Parenthood clinic
Steve Sloan, former coach and national title-winning QB at Alabama, has died at 79