Warning! SPOILERS about Expats episode 4 ahead.
Expats episode 4 ended with positive news for Margaret and Clarke, but one detail hints Margaret may fall down a dangerous path. Gus’s disappearance dominated the story in Amazon Prime Video’s Expats because of how it impacted the expats’ community’s feeble balance, Margaret and Mercy’s ability to move on with their lives despite their guilt, or the Woos’ pain while coming to terms with Gus not being in their lives and not knowing where or how he was. However, Margaret’s unwillingness to stop focusing all her energies on Gus’s disappearance was seemingly emboldened by Margaret and Clarke’s trip to Shenzhen.
Margaret’s singular focus on Gus’s disappearance was already proved in Expats episode 3 when she refused to let go of her theory that their dead neighbor Christopher might have had something to do with Gus disappearing because of a picture he had of his dog with Gus and broke into his home to investigate. Her unwillingness to stop at Hilary or Clarke’s objections caused tensions in her relationships, and yet she didn’t tone down her approach, no matter who she hurt in the process. One detail suggests that she may not stop doing so after Expats episode 4’s events.
When Expats’ Finale Releases & How Many Episodes There Are
The Amazon Prime Video limited series Expats premieres on the streaming service this January with new episodes rolling out on a weekly basis.
Expats Episode 4’s Ending Shot Shows Margaret Won’t Let Go Her Search
Her search for clues is vindicated by interpreting not finding Gus’s body as her being right
Expats episode 4’s final shot with Margaret smiling while she comforts a distraught Clarke hints that she took the fact that the body they were called to identify wasn’t Gus’s as proof that she was right in trusting her gut. Indeed, she already showed no remorse when she hurt people close to her only to further what she believed were fruitful personal investigations into potential suspects, but Expats episode 4 showed another certainty in her when she told Clarke that she “knew in her bones” Gus was alive, and the body couldn’t have been his.
No matter what Expats central character challenged her when she proposed extreme plans to pursue what she viewed as a clue about Gus’s disappearance, Margaret never listened to them and thought herself in the right, because her objective of finding Gus was virtuous. Margaret’s certainty and curious smile after such a disturbing event in Expats episode 4’s ending point to her taking that it wasn’t Gus’s body as a sign that her hunch fueled by her feeling that her younger son must have been alive was right, potentially increasing her defiance even more.
Margaret’s Certainty Risks Neglecting Even More Clarke, Daisy & Philip’s Wishes
Her & Clarke’s exchange won’t matter if she is still sure she can find Gus
Margaret’s obliviousness to what was happening in her other children’s lives became even more evident with her Expats episode 4 discussion with Clarke, who instead was the one Daisy and Philip turned to when they wanted to make their wishes known or had questions about Gus. While that knowledge clearly rattled her enough to call Daisy to apologize for her attempts to take pictures of Daisy’s identifying marks without her consent, Margaret still didn’t budge on Clarke’s suggestion to move back to the US, even if that could have given Daisy and Philip a semblance of normalcy.
Margaret’s obstinate refusal to leave Hong Kong because she believed that would have meant abandoning Gus and the hope of finding him again made her stance clear, no matter how Daisy and Philip could benefit from the move. Taking the Shenzhen body not being Gus’s as proof she was right and an encouragement to continue focusing only on trying to find Gus thus risks Margaret’s further neglect of her family, as Expats fully established her inflexibility to consider others’ perspectives when she believes herself to be in the right.
