Lulu Wang’s “Expats” concludes the chapter about our protagonists and how each of their lives turned upside down following Gus’s disappearance. In this article, we will thoroughly examine the series finale episode of “Expats,” episode 6, to uncover whether Gus is ultimately found, alongside various other details that unfold throughout the nearly hour-long episode.
Please note that the article contains huge spoilers, so read it at your discretion.
Expats (Series Finale), Episode 6 Recap:
The episode, titled ‘Home’ opens with a montage of people commuting via different public transport to their destinations. We see Hilary packing her bags and taking a flight to finally meet her parents after a long hiatus. Hilary’s arrival brings immense pleasure to her mother; however, the taunts and subtle gaslighting still linger around her presence.
We quickly gain insight into Hilary’s family background, revealing that her father has built a large family with another woman who views him as a saint, unaware of the misery he inflicted upon Hilary and her mother.
Hilary’s father is supposed to undergo major heart surgery, which is why Hilary’s mother wanted her to be there in the first place. Her mother doesn’t want her to share the truth about her marriage in front of her father as it may cause his health to deteriorate.
What does Hilary find out about her father?
At the hospital, during their visit to Hilary’s father, she finally encounters the other family, which includes the son her father had always desired. Hilary is taken aback by their presence, leading her to become cold and unresponsive.
Back at home, during a Gurbani path ceremony (a Sikh ritual involving the recitation of hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib), Hilary becomes distracted by the presence of the woman and child from her father’s other family.
Amidst the acute tension she’s grappling with due to the circumstances she’s facing, Hilary finally summons the courage to initiate a conversation with the other family. However, her ground shakes when she realizes the family thinks very highly of her father and has no idea how much pain he has caused Hilary and her mother.
Does Hilary forgive her father?
The following day, during the hospital visit, when her mother goes out to get coffee, Hilary speaks to her father, who is very joyous to finally meet her. When he asks her about David, she lies about her marriage and that she is pregnant just to know how her father takes the news.
Seeing her father rejoicing about the news that she is pregnant with a boy child, Hilary steps back for a bit. Just when the nurse comes in to take her father, Hilary tells her father that she will make sure that her child knows about his grandfather and all the wrong he caused her while growing up, leaving him speechless. Hilary doesn’t forgive him and completely banishes him from her life.
Does David support Mercy’s decision?
On the other hand, we see Mercy hanging out with Charly at the resistance protest by the university students (a brief glimpse of Tony – from episode 5 is also shown here). We soon realize that Mercy is pregnant after Charly points out Mercy’s recent increased appetite. When the two girls head to Mercy’s apartment, they find David waiting at the reception area. As Charly heads to the apartment, David inquires about Mercy’s whereabouts and why she has not been responding to any of his calls. He shows his concern about her and questions her decisions regarding the pregnancy.
David hands her a business card for an abortion clinic along with a cheque, telling her that he is ready to pay for everything, given that he is the father of the child she is carrying. However, Mercy doesn’t want him to participate, and the two finally call it quits when Mercy shows no interest in aborting the child. David is not in favor of Mercy’s decision (considering she is young and has a whole life ahead), and the two part ways for good.
Does Mercy tell Charly the truth about her pregnancy?
Back at the apartment, while Charly gets ready to go back to the protest, Mercy finally comes clean about David and how she met him in the first place. Charly doesn’t feel insecure about Mercy’s past; however, when Mercy tells her about the pregnancy, Charly completely flips out. She knocks some sense into Mercy when the latter starts to fidget about how life has been unkind towards her. Charly bluntly expresses that as a Korean-American, Mercy has abundant opportunities available to her, and by fixating on something beyond her control and harboring self-loathing, she’s essentially wasting her life. Being an American graduate and national, Mercy has every right to make the most of herself when people like Charly have to fight for their basic rights in a foreign country.
Despite Mercy’s requests, Charly decides to leave Mercy for the protest. Charly believes that Mercy is being selfish because, as a Korean-American, Mercy has many opportunities available to her. Charly believes that Mercy is squandering these opportunities by becoming pregnant with a child by an American man, whereas Charly herself is facing challenges in securing comparable opportunities in a foreign country.
Does Margaret leave Hong Kong with her family?
The Woo family has been packing their bags, and finally, the big day arrives when the family, along with Essie, is on their way to the airport. While Clark and Essie handle the kids, preventing them from bickering, and manage to make it to the airport on time, Margaret goes into a series of self-introspections, leading her to panic right in front of the boarding gate of their flight.
For some reason, Margaret cannot take another step towards the gate, making Clark calm her down. He completely understands that, being a parent, it is nearly impossible to abandon the idea of not having Gus with them ever again.
This is when Daisy becomes intensely upset with Margaret for abandoning them; however, Clark reassures the children that their mother will soon reunite with them in the States. Before departing, Essie approaches Margaret, who apologizes for everything. Essie expresses her understanding of Margaret’s decision and assures her that she will take care of the children while Margaret continues her quest to find Gus.
What happens when Mercy’s mother visits her?
When Mercy goes to pick up her mother at the airport, her mother is visibly surprised and shocked to find Mercy pregnant. She questions Mercy about the father, and although Mercy doesn’t reveal much about David, it becomes apparent that Mercy’s mother isn’t the villain that Mercy has imagined her to be.
Initially displeased by Mercy’s actions and decisions to keep the baby, her mother gradually transitions into the role of caregiver, taking full control of her daughter’s well-being. When her mother suggests that Mercy return to New York with her, Mercy becomes frustrated by her mother’s hasty decision-making.
Do Margaret and Hilary forgive Mercy?
At this point of the finale episode titled “Home,” Lulu Wang takes a different approach when it comes to intersecting our protagonists as they come face to face. While clearing out her apartment, something occurs to Margaret that prompts her to contact Mercy. Similarly, Hilary also decides to meet Mercy when David seeks her consent to share her number (in the episode, we also see Hilary and David parting ways amicably after her return from her parents’ house).
The close-up shots, featuring characters looking directly at the camera with straight faces, create a sense of intimacy in this part of the episode, almost as if the characters are engaging in a conversation with the audience. So much so that it almost feels like they are slowly peeling their skin, becoming naked in front of us about how they feel about everything.
Returning to the storyline, Hilary and Margaret come to know that Mercy is pregnant. As anticipated from the previous episode, Mercy expresses her desire to keep the baby. However, she grapples with fear regarding her own capabilities as a parent and worries about the potential consequences for both herself and the child. Mercy has long believed in a curse of loneliness, unhappiness, and unluckiness that seems to follow her, and she fears that this curse may also affect her child. However, both Margaret and Hilary (in their individual meetings) explain to Mercy that she should not be guilt-tripping about something that is already in the past. She should focus on herself and her life ahead, as she is very young and there is so much for her to experience.
Expats (Series Finale) Episode 6 Ending Explained:
What does the ending of Expats signify?
The ending of the Expats series finale, i.e., episode 6, leaves us with so many questions with no clear answers. However, to make things easier, I have tried to explain the ending through the eyes of our three protagonists. The conclusion reveals that these three women are each forging their own paths, but this realization only becomes clear when they come face to face after their last encounter, coinciding with Gus’s disappearance. While we had previously seen Hilary and Margaret’s fallout in episode 4, resulting in them never crossing paths again, Mercy emerges as the central figure in both of their lives.
Hilary: Journey to Self-Discovery and Closure in the Finale of Expats
The ending of the finale episode of Expats shows that Hilary refurbishes her apartment with the help of Puri, bringing more colors to her plain, odd life. It signifies that despite societal pressures and assumptions about women in their 40s being childless, Hilary, who is a modern, educated, successful, independent woman, still falls victim to constant gaslighting and lewd remarks for being who she really is. Her character finds closure from all sides: she parts ways with her husband, knowing that they grew apart due to their differences and ideas of what they want in life.
She also severs ties with her abusive father, who only brought wrath and havoc into her life, ultimately leading her to become the strong individual she is. She gains clarity on the fact that Mercy was absolutely harmless to her despite getting involved with her husband. Even though she got Mercy fired from her job by lying about her integrity, she did so only to spare her from the rage she felt towards her after learning David impregnated her.
Mercy: Embracing Forgiveness and Finding Solace in Expats’ Finale
Mercy, who has been absolutely clueless about why luck never favored her, finally feels that she has been more focused on the darkness than the light. When Charly points out facts she overlooked for most of her life, and Margaret mentions how she never understood why she accused Mercy of Gus’s disappearance, we realize that Mercy had been punishing herself all this while. She had been deliberately denying herself the happiness that she actually deserved in the first place. It’s revealed that Mercy was simply caught in a situation beyond her control, being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Towards the end, we witness her finally breaking down in tears as her mother offers her arm for a hug, providing the warmth and comfort that she has yearned for throughout her life. Perhaps all it takes is a single moment of embracing someone, and suddenly everything feels normal again, or at least there’s hope that it could pave the way back to a sense of normalcy in life.
Margaret: A Mother’s Quest for Closure and Reunion in the Expats Finale
Margaret, one of the integral parts of the show, is seen walking the streets of Hong Kong at the end of the finale episode. Her quest to find her little boy, Gus, continues, as she cannot bring herself to go on with her life in America while her child could possibly be anywhere in a foreign country.
Despite attempting to leave behind the miserable life she led in Hong Kong and return to her home, a moment between her and Mercy reveals that her home is where Gus is. Despite being heartbroken and in constant anguish, as she misses one child and has two others who depend on her, Margaret remains determined to portray strength and resilience as she tirelessly searches for her missing child, even if it means dedicating her entire lifetime to the endeavor.
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