This article contains spoilers for Expats episode 6, "Home". Expats is a Prime Video drama that explores the intertwining lives of three female expatriates living in Hong Kong — Mercy (Ji-young Yoo), Margaret (Nicole Kidman), and Hilary (Sarayu Blue).
Whilst most of the series has been exploring the guilt and trauma of its three leads, Expats episode 6 focuses on how to move forward from pain, showing us how Mercy, Hilary and Margaret intend to move forward from what's unfolded in Hong Kong since their lives crossed paths. Here's a full recap of everything that happened, and where we left the three women in Expats episode 6.
What happened to Margaret in Expats episode 6?
Margaret is preparing for moving back home to the US, and making things right with the other main characters in the show.
For the first half of the episode, we see her getting both her personal and family apartments cleaned and packed up so they're prepared to go home. Whilst packing, she watches a news report about the ongoing protests and heads out, telling Clarke she's off to run a few errands.
She's seen heading to a restaurant, where she sits down and reconciles with both Hilary and Mercy (we see fragments of these conversations throughout the episode). Her discussion with Mercy revolves sees Margaret revealing their moving plans, and she says everyone's got to "keep living... even you". Even though she once wanted to pretend Mercy never existed, she is doing her best to put the past behind her.
Margaret reveals that she already knows about Mercy's pregnancy; the soon-to-be mother asks Margaret if she ever thought about having Mercy's baby. Margaret tells her not to ever think that, and Mercy opens up about her fears for her child.
She also explains the level of pain she felt, but how she knows she has to keep moving forward, for Daisy and Philip. The day of their flight back home arrives. Essie has decided to come with them after all, and they all rush to the airport, leaving their boxes behind to be shipped on later.
At the gate, Margaret finds she is unable to board the plane after all, as she can't leave Gus in Hong Kong. Clarke and Philip hug her, but Daisy blasts her as the worst mother in the world before he ushers them on the plane with the promise that Mom will be joining them later on. Essie tells Margaret that she understands her decision, to take care of herself, and boards the plane, too.
Margaret stands and watches them leave. Later, we see her walking the streets of Hong Kong with a voiceover from Mercy talking about how you have to just hold onto your pain and keep pushing forward in life. Margaret wanders through the crowds and eventually slips out of our view as more and more people pass by the camera.
What happened to Mercy?
Mercy's continuing to see Charly; whilst they're both at a protest, Mercy gets up to see her work rep, as she's not been getting any shifts and is running ut of money. At the office, she finds out there's been a complaint made against her. A client called abut a person stealing money, and described her, but Mercy says she's innocent.
Later on, she meets back up with Charly, and they head to her apartment building. Inside, they find David sitting in the stairwell (much to the building receptionist's annoyance). Mercy sends Charly up to the apartment, and they have a chat. David's been trying to reach out to her for an update on the baby. Mercy, annoyed, mentions that David previously didn't want anything to do with them. He apologizes, and claims he's only just realizing what a gift her pregnancy is; Mercy still isn't sure whether she wants to keep it, but he's worried it's too late for her to make that decision.
He offers her the phone number of a doctor, and has written out a cheque for her, as he knows she can't afford to see a doc on her own. The pair start to argue and Mercy makes it clear that, whatever decision she makes, she's doing it on her own. She keeps the cheque, and David storms off.
Upstairs, Mercy tells Charly she's having David's baby. Shocked, Charly asks for more details, like how long she's known she's pregnant and so on. When Mercy once again blames her problems on how she never gets a chance to outrun the "curse" she has, Charly gets upset and tries to leave. Mercy stops her; at the door, Charly tells Mercy she can't think of anyone but herself. And when Mercy tries to tell her she wants to go back to the protests, Charly stops her: she accuses Mercy of being a tourist, and joining a protest that ultimately won't matter to her, before leaving.
Later down the line, we see Mercy and Margaret's conversation (as explained above), wherein she lays bare just how much guilt she feels over Gus' disappearance. Mercy also reaches out to Hilary, to try and make amends for the affair with David.
She goes to a clinic for a scan, and gets a good update about her baby's health. Later on, she greets her mother who has just flown in; she is stunned that Mercy hasn't yet told her she's pregnant (Mercy said she wanted to explain it all in person), but Mercy quickly ushers her out of the airport and takes her back to the apartment.
Her mother sets about buying more food and then says they should start going through her things, as she wants to take Mercy back to New York. Mercy says she's not leaving; her mother says of course she is, because there's not enough room in her apartment for her to stay and continue looking after her.
There's a frosty atmosphere between the pair, especially when her mother makes a harsh comment about no mention of a father. When we next see them, Mercy's sitting in her room, looking dejected. Her mother reassures her that things are going to be okay now that she's here, and Mercy bursts into tears.
What happened to Hilary?
Having split from David, Hilary traveled home to her family. She's not been home in several years and is preparing to visit her father, Daleep, in hospital.
Brinder, her mother, warns Hilary she doesn't want her to reveal the news of her divorce to Daleep. The first time they visit him, he is asleep, and Daleep's other family are in the hospital. He'd flown them in from Delhi; Brinder chases them away when they enter, and it's clear there's no love lost between them.
At dinner that evening, Brinder tells Hilary that her father has changed since getting sick; he's more 'reflective'. She retorts that he certainly had a lot to reflect on, and posits that Brinder could have left him in the past, left his toxicity behind, but Brinder plays her challenge down.
Brinder has organized a paath for Daleep's recovery the following day. There, Hilary speaks to Sukhi and Fauja, Daleep's other children. Sukhi tells Hilary they always wanted to meet her, as he's always telling them how successful Hilary is. They have a far more positive view of Daleep than Hilary does: Fauja says Daleep's a good man, but Hilary walks away from the conversation, saying they were raised by a different man.
The following day, she goes back to the hospital. Brinder leaves Hilary to catch up with her father: Hilary doesn't tell him about her divorce, and Daleep says he hopes Hilary will soften to Fauja and Sukhi, as they are her family.
Incensed, Hilary tells Daleep she's pregnant, with a boy. He's elated, and is about to be taken for a procedure. Hilary stops the nurse as she tries to wheel his bed out; she tells Daleep that her son will be raised with full knowledge of Daleep's abusive behavior towards Brinder, and she promises she will never forgive him.
Hilary returns to Hong Kong soon thereafter. She'd called David, and he met her off the plane; in the airport, Hilary started crying, saying 'I killed my father'. They discuss what she meant in the car: she talks about how she felt she was saying those things as she didn't want Daleep to die without hearing them.
She centers herself, and then asks David about the situation with Mercy. He tells Hilary Mercy wants nothing to do with him. The last time he saw her, Mercy asked for Hilary's number; she said he could pass it along.
She's seen moving out of her apartment, deciding to bring some color into her new place. We see snapshots of her meeting with Mercy, where she apologizes for getting her fired from her job. Hilary says this was the only thing she could think of doing. Margaret also apologizes to her for how the accusations against David affected her marriage.
The last time we see her, she's stepping out of a boutique, having picked up a new rug for wherever she's now staying, happily weaving through crowds as she walks home with it over her shoulder.
Expats is now streaming on Prime Video.
