10 Best Netflix Originals From 2021

This intimate and heart-wrenching story was based on the memoir titled Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother's Will to Survive authored by American writer Stephanie Land and brought to the screen by Molly Smith Metzler.

While this is the first creator credit for Smith Metzler, she is far from an inexperienced writer, having penned multiple episodes of shows like Orange Is the New Black and Shameless, but also writing and staging numerous critically-acclaimed plays.

Her talent is fully on display in Maid, where she carefully crafts an engaging drama around a very sensitive subject, managing to balance the difficult moments with the more light-hearted ones. The screenplay is brought to life beautifully by Margaret Qualley in the leading role, who appears to continue her rise to stardom, after previously showcasing her talents in HBO's The Leftovers, FX's Fosse/Verdon (which earned her an Emmy nomination), and Quentin Tarantino's feature film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Qualley digs deep into the character of a young mother looking for a fresh start after escaping an abusive relationship and succeeds in communicating even the most nuanced of emotions to the audience.