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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteSpoilers for Episodes 1 and 2. Episode 1, “The Peak,” unfolds a year after Gus disappears, at Clarke’s 50th birthday party. Episode 2, “Mongkok,” then rewinds to the year before and shows how Margaret and Mercy met—and how Gus went missing while Mercy was helping care for him. The first episode establishes the grief and fractured relationships; the second reveals the event behind them.
Episode titles, timeline, and runtimes
Apple TV lists “The Peak” as Episode 1 and “Mongkok” as Episode 2. Each episode has a listed runtime of 53 minutes. The timeline is the key to following the story: Episode 1 begins in the aftermath of Gus’s disappearance, while Episode 2 goes back one year to the meeting and events that brought the characters together.
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| Episode | Title | Story timeline | Apple TV listed runtime |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Peak” | After Gus’s disappearance | 53 minutes |
| 2 | “Mongkok” | One year earlier | 53 minutes |
What happens in Episode 1, “The Peak”?
1. Mercy’s narration raises questions about guilt
Mercy opens by describing tragedies that appear unrelated to the family’s story: a doctor’s car crash, a plane hitting a ski lift, and a boy accidentally paralyzing his twin while they play. She wonders whether people who cause tragedies can be forgiven. These are examples in her narration, not additional confirmed events in Margaret’s family.
2. Gus is already missing when the birthday party begins
The episode’s present-day story takes place a year after Gus disappeared. Clarke’s 50th birthday party goes ahead amid the family’s grief, and the past year hangs over the gathering.
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3. Philip’s drawing shows Gus is still on his mind
Philip’s family drawing includes Gus standing apart. Margaret reacts when she learns which figure is Gus. Later, when Philip says he has drawn Jesus, Margaret tells him not to draw the man. The scenes show the family’s continuing preoccupation with Gus, without spelling out a single definitive meaning for the drawing.
4. Margaret recognizes Mercy at the party
Mercy recognizes Margaret’s children, then Margaret and Clarke. Margaret sees Mercy, panics, and tries to catch up with her. The episode makes clear that the women share a significant past connection, but the full event behind it is revealed in Episode 2.
5. “Dirk” is David, Hilary’s husband
Mercy knows David by the name “Dirk.” Episode 1 reveals that they had an affair, linking Mercy to Hilary’s marriage before Margaret confronts Mercy at the party.
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6. Hilary and Margaret are estranged, not indifferent
Hilary initially avoids the party and leaves. After she learns about Margaret’s confrontation with Mercy, she returns. The two share food and memories, and Hilary tells Margaret she believes her marriage is over. Their closeness remains beneath the distance between them.
What does Episode 2, “Mongkok,” reveal?
7. Margaret and Mercy met at a yacht party
Episode 2 jumps back one year. Mercy is trying to fit in with a wealthier group at a yacht party. After swimming beneath the boat, she meets Margaret, who offers her a towel. Mercy in turn offers to help with the children. Their meeting establishes the connection Margaret recognizes at the birthday party.
8. Hilary is unsure about motherhood, while David wants a child
Hilary tells Margaret she has started taking birth control without telling David. She questions whether she would feel the maternal love she is expected to feel. David, meanwhile, now wants a child. Their disagreement develops alongside Margaret’s story of parenting, but it is a distinct conflict within Hilary’s marriage.
9. Gus wanders into the corridor after a household conflict
After refusing dinner and asking for Essie’s cooking, Gus is sent outside the apartment door while Margaret cleans. Hilary finds him in the corridor and walks him back. This is a separate earlier incident, not the disappearance itself; it shows how quickly Gus can move beyond adult supervision.
10. Gus disappears at the night market while Mercy is helping watch him
Clarke cannot join a planned outing, so Margaret takes the children and invites Mercy along. At a toy stall, Gus spills toy balls. Mercy helps collect them and looks at her phone for a message. When she looks up, Gus is gone.
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The episode returns to the present-day party after showing this moment. It supplies the central reason for Mercy’s guilt and Margaret’s grief, but it does not resolve Gus’s fate. Episode 1 likewise leaves that question unanswered.
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Why Margaret and Mercy’s connection matters
Margaret recognizes Mercy because Mercy was with her children at the night market when Gus disappeared. That shared event joins Margaret’s grief to Mercy’s guilt. Episode 1 first presents the connection as a mystery; Episode 2 provides the event that gives it meaning.
The episodes also place that story beside Hilary’s failing marriage and uncertainty about having children. Read together, they contrast Margaret’s grief and desire to regain control, Mercy’s guilt, and Hilary’s uncertainty. Those are interpretations of the scenes, not settled moral judgments or diagnoses.
How the series relates to the novel
Expats is based on Janice Y. K. Lee’s novel The Expatriates, but the television series is better described as a “close cousin” than a beat-for-beat retelling. TIME reports that the series gives domestic workers Essie and Puri more focus than the novel does. Creator and director Lulu Wang told TIME, “I wanted to be able to depict that wealth and privilege, but also to contextualize it and make sure that we weren’t celebrating it.”
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