The Housemaid is Watching

Millie tries not to panic: Enzo’s truck is home so he must be somewhere with the kids. She texts and calls him, but he does not answer. She contemplates calling the police but does not want to overreact. Since the truck is parked, she concludes Enzo and the kids have gone somewhere on foot. She goes to Suzette’s house, where she finds Enzo in the backyard, but not Nico or Ada. Enzo criticizes Millie for arriving home late, but Millie reminds him that he got home first and should have realized she wasn’t there.

Millie, Enzo, and Suzette return to the Accardi house to look for the kids. Enzo notices a rip in the wallpaper that is the size of a small door. When he pushes, it opens, making the scraping sound that Millie has been hearing at night.

The door opens into a small room, which looks dirty and dusty, as if it hasn’t been used in years. Ada and Nico are huddled in the corner. Millie and Enzo hug the kids and ask them why they’re there and why they didn’t answer when Millie called their names. Ada says that they couldn’t hear them, and Nico claims he found the room and made it his clubhouse, which is why he was sneaking downstairs and opening the door at night. They both promise not to go in the room anymore. Millie notices Ada has been crying, which puzzles her.

Enzo spends the rest of the evening playing with the kids. As they go to bed, Enzo mentions wanting to fix up the small room and make it an additional room in the house. Millie rejects the idea due to her claustrophobia, which stems from her imprisonment and trauma from the events of The Housemaid (see Background). Enzo pushes for the room update, as Suzette pointed out it could add value to the house. The mention of Suzette further upsets Millie, who tells him to get new wallpaper and seal the room shut.

When Millie gets home from work, the house smells like glue. Enzo has sealed the room, apologizes for arguing with Millie, and admits the room makes him nervous, too. Millie panics that someone is trapped there, but Enzo assures her the kids are safe upstairs. Millie helps Enzo with the wallpaper, but she can’t shake the feeling the small room will come back to haunt her.

Millie gets a call from the kids’ principal asking her to come to the office because of an issue with Nico. She panics and leaves work to meet Enzo at school.

At the school, the principal informs Millie and Enzo that Nico punched another student who was making fun of a girl on the playground. The other boy should not have been bullying another student, but Nico likewise should not have used violence to resolve the situation, especially since the other boy may have a broken nose. Enzo defends Nico, saying that he should not be punished for sticking up for a girl. The principal gives Nico a one-week suspension. Millie nearly cries, upset that her son acted violently given her past with violent men. She grounds Nico and makes him ride home with her, as she thinks Enzo will praise him for defending the girl.

Nico is sullen during dinner; when Millie tucks him into bed, Nico reveals that the praying mantis died and that he flushed it down the toilet. His lack of emotion startles Millie. At bedtime, Enzo asks if Millie took $50 out of his drawer. Millie didn’t and accuses Martha of taking it, though Enzo doesn’t believe it and tells Millie not to ask Martha about it. Enzo reiterates that he believes Nico’s suspension is unfair; Enzo himself often got in fights as a child. Millie argues that this behavior is not appropriate; though she knows Enzo is a good man, she wonders about his past and his capacity for violence.

Millie asks Janice if Nico can have another playdate with Spencer. Janice refuses, citing Nico’s suspension and his aggressive demeanor. Millie argues that Nico is a good kid, but Janice tells her she should keep a better eye on Nico—and on Enzo, whom Janice has seen inside Suzette’s house when Jonathan isn’t home. Millie tells Janice there’s more to life than watching the cul-de-sac, but Janice thinks Millie should watch a little more.

Millie goes to work, realizes she forgot her phone, and goes home to get it. She smells Martha’s cleaning products, as it’s her cleaning day. Millie goes upstairs to her bedroom and finds Martha stealing some of her jewelry. Though the jewelry isn’t worth much money, Millie fires Martha. Martha knows about Millie’s past in prison and threatens to tell Suzette about it if Millie tells Suzette that she caught Martha stealing. Millie agrees to keep quiet. Martha leaves with her hands shaking.

Enzo is surprised that Millie fired Martha. He’s confused about why Martha would steal, given that she seems to have several well-paying clients. Millie is anxious about their financial situation, which adds to her reticence to keep Martha as an expense, so Enzo promises he will try to do better for their family. Millie reassures him that they’re going to be okay, but wonders if the new house is worth the financial stress.

The whole family attends Nico’s Little League game. Ada brings a book that Millie also enjoyed when she was Ada’s age. Millie wonders what her life would have been like if she’d never gone to prison.

When Nico goes up to bat, he hits the ball and runs to first base, but the umpire calls him out. In anger, he punches the first baseman in the stomach. Millie is horrified by his violent outburst. Enzo takes him away from the game and the coach kicks him off the team.

Nico shows no remorse for punching the other player. Enzo is troubled by this but still argues that it is reasonable behavior for a boy. Millie is concerned by Nico’s cold demeanor and suggests therapy, an idea Enzo pushes back against. Later, Millie searches the internet for the symptoms of psychopathy, several of which apply to Nico. She decides that no matter what, she will get him the help he needs.

When Millie returns from walking the kids to the bus stop, Suzette stops her to say hello and subtly insults her by asking if she’s lost weight and commenting that she looks “less puffy.” Suzette then asks that Nico take the trash cans out later in the evenings so that Suzette doesn’t have to look at them through the window while eating dinner. Millie thinks the request is ridiculous.

A plumber pulls up and tells Millie that her check for fixing a toilet earlier in the week bounced. Millie feels flustered, as she does not have enough cash to pay him on hand and her checking account is problematic. Suzette pays the man, and when Millie thanks her, Suzanne responds that she and Jonathan have more money than they know what to do with.

When Millie logs onto her bank, she sees that their account is down to $213, when earlier in the week there was more than $1,000 in it. She calls the bank, and they tell her that Enzo withdrew $1,000 in cash earlier in the week. Millie calls Enzo, who tells her that he needed to replace some equipment for his business and hoped the money would be back in the account already. He apologizes, and Millie chooses to believe him, even though doubt gnaws at the back of her mind.

Millie hears Nico sneaking out of the house. When she confronts him, he says he’s going over to Spencer’s house to play. Millie reminds him that Janice doesn’t want him over there, but Nico says that Janice lets him play with Spencer if they stay in the backyard. Millie lets him go.

Millie sees Enzo talking on the phone quietly with a smile on his face. When she approaches him, he tells her that Suzette got him a large, lucrative job. He just has to meet Suzette and the new clients at the beach. Millie is frustrated, as Enzo has spent little time with the family on the weekends since the move. She asks him to bring her and the kids, as they would like to go to the beach, too. He begrudgingly agrees and notes Suzette won’t like it, which pleases Millie.

Enzo, Millie, and the kids head to the beach, which is private and accessible only to Suzette and a group of her elite friends. Enzo drives fast, at least 20 miles per hour over the speed limit, which frustrates Millie. They argue over the proper way to drive until they hear a police siren. When an officer pulls Enzo over, Enzo increases the intensity of his accent and lies that he is low on gasoline and is driving fast to find a gas station. The officer lets him off with a warning; Enzo finds it easy to talk his way out of tickets. Millie has always known that Enzo is a good liar, but now she suspects he’s lying to her.

The Accardi family arrives at the beach. Suzette and Jonathan are already there. Suzette is wearing a tiny bikini, and her body makes Millie feel insecure in her one-piece suit and cover-up. Suzette again eyes Enzo and gives Millie a back-handed compliment that insults her appearance. Suzette tells them that the potential clients canceled the meeting, which Millie finds suspicious. They walk down the beach, with Millie irritated by Suzette’s insistence on finding a perfect spot as they pass numerous open places to set up their chairs.

Eventually, Millie refuses to walk any further, though Suzette chides her as walking can be “slimming.” Millie ignores her and puts sunscreen on the kids. Suzette judges her for using spray sunscreen and offers the kids her own special 200 SPF sunscreen. They refuse, but Millie is concerned by the intensely cold look Nico gives Suzette. Suzette then rubs sunscreen on Enzo’s shoulders, which Millie finds inappropriate. Enzo takes the kids swimming, and Suzette joins them after telling Jonathan to stay behind. Millie asks Jonathan about Suzette’s controlling nature and its impact on their marriage, but he does not engage. Suddenly, they hear screaming.

Enzo emerges from the water carrying Suzette, who looks distressed. Ada and Nico seem shaken too, though Millie cannot read Nico’s expression. Enzo sets Suzette down and checks on her. She’s physically okay but holds Enzo’s hand as she describes something grabbing her leg and pulling her under. Enzo then helps Suzette to the car, which annoys Mille as she struggles to carry all the beach furniture. Suzette thanks Enzo for saving her life again, placing her hand on his bicep and staring at him adoringly. This upsets Millie, though Jonathan does not seem to care.

At home, Millie is upset with Enzo about the way he saved Suzette. Enzo does not understand why Millie is moping. When she asks him how he’d feel if a handsome man had saved her from drowning and fawned over her, Enzo says he wouldn’t care because he trusts Millie. Millie is still frustrated, but she lets it go and asks Enzo what happened, suspicious of the strange look that Nico gave Suzette before they got in the water. Enzo thinks it must have been either seaweed or other kids fooling around; Nico was not near Suzette when it happened. Enzo tells her to relax for the sake of her blood pressure, but she worries that there are larger concerns than her health.

Millie wakes from a nightmare that she was drowning like Suzette. She reaches over to Enzo for comfort, but his side of the bed is empty. Enzo’s truck is also gone, but soon she hears him return, coming up the stairs fully dressed. When Millie confronts him, Enzo says that he went downstairs for water. When Millie points out that he’s fully dressed, he claims he went for a drive since he couldn’t sleep. Millie doesn’t push it, but she smells Suzette’s perfume on him as they get back into bed.

Millie thinks Enzo is cheating on her. As she drives home from work, she tries to think of an innocent explanation for his absence from their bed but can’t. When she gets home, the kids’ shoes are strewn in the hallway, but Enzo’s boots are missing. Assuming he is at Suzette’s, a frustrated Millie goes next door to confront him. She rings the doorbell, and no one answers. She tries the door, and it’s unlocked. Inside, she smells blood: In the living room, Jonathan is dead on the floor with his throat slit.