Everything Thony does is for her son, but when will she ever draw the line?
The answer seems to be never, as evidenced by her actions in The Cleaning Lady Season 3 Episode 2, which saw her stepping beyond cleaning up the blood left behind by battles she wasn’t involved in.
Now, she was cleaning up the blood AND the bodies from which that blood came.
Thony’s hands haven’t been clean for a long time, and she’s been okay with what she’s had to do because there was always a reason behind it. She did what she had to do to protect the people she loved.
And that’s still ringing true in the early stages of The Cleaning Lady Season 3, but it also seems like her resolve is slowly breaking, and it’s getting more challenging to look in the mirror and see someone she respects looking back.
While finding Arman was forever high on Thony’s priority list, she also had pressing issues in the form of Luca potentially being taken away from her and Fiona still needing to be brought home.
And it’s not like she didn’t always want Fiona home and hadn’t been working previously to make it happen, but with a custody hearing looming, Fiona needed to be around to appeal to the judge on her behalf.
With Arman still in the wind, Thony felt like her only option was to go back to Ramona and Jorge, which was a very costly decision in the long run.
When Thony is desperate, she’ll do almost anything. And it was clear that she felt like she had no choice but to make a deal with the devil.
Her offering up her cleaning services to Ramona felt reminiscent of her once upon a time doing the same thing to Arman, except you could tell this time would have a much different outcome.
Arman and Thony got off to a rough start during The Cleaning Lady Season 1, and it wasn’t like Arman was the sweetest guy in the world, especially in those early days when there was a genuine possibility that his decision to keep Thony alive would blow up in his face.
They formed a partnership, and there was a deep understanding and mutual attraction between them, which often blurred the lines. But when Thony tried to make a deal with Ramona, this time in exchange for Fiona’s safe return and not for her life, it was easy to see Ramona didn’t feel sympathy for Thony as Arman once did.
Ramona saw Thony as a link to Arman but also as someone she may need in some way. And Jorge, well, he didn’t see much of Thony at all.
Thony’s done a lot of cleaning since she met Arman, and she’s not above cleaning up a crime scene or two, but Jorge brought her to the aftermath of a slaughter, laid out some tools for her, and said, ‘Good luck!’
Hiyak, Kamdar, and even Arman himself were dangerous people, but this is a cartel we’re talking about. Thony was so caught up in her haste to get Fiona back that she didn’t think about what involving Angel in her plans might do.
Is it fair to lay the deaths of him and his people solely at Thony’s feet? Probably not. They all chose to be a part of very illegal operations that could put them in harm’s way.
But there’s no denying had Thony not gone back to Angel explicitly asking for his help in reaching out to the cartel, he and countless others would still be alive.
Thony had to really dig into her doctor bag, I’m assuming, to know the right way to chop up a body. I don’t think the average person could do it all within an hour or two.
What must Thony have been thinking as she dropped body parts into acid? I couldn’t help but think how upset Arman would have been for her having to go through something like that.
Again, he definitely put Thony in some less-than-ideal situations, but he would have never done that.
Narrowly escaping death or imprisonment is kind of Thony’s thing at this point, so it wasn’t shocking to see her escape without being arrested, but showing up at Jorge’s daughter’s school covered in blood was far from her finest moment.
You’ve got to respect Thony not just taking whatever is thrown at her and backing down. Ramona came and messed with her child, so why can’t Thony confront Jorge, known cartel member, in front of his?
And Thony wasn’t even trying to scare the little girl or threaten anyone, not exactly. She just happened to know where he’d be and was scared out of her mind, unlike Ramona, who was calculated in her appearance at Thony’s house.
Perhaps I’m alone in this thinking, but I was worried we might get a new-ish version of the Arman and Thony dynamic with Thony and Jorge. As in, perhaps they would bond over something and their relationship would morph from animosity to kinship.
But that does not appear to be the case here, as Jorge seems wildly mistrustful of Thony, and it’s hard to see that changing soon.
Where Ramona sees something in Thony worth figuring out, along with not wanting to upset her nephew, Jorge clearly doesn’t care about Thony or Arman, for that matter.
There’s a story there regarding Jorge’s anger toward Arman, though anger may be too intense a word. He seems almost indifferent to Arman’s whereabouts and certainly doesn’t care whether Thony lives or dies, which Arman would be INFINTELY interested in.
Even though Arman isn’t present, so much of this hour still revolves around him and learning more about him, which is a testament to the writers here for allowing the character to play such a meaningful role in this new chapter.
Maybe nothing too explosive happened during this hour, but it was a fascinating and crisp affair that opened up so many doors to what’s shaping up to be a very intriguing third effort.
Elsewhere, Fiona found herself in a tricky situation with Chris now in the Philippines and Paolo also there.
Fiona never told Paolo about Chris, nor did she ever tell Chris much about his father. But with the two of them in the same city, she must have seen it as a sign it was time to introduce the pair.
Fiona tried to tell Chris, but she also could have done that at home and not while walking around a busy city with stimulation overload.
Chris found out about Paolo in the worst way possible, and lashing out at Fiona was a natural response because he felt lied to. He had an idea of the circumstances surrounding his existence, and suddenly, nothing lined up for him.
I spent my whole life wishing I had a dad. And you just robbed me of that. You pretended that you didn’t even know him, but he’s been here the whole time.
Chris [to Fiona]
He had a father, whom Fiona was acquainted with at the very least, and Chris was none the wiser about it. He felt betrayed and hurt, which was an authentic, relatable response.
While this is a situation where you can see both sides, it’s hard not to feel like Chris lost in the long run, even if you understand why Fiona did what she did.
By Paolo’s own admission, he wasn’t the same man when Chris was conceived as he is now. Fiona was young, most likely scared out of her mind, and she had a decision to make for her unborn child.
She wanted said child to have the best possible life, regardless of what that meant for herself, and it’s a decision she’d probably make a hundred times over if she had to.
Chris seemed conflicted about packing up and leaving after meeting his father for the first time and bonding immediately, but he has a life in Las Vegas. As does Fiona (and another child), and just like that, they’re seemingly set to return home.
But do we think that will go smoothly? It’s always hard to tell how things could play out, which makes the series so good.
Extra Clean Notes
Thony is such a terrible liar sometimes. Nadia knows she’s hiding something, but she obviously doesn’t understand she’s doing it to protect both Nadia and herself. And for that reason, you can’t blame Nadia for trying a different approach.
Speaking of Nadia, I know she’s scared and concerned, but putting eyes on Arman via calling morgues and going to the police was probably not the smartest play.
I love how oblivious the woman was getting Jorge to sign up for some elementary school function and not picking up on the obvious tension between Jorge and Thony!
Did Thony walk to the school? Hitchhike? Take an Uber? Did no one notice she looked like she had just killed someone?
This was a tremendous transitional hour for the season, revealing valuable information and leaving on a nifty little cliffhanger.
Let me know in the comments how you felt about this hour and where you think things may be headed next!
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Whitney Evans is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lover of all things TV. Follow her on X.
