The entirety of The Cleaning Lady Season 3 was building to this hour.
While the series has introduced new characters and showed Fiona and Chris’s journey back to the States, at some point, Arman’s kidnapping was going to reach its conclusion.
And we saw the story end on The Cleaning Lady Season 3 Episode 6 when Thony found the man she’d grown so fond of and longed to save him in the same way she felt he had saved her. But their story wasn’t meant to end like that.
After Adan Canto’s unfortunate passing in January of this year, The Cleaning Lady series was irrevocably changed, as his character, Arman Morales, was a central character in the twisted and complicated world they so brilliantly crafted.
This was always Thony’s story.
The story of a mother willing to do anything for her child, subjecting herself to whatever was necessary if it meant her son could see another day.
Thony and Arman’s bond was built from The Cleaning Lady Season 1 Episode 1 and will remain until the series is complete.
Thony has always felt a sense of loyalty toward Arman because she was dead to rights if not for his influence after she found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
From there, the relationship between the two only deepened, even though they would find themselves at odds at various times, primarily due to their conflicting agendas.
But even when they weren’t on the same side, there was still a lot of love and respect between them.
Whether that love skewed more platonic than romantic? We never got a clear answer, though a lot more was shaded in from Thony’s perspective during this hour.
Arman, while married, always seemed to be a bit in awe of Thony. Helping her felt like he was doing something good when his livelihood relied on him doing bad things.
One of the more exciting parts of the third season has been the addition of Ramona and Jorge, who have two different visions of Arman and what he could mean for their future.
It was never obvious why their ideas of Arman were so different, but through a brief but essential flashback, we saw that Ramona had a soft spot for her nephew in a way that made Jorge a bit jealous.
Based on various things Arman had said over time, the relationship between him and his father was strained because of his choices, and when a younger Eduardo showed up to see his sister bestowing a young Arman with gifts, he lost it.
And it’s not hard to see why Arman was drawn away from his father’s terseness and strict nature.
Arman must have felt like he didn’t have much of a choice growing up with a father like Eduardo, and when he finally made his choice to pursue a life his father wouldn’t be proud of, to him, it must have felt like at least a choice he could make for himself.
Jorge has resisted the idea of bringing Arman into the fold once he was returned home, and while I wondered if there was some big thing in the past that happened between them, it appears Jorge wanted a change in the business that he didn’t feel like Arman could help with.
This hour did a lot to make sense of the complicated dynamics between Arman, Ramona, and Jorge, and it came at the perfect time, as the series finally closed the Arman Morales chapter.
There was no way to execute this story without it being heartbreaking.
Thony took it upon herself, with Fiona’s help, to find Arman and bring him home, and god, my heart broke for her throughout the hour.
Arman’s feelings for Thony have always been louder and a bit clearer, though always mudded by the Nadia of it all.
I firmly believe he had a deep affection and love for each woman, and had there been more time to explore the connection with Thony, the foundation for a romantic entanglement was there.
Several moments during the hour showed a real peek into Thony’s feelings for Arman, and my heart just broke for her, knowing that she would never get to explore her feelings with the man who made such an impression on her.
I wondered before the season began how the series would honor Adan Canto’s Arman, and all season long, they’ve done a beautiful job of reinforcing his importance to the overall narrative and keeping the character a significant piece of the current storyline.
Once the ransom and exchange were set up, you could tell we were approaching an answer to the looming ‘where is Arman?’ question, and I loved that it was Thony, with Fiona’s help, searching for Arman and ultimately finding him.
Fiona hasn’t always understood Thony’s decisions, but she did understand that Arman was important to Thony, and therefore, she wouldn’t let her search for him alone.
A lot of things didn’t add up with the final sequence, but what did make sense was Thony and Arman locking eyes for the last time and Arman saving Thony like he always did.
Words can’t express how emotional that scene was and just how gut-wrenching it was to see that car go over the cliff and know that Arman went out protecting Thony.
Arman’s parents disowned him, thinking he was this career criminal and not worthy to be a part of their family.
And Arman was far from perfect. He was a flawed man. He wasn’t always truthful and wasn’t always the man I think he wanted to be.
But damn, he was a brave guy. He put himself in harm’s way more times than I can remember for the people he loved.
And he died being brave.
This was a touching and supremely emotional hour that genuinely honored the legacy of Arman Morales, but more importantly, Adan Canto.
He was brilliant during the short time we were blessed to see him on The Cleaning Lady, and this was such a fitting end for his character.
The show will ultimately go on as the characters grieve Arman’s passing and figure out what’s next, but we’ll always remember what Adan Canto brought to this role.
And we’ll never forget Arman Morales.
Edit Delete
Whitney Evans is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lover of all things TV. Follow her on X.
