The Cleaning Lady Review - Arman's Velorio (3x07) (2024)

With each passing week, The Cleaning Lady makes audiences feel the weight of Adan Canto’s passing more and more.

The mark that Canto made on the series is evident—and moving on without him hasn’t been easy. We all feel cheated from a storyline that we deserved, but, as with loss, all we can do is relish in the moments that we carry in our hearts and grieve alongside all those he touched.

Thony and Nadia are affected the most on the series as they were the two women that were closest to him.

Thony feels responsible for his death, considering that he risked his life to save hers in the hide speed chase in the desert. She also feels the heaviness of the words left unsaid, a reminder not to hide your feelings from the person who means the world to you.

But even though we were all rooting for a Thony and Arman relationship, it’s hard not to feel for Nadia, who lost the love of her life for the second time. She didn’t get closure or a chance to say goodbye, which some might say Thony got through that brief exchange with Arman right before the car plunged off the cliff.

As Nadia also admits, she lost Arman a long time ago when Thony entered their lives—and nothing she did was able to bring him back and restore their lives to how they once were. But she held onto that hope for so long, with his death now making his absence permanent.

She might hate Thony, but in a way, they are also bonded for life as the women who knew Arman best. They share a connection, and now, with the uncertainty of who can be trusted lingering at every corner, I think they’ll be forced to rely on each other more than ever. Grieving together to keep Arman’s memory alive, while working together to keep each other safe.

Arman’s family, Jorge and Ramona, can’t be trusted. It’s unclear where they stand with each step. They believed Thony when she showed them that Dante was responsible for Arman’s abduction—and Ramona even proved how ruthless she was when she executed her lover on the spot—however, after Arman’s parents arrived at the velorio and called her Marina, Thony realized it was the name Arman wrote on the table where he was held captive. This can only mean that his aunt was involved in his kidnapping, though it’s unclear if Jorge was also involved or if he’s being kept in the dark.

Did Ramona kidnap Arman to get money from Nadia? And who called the feds ahead of the exchange? Was it Dante and Ramona? Did she ever actually care about her nephew or was it one big act?

And then there’s the Thony problem. She was handed an out on a gold platter—and she still refused to take it. Hasn’t she learned her lesson? You’d think after all that’s transpired, she’d call it quits on this lifestyle and prioritize taking care of her child.

Instead, she feels the need to avenge Arman’s death by making the people responsible pay, which, in the process, is going to cost her and her loved ones. She just can’t let it go, but it’s such a dangerous situation to keep putting yourself in.

Upon Arman’s death, the finger-pointing started immediately, and there’s no telling how far Jorge and Ramona, specifically, are willing to go to protect themselves.

While some of the family and the “who called the feds” drama took away from Arman’s memorial, the creative forces still managed to pay their respects to the character that Arman built over the course of two seasons—the hero to Thony and her son. It’s why Thony feels responsible and like she owes him because he always saved her, up until the very end, never once hesitating even if it made things inconvenient for him. The significance of Thony wearing all white to his memorial—while everyone dressed in black—was also crystal clear as she was his guiding light in life, the one who tried to pull him out of the darkness that continuously enveloped him and, as a result, her.

The moment when Thony gave Luca the model car belonging to Arman—which he held onto for all these years—and asked him to keep it safe is what really broke me. It was such a simple yet effective scene, paired with Arman’s final ride into the sunset, a scene from the season 2 finale that set up Thony and Arman’s power couple arc, a storyline that we also had to mourn and say goodbye to.

There’s also the new men in Thony’s life that are a bit concerning. Jorge, of course, for many obvious reasons, but Jeremy, who was part of the chase that led to Arman’s death and who still has plenty of questions about what transpired. He’s the only one who can place Thony at the scene—and I’d imagine Nadia wouldn’t be pleased to find out that Arman might’ve survived if he wasn’t one again playing hero for Thony. I also don’t trust Jeremy’s intentions with the security cameras. Does it give him access to see what’s going on in Thony and Fi’s household?

What did you think of the episode?

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The Cleaning Lady Season 3 Episode 5 thrives on keeping us—and Thony—in a state of constant anxiety.

Not only is it nerve-racking that she has a court date that will determine whether or not she can keep Luca, but when her interview with CPS’ Susan nears, Luca is nowhere to be found.

Thony tries to play it off as though he’s just running late, but when Fi and JD return home without him, it’s pretty clear that something else is going on. Susan is not easily fooled, and she quickly catches onto the fact that Luca has gone missing.

While finding Luca was Thony’s top priority, she knew that jumping the gun and putting out an amber alert would come with grave consequences—not only for her court case but also for her relationship with the cartel.

JD’s call to tell Susan about Dante, the man who picked Thony up earlier in the day, came from a good place as he thought he had Luca’s best interests at heart. It’s hard to be mad at him when he was just following his gut, but man, when he gave Susan all the information, as someone who understands the kind of people that Thony is in bed with, you knew that it wouldn’t end well for her.

Thankfully, Thony is like a cat with nine lives, and she always lands right-side up. She was able to find Luca at the aquarium (he previously said he wanted to be like a turtle and hide in his shell), and was able to convince Jorge to expunge the amber alert so that it couldn’t be used in court and against her.

Jorge is proving to be a lot like his cousin—he has a soft spot for Thony and is swooping in to save her at every turn, even though she doesn’t exactly deserve it. She’s more trouble than she’s worth, quite frankly, but men can’t seem but to get invested in assisting her.

Fiona, Jaz, and Chris all took the stand to attest to how good of a mother, aunt, and friend Thony is, but it was her own testimony about going to great lengths to save her son that pulled on heartstrings.

The judge agreed to let Luca stay with his mother, with continually CPS supervision, which was a huge win.

But one thing that really bothers me is that the court wasn’t there when Thony was running out of options for her dying son. The judge didn’t care that she didn’t have money for treatment, nor did anyone care that he would’ve died without it. It’s so easy to look at something after the fact and deem it wrong, but how can saving your child’s life at any cost be wrong?

Thony will never apologize for what she did because if she didn’t do it, Luca wouldn’t have been here.

And the only reason Luca ran away in the first place was because he didn’t want to be taken from his mother. The court might think they are doing their due diligence, but look at the stress that this whole situation has placed on him.

It may have been a huge victory for Thony, but it also came at a potential price as the amber alert meant that Dante was in a prison cell when the call for a ransom exchange came through, meaning that they lost their shot at getting Arman back—and no one seems to know if he’s dead or alive at this point.

Though, I have to say I agree with Jorge more than Ramon—giving into the ransom seems weak, so I hope she has a bigger plan in place for getting her nephew back.

I also find it strange how Fiona is constantly surprised upon finding out who Thony is working with. How did she think Thony managed to arrange her transport back to the States? Wouldn’t she assume that the cartel—or someone equally as dangerous—had to be involved? Thony has a lot of pull and resources at her disposal, but it comes at a price.

Whether that price will prove to be worth it in the end, well, only time will tell.

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The Cleaning Lady Season 3 Episode 4 concluded Fiona and Chris’ (and Camilla’s) grueling journey back home—but not before putting them through the wringer.

The trek to America is not for the faint of heart, especially when you get kicked out of the transportation truck in the middle of the desert. Things weren’t looking good for Fiona and Chris, however, their guardian angel (because as annoying as some of her reckless behavior might be, she also goes above and beyond for the people she loves) was looking out for them.

If it wasn’t for Thony’s determination to find her family, things might’ve turned out quite differently, but her efforts paid off, even when it seemed like she was looking for a needle in a haystack. There were times Thony was close to giving up, but she persevered, likely because she had Jorge’s assistance. The dynamic between the two of them is, questionable, to say the least, as it’s unclear where his alliances lie—and he’s made it clear he has no qualms about killing her at any moment—but he’s also softened up a bit after seeing her vulnerable side. In a lot of ways, he sees himself in Thony, especially being a single father who is trying his best to protect his offspring.

That, of course, doesn’t mean he’s a decent human being, as he even tells Thony herself at the end that he’s not the kind of man she thinks he is. Thony is always drawn to these wounded birds, but this is different than Arman—Jorge seems to be a terrible human who may be behind Arman’s kidnapping. I think his warning to Thony was indicative of that (I think the devil’s breath was his), plus, he’s not as redeemable as Arman was. It’s clear he’s going to be Thony’s next love interest—and the one who helps her through all the tough moments, while being the one who pushes her—but I don’t know if that’s necessarily a good thing for her. It keeps her in this lifestyle and in this cycle of chaos that she just can’t seem to free herself from.

Now, back to Fiona and Chris, who went through it to make their way back home to Jaz and JD, including Chris’ sprained ankle, dehydration from a lack of water, and nearly suffocating to death from engine smoke inhalation. But they showed that they had the strength and willpower to survive, with this experience bringing mother and son much closer together, along with Camilla joining the family as his future significant other. Something beautiful is formed from the darkness is a great takeaway. Plus, Chris was finally able to see all that his mother sacrificed for him to have a better life, so I hope he shows his gratitude for a long time.

The reunion was a little breath of happiness during a very gritty episode—and it’s important to keep the balance to not lose viewers. No one can take so much tragedy, loss, and anxiety every week without getting a bit of reprieve at the end to prove that it’s all worth it.

As Thony focused her efforts on finding her family, Nadia remained committed to her search for Armando, but she very quickly learned that she was running out of options. Her partnership with Russo (or Auntie Kate) fell apart almost instantly as she was never truly on Nadia’s side. She froze Kamdar’s assets the moment she got wind that Nadia was operating the money to find Arman. When her headhunter, Logan, went MIA, she essentially had no choice but to put all of her trust in the cartel—they are family after all.

Ramona proved her loyalty by helping her get the money needed to save Arman by (from my understanding) blowing up La Habana so Nadia could cash in on the insurance money. There’s definitely something that the Sin Cara cartel isn’t telling us about Arman, but Ramona swears she’ll do anything to protect him, so I guess for now, our only choice is to trust her. That one swift move, however, ensured that Nadia is indebted to her, so bothNadia and Thony are in deep now—and I hate that for them. If they’d just stuck together, maybe there would’ve been another way out of this mess.

Thony’s celebrations will be short-lived as the next step is to face CPS and prove that she deserves custody of Luca.

The Cleaning Lady has found many ways to keep Arman’s spirit alive by dragging out the search for him and connecting Thony and Nadia with his family, but one of the best moments of the episode was when Nadia drove in on a motorcycle in a leather jacket. It was as if Arman was close by—and we know he’d be damn proud.

What did you think of the episode?

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The Cleaning Lady is getting messier by the minute, but—and again, through no fault of their own—the spark that it once had is missing this season. There’s not much hope left in the series, aside from Thony getting a little bit of a break when her building’s handyman comes around to help her clean up a mess from a break-in. Thony’s been dealing with everything on her own for so long—taking punch after punch—that you could just feel the relief when he offered to do the cleaning this time around.

He seems like a nice guy, so I hope she doesn’t drag him into her messes… or he doesn’t become a victim by association, but we know that whoever gets involved with Thony ends up somehow getting mixed up in her problems.

Just look at Fiona and Chris, who are risking everything to make their way back to the U.S. Thony went out of her way to set up the transport via Ramona’s coyotes, but that didn’t come with the promise that everything would end up okay. The series continues to shine a light on the hellish journey that migrants endure to secure a better life for themselves—where they are herded like cattle and have to run for their lives as border patrol corners them. While Fiona and Chris made it back into the country, things took a pretty bleak turn as they both seem to suffer from the same syndrome that Thony does—the need to help people no matter what it costs her.

When Chris saw that one of the women whom he helped secure transport for (by giving the coyotes money so that she could travel with her mom) was in trouble, he jumped in to help. A fight ensued as Fiona also got involved to protect her son, and pretty soon, they were left on the side of the road in the dark desert without any transport. And the worst part is that the coyotes took their phones, so they didn’t have a way of communicating with Thony.

Despite this setback, I have no doubt that they’ll figure it out and get home, one way or another, as they’ve proven to be quite resourceful at surviving. It’s what you have to do when life gives you no other option.

Thony also couldn’t help herself from rendering aid to a woman who gave birth after illegally crossing the border, despite being told to stay in her lane multiple times. Thony knows that her actions can cost her family a lot, but she’s also the kind of person who needs to jump in when someone needs help. She knew that if she didn’t help the woman, Soledad, she would bleed out, so she pushed all of her worries aside and did the right thing.

You have to hand it to her for not giving up on people when doing the right thing always causes more harm for her situation—this time with both the cartel and the DCFS. Ramona wasn’t pleased that she stole one of her people, while the woman leading the charge on Thony’s DCFS case waltzed in right as she was trying to stop the bleeding without having a license to practice as a doctor. Against her best judgment, the agent assisted in saving the woman’s life before calling for an ambulance, and when she threatened to note in on Thony’s record (which, despite being a good deed would work against her custody case), Thony made sure to underscore that she had to report her involvement in the life-saving procedure as well. It’s likely not a great look to threaten and manipulate your custody worker, but the woman didn’t give Thony much of a choice—plus, all it proves is how unfair the system truly is.

Nadia continued her quest to find Arman, connecting with Katherine Russo and hoping to strike a deal for immunity for her and her husband when he was eventually found. Unfortunately, Katherine wasn’t willing to make the deal as she wasn’t willing to let Arman walk, especially after he cost her partner, Garrett, his life. Her incentive to find Arman is revenge.

She did, however, reveal a crucial piece of information about what happened to Arman, showing Nadia bodycam footage of his abduction—and he was still alive! It doesn’t mean he’s going to stay alive, but it did give her hope.

She attempted to get Thony’s help with locating him, but she soon realized that Thony “betrayed” her by getting into bed with the cartel. But that’s the thing—I don’t think Thony betrayed her at all. I think she’s doing what she’s always done—going above and beyond to protect her family and to survive. She knew that her best bet at finding Arman was getting in with the people who cared enough to actually find him.

However, after seeing a photo of the van that took Arman, she recalled seeing it at the cartel’s garage. She once again risked everything to go back there and search it, finding something hidden inside—that’s possibly a clue from Arman—but it also allowed her to see things from a different perspective, namely that Jorge, Arman’s uncle and childhood best friend (and Ramona’s brother), might be responsible for the kidnapping as revenge for infiltrating their routes.

Ramona wants to reconcile with Arman and bring him into the family business, but Jorge could not be more against it, so it would make sense if he was the one responsible for taking him in the first place.

Overall, there are a lot of good elements this season, but it feels empty without Arman. The new “baddies” aren’t as compelling as the Hayaks and Kamdars of the past, plus, we keep seeing Thony stepping on toes and getting away with it—and it’s becoming quite unbelievable and repetitive. And with Thony and Nadia’s rift, it feels like we’re going in circles with the storyline.

I think the only thing that could course-correct is seeing a badass alliance between Thony and Nadia, rather than seeing them on the outs time and time again. When so many people are working against them, they need to stop working against each other and working with each other.

The best way to get intel is from the inside, Thony knows that. And it would be great if she and Nadia got on the same page as it’s clear they need each other to survive.

If we can’t have Arman’s protection anymore, we, at the very least, need girl power.

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