The Cleaning Lady Review – Truth or Consequences (207)

The Cleaning Lady Season 2 Episode 7 proves that The Cleaning Lady is the best show on television right now.

The episode was a gripping, beautiful mess that moved the plot forward while escalating the stakes higher than ever before.

We thought Arman and Thony were in danger before but as it turns out, we didn’t know what real danger was until Kamdar was staring us right in the face. And Kamdar is not the kind of person you want to mess with, double-cross, or be indebted to, and unfortunately, all three of those things apply to Thony and Arman right now.

Kamdar somehow remains untouchable to the FBI while Thony and Arman continue to dig themselves deeper and deeper into this mess. Trying to do the right thing and come out on the other side is proving to be a lot harder than one would have hoped. 

And they almost lost everything in one fell swoop, largely due to Garrett. We’re seeing Garrett in a new light this season as a friend to Thony, but we’re also seeing the fallout of his personal involvement in the Cortes case. 

When Garrett gave the FBI the go-ahead to storm Cortes’ compound, he thought he was doing the right thing to protect his two CIs, but in fact, he was putting them in a world of danger that he couldn’t comprehend. 

Once Cortes was murdered, Kamdar lost it assuming that everyone within the circle was a rat. And he made it very clear what happens to people who are rats, suffocating Nick, Cortes’ right-hand man, right in front of Thony and Arman to send a message. 

From there, Thony and Arman knew that they had to do everything to prove to Kamdar that they were “legit,” or else it would be their lives on the line, including the lives of Thony’s family, who Kamdar didn’t hesitate to bring up by name. This moment was critical in reminding audiences why Thony continues to bend and break this far—she’s doing it all to protect her family. It’s been one mess after the other that all stemmed from trying to save Luca while being a TNT.

The system has failed her, but in a way, Garrett is trying to make up for it by aiding her and helping out in any way he can. At this point, he owes her more than she owes him, so he convinced Russo to release the drugs back to Arman and Thony so that they could sell to another buyer that Kamdar had lined up and prove that they are trustworthy and set the plan back in motion. 

Unfortunately, said plan hit a handful of unexpected bumps in the road before they were able to get “in” with the mega-player in Vegas.

First up, new evidence showed up in Marco’s murder, with Detective Flores forcing both Chris and Thony to go station just as the latter was about to set out to assist Arman with the deal. It was terrible timing that could have cost them the deal with Kamdar’s new buyer. You know these people aren’t patient, and arriving late might tip them off or make them think something is awry.

Garrett was called in because the new evidence pointed at Thony being there at the time of Marco’s murder despite her claiming she had nothing to do with it. At this point,  Thony knew better than to deny the facts, and in line with protecting Chris, she confessed to the crime, telling Garrett a slightly altered version of the truth as she claimed she accidentally pushed Marco while trying to get to Luca. He didn’t buy it, but it didn’t matter because Thony was an important asset in trying to bring down Kamdar. Not to mention the dirt she had on Garrett that would put him behind bars—remember he shot Cortes while he was unarmed and she helped him cover it up.

She went to bat to protect Garrett, and it was his time to return the favor. It’s understandable that Garett was upset at Thony for not telling him the truth, but honestly, he has to stop doubting Thony’s character. Even when a situation may seem questionable, he knows that there has to be more to the story rather than just assuming the worst of her. She’s never let him down before. 

Once Thony made it clear that if she goes down, she’s taking him down with her, Garrett got the sign-off from up above that Thony and her family are cleared in Marco’s death. It wasn’t what Flores was hoping for, but honestly, we have more pressing problems right now.

While Thony ran off to aide Arman in the deal with Kamdar’s buyer, Garrett promised to stick around and keep an eye on her family, which was kind of him. He also finally got the truth about what happened to Marco—off the record—when Chris broke down after overhearing Fi and Garrett talk about Thony and realizing his actions might put his auntie at risk. Garrett was surprised by the confession, but he began to understand why Thony lied and that her motivations for everything thus far have been to protect her family at all costs. He acknowledged Chris’s difficult circumstances with being a TNT because even with something that’s so clearly a case of self-defense, there was a chance it would get turned around and used against him. Instead of reporting it, Garrett assured Chris that he understood that it was an accident, which was what the minor needed to finally forgive himself. The weight of paying the price for the crime was lifted off of his shoulders. 

Meanwhile, Thony and Arman made good on the deal, and you have to be impressed with how much Thony accomplishes in a day. When did she even have the time to look that good? Arman definitely noticed! When she walked in, you could see his whole mood shift as he only had eyes for her. Nadia picked up on it too, and she wasn’t pleased, but at this point, the man can’t even hide it—he’s smitten!

Kamdar is unpredictable and dangerous, however, and the moment the deal was made, his people put two black bags over both Arman and Thony and whisked them away to an undisclosed location. I could feel Thony and Arman’s anxiety by being kept in the dark (literally for them) about what was going to happen next, and the moment I saw Maya inside the abandoned house, I knew it wasn’t going to end well.

Kamdar informed them that Maya was a rat as he picked her up from an FBI safe house. I assumed he was going to see whether she would crack and turn on Arman and Thony, but instead, he did something even viler: he ordered Arman to prove his trustworthiness by shooting Maya. 

Naturally, Arman refused, knowing all that he knows about Maya, but Kamdar’s men then turned the gun on Thony as an incentive. Arman was faced with an impossible choice—either he saved an innocent woman (she just wanted out!) or he saved the love of his life. The tension in this scene was insane as you could see Arman’s inner turmoil with the inevitable but difficult decision. Poor Maya knew that her life was over, while Thony urged Arman not to kill her. But from what we’ve seen, Kamdar doesn’t play around or mince words, and he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot Thony just to prove his point. 

And thus, Arman had no choice. My god, my heart hurt for that man. Kudos to Adan Canto on that scene because it was chilling! 

We didn’t actually see him take the shot, but given his expression and change in demeanor, one can assume that he was the one who pulled the trigger.

And it broke him. Arman has killed plenty of times before, but it was always men who double-crossed him or bad men who had it coming; this was a new level of monstrosity that even he wasn’t prepared for or equipped to deal with and process. I can’t even imagine how broken he’d be if something happened to Thony, so I understand his choice, but it’s still going to eat away at him. 

We thought that Arman and Thony were connected before by their shared trauma, but this puts them in a whole new place; this takes the “I’ve killed for you” sentiment to a whole other level. Arman felt numb after pulling the trigger on Maya, and as Thony watched him hold back tears, all she could do was comfort him by holding his hand. It was a beautiful moment yet deeply twisted.

And it’s proof that their lives hang in the balance every minute that they work with Kamdar.

I don’t know if Arman will recover from this considering he’s been trying to be a better man with Thony by his side and was forced to stoop to his lowest. He’s being forced to be the kind of man he absolutely despises—where do they go from here?

Arman may have pulled the trigger, but the blood is actually on Garrett’s hands. If he didn’t force the police raid at Cortes’, Kamder wouldn’t be on a mission to snuff out all of the rats from his operation and Maya wouldn’t have been in the crosshairs. I don’t know what protective detail they put on her safe house, but it wasn’t good, and my guess is that if Garrett wasn’t protecting Thony’s family, he may have had a shot at saving Maya.

I fully assumed that Thony would’ve told Garrett about Maya when she got home and saw him sitting in her living room, but that wouldn’t put them all in jeopardy. If Garrett ran over to find Maya moments after Thony and Arman left, it would’ve indicated that they told him about her death, which would have painted a clear picture to Kamdar. Garrett had to find out the hard way.

Plus, something tells me that Garrett won’t be too forgiving considering his deep feelings for Maya. He won’t understand the intensity of the situation, so he’ll probably try to blame and take down Arman for it. Or, and this would be the best course of action, he’ll be even more motivated to bring down Kamdar.

It’s unclear where Arman went after such a tense evening, but Thony went exactly where she needed to be—to cuddle up to Luca. I love that no matter what happens, the series never loses sight of what’s important to Thony, and her focus despite it all remains her little boy. 

I’m truly not sure where we go from here, but I’m deeply invested. How will Thony and Arman find a way out of this? Will this bring them closer together? Will they finally acknowledge the deep feelings they have for each other, especially considering they could die at any moment? 

Will Nadia finally listen to reason and get herself unwrapped from Kamdar’s grip? Will Arman and Thony confide in her? How much more can pain and heartache can they all take?

What did you think about the episode?