The Cleaning Lady Season 2 Premiere – Sins of the Father (2×01)

Woooo—I know I had several months to prepare for the return of The Cleaning Lady, but I was not ready for all that to happen in the very first episode of the season. 

The season 2 premiere came out swinging in its determination to entertain all the while telling the important and timely stories. 

Over the span of an hour, everything we thought we knew was flipped right on its head as Thony, Fi, and Arman found themselves in an even bigger mess than before. You thought season 1 was intense? Get ready, and strap on in, baby, because I feel like season 2 is going to be a wild ride.

Through all the hardships and struggles that have been thrown their way, the one thing about Thony and Fi is that they’ve always stuck by each other. And that’s mostly because of Thony’s loyalty to the ones she trusts, which, in this case, includes Arman. At the end of the day, this is a group of fighters with an “it’s us against the world” mentality that found common ground and a common goal of survival in a world that’s hellbent on bringing them down and destroying them. 

Garrett tried his best to get everyone to talk and flip, even attempting to exploit Thony when she was at her most vulnerable (as a mother worried about her child and desperate for his help) and trying to lure answers about Hayak’s money out of Arman by dangling doughnuts in front of him (does that man look like he eats doughnuts?!), but neither of them cracked. 

Even while focusing on saving Luca after he was dadnapped by Marco, Thony remained committed to the plan that she and Arman concocted. When Fi briefly attempted to throw a wrench in those plans, Thony knew that without the money that was promised to them and without Arman’s help, everything else was a pipe dream. Their situation does not afford them the luxury of being picky; they have to choose the lesser of two evils, and, in this case, Arman is the lesser and the one that they can rely on. Garrett has been a huge help, sure, but his help comes with strings attached, and, in a number of ways, his hands are tied by the rules from up above. 

A life of crime might not be ideal, but it’s their only way out to get to the other side and provide a good living for themselves and their children. And naturally, we have to anticipate that it’ll spiral out of control before it gets better.

Fi is a ride-or-die, which is why it was frustrating to see her bash Arman when he was the only one who helped Thony when it came to Luca; he went to bat for that child every single time, and he still would, even from his jail cell. Her fears are understandable considering Arman’s criminal ties, but it would be nice if she would at least acknowledge the good that Arman has done while questioning the root cause of Thony’s involvement with him. Because, at the end of the day, Thony is sticking around because she’s personally invested. She might be fine with ignoring the true nature of her feelings for Arman since she’s not ready to admit that she’s in love with a criminal, but she’ll have to face it sooner or later. Everyone around her can see it, including Marco, which is what stemmed his actions with Luca in the first place. 

Her loyalty is rooted in something very complex; she believes in the man that she thinks he can be. And that Arman is in there somewhere, I just don’t know if we’ll see him come out to play in the near future considering Hayak launched a full-scale attack on him. Now is not the time to get soft, but more on that in a minute. 

It was also frustrating to see Fi go to bat so hard for Marco considering everything he’s done. Her alliance was being pulled in two different directions as she didn’t know if she should support her brother or her sister-in-law, but it’s clear that blood relations aren’t always stronger. Fi was defending a man who didn’t hesitate to belittle her existence and lifestyle. When Fi and Chris supported Thony and confronted Marco on the stairs at the motel, it was clear what he thought about his “family” and that he felt superior to them.

Marco was a grade-A asshole who wasn’t even attempting to take Luca back to the Phillippines because he thought it was the best for his child. He hoped that his actions would give Thony no other choice but to move back to their home country so that they could all be this happy little family and pretend nothing ever happened, which simply wasn’t realistic. There were plenty of reasons Thony didn’t want to go back to the Phillippines, and yes, Arman may have been a small part of it, but mostly, she could no longer envision a life with a man who would be so hurtful as to take her own child from her—the child whose life she single-handedly saved. The trust was broken. And for those who don’t know (because I didn’t!), divorce is illegal in the Phillippines, which means Thony would’ve been trapped with a man who, may I remind you, also gambled away the money she worked so hard for and who didn’t really contribute much to obtaining Luca the medical care that he needed. It was never about Luca for him, which is upsetting because, in his own selfishness, he didn’t even stop to think that if Luca ever needed another medical procedure or intervention, being in the U.S. would’ve been beneficial. 

Thony didn’t see a solution to their marital woes in the Phillippines, and you can’t blame her for not wanting to go back. 

Admittedly, she shouldn’t have ignored Marco’s attempts at talking about their situation and future, but he should’ve realized the consequences of his actions and maybe tried a different approach to get through to his wife. They were still in a place where they could have salvaged the relationship, even as friendly co-parents, but once he pulled that stunt, there was no going back.

When they finally did talk, Marco wasn’t willing to listen and things escalated to one of the tensest moments on television. When I saw Chris and Marco get into a scuffle near a staircase (Marco should’ve been the adult here), my stomach dropped because I knew what was coming. Chris accidentally pushed his uncle down the stairs, which resulted in his death.

This is a game-changing moment for everyone involved. Chris is going to have to live with this every day for the rest of his life, and while it’s great that he’s becoming more involved in the storyline, I wish it was another way. If what happened ever got out, it would ruin his life as no one would ever believe an undocumented immigrant claiming self-defense or that it was an accident.

The only positive thing I will say is that I love how much Chris loves Luca and I’m glad the roles weren’t reversed and he wasn’t the one that was pushed.

Fi will have to be strong to support her son while dealing with the grief of losing a brother and likely lying to her parents and family back at home about what happened. 

As for Thony, well, her feelings about Marco were complicated, but they still loved each other, so I can’t imagine it’s easy to process when you’re always trying to decide if you should put your skills of cleaning up dead bodies to use or report the accident without incriminating yourself.

Unfortunately, she was spotted by a shoddy motel manager, who she convinced to call 9-1-1. When she got the call from Garrett that they found Marco and Luca, the manager immediately recognized her and went to pull the security footage, which I’m surprised wasn’t confiscated by the police. I’m also wondering why Thony didn’t think to ask for it.

From the video, it’s clear as day that it was an act of self-defense, but from the looks of it, the manager is an opportunist that’s going to want to extort Thony and her family for everything they have, which adds yet another headache into the mix. When one problem withers away, another one comes to light. 

There wasn’t much time to process Marco’s death, but it did feel a bit premature. 

The sad truth, however, is that Luca is the one who will suffer the most. It was a heartbreaking sight to see him walk out of the motel room in his pajamas all confused and surrounded by police lights. 

Thony has done everything to shield, cure, and protect that boy, but he’s inadvertently involved in all these terrible situations. He was visibly scared and concerned at the airport, and waking up at a crime scene (where your father just died, no less) is traumatic, even if you are reunited with mommy. And he’s likely going to see a lot more now that Thony and Fi are wrapped up with the crime syndicate. 

All of this brings me to poor Arman. A life of crime always looked good on him, but he was not made for prison. Prisoners eat up a pretty face like that, and while he’s not above getting his hands dirty and knows how to handle himself, it’s not possible when it’s an unfair fight. While Arman was still in Hayak’s good graces, he was treated to a VIP lifestyle in prison, but once Hayak, who somehow found a way to wrap people around his finger in prison, realized that Arman was the mole, things got pretty ugly. 

It’s an unfortunate turn of events considering Arman was so close to pulling it all off and walking out as a free man with all the money.

Instead, Hayak had the accounts drained  (you would think Arman would somehow ban his access) and then sent two goons to dish out what he believed to be justice on the traitor. Arman fended them off, impressively, I might add, but he was also stabbed multiple times in the process. 

There was some really fantastic imagery throughout the episode, including the opening scene that shows Arman cleaning instead of Thony. However, it was pure greatness to juxtapose the scenes of Marco’s death with Arman’s near-death incident in order to really capitalize on the intensity of these moments.

It’s clear Arman isn’t going to die (are you kidding me, fans would riot!), but it does flip the script for everyone as they now don’t have Hayak’s money or protection. What happens to the casino? The Nadia? To Thony and Fi’s business dreams? How do they get him out of prison without the crypto cash to wash? Will Nadia become Thony and Fi’s new BFF? Thony and Arman are typically good when it comes to dealing with high-stress situations, so I have no doubt that they will conspire to find a way out of this, but I’m also totally content with seeing them freak out and lose it for a minute. I would! 

And just because Arman survived this time, doesn’t mean Hayak isn’t going to attempt finishing what he started. Arman needs to watch his back and get out of there ASAP. 

Arman’s new situation likely also allows the writers to focus on the character instead of trying to appease wagging tongues with an Arman and Thony relationship, which simply doesn’t seem to be in the cards right now. There are way more pressing things to deal with, and the heart can get what it wants a little bit later. 

Will Thony be forced to finally fess up to Garrett and make a deal to save Arman’s life?

What are your thoughts? And what did you think of The Cleaning Lady Season 2 premiere?