The Cleaning Lady - Paradise Lost - Review

Warning: spoilers.

This season is really fearless when it comes to killing characters off. This week, it was Julian Cortés' turn to bite the dust - and even though no one will miss him, his death will surely stir up the hornet's nest - but let's start with Chris who's just getting deeper into trouble...

One day at a time. Chris had a wealth of information to process when Detective Flores came by to inform the family of the latest developments in Marco's case. The deceased missing motel manager, Jon Price, is now a person of interest, which also led the police to find out about the videos he secretly recorded. All of that has been taken care of by Thony, Fiona and Arman - but Chris doesn't know about it and was overwhelmed by the situation. He was ready to confess and made a mistake by going to the police station - especially because everyone around him is risking it all to protect him, and he almost jeopardized that. But that’s also why it’s so hard for him. He already carries the burden of accidentally killing someone, but he also feels an insane amount of guilt for putting his family through this - and really, it’s the thought of his mother taking the fall for him that made him do what he felt was right.

In this episode again, JD proved himself to be an anchor, a shoulder to rely on for Fiona and her family. Thony is usually the only one she can always reach out to - but she took the van to join Arman, so Fi was stuck at home. It was a bit reckless on her part to keep trying to call her when she knew how dangerous Thony’s meeting was - but she was so panicked by what her son could be doing out of despair, that I genuinely think that she completely forgot about all of that. I was biting my nails when she told JD the truth about Chris - praying that she won’t get hurt in a moment where she just couldn’t take it anymore. Fiona, who’s so strong and brave, seemed to be so small (both figuratively and literally) and broken in front of him, but he had the perfect response and gave her the support she needed.

I absolutely fell in love with JD's character. He’s incredibly caring, and you can really tell that the only thing he wants is to be able to help. Now that he has the chance to, he simply wants to be there - with no judgment nor interfering with what’s already in place. We got to hear more about why he and Fiona didn’t stay together - she didn’t want to trap him, so she didn't tell him that she was undocumented. Fiona must have been so hurt and broken by what happened when she tried to trick her ex-boyfriend into thinking Chris was his, that she didn't want to make the same mistake with JD. Back then, they agreed not to pursue their relationship while he was serving in Afghanistan - but JD confesses that if she had opened up, marrying her and adopting Chris wouldn't have been out of pity or charity - but out of love. 

While I was hoping Arman would be the one helping Chris see things clearer, JD is actually the one stepping in. I’m not sure he really got through to him yet, but he brought in that neutral and sincere opinion on the situation and reminded him that it was just an accident. And he was right, Chris will have to either forgive himself or learn to live with it - because right now, he is the only one blaming and punishing himself for Marco's death. Unfortunately, Chris had to sign the visitor's sign-in sheet upon his arrival at the police station, and even though she didn't see him, that surely got Detective Flores' attention - so it won't be long until that issue comes back up again.

Nadia is ready to move on and forge her own path - you go girl. She’s now convinced that Arman has been unfaithful to her and called it quits. Who can blame her though? He may not have slept with her, but the bond they have is so strong that everyone sees right through them - even Cortés. Despite everything, there still is a caring relationship between them - and from the start, Arman has been trying to keep her out of his deal with Robert. Now that he found a way to renegotiate, he "freed" her of Kamdar - and even though he now has a hidden agenda with Thony, Nadia doesn't realize that he’s still trying to protect her. 

Nadia decided to stay close to Robert and came up with her own deal and laid her own rules to keep working the floor at Fast Lane to make some money. And honestly, good for her for standing up for herself throughout this episode - she is strong and fierce, she doesn’t need anyone to thrive in this business. She now intends on buying back the club she has spent years taking care of, but that’s currently slowly sinking. Without Arman around - who’s inevitably being associated with the FBI, which scares their members off - she has a good chance to make it successful again, and I’m definitely rooting for her. I have to say, it pains me a bit that Arman will lose La Habana but maybe it’s for the best for him too. He’ll finally have something that’s his with the business he’s building with Thony - and it’ll allow him to have a real fresh start with something he has created from scratch. 

Could have fooled me. After being caught red-handed last week by Garrett, Thony and Arman had to come up with a plan to lure Kamdar into their trap. And he sure wasn't happy at all that Arman had found a way to pay off 1/5 of the debt he owed him, but was delighted to see that Nadia didn't know much more about it either. Keeping Nadia in the dark was the key to the plan's success, but also a way to protect her if things had to go south. Robert saw the perfect opportunity to fatten up his pockets even more and was more than happy to be the matchmaker in the middle of this new business that'll bring him 20% of their profits. A win-win situation for everyone, and the first part of Thony and Arman's plan worked perfectly as they were set to meet Cortés. I expected Kamdar to have already done a little investigation on Thony, but he genuinely looked surprised to find out that she was a surgeon - I’m sure she now has his full attention as she's only getting deeper into his rabbit hole.

With few words, Thony made it clear they were in this together - tied by the secret they have to keep and by the same threats hanging over them - and she wasn’t going to let Arman meet Cortés by himself. He was once again in complete awe of Thony when she suggested tricking the FBI to keep some of the money from the drug sale for themselves, and eventually for her clinic. This is just what Arman needs and wants right now - someone to be by his side to do whatever it takes to survive, but still try to bring the best out of it; to help, to be good despite the bad they have to do - and to find the balance between right and wrong.  

Thony composed herself perfectly every time she had to - and Fiona’s words probably helped with all of that - think of how badass you are when you step into surgery, just own it. Arman and Thony were both anxious, but he kept an eye on her at all times - placing a reassuring arm behind her on the couch and only taking it back when he felt that she was comfortable enough. Their connection is so strong that only looks were needed to reassure each other. But mostly, he fully trusted that she’d be able to pull it off and when he had no choice but to leave her behind to conclude the deal, she made it clear she trusted him too with just one intense look - she knew that he’d make it and that he'll come back for her.

Don’t let yourself get sidelined by Maya. That didn’t age well, did it? Garrett used his CIs to keep Maya busy, but with Thony being forced to stay at Cortés’ house, they were bound to bump into each other. Thony was worried Maya may expose her and tried to establish a connection with her - she was abused too, though not physically but emotionally, and reminded her that what Cortés was putting her through wasn’t love. I feel like they had things (kinda) under control before Garrett got involved - Maya had Cortés' trust and had some influence on him - things could have gone smoothly. But Garrett acted out of concern and fear for these two women - and his intervention has now compromised everything and put them in even more danger. 

As much as she wanted to, Maya couldn’t pull the trigger, so Garrett did it before Cortés had the chance to take his gun back from her hands. In another life - though we don't know much more than the fact that she was also being abused - he may have done what he always wanted to do to the men who hurt his mother. Here, killing an unarmed man with no warning would have put him a tense situation if Thony's quick-thinking wouldn't have made it look as if Cortés was about to shoot them. 

I’m usually one to try and find the good inside of Garrett - and he only had good intentions at the end of the episode and geniunely cares about Thony - but, he has to stop dangling deportation threats in front of her. This was completely unnecessary when he met her and Arman at the beginning of the episode - they have a common goal and enemy. And really, I need her to remind him of what she’s done to cover his butt if he dares to threaten her again. Actually, it’s more than that, I need him to acknowledge it and thank her because even though there are also obvious strategic reasons behind it, Thony cares about him too and also did it to protect him.

Alright, that's all for now! We'll be back in two weeks, on November 7th, for episode 7 - Truth or Consequences, which should pick up right where we left off as this episode ended on another cliffhanger!

What did you think of this episode? 

Let me know in the comments!