The Cost of Cleanliness is Exposed as Mob Meets Mom in Vegas-Set Drama THE CLEANING LADY

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede If there’s one thing that becomes crystal clear very quickly in THE CLEANING LADY, it’s this: mobsters are messy. As the Las Vegas-set drama begins, Monday, Jan. 3 at 9 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app, Thony De La Rosa, played by Élodie Yung, is a literal “cleaning lady” in a compromised position, forced to wipe up crime scenes after violent confrontations. With the long-term health of her sick son foremost in her mind, a reluctant but desperate Thony does the bidding of an ambitious mid-range mob boss named Arman Morales, played by Adan Canto. Both Yung (DAREDEVIL, THE DEFENDERS) and Canto (THE FOLLOWING, DESIGNATED SURVIVOR) laughed hard during a virtual interview when it was pointed out to them that poor Thony arrives at these crime scenes with her own little tray of cleaning supplies in hand. Hey, that stuff isn’t cheap – is Arman covering those costs? “I do feel like they’re a little tight,” Yung agreed. “I always come with the same little buckets, with my own peroxide, whatever, all those things. So thank you for raising that, and speaking for my cause, I appreciate it.” “I’ll make a note,” Canto promised. “I’ll pass it on to the guys.” The ability to submit work-related expenses notwithstanding, Thony has an awful lot on her plate in THE CLEANING LADY. She’s originally from Cambodia and is a doctor by trade, but came to the States illegally, via the Philippines, hoping to find a way to save her son. Making ends meet as a late-night cleaning lady, she’s in the wrong place at the wrong time when she witnesses a murder. An uneasy alliance forms between Thony and Arman. She cleans up the messes made by his underworld colleagues, and he opens some medical doors for her son (many of those doors are officially closed because of their illegal status). But of course, Arman has a boss, too. So both Thony and Arman are in similar predicaments, in that they’re always at the beck and call of someone else. Even as both of them dream of “getting out,” they have to be available 24/7, and it’s that loss of freedom that ruins lives. “That is such a great point – but as a mom of a three-year-old (in real life), this is exactly how I feel, I have lost my time, I’ve lost myself, and I only live on my daughter’s schedule,” Yung said. “I’m so glad that you felt that, because Thony is trapped. She is doing everything to save her son, and literally time is ticking, because he’s got an immune disorder. So she doesn’t live for herself. It’s a component that I was really hoping the audience would feel, because it makes you feel even more for her.” At one point, Thony asks Arman, “Why do you want me to work for you?” Arman replies, “Because I like you … and I don’t want to have to kill you.” “Yeah, it’s a complementary relationship – they’re in the mud,” Canto said. “And aside from a lot of other commonalities, they’re probably a little bit more connected, for lack of a better way of saying it, in a spiritual, or emotional, or familial realm. They both share this immigrant story, and they’re in this tight, obscure universe, which is the crime syndicate in Vegas, and they have to survive in it. So I think that’s what really drives them together.” THE CLEANING LADY also gives viewers pause to consider the vast army of late-night workers without which society could not function. Just imagine all the weird and dangerous things that they’ve seen, and the stories they could share. “And that’s really what this show is doing,” Yung said. “You know, we drag you in with the lights of Vegas, but really, we’re spreading the light on the people that we don’t really see, and that’s where it gets juicy.” And when things get juicy, THE CLEANING LADY is there to tidy up. Just remember, cleaning supplies are costly. “I’ve made a note,” Canto repeated with comic defensiveness, holding up a notepad for emphasis. “It’s done.” “Thank you for having my back,” Yung said. “Problem solved.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv