SummaryThony (Elodie Yung), a Cambodian doctor, is forced to find work with a crime organization to help pay for treatment for her ill son in this adaptation of the Argentinean drama of the same name.
SummaryThony (Elodie Yung), a Cambodian doctor, is forced to find work with a crime organization to help pay for treatment for her ill son in this adaptation of the Argentinean drama of the same name.
Kwok’s script does a good job of centering this narrative without hitting us over the head with claims of diversity and representation, the balance integral to its success. It’s a unique character inhabiting a unique world: the perfect ingredients for an exciting story.
Miranda Kwok and showrunner Melissa Carter have adapted an original Argentine series into a drama with decently complex cultural politics. ... Here's a TV series that's pro-immigrant, pro-feminist, pro-stem cell research, anti-racist, and very cheesy. The Cleaning Lady mixes so many different things together, which is how you make a mess. It's also how you make a melting pot.
The show touches on so many topics that can make for really compelling drama, but there seems to be a penchant for the show to default to action scenes and “scary cartel” tropes more often than not. ... We’re OK with a more action-oriented, good guy-bad guy show because Yung and the rest of the cast do a good job with the material they’re given.
“The Cleaning Lady” has good intentions, but is far too derivative to form a compelling series. Yung is a star, as is Millan, but the two women are smothered by the soapy (pun intended) issues of a criminal underworld that feels like Mafia 101.
The concept here isn’t bad but the execution is another story as the writers pull out all the stops to manipulate the emotions of their viewers in ways that alternate between annoying and exploitative.