‘The Cleaning Lady’ Reveals Arman’s Fate — How It Bid Farewell to Adan Canto
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The Cleaning Lady Season 3 Episode 6, “El Reloj.”]
The Cleaning Lady has revealed what happened to Adan Canto’s Arman. As we previously learned, the character was kidnapped after the shootout at the air hangar in the season premiere. The Cleaning Lady Season 3 Episode 6 at last revealed who took him, and it officially wrote Canto’s character out of the show. Canto, who has played Arman since Season 1, died on January 8, 2024, after a private battle with cancer. He was 42 years old.
The episode began with Ramona (Kate del Castillo) losing her patience waiting for Arman’s, her nephew’s, safe return. “I’ve waited too long,” she ominously said while looking into a fire, a dark omen. It then flashed back to a teen Arman on his birthday, showing Ramona’s rocky relationship with Arman’s father, who told her to stay away from his son because of her cartel money.
With her protective relationship of her nephew established, Ramona continued to her plans to rescue him. She set up a safe house in which Arman can heal, complete with medical assistance. The house came with horses that Arman and Nadia (Eva de Dominici) can look after as therapy, allowing their relationship to “heal.” It’s a “no strings” attached deal that came with “rather opportunities.” In exchange for her assistance, Ramona expected Arman and Nadia to stay involved in her cartel as part of her trusted inner circle.
Nadia was reluctant to accept the safe house, but demanded that she be the point person in Arman’s exchange. After some convincing, Ramona agreed. But she warned that “the entire negotiation” would now rest on Nadia’s shoulders.
Jeff Neumann/FOX
Back at Fiona (Martha Millan) and Thony’s (Élodie Yung), Fiona encouraged Thony to be open to her romantic feelings about Arman once he was back. Through some intel about the drugs used on Arman, Thony was able to figure out that it was Dante (Mayans M.C.‘s Clayton Cardenas) who took Arman.
Dante is Ramona’s trusted lieutenant who had been helping in getting Arman back. When Cardenas’ casting was announced in December 2023 (before Canto’s death, which changed the show’s plan for the season), his character description said he would grow increasingly bothered by Thony’s frequent undermining of their cartel operations. Now we know just how far he’d take that resentment.
“This whole exchange could be a lie,” Thony warned. She was concerned Jorge (Santiago Cabrera) “could be in on the whole thing,” so Fiona helped her get to work instead. Thony packed up an anti-toxin with which to treat the drugged Arman, should they find him.
Their search led to a building where “no one would notice” if someone was being held hostage. With the help of a teen who lived in the building, Thony and Fiona were able to find the room in which Arman was being held. She saw a drugged Arman through the cracks of the window, with dried blood on the side of his head.
Once in the room, Thony fell and crushed some vials of the drug used on Arman, getting her high and sending her into hallucinations. Arman appeared to hear in this haze, in what looked like the real Canto standing before Yung.
“I thought I’d never see you again,” the emotional Thony said as they embraced. This appearance was likely the result of a stand-in actor and CGI, or it was old, unused footage of Canto from a previous season, as Canto died before they filmed any of Season 3. But it was just a hallucination for Thony. Fiona interrupted, warning they needed to get out of the room. When Thony said they needed to take him with them, Fiona made it clear that Arman wasn’t in that room.
“I need Arman,” the distraught and drugged Thony said as Fiona got her into a car. From there, they watched Arman be loaded into a car and driven off. Thony called Nadia to warn her of Dante’s involvement, and the skeptical Nadia shared the location of the exchange. A plumber introduced earlier in the episode drove them to the spot, and the FBI appeared. A dangerous car chase ensued near a rocky cliff, and Thony and (a heavily CGI-ed) Arman saw each other clearly through their car windows, saying volumes without words.
Arman’s final act was stopping Thony from getting shot. With his zip-tied hands, Arman pushed his captor’s arms so he missed when firing the gun. Arman lunged for the driver, and the car drove off the cliff. By the looks of the drop, there will be no survivors.
The episode ended with a romantic, peaceful moment between Thony and Arman, in which they danced to the song that gave the episode its name, “El Reloj.” The final shot of the episode was of Thony and Arman kissing, with a title card at the end dedicating the episode to Canto.
With Arman dying to save Thony, her relationships with Nadia, Ramona, and Jorge just got a lot more dangerous. Once again, Thony’s involvement made a plan go sideways, but the FBI’s involvement is a point of concern. Next week, Nadia will press Thony about how this tragedy came to pass.
The Cleaning Lady, Tuesdays, 8/7c, FOX
