‘Unpredictable’ thriller flies up streaming charts after just one day on Netflix

All four seasons of a crime drama that kept viewers ‘captivated’ is now streaming on Netflix.

First launching in 2022, The Cleaning Lady stars Élodie Yung as Thony De La Rosa, a former Cambodian Filipino surgeon working in one of Manila’s best hospitals.

However, after moving to the United States and settling in Las Vegas, she faces a string of challenges.

After the expiry of her visa, she is living as an undocumented immigrant, while her five-year-old son Luca faces a rare autoimmune illness and requires a cutting-edge bone marrow treatment.

Working as a cleaner to make ends meet and raise the money for her son’s treatment, things take a turn when Thorny witnesses a murder and is discovered by Arman Morales, the perpetrator.

To keep her quiet, he offers her a job as both a cleaner and doctor within his criminal organisation, with the money on offer significant enough to help her son and provide them with financial security.

After taking the job, she begins living a double life whilst cleaning up crime scenes and evading the law.

While many critics praised the premise of the show and its lead star, they admitted they’d also been left wanting more.

‘The Cleaning Lady is a fast-paced portrayal of a woman pushed to the edge and forced to contend with hard decisions for the wellbeing of her family, and Yung’s central performance is filled with warmth, determination, and grit,’ Paste wrote in its review.

‘Yung is an appealing lead, and Thony’s complicated backstory – Cambodian by birth, she emigrated from the Philippines – may appeal to a segment of the audience that is too rarely seen onscreen,’ Variety wrote in its review.

‘While the series features the underrepresented story of undocumented workers, it’s still highly predictable with a pretty dull script,’ Common Sense Media shared.

‘Only the central performance holds it together at all, but even her notable screen presence can’t clean up the mess that the writers keep throwing at her,’ RogerEbert.com explained.

‘We wish The Cleaning Lady would dive a bit more below the surface on some of the issues that Thony and her family are facing, 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,’ Decider added.

Although audience reviews were similarly mixed, fans of the show explained what drew them in.

‘A very different idea which is refreshing to watch. Plenty of action happening all through. The time went by fast and at the end of each episode I couldn’t wait to watch the next,’ user msn6649 posted on IMDB.

‘It’s been a long time since any series has captivated me so much and offered me such a mix of suspense, drama and emotional depth,’ Line222222222 wrote.

‘The Cleaning Lady is one of those shows that quietly hooks you and doesn’t let go. What starts as a crime drama becomes a tense, emotional survival story, and it works because it feels grounded and real,’ JamesD-0503 added.

Netflix viewers seem to share these sentiments. After The Cleaning Lady was uploaded to the streaming service this week, it’s currently the third most-watched TV programme in the country.

For those wanting to deep dive into a new show too – this series has a total of 46 episodes to catch up on.

Following the first season, The Cleaning Lady ran for a further three – which aired in 2022, 2024 and 2025.

In an interview with Hidden Remote in 2022, the show’s creator Miranda Kwok explained the idea for the series came from her desire to make a ‘female Breaking Bad and a female empowerment story’.

‘This show is told from the lens of a completely unexpected hero, which is from the perspective of a Southeast Asian character, and an undocumented immigrant. Someone who was a doctor in her own country who couldn’t practice here and is forced into circumstances that she never thought she’d go into, and how she manages to then handle all the situations that are thrown at her and all the obstacles that are surmounting and find her own strength, path and voice,’ she said.

The Cleaning Lady is streaming on Netflix.

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