[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The Cleaning Lady Season 4 Episode 9, “Hearts on Fire.”]
The Cleaning Lady just referenced one of the most iconic episodes of Grey’s Anatomy. Season 4 Episode 9, “Hearts on Fire,” saw an immigrant woman kidnapped and put under anesthesia by Cowboy Hat (Brian Norris) and his cronies, who then dropped her unconscious body at the hospital where Thony (Élodie Yung) works. A gruesomely shoddy surgery was performed on the woman while she was under, as evidenced by a giant T-shaped incision running up and down her abdomen with thick and bloody stitches. The woman was suffering from a bad infection as a result, but Thony noticed something so much worse: There was a bomb implanted inside of her.
Even if you don’t know Grey’s Anatomy, you’ve likely heard of its bomb episode. In Grey’s Anatomy Season 2 Episode 17, “As We Know It,” a man accidentally shoots himself in the stomach with a bazooka. Christina Ricci guest starred in the episode as the EMT who placed her hand inside the man’s wound to keep the ammunition still. When the stakes became too terrifying, she pulled her hand out and Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) instinctively took her place. A bomb squad, led by guest star Kyle Chandler, stayed with Meredith until they successfully got the bomb out of the man’s body, but it ended in catastrophe when the explosive went off as Chandler’s character carefully carried it away.
The Cleaning Lady‘s version was much less deadly. Thony has a work visa in Season 4 and has been completing a medical residency at this hospital. She’s already a whip-smart surgeon, but her training and medical license are from her native Cambodia, so she has to start over in the U.S. Thony figured out that the woman was sent to her hospital as a threat from cartel boss Ramona (Kate del Castillo), who was flexing her power from prison.
Thony was the only surgeon around who could perform the surgery required to save the woman’s life, and hopefully the lives of everyone in the hospital, with the help of the bomb squad. With no better alternative, the hospital and bomb squad let Thony perform the surgery even though she was only a medical resident. The hospital was evacuated, and then a small team stood by as Thony performed the surgery entirely on her own.
Jeff Neumann / FOX
The device was small but powerful enough to kill anyone in its radius, but it was deactivated by cutting the correct wire and the woman was saved. Thony broke down in tears after from the stress and guilt of knowing that this woman was mutilated to send a message to Thony, who’s now married to Jorge (Santiago Cabrera). Thony recently discovered that Ramona killed Jorge’s first wife, leading to her latest arrest. Now, Ramona’s trying to hurt Jorge’s second wife, even if it was a marriage of convenience.
Jorge and Thony married in a quick Las Vegas ceremony so they couldn’t be forced to testify against each other. While their union may have started as a sham, it’s starting to turn into something real. But another connection is forming between Thony and her colleague at the hospital, Dr. Dupont (Daniel Bonjour). In a scene that echoed Thony’s love life with Arman (the late Adan Canto), Fiona (Martha Millan) encouraged Thony to explore a possible connection with Jorge earlier in this episode after Thony had started naturally referring to him as her husband. But Thony’s attempts to connect were met with apparent lack of interest from Jorge in this episode, leading her to kiss Dupont in a charged moment after he checked in on her post-surgery. Dupont had stopped Jorge from seeing Thony in the hospital just moments before.
Jorge left Thony a voicemail while standing right outside the hospital’s doors telling her that he wants to try and be a real family with her and their respective children. Thony was hooking up with Dupont in the on-call room while the message was being sent. Classic Grey’s.
The Cleaning Lady now has another love triangle on its hands. This can only complicate matters as the Fox drama heads into its final three episodes of Season 4.
The Cleaning Lady, Tuesdays, 8/7c, Fox