What happens when three cleaning ladies in a financial firm encounter an opportunity of a lifetime? They strike while the iron is hot, of course!
Bringing a twist of Korean culture and finesse into the adaptation of the British series of the same name, Cleaning Up whips some sassy and edgy first two episodes to introduce the series.
Nathan Llantos watches Cleaning Up on iQiyi
Opening Week Ratings:
Cleaning Up Opening Week Story (Trigger Warning!)
Now a single parent without a college degree, Eo Yong-Mi (Yum Jung Ah) makes ends meet by working as a cleaning lady at a renowned financial firm with her best friend, An In-Kyung (Jeon So Min). Besides the fact that her ex-husband is delayed in giving her child support, she has a furious loan shark to worry about. Apparently, Yong-Mi has a gambling addiction, and her debts have piled up.
Busy with her new work as a cleaning lady, she manages the rest of her time running errands like pacifying their neighbor, who is annoyed by the ruckus caused by her daughters. Her chores also include fetching her youngest daughter from school and cooking meals for her kids. Her budget runs out as the day goes by, and the situation calls for desperate measures.
On the other hand, her best friend In-Kyung is the total opposite. Full of glee and aspirations despite being a minimum wage earner, In-Kyung dreams of having her own coffee truck. Contrary to Yong-Mi, she is thrifty and optimistic.
A Day in the Life of a Cleaning Personnel
Another important character in the series is Maeng Soo-ja (Kim Jae Hwa). Yong-Mi and In-Kyung meet her at work. However, Soo-ja’s reputation at work is not that great. Most of the cleaners appear to detest her for continuously flattering their boss. Despite this, Yong-mi somehow defends her saying she understands that Soo-Ja is just trying to survive.
In fact, her strategy is working because she becomes the most trusted cleaning lady by their boss and gets to work extra time for extra pay. What is more, the cleaning team frequently works overtime. Especially when there is a lot of mess created during office hours. The professional workers at the financial firm lack tact and consideration.
For instance, the employees do not see the cleaners at the firm on equal footing. At times, they are even told to do absurd things that are not in their job description, such as going outside to run errands for an employee.
In addition, some of the finance managers even demand them to clear the cup stains from their desks because they are careless and ignorant enough to use coasters or wipe those using tissues.
The After Hours
One day, during Yong-mi’s break time, she hears Director Yoon (Song Jae-hee) speaking on the phone with someone about potential mergers and rising stock prices. However, he was also relentless on a particular issue. Apparently, someone was recently caught doing something illegal in their industry, and he fears being discovered.
Yong-Mi does not need to be a college graduate to understand what she heard. In detail, Director Yoon discussed a future merger and muttered the company’s name audible enough for Yong-Mi to hear as he wrote it down on a note. Notably, when he mentioned an investment of 50 million won for the stocks of the company, Yong-Mi’s eyes widened in shock.
She takes all the information she heard, ready to share and convince her best friend In-Kyung to join her in investing. The problem is, though, that In-Kyung has money to invest. Meanwhile, Yong-Mi’s card is so low in cash that she could only afford to buy detergent. She went to the store to buy some eggs and snacks for her kids. However, she went home from work with only detergent for their laundry.
She even gets another part-time job as a cashier teller on a convenient store to make ends meet. Her careless behavior however, was caught by a drunk female customer. While waiting for customers, Yong-Mi was about took a lottery scratch it card and was already scratching it using her nail. The customer played a trick on her by pretending that the same scratch it card made her win 300 million won. This caught her off-guard.
A Sketchy Ticket to Wealth
That night, after reprimanding her daughters, Yong-mi hears a television broadcast about the significant increase in the stock price of Worktech Electronics — the same business she heard Director Yoon mention when she eavesdropped on the phone call. Likewise, the merger that she heard about is now being broadcasted on the television news.
Subsequently, Yong-mi hears two female employees in the restroom gossiping about an employee caught doing insider trading. As she was organizing the cleaning tools and materials, she could not help but fish for more information from the employees outside the cubicle. She heard about how difficult it is to prove, how wealthy insider trade can make someone, and that, surprisingly, many professional workers engage in this.
Considering the financial constraint Yong-Mi is experiencing, one can see where her desperate actions stem from. Seeing that this is an opportunity that rarely arrives in a person’s life, she made up her mind. She would do everything that it takes to get in on this insider trading. While she is at it, she is hell-bent on convincing In-Kyung to lend her money for the investment.
On top of that, she is clever enough to know that being a blue-collar worker will provide her with the cover she needs. Hence, she can walk unseen and unsuspected of her motives. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of persuasion because In-Kyung is against the idea.
Unfinished Family Business
Yong-Mi is having a hard time borrowing money from In-Kyung so she tries her luck by visiting her family. However, her mother and brother already know her motives for visiting. Again, she guilt-trips her brother into loaning her money. Yong-mi tries to shame him by arguing that because he studied overseas, she could not attend college and have a better life.
Her brother Yong-kyu retorts, saying that Yong-mi has her gambling debt to blame. Because she had been addicted to gambling even before she got divorced, thus, he refuses to give her money because she still has not learned her lesson.
However, she keeps ranting about how well off his brother is because of his house and expensive car. Their mother pretends to faint when things become tight to stop the two siblings from hurting each other physically.
Afterward, Yong-Mi tried to keep her dignity by walking out on them. Her mother followed her outside and gave her some money for her kids. She then bullies Yong-Kyu’s son, who just got back. She does not stop there. Outside, she even vandalizes Yong-Kyu’s car. Yong-Mi kicked the side window and broke it.
Not just that, but she sarcastically shouts that her brother does not need to be sorry for what happened between them. Because ruining his car is in the interest of what he owes her.
It Takes Tw-ree To Tango!
Yong-Mi failed in getting money from her family. As a result, she goes back to pestering In-Kyung to join her in her schemes. In-Kyung turns out to be far more empathetic than any other people Yong-Mi knows. While the two are on a bridge, Yong-mi opens up to her about her suicidal attempts. The first was when her daughters were little, and the second was when she found out her husband had a mistress.
But she did not push through with it because she could not bear to leave her children. This convinced In-Kyung to help her in her plans to enter insider trading. To do so, Yong-Mi plans to plant a bug in the office of Director Yoon successfully. Thanks to online shopping, they easily got their hands on a low-cost device, which worked as it should after a few repairs.
It was not as easy as Yong-Mi had imagined. In fact, if it were not for Soo-ja, who overheard their conversation, the two might have been busted by Director Yoon. After being intrigued by what she heard, Soo-ja checked up on In-Kyung and Yong-Mi. Since she caught them red-handed, the two have no other choice now but to have her aboard their ship of dreams.
Post-Mission Bliss
The three, although going home to such lamentable lives, were at least hopeful that they will be rich. After successfully planting the bug, they started monitoring Director Yoon’s conversations. Likewise, they have already bought their shares and are keeping close watch on the stock prices in the market. The three cleaning ladies now have something to look forward to, and be cautious about in their workplace.
Apart from that, they continue to do their errands at home with much more glee than before. Yong-Mi danced with her youngest daughter at home. Meanwhile, Soo-ja has high hopes that she can have her deserved break from her unappreciative family. As for In-Kyung, it feels as if she is just a few steps away from getting her dream coffee truck.
However, episode 2 concludes by showing the three in a dire situation. Director Yoon has noticed the bug inside the air vent of his office. This terrifies Yong-Mi and In-Kyung, who were currently listening to the Director’s phone conversation. Much too early, their bug was found.
Cleaning Up Opening Week Musings
A Penny For Some Thoughts
It would probably take some time for viewers whose cup of coffee is not as obnoxious as Yong-Mi’s personality. Maybe it would even open up an internal discussion within the viewer between understanding where Yong-Mi’s actions are coming from and being annoyed by her toxic behaviors.
To enumerate, the way she passive-aggressively asks In-Kyung to lend her money is bothersome.
Particularly how she pulled her hair and walked out on her when she rejected her pleas. Although one might argue that the two are good friends, what Yong-Mi did was coercion. In-Kyung has already given out several valid reasons why she does not want to join the insider trading plan. Yet all those reasons entered Yong-Mi’s right ear and exited on her left ear.
The risk is just too high, and they were not on the same page with how they live up to their ambitions. If their plan fails, given that Yong-Mi has a massive amount of debt awaiting her, how could she ever account for the misfortune she will bring upon In-Kyung. She is also toxic as a parent and toxic towards her family.
Additional Two Cents
Though my statement above could change. That depends, however, on how her backstory will be unveiled later on. Mainly if there is excellent character development or a redemption arc in the making. Because even if everything about Yong-Mi is just so concerning, at the same time, one cannot deny there are people like her.
Moreover, people like her in real life are often driven into desperation because of trauma and poverty. For now, it is just fishy what happened to Yong-Mi before. Because according to the dialogues so far, she has already been addicted to gambling and borrowing money from others even before her ex-husband had a mistress. It would be great to see her backstory to understand the character further and not hate her for how she is.
Join the feisty and cunning characters of Cleaning Up on their ambitions and shenanigans. Episodes are available weekly on K-PLUS and iQIYI!
While waiting for the episodes of Cleaning Up, get to know more about the series and the characters:
Lee Moo Saeng and Na In Woo Equally Charm As Male Leads In “Cleaning Up“
Get To Know The Quirky Female Lead Trio Of JTBC’s “Cleaning Up“
Photos: JTBC
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