- Banks tries to connect with Ben, who resents him for trying to make him take Mickey's place, and the works with a husband whose wife is involved in a community drug ring.
- Suburban bliss. Coffee. Orange juice. Sun streaming in through the windows. A beautiful wife makes breakfast for her two beautiful children. She kisses dad, a lawyer, on his way off to work. Sigh.
Cut to William's house. It's a different scene -- to say the least. For one, the water heater is broken again.
"Guess you better get used to taking a cold shower," William says to Melissa.
We cut back and forth between the perfect house and the less-than-perfect house. The montage ends with the perfect mom arriving to drop her kids off at their perfect school. Another mother, Judy, approaches and hands perfect mom a bag of white pills.
"Mommy's little helper," says mom as she downs a handful.
Uh oh. Not so perfect, after all.
Cue opening title card: "The Cleaner."
Perfect dad comes to see William about his wife, Barbara. He needs William's help ... along with discretion. Barbara isn't sleeping. She leaves doors unlocked. Something is wrong.
"If I agree to take this case, I'm going to need complete access to everything," William says.
Perfect dad, noting that his wife is still taking pain pills for a long-healed injury, reluctantly agrees.
William goes through Barbara's house while Arnie looks at the woman's records. Turns out she drives all over town getting prescriptions from doctors. William calls Akani, telling her to "turn on the charm" and see if the doctors on the list are willing to start doling out happy pills.
"If they're dirty, I'll find out," says a smirking Akani.
Darnell and William discuss the former's upcoming rendezvous with an online date while the "big man" plants a tracking device on Barbara's car. William, meanwhile, discovers a vial of green pills: Oxycotton.
Back at the garage, Akani tells the crew that all five doctors she visited gave up the pills pronto. Arnie and Akani will pose as man and wife, infiltrating Barbara's social circle.
Suddenly, Melissa arrives in a taxi. William has forgotten to get her a rental car (the family wagon is in the shop). He apologizes. Akani watches warily from another room as Melissa explains that the kids are "with my sister."
"I've made a decision," Melissa says. "I want Tuesday and Thursday evenings to be mine from 6 o'clock to 10 o'clock. That means you're on duty with the kids."
William is amused ... and relieved the news isn't worse. He agrees.
Arnie and Akani -- dressed like they just stepped out of a Polo catalog -- arrive at the neighborhood park. They observe Barbara collecting cash money from other soccer moms. Each mom, it turns out, takes turns buying pills from their doctors for the whole group. It's a regular cartel. Akani snaps photos.
"It's not exactly the PTA, right?" Arnie sagely observes.
William shows the photos to Barbara's husband, Richard. The man is shocked to find his family's friends are involved in such high-risk shenanigans. William explains that the next move is to "freak her" by shutting down all her sources and cutting off her funds. Richard, once again, reluctantly agrees.
Arnie immediately freezes Barbara's credit cards and ATM while William and Akani pose as a couple to meet one of Barbaras doctors. Faster than you can say quack, the man offers to exchange pain pills for cash. William brings up Barbara and the curious case of the continuing oxycotton perscription.
"Who are you?" Dr. Reynolds demands.
William explains that he and Akani are not the police.
"What do you want?" he asks.
Barbara, meanwhile, desperately searches her house for pills ... but none are too be found. Pulling out of her driveway, Barbara has a pain in her mouth. She reaches in and pulls out a bloody tooth. Darnell follows. The wife and mother goes to her doctor, looking to score.
"Barbara, I know what you're doing and I won't be a party to it," Dr. Reynolds says. "You need help."
Barbara is horrified. She gets an annoyed and worried call from Richard. Barbara is missing her daughter's birthday party. Later that night, she upends the house looking for pills. Her husband pulls her to the mirror.
"Look at yourself!" he cries.
Barbara breaks down, begging her husband not to leave with the children. She promises to get help.
Richard calls William, telling the cleaner that his wife "wants help." William's services will no longer be needed, Richard says. William warns the man: It's not over yet. Richard doesn't want to hear it. He hangs up.
Back home, Ben tells William that he doesn't want to go to a Dodgers game with his dad. William is hurt and Ben storms off to his room. Private time with the kids is not off to a great start. William looks to the heavens.
"All I want from you is my kid at the baseball game," William says. "Can you try and do that?"
William gets a call. He has to go out. Private time is officially over for the night. Ben acts like he doesn't care, but we know better (and so does William).
Barbara meets with a drug dealer. She offers him "anything" but when the man implies that he wants something a little more intimate than money, Barbara slinks away. William steps out of the shadows. He knows the dealer and convinced him not to let Barbara pay for anything. They have "an understanding."
Back home, Melissa is angry. "All you had to do is spend time with them," she says. William asks his wife to talk to Ben about the Dodgers game. She agrees and then heads for bed. William calls Arnie, Akani and Darnell on a party line.
"We're still on the job," says William. Richard's wishes be damned.
Melissa asks Ben why he doesn't want to go to the ballgame with his father. Ben explains that baseball is not his "thing." He says that William is always demanding things, but that he isn't reasonable or cooperative in return. Melissa is sympathetic.
Akani, Arnie and William confront the members of Barbara's drug club, making the women think that they're under surveillance (which, of course, they are). Barbara, meanwhile, is losing it big time. She SLAMS her fingers in a kitchen door.
Back at the kitchen sink, Melissa explains to William that Ben doesn't want to go to the game. She suggests that William talk to his son.
"Forget it," William says. "He doesn't want to go, he shouldn't go."
Richard arrives home to find Barbara's hand bandaged. She claims to have broken it in a car door. Oh, and another thing: She forgot to pick her daughter up at soccer practice.
"You forgot our daughter," Richard says. "You forgot our child!"
The next morning, Barbara makes coffee and juice. It appears to be the perfect breakfast, but we are all too aware of the seamy underbelly. Barbara walks outside to the car ... but Richard takes the kids inside. He then locks his wife out of the house.
"Richard!" she cries.
William appears behind her in the lawn: "My name is William Banks. I'm here to help you. Please, let me help you."
He takes Barbara's hand ... and escorts her to rehab.
William arrives home. It's Thursday night. Later, William watches the Dodgers game on television alone. Lula enters.
"Is Ben asleep?" William asks.
"No," she says. "He's in his room listening to the game."
William nods sadly. A few more Tuesdays and Thursdays will be needed before God answers his prayers.
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