- When William is hired to clean Bobby Carmichael, a prize fighter, he discovers the boxer's siren wife, Angie, is also using. William wants to help, but the jealous Bobby won't let him near her. As Swenton learns the family's nanny isn't as innocent as she appears, William ignores Bobby and gets Angie into detox. But when an irate, relapsing Bobby comes calling, William realizes he's picked a fight he may not win.
- We open with William Banks getting his clocked cleaned by a big fella who appears to be a trained boxer. "For the last time, I'm not interested in your wife!" the Cleaner screams. BAM! ZAP! BING! Big guy ain't listening. At all.
FLASHBACK to William grabbing lunch with Ron, who tips the Cleaner to a new case. Bobby, a pro boxer, can't seem to "climb out of the bottle, among other things." Turns out Bobby has a big fight coming up and was recently arrested for DUI. Thankfully, the press hasn't caught wind of it yet. Fast-talking Ron has convinced the court to release Bobby into the Cleaner's care. William doesn't seem overly pleased.
They head to the jail and meet big-man Bobby, who immediately snubs our hero. William responds by taunting the man about a lost fight. Its tough love alright -- the Cleaner style. "Alright, Billy boy," Bobby quips. Growls the Cleaner: "It's William." The not-so-happy couple then head to Bobby's home to find his wife, Angie, about to leave with their young child. Bobby turns on the charm and Angie decides to stay. The "misunderstanding" they had the previous night is apparently now understood.
William, Akani and Arnie search the athlete's McMansion while Bobby trains for his upcoming fight with his trainer. Unfortunately, one of Bobby's hanger-ons -- a dude named Deuce -- has slipped booze into the ex-champ's water bottle. William threatens to return to the judge unless Bobby kicks out Deuce. After some tense words, Bobby agrees. Deuce appears devastated. Just then, Arnie appears. "We found something inside," he tells the Cleaner. Uh oh.
Uh oh, indeed. Arnie and Akani have found bottles and bottles of pills. Only one problem: Bobby's urine test was clean for narcotics. "Its got to be Bobby's wife," William says. "Let's take her drugs away. See what happens." Later, Ron explains to the Cleaner that he shouldn't interfere. "You're here to fix him -- not her," Ron says. William doesn't argue, but we doubt very highly that he is going to listen.
Meanwhile, Arnie introduces himself to cute nanny Liz. "So, is Angie always like this ... as a mom?" he asks. Liz says that Angie got clean for awhile before getting back on the stuff. She is currently an addict. William breaks the news to Bobby, who already knows, of course. He threatens William not to involve or even "look at" his wife. The Cleaner, as he is often wont to do, remains stubborn. Bobby can't be around his addict wife while trying to go clean. The boxer agrees to head to the garage -- much to the chagrin of Angie, who screams and cries as her husband leaves the McMansion.
Back at the garage, William shows Bobby his detox room. Asks the Cleaner: "What do you hope to gain by denying your own wife's recovery?" Bobby doesn't answer -- he just beings to shake. The detox has begun. William, not to be denied the chance to clean someone else, heads back to the McMansion and confronts Angie. "I'm not the one you were hired to help," she says. "Bobby wasn't too keen on me opening up -- being intimate with strangers. Sounds like Bobby is the jealous type -- and perhaps with good reason. Angie leans in and kisses the Cleaner just as Liz walks down the stairs. William backs away quickly, but the damage could already be done.
Sure enough, Liz calls Bobby and rats out the Cleaner for kissing Angie. In turn, the boxer is FURIOUS. "I'm not interested in your wife," William says. "Your wife needs to get clean. Do you get that?" Bobby issues the Cleaner a stern warning: stay away from Angie. Back at the McMansion, Liz tearfully confesses to Arnie that she slept with Bobby and might be pregnant. Arnie offers to give her a pregnancy test and "talk about what comes up." It comes up negative. Liz is much relieved. So are we.
Back at the garage, the trainer confides in Akani: Bobby just isn't in very good shape. As if to prove it, Bobby stumbles through his workout. He can barely lift his arms. In the meantime, Angie has gone missing. She apparently took all the pills in the house and split. Bobby is distraught. The next morning, the trainer helps Bobby to the car as William receives a call from Akani. "We've found her," she says. Turns out Angie has checked into a nearby hotel under an assumed name. The Cleaner arrives at the hotel to find the woman chugging wine and climbing over the balcony of her high-rise room. "Get down from there!" William yells. Drunk and/or high (maybe both), Angie refuses to listen. "He's screwing the nanny!" she slurs. "In my own house!"
The Cleaner creeps toward the woman, who threatens to jump. He tells Angie that he was once like her -- lost and on the edge (in this case literally). Just as it appears she is about to leap, William moves like a sober cat and grabs hold of her. Angie is safe. But that doesn't mean she cant still cause trouble. William takes Angie back to the garage only to find Bobby waiting. Naturally, Bobby is FURIOUS. Angie doesn't help matters by claiming that she shared an intimate moment with the Cleaner. "He was with me in a room holding me!" she screams. "How does that feel!? Because that's the way I feel all the time!" It takes a few dudes to drag Bobby away.
Not surprisingly, the ex-champ turns to drinking. He quickly has an allergic reaction thanks to a (legal) drug that Arnie and Akani slipped him. It's the trainer's turn to be FURIOUS. "Everybody propping you up and you're drinking!?" he screams. Bobby does the only thing he knows how to do: fight. He shows up outside the garage in the dead of night and starts throwing punches. "For the last time, I'm not interested in your wife!" the Cleaner yells, bringing us back to the present. Bobby delivers a knock-out blow and William goes down. Angie comes running out of the garage, pleading with Bobby to stop. Thanks, Angie. Youre waaaaaay too late for that.
Later, Ron comes to visit William in the hospital. The Cleaner agrees to walk away from the situation and not press charges (or sue or call the press) under one condition: He gets to talk to Bobby with Angie present. So we cut to the McMansion, where Bobby is busy gulping glass after glass of Scotch. "You're breaking your wife and you are breaking your kids and your chance to win another fight," William tells the boxer. "I want to help. I want to help your wife. I want to see you keep on fighting." Angie, through tears, asks her husband to get clean so that she can too.
But will the drunk ex-champ accept their offers/pleas? "You cant help me," he grunts and pours himself another drink. Crushed, William takes Angie and leaves. We cut to a montage: Bobby gets knocked down in the ring while an apparently clean Angie hugs her children. Win some. Lose some. The story of the Cleaner's life.
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