“Are You Ready for This?” “No.”
Back in their Blue Sky era (Monk, psych, White Collar, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, etc.), I was a huge USA Network addict. If they had a new show premiering, I watched it no matter what. But then, they started going darker, and I moved on. Heck, for a while, they completely abandoned original shows.
All this to say, I know that The Rainmaker crossed my radar when it premiered last year, but I didn’t give it much thought. I decided to give it a shot when they started doing reruns of season one before the premier of season two. I’m glad I did because I was quickly hooked.
I should also point out that I have no previous experience with The Rainmaker. I know it was a John Grisham book, and it was turned into a movie in the 1990’s. But I’ve never read the book or watched the movie. So I went into this show completely blind. I do know that the character of Bruiser was originally a man, but I am not entering this show with any preconceived ideas.
The show is set in Charleston, South Carolina. We meet Rudy Baylor (Milo Callaghan), a new law school graduate, who thinks his life is set. He’s landed a job at the most prestigious law firm in town. Even better, his girlfriend, Sarah (Madison Iseman) is working there, too. But things derail quickly when Rudy’s mouth gets him fired on his first day.
With no law firms hiring, Rudy finds himself working for Jocelyn “Bruiser” Stone (Lana Parrilla) who works out of the back of a restaurant. It’s far from a prestigious law practice, and Rudy even has to bring in his own clients.
Which is when he remembers Dot Black (Karen Bryson) a mother trying to sue the hospital where her son died. They claim a drug overdose was involved, but she knows her young adult and former addict son was clean. She thinks it was negligence. Unfortunately, Sarah is working on the case as well, just on the side of the hospital. What will it mean for their relationship? Can Rudy pull off the win?
Of course, there is much, much more to the story. We have a ten-episode first season, after all. But I was there for it. Each episode features plenty of twists that kept me hooked. I wasn’t sure where things were going early on, but it soon became obvious how the various parts of the story were tied together. Even then, I couldn’t wait to get to the next episode to find out what would happen in it. This is a classic David versus Goliath story, and I’m not complaining. It hooked me and I was along for the ride.
The show does have a few soap opera plot points in addition to the legal drama. I could have done without one or two of them, but that is a minor complaint. And we have a sub-plot or two, but I found them interesting, so I’m not complaining about them.
I’m not a lawyer, but there were some things that didn’t feel realistic to me. But I was so caught up in the story, I really didn’t mind. Just go with what they present, and you’ll be caught up in the story before you know it.
Also, I found Deck Shifflet, as played here by P.J. Byrne, to be a little annoying. But that’s the way he was written; it’s not a slam on the actor. He also grew on me as the season went along.
Yes, the fact that Lana Parrilla was in it helped pique my interest since I loved her in Once Upon a Time. No surprise to me that I enjoyed her here. I also enjoyed getting to see Madison Iseman. Honestly, the entire cast is fantastic, making us either love them or love to hate them.
While I started the show mentioning the USA Network’s light shows, this isn’t completely in that vein. For one thing, there’s more language than you might expect. It’s still maintaining cable TV standards, but don’t expect the light shows from the bygone era.
I know that season two has already started, and I’ve been recording it. My next mission is to get caught up. If you’ve been hesitating about starting the TV show version of The Rainmaker, don’t. You’ll be glad you watched it.
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