Summary
The Rainmaker comes together well in Episode 3, tying various story strands together. Some elements don’t work, but the core plot remains engaging.
The Rainmaker has been a pretty good adaptation so far, different enough from the 1997 film to justify its existence but not so out-there as to feel like a different story entirely. Episode 3 develops both of these angles, old and new, with the proper introduction of Kelly Riker and development of more personal subplots involving Bruiser’s father and Rudy’s complicated relationship with Sarah (not to mention his burgeoning rivalry with Kelly’s abusive husband). It works better as a legal thriller – check out that deposition scene – than a personal drama, especially since I think Rudy and Sarah’s relationship is dumb to its core given the context, but the show isn’t interested in having one without the other.
It’s not like the personal stuff is totally unrelated to the core plot either. When Bruiser goes to see her father, the original J. Lyman Stone, who’s banged up in the South Carolina Correctional Facility, it’s obvious immediately that Drummond has some kind of leverage over him that is going to impact the case. And, of course, Sarah is working that case, so her every interaction with Rudy has a tinge of a double agent about it. Tinley Britt has leased her a lavish new house that makes Rudy uncomfortable, and she gifts him with a smart new suit of a quality he couldn’t afford. You’ll never guess that later, Drummond makes a smarmy remark about the suit, not knowing that Rudy is still wearing his brother’s. In other words, Sarah must have told him about the gift (or he instructed her to give it). This relationship’s never going to work.
Case-wise, though, Rudy has a chance. He and Deck blindside Daniel Mulvaney, the doctor who treated Donny Ray on the night of his death, at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Believing they’re working for the hospital, he tells them the same thing he told Jane Allen – he hasn’t seen Jackie, but her ex-boyfriend, Charlie, might have. He’s right, but nobody else knows – including Charlie’s wife, Amber, who really doesn’t like Jackie – that he’s hiding her in his workshop and facilitating her disappearance.
The deposition of Dr. Mulvaney is a major win for Rudy, since he catches the man out in lies pretty easily and winds him up to the point of frenzy by mentioning something about his alcoholism. Rudy also casts a few knowing glances in Sarah’s direction, which feels right. The deposition is a success both in the sense that Mulvaney can’t be seen as a reliable witness and because it gives away another crucial lead. Donny had azaleas in his room, which triggered Mulvaney’s allergies. Since Dot didn’t know Donny was in the hospital until after he died, the flowers must have been for someone else, meaning that Donny had a roommate – a potential witness.
You’d think all of this would alert Sarah to something being slightly amiss with her employers, but The Rainmaker Episode 3 keeps circling this same drain. When Rudy’s mother, Mary, who still believes he works at Tinley Britt, suddenly appears in the reception area, Noonan reveals that Rudy doesn’t work there while Sarah is trying to cover it. Later, Drummond talks her through a visualization exercise to imagine her future without Rudy in it. It’s so obvious what’s going on. And yet despite bickering, they still keep finding themselves back in each other’s arms. It’s one area of the show that simply doesn’t work. It’s not even like you’re rooting for them, since Sarah’s patronising demeanour is awfully off-putting.
Kelly is much more likable. Rudy spots her coming out of a massage parlour while he’s driving home and offers to give her a lift, which she accepts, but she has him drop her a few blocks away from the apartment so that her husband, Cliff, doesn’t see her in his car. As it turns out, Cliff is waiting for Rudy in his apartment to confront him about looking through the window at Kelly. Given Rudy’s already established distaste for abusive men and the fact that Kelly is stashing her money away, presumably for an escape attempt, I can very much see this subplot escalating.
Speaking of escalation, when Deck is finally able to track down Donny Ray’s hospital bedfellow, Ross Cho, he reveals a crucial detail – Pritcher administered Donny meds, whispering his creepy serial killer catchphrase, “It’s okay, I’m a nurse,” all the while. We already know Pritcher is a killer, and Rudy suspects the same, hitting on the idea of tying him to the death of Jackie’s neighbor in record time. Drummond’s eager to get this settlement out of the way because he knows the true story beneath is a much more serious case of criminal conspiracy. The pieces are coming together.
Pritcher unites almost every story strand. We see him kidnapping Jackie. We see Bruiser try to strongarm Drummond into settling the case for $80 million and calling off the FBI, using Pritcher as leverage. He’s the key. Hopefully, the gang can get to him before Jackie meets a messy end.
RELATED:
