Summary
The Rainmaker has a real fist-pumping quality about it in Episode 8, as the tables finally turn on Tinley Britt.
You can tell we’re getting to the end of The Rainmaker now, since there’s a real fist-pump quality to Episode 8 as the tables finally begin to meaningfully turn. There are connections between the current case and that of Rosalie Sutton, which ensures the scenes shared with Bruiser’s pops haven’t been wasted time, the original J. Lyman’s return causes more problems, which prompts Rudy to make an effective gamble, and even Sarah, albeit in the stupidest way possible, finds her way to the truth – and may, ultimately, decide to do something about it. We can hope, anyway.
With the Kelly subplot having been dealt with, Rudy is free to focus on the twists and turns of the case and the fervent search for Jackie, who is clearly going to be the smoking gun in the whole affair. But he kind of takes a backseat in this episode, so the focus can shift to Bruiser and her father and Sarah’s string of terrible decision-making. It’s still Rudy who gets the last laugh, though, and it’s probably the best crowd-pleasing moment of the season thus far. But we’ll get to that.
In the most simplistic possible legal terms, Bruiser’s father has some lingering loyalty to Leo over the Rosalie Sutton case, so his first act upon getting out of prison is to agree to a settlement to get this case out of the way. Since he’s still technically in charge of the firm, there’s little Bruiser can do about this, despite the fact that she knows Dot will never go in for it. As has already been established, what she wants is justice, and that doesn’t come with a price tag attached.
There’s quite a lot of satisfaction to be found in Tinley Britt’s scrambling. But this is also the episode where their flagrantly sinister corruption really comes to the fore, because in many ways it’s arguing that they’re more culpable in the Great Benefit cover-up than Keely and the hospital – just like with Rosalie Sutton. And it’s also presenting Leo and indeed Noonan as more overt villains. Since Sarah is our primary avenue into that side of the aisle, it predictably doesn’t work out well for her.
It seems to, at first. Keely asks her to handle the trial preparation, leaving egg on Noonan’s face, especially after his deposition debacle last week. But Noonan helping her prepare, while initially seeming like a seductive gesture, ends up being a power play. Noonan once again charms Sarah into bed – why does she keep making these terrible decisions?! – but goes way too far with the physical foreplay, choking Sarah half to death, and leaving her in a mess of tears. Apparently not satisfied with that, the next day his whole demeanour changes and he subjects her to a torrent of abuse. Right ahead of her private meeting with Keely, this probably wasn’t the smartest idea.
Keely, it turns out, requested Sarah specifically so that he could warn her away from Tinley Britt and people like Leo. He knows that she knows what Melvin did and the subsequent cover-up, which, on some level, he feels like he has been strong-armed into by Leo. But Sarah, rather bizarrely, takes representing Keely as a challenge, really pushing the idea that he’s a charming, avuncular gentleman and that somehow defending him is noble on that basis. I mean, he’s still covering for a serial killer, Sarah!
The rest of The Rainmaker Episode 8 follows Rudy’s efforts to track Jackie down, which he does by following Melvin. It doesn’t go unremarked upon by him and Deck that following Melvin has historically proven to be a bad idea, but needs must, and it turns out Jane Allen had the same idea. They all end up at a storage unit where Melvin had been keeping Jackie captive, but Prince gets Melvin out of there at gunpoint, and Jackie has already fled. Prince’s potential culpability in the Rosalie Sutton disappearance and the burning down of Melvin’s house doesn’t sit especially well with Rudy, but the enemy of my enemy and all that. Plus, he needs to focus on finding Jackie for the good of the case, and she’s still on the lam.
Rudy manages to find Jackie fairly easily – out of guilt, she has gone to see Amber in the hospital – but convincing her that he’s on her side is another matter. Jackie is a little swayed by Rudy’s revelation that he’s working for Donny Ray’s mother and believes her claims about Melvin, but it isn’t enough to stop her from fleeing again. With a bit of luck, though, the knowledge that someone is out there willing to fight her corner will be enough to coax her back.
And Rudy is now an independent. In a solid last-minute twist, just as Lyman is gloating over already having agreed a deal with Leo, Rudy reveals that Dot has fired J. Lyman Stone and retained Rudy as her sole counsel. He hands Bruiser his resignation, and she “fires” Deck so that he can continue working the case with Rudy. And she’s clearly thrilled to do so. It certainly looks like Tinley Britt’s house of cards is about to start crumbling.
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