You know the John Grisham book, and you know the 1997 movie starring Matt Damon. Now it’s time for a new version of The Rainmaker, and it’s not a series to skip over.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for The Rainmaker series premiere.
The new series brings a chance to delve more into the source material than the movie was able to, further developing characters and storylines. We meet the main players in The Rainmaker series premiere, introducing us to potential conflict and a possible murder mystery throughout the first season.
Of course, it has to start with Rudy Baylor, fresh out of law school and ready to be a part of a prestigious law firm, until he’s not. What happens when he has to find a job on the wrong side of hiring season?
Rudy first hears about the medical malpractice case in The Rainmaker
While the show initially opens with a fire, we don’t spend a lot of time there. Instead, we jump to a free legal clinic, which Rudy and Sarah are both volunteering their time at. This is a chance for them to help people with basic legal matters, and Sarah currently has a woman who wants to sue a hospital for the death of her son.
Dot Black has done all the paperwork herself, and the law firm against her has filed for a motion to dismiss. Right now, the judge has decided to stay the case while Dot gets a lawyer, but the firm has offered her a settlement. As Rudy hears that, he realizes that there’s likely a case there. Why would the firm offer a settlement when there’s a motion to dismiss happening?
However, Rudy and Sarah can’t help her. Not only is this out of their wheelhouse in the free legal clinic, but she is also going up against the law firm that the two of them are going to be working for. It’s a clear conflict of interest.
Well, not for long, as Rudy is late on his first day with the law firm and decides to argue a point against the firm’s main partner, Leo Drummond. As Rudy ends up fired, he focuses on finding a new job. The problem is he’s on the wrong side of hiring season, and he can’t wait a year since his mom wants him out of the house since he keeps having run-ins with her boyfriend, Hank.
Prince takes Rudy out to get a new job in The Rainmaker series premiere
When Rudy is back at the bar he worked at during law school, his former boss, Prince, asks if he’s there for his last check. Learning that Rudy was fired, Prince takes him out to someone who is likely hiring.
Bruiser doesn’t do things the most conventional way, but she is hiring. However, Rudy realizes that the paralegal, Deck, is an ambulance chaser. Rudy doesn’t really like that, but it does get clients. There’s one client who Deck really wants, a man who has been arrested and is covered in burns.
This is the man from the fire, Melvin Pritcher. He’s been arrested for matricide, but he claims that he didn’t do it. While Melvin chooses a different lawyer, who is also an ambulance chaser, he is going to come up later in the story, and it doesn’t take too long.
Rudy decides to get Deck out to Dot Black to get her as a client. He can now fight for what’s right, although Bruiser isn’t too certain about the case. She needs something more solid before she even considers taking the case on, and that’s what brings us back to Melvin. He was the nurse at the hospital on the night that Dot’s son died, but he no longer works at the hospital. Is it possible that he could help with the case?
Sarah focuses on her legal career
While all this is going on, Sarah is focused on making headway in her career. While at a function, she meets the CEO of the hospital, and she immediately impresses him. Leo puts her on the case, and that means problems for Sarah and Rudy.
As Sarah finds out that Rudy has taken the case, she knows that it could affect her. Of course, she’s only thinking about herself. From the beginning of this, we can see that Sarah is a woman of privilege. She has a trust fund, and she doesn’t need to worry about finding somewhere to live or hanging out with friends. It’s something Rudy has a problem with, especially when it comes to using her money to get things. Rudy has come from a place with no money, and everything he owns, he’s worked hard for it.
From The Rainmaker series premiere, it’s clear that the two aren’t suited for each other. They won’t be able to see eye-to-eye when it comes to some important decisions. Sarah can’t even really stand the apartment that Rudy ends up getting. Maybe Rudy taking the case is what they need to actually break up and find people they are more suited with.
However, the case itself is going to get dangerous. Someone is watching Dot, and that’s probably going to mean there’s a target on Rudy’s back soon when he does take the case.
On top of that, the nurse probably isn’t going to want to help. At the very end of The Rainmaker season 1, episode 1, Melvin breaks into a house and injects something into the landlady’s neck when she questions him. Did he actually kill his mom? Maybe he killed the boy in the hospital.
The Rainmaker airs on Fridays at 10/9c on USA Network.