The Rainmaker Season 1 Episode 10 Review: Score One for the Little Guy!

Critic’s Rating: 4.25 / 5.0

4.25

Well, he did it. Rudy Baylor actually won the thing. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t easy, and it sure as hell wasn’t quiet — but he did it. 

From the beginning, we knew the path wasn’t going to be straight. Rudy’s whole story has been about getting dragged through the mud and still managing to crawl out with his conscience intact. 

And with The Rainmaker Season 1 Episode 10, that stubborn heart of his paid off.

This episode opened with the kind of beautiful madness that only The Rainmaker can pull off. Rudy still had Melvin Pritcher tied up in a basement like a leftover Thanksgiving turkey, with Deck feeding the guy soda through a straw. Because of course he was.

Bruiser was the only one pointing out the obvious — this is kidnapping, geniuses. You could tell she was seconds away from calling the cops herself just to knock some sense into them. 

But Rudy had that glint in his eye. He wasn’t done yet. He was going to get justice for Dot, even if it killed him.

And then, against all odds, he did it. Melvin wound up on the witness stand, and for once, Rudy’s gamble paid off. You could feel the courtroom tilt when Melvin confessed to Donnie Ray’s murder — flat-out, no hesitation — and then, in true Rainmaker fashion, the whole thing exploded. 

Leo pushed too far and tried to turn the man’s trauma into a spectacle, and Melvin launched himself across the witness stand like a human missile. 

I shouldn’t have cheered, but I did. Admit it, you did too. Melvin didn’t make Rudy’s day any easier with that WWE move, but come on, watching Leo get tackled was so cathartic.

Leo’s downfall has been a long time coming, and this finale gives us at least a little satisfaction in that regard. I don’t expect it to last if we’re lucky enough to get a second season, but it felt good.

The man’s too smug to know when to quit, so Rudy finally did what no one else could or would and put him on the stand. 

It was awkward and maybe a little reckless, but it’s classic Rudy. And it worked to an extent. The judge saw right through Leo’s performance, and Sarah was left holding the proverbial briefcase. The result was that the seemingly untouchable Tinley Britt empire started to crumble from the inside.

Speaking of Sarah, her smug little grin. OMG. Seriously. I have never wanted to smack something off someone’s face so desperately. My notes must have the word smug written 100 times, with a new adjective before it for every one of them. Ahem.

Oh, she tried to keep it together. She was still tossing those eye rolls and acting like she’s the smartest person in the room. She uses her privilege to annoy the hell out of us all.

When she threw Brad under the bus, even Leo looked shocked. She’s learned all the wrong lessons, and you can practically see her thinking she’s the next Leo. Honey, if that’s the goal, enjoy the trip down.

She definitely found a new low in the finale. Color me shocked. I didn’t think it was possible, but using the death of Rudy’s brother in her closing argument wasn’t clever; it was disgusting. 

She took his grief, something private and sacred, and turned it into ammunition for a legal battle. How gross is that?

You could see the moment he realized it, too — that sharp inhale, that flash of disbelief on his face. Did she do it to prove the point that she didn’t need to be saved after he tried one last time to reach her? 

When he found her in the hallway earlier (as Leo predicted), he offered her an out and practically begged her to come back to the light. 

He knows she was a good person once — hell, he remembers the spark that drew him to her as we saw in his ending montage — but she’s gone now. That’s the part that hurts the most. He didn’t just lose a colleague; he lost someone he believed in, maybe even thought he loved.

But Rudy’s closing argument was everything. It was quiet, heartfelt, and so damn human. 

Talking about mothers and sons while his own mom sat in the courtroom was the full circle moment we knew would tear down the house.

He fought the whole way through The Rainmaker Season 1 for someone else’s child, only to realize he’s still a son who needed saving, too.

So yeah, Rudy won. Partway through, I thought maybe they’d go the way of Rocky and get him so close to winning, leaving an opening to continue the case into another season. A second chance to be the victor. Thank God, I was wrong.

The verdict came back in his favor — conspiracy, cover-up, eighty million dollars in punitive damages — and justice, for once, actually felt possible. Sarah was left hollow, Leo is facing the FBI and losing clients left and right, and Bruiser’s finally breathing again. 

It’s not a neat ending, but it’s a right one. And who likes neat anyway?

And Bruiser. My girl held it all together while the men practically lost their minds. She helped Rudy win, but more importantly, she found her own peace and her place. She’s back on the winning side, working with people who fight the good fight, not just any fight to make a dime.

They are an incredible team. Rudy can be like the balloon flying high into the sky, and Bruiser grabs the string before he flies too far from reality. 

Deck is snuggled right between them, the middle ground, which, interestingly enough, is something Leo actually discussed with a modicum of truth while on the stand.

Deck’s moment with Rudy at the end was perfect. That coin — Rudy’s brother’s coin — has been a quiet symbol all season, a little piece of hope that Rudy has carried through every fight. 

Passing it to Deck wasn’t just a sentiment. He was making it a legacy. It was Rudy saying, “You’ve earned this.” And for a show that’s been all about moral gray areas, that little flicker of light felt perfect.

It doesn’t have to be Deck’s brother’s coin to be meaningful to him because Rudy is his new brother, and together, they’ll do what Rudy and his mother’s other son were always meant to do. Just awww.

Dot got her justice, too. She didn’t need the money or the headlines — she just wanted the truth. 

Hearing it out loud, that her son was murdered and had not fallen again to addiction, gave her the closure she’s been praying for since The Rainmaker Season 1 Episode 1. And then she said she’s donating to the places that helped Donnie Ray and naming her new dog Bruiser, which sealed her fate as a member of their chosen family

Part of me thought that she’d donate money to Rudy’s practice to help others. But she didn’t need to since Rudy got a sizable chunk of her money for the win. He got enough to make major changes in his life, including buying Prince’s bar.

Brad wasn’t so lucky. The poor bastard finally paid the price for all those shady errands and backroom deals. So why did I actually feel sorry for the guy?

Watching him slumped in orange, tossing a little wave (OMG. Can you believe that?) across the prison yard at Melvin, was almost sad. Almost. I chuckled with how pathetically human it seemed.

And that little flash of humanity there (I know you’ll fight me) surprised me. It’s like he knows that he’s exactly where he belongs but still can’t help trying to connect. Connecting with the son of mother you helped murder is beyond the pale, which only makes it sadder.

For a show full of monsters in suits, it’s weirdly poetic that the guy who caused so much harm ended up waving at the man who burned it all down. And let’s be real. Melvin has what, 18 murders under his belt? A little prison yard justice is coming for Brad. 

I wonder if Leo would feel anything if he receives word Brad’s been murdered by Melvin, bringing the whole thing full circle. If not, then God help Sarah. She’ll never find her soul again.

If this is where The Rainmaker ends, we can walk away satisfied. But it better not be. I mean, what other show could have me rooting for a serial killer over a legal firm?

They’d be stupid as hell to stop here. The show finally hit its stride. It’s smart, emotional, funny when it needs to be, and absolutely devastating when it counts. 

Rudy’s story still has more to say, and I, for one, want front-row seats when he says it.

I know you all loved it. So, share the love with me in the comments below. I’ll still be around, reviewing The Last Frontier and Tulsa King among other things. They’re on a different scale of justice, but we do what we can!