SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers for The Rainmaker Episode 3.

The third episode of The Rainmaker definitively lays out the USA show’s big picture, so that audiences can invest in the long-term storyline. Viewers now have enough details to understand the plot and the characters. But there’s still room for more emotion in the rest of the season.

Episode 3 could be described as a backstory episode, because there’s a lot of history that comes out across the hour, and the biggest plot points are related to that history. The most notable is the on-screen introduction of Jocelyn “Bruiser” Stone’s father, as Bruiser visits him in prison to discuss what he did for Leo Drummond back in the day. There’s a subsequent scene between Bruiser and Prince, the owner of the bar Rudy Baylor used to work at, which sheds further light on their connection. These scenes and others build to the reveal of a now-deceased woman named Rosalie Sutton and her baby, which clearly weighs heavily on Bruiser’s mind.

Lana Parrilla is by far the breakout performer in The Rainmaker, and she has her best episode yet in Episode 3, as audiences get to see not only the toughness that gave Bruiser her nickname but also moments of vulnerability that make her feel more human. It’s relatively easy to play the tough, no-nonsense side of a character, yet that only goes so far before it becomes one-note. Parrilla gets to dig further into not only what Bruiser’s past is, but what motivates her.

Elsewhere, there are flashbacks in which Rudy’s deceased brother John is finally seen, audiences meet the “missing” nurse Jackie Lemancyzk for the first time and learn about her past with her ex-boyfriend, plus details about the death of Donny Ray Black come out in a deposition. The writers start to put pieces together as Rudy and Deck Shifflet find evidence that points to the larger conspiracy—which is what has to happen, because viewers are already one-third of the way through the season. Plus, Kelly Riker gets more screen time, while Rudy and Sarah Blakemore take the bar exam, which paves the way for the courtroom confrontation that’s so clearly in the cards for them.

Sarah continues to be the character that The Rainmaker can’t quite figure out. The show wants to preserve her loving relationship with Rudy, but also explain how she’s still able to work against him, and it doesn’t have that balancing act figured out yet. There are little suggestions that she’s somewhat elitist, as when she comments to Rudy that eventually he’ll work his way back up, as if his current job is beneath him. That might be paving the way for more antagonism on her part. They have a fight, but the next day it’s quickly forgotten before the two are having a spontaneous hookup between sessions of the bar exam (which adds nothing to the story). Sarah’s personality seems to change depending on what the plot needs her to be.

That points toward what’s been missing from The Rainmaker for two episodes now. There are only two scenes that have considerable emotional impact. One is the flashback involving Bruiser, and the other is a talk between Rudy and his mother Mary—after Mary tries to visit Rudy at Tinley Britt and discovers that he doesn’t work there. (Thanks, Brad!) The scene between the Baylors is painful but earnest, and just two characters who want the best for each other. Plus, Milo Callaghan continues to get more and more confident in his portrayal of Rudy. There’s a beating heart under the plot that simply needs to come out a bit more, and perhaps now that the story has become considerably clearer, there will be room for that in Episode 4.

The Rainmaker airs Fridays at 10:00 p.m. on USA. Photo Credit: Courtesy of USA.

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