SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for The Rainmaker Episode 10.

The Rainmaker hasn’t explicitly been billed as a limited series, but the USA show’s finale feels like it is. It ends with so much finality that it’s hard seeing where the characters could go next. And the interesting thing is that it didn’t have to be this way.

In retrospect, it would have been better to air the two final episodes back-to-back, since Episode 10 is just the rest of the Great Benefit trial. The network could have created an event and let the momentum simmer. It’s not quite as effective on its own—because the big moments the audience has been waiting for all season never quite feel big enough. Some of them don’t even happen at all as the story pivots in other directions. That means while the factual conclusion to The Rainmaker is satisfying, the emotional one isn’t. And it’s in the emotional arc that this show has its best moments.

Rudy Baylor has his final confrontation with Leo Drummond, except instead of Rudy having his “gotcha” moment, Leo runs right over him. John Slattery’s character eventually gets what he deserves when the FBI and local police show up to question him—but just knowing Leo is in trouble is not as rewarding as watching Rudy be the one to do it. The Rainmaker is rife for a “You can’t handle the truth!” scene and it doesn’t come, which is a shame, because Milo Callaghan has proven to be an excellent Rudy Baylor and it would have been wonderful to see both him and Slattery at full tilt.

Likewise, Rudy and his now very ex-girlfriend Sarah Plankmore don’t really go head-to-head. Leo being called as a witness may disqualify him as a lawyer, yet all Sarah gets to do is the closing statement. To be fair, she does hit another low blow by mentioning Rudy’s deceased brother in said statement, but viewers never see them go toe-to-toe. Their final scene together is outside of the courtroom when Rudy approaches Sarah to see if she’ll change her mind. Sarah accuses Rudy of wanting to “save” her. Both characters and their relationship deserve a more nuanced farewell.

Rudy trying to “save” Sarah like he saved Kelly Riker is too simple. Rudy appealing to Sarah’s morals, to the idealism she used to have, and the two of them having a final heart-to-heart about how much they’ve changed would be so much more genuine. Callaghan and Madison Iseman could absolutely have pulled that off and probably made some viewers cry. Instead, The Rainmaker follows the straight line of Sarah’s villain arc, with Leo telling her “you got everything you wanted” before she gazes approvingly out the window of her new office.

That’s the inherent problem with The Rainmaker finale and, to some extent, with the show in the back half of its season. There are opportunities to do more and dig further that never materialize. Rudy and Sarah are obviously never going to get back together, but even that last brief flashback to the day they met is proof that there’s a lot left on the table. Brad Noonan has a hyper-quick arc where he gets approached by the FBI, but it fizzles out too fast; the scene in which he’s wearing a wire has no tension in it whatsoever. Brad turns into just comic relief, as the last image of the whole season is him awkwardly joining Melvin Pritcher in prison.

The plot points the audience wants do happen. Dot Black wins her lawsuit. Rudy is able to make peace with his brother’s passing. It’s not a terrible ending, plot-wise. But it’s not what it could have been, and it also doesn’t leave much room for future stories. The Rainmaker ends in part with Rudy saying that he now owns Prince’s bar and Deck telling Rudy that he’s going to attempt the bar exam again. Sarah is the only main character who has a clear next step. It’s implied that Rudy is going to keep trying cases, but there’s no specific idea for him. The show understandably eschews the end of the John Grisham novel, in which Rudy walked away and ended up with Kelly—who doesn’t appear in Episode 10 at all.

Even if one makes the easiest assumption that Rudy is now a hotshot lawyer in his own way, The Rainmaker has to make its own argument for Season 2. Based on the finale, would it be just a more direct battle between Rudy and Sarah, who’s now a power player at Tinley Britt? That might work dramatically, but it wouldn’t cover any new emotional ground. The destruction of their relationship and their different ideas of law have both already been explored. Leo appears to be out of the picture, Brad was never much in it, and Bruiser’s past has also been explained. What can a second season tell about these characters that Season 1 didn’t cover?

The Rainmaker has crossed pretty much everything off its list. If the show does end here, viewers can at least know they’re not being frustrated by any loose threads. There’s something to be said for that, given how many other TV series write intentional cliffhangers in hopes of renewal, and then just end up disappointing their audience. But The Rainmaker could’ve been another Lincoln Lawyer. It deserved to be a hit. It winds up falling short of its own high expectations.

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

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.