Stream It Or Skip It?

Was anyone really, really eager to get a 10-episode series version of The Rainmaker? John Grisham’s novel is 30 years old, and Francis Ford Coppola’s 1997 film version seemed to be a pretty definitive take on the novel. But here we are, in the era where all IP must be mined to fill streaming and cable airtime, so we now The Rainmaker is a series. Insert the shrug emoji here.

Opening Shot: We push in on a house, and a fire breaks out in one of the rooms. A man tries to save his mother in another room, but he can’t get to her. He exits the house gasping for air.

The Gist: Rudy Baylor (Milo Callaghan) and Sarah Plankmore (Madison Iseman) are working their law school’s free law clinic, when Dot Black (Karen Bryson) comes in wanting advice on a negligence suit she has filed against a local hospital after the death of her son. They want a dismissal and a $50k settlement, and she’s determined to take them for millions. Sarah has to tell her, though, that both she and Rudy — we find out later that they’re dating — are joining Tinley Britt, the massive law firm that represents the hospital, as junior associates.

On his first day, though, Rudy gets sidelined after a fistfight with the man who is living with Rudy’s mother exerts a bit too much control. He’s not only late to the first day orientation meeting, but he challenges Leo Drummond (John Slattery), the firm’s senior partner, when Drummond tells the young charges that everyone should be treated equally under the law. He’s fired from the lucrative job before his first day is over.

Given the late date of his dismissal, other firms around Charleston aren’t hiring. But Prince Thomas (Tommie Earl Jenkins), the owner of the bar where Rudy works, knows who is, and brings him to a law office that moved into an abandoned taco joint. Jocelyn “Bruiser” Stone (Lana Parrilla) owns the firm, and her only other lawyer is paralegal Deck Shifflet (P.J. Byrne), who has failed the bar exam 7 times but knows how to convince people to sign up for their services. It’s more or less a personal injury firm, where they only collect if the client wins their case. Rudy’s pay will be a fraction of what he was getting at Tinley Britt, but he gets a percentage of any settlements or judgements in their favor.

After seeing Deck try to grab burn victim Melvin Pritcher (Dan Fogler), accused of killing his mother, from another lawyer, Rudy has a client that they can represent: Dot Black. They go to visit her and he appeals to their common sense of loss: He lost his brother some years earlier. The Bruiser reluctantly tells Rudy to go ahead with the case, despite the daunting circumstances. Of course, there’s a complicating factor: Not only does Sarah still work for Tinley Britt, but Drummond just put her on the hospital lawsuit, after she ingratiated herself to the CEO of the conglomerate that owns the hospital.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Michael Seitzman and Jason Richman developed The Rainmaker based on John Grisham’s novel. Of course, there is also the 1997 film of the same name, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Matt Damon, Clare Danes, Jon Voight and Danny DeVito. This show also marks a return to USA’s “blue sky” style of shows, like Suits or White Collar, that emphasize characters over heavy drama.

Our Take: Seitzman, the showrunner, and Richman have changed The Rainmaker‘s formula a bit from what was in Grisham’s novel and Coppola’s film version, but not enough to make it feel fundamentally different than what’s come before.

Sure, now “The Bruiser” is played by Lana Parilla instead of Mickey Rourke, and it seems like she’s going to be a steadying force for Rudy. The case Rudy takes, involving the death of Donny Ray Black (Loré Adewusi) hinges on the fact that he was a drug addict, though his mother says he was clean for a year. We’re also pretty sure race will be involved in the case, unlike in the book or film versions. And there is something very off about Melvin Pritcher, who is a key witness in the Black family’s case.

But at essence, we have Rudy, played by Damon lookalike Milo Callaghan, fighting the good fight against the evil firm that fired him. The story leans into the more “Grisham-y” elements of the book, like how Sarah ingratiates herself to the hospital CEO, and how nasty Leo Drummond is to the junior associates who work for him. On the other side, Rudy is earnest, Card is a master ambulance chaser and Bruiser is tough but fair.

Speaking of fair, let’s be fair with this show for a second: Everyone in the cast plays their roles well. Even Callaghan and Iseman, who plays Sarah, play their blank-slate young lawyer roles well. But there’s no doubt that Slattery, Byrne and Parilla all play to their strengths in their respective roles.

We just wish that the case that Rudy takes on didn’t feel so generic, or that the circumstances around the story didn’t feel so convenient. It certainly isn’t interesting enough to span the first season’s ten episodes, even if Rudy finds things going on at Tinley Britt that will challenge what he knows about the firm and put his relationship with Sarah in jeopardy.

Sex and Skin: None in the first episode.

Parting Shot: Pritcher uses his skills to obtain a new place to live.

Sleeper Star: We’re curious about what history Prince, played by Tommie Earl Jenkins, has to have needed The Bruiser’s services.

Most Pilot-y Line: Sarah ingratiates herself to the hospital CEO by quoting first lines from classic novels; her ability to remember first lines from every novel she’s read feels like a skill only people on TV shows — or John Grisham novels — have.

Our Call: SKIP IT. While everyone does a good job in their roles, the story at the center of The Rainmaker feels like something we’d see in a CBS law procedural, not a Grisham-based legal drama.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.