‘The Rainmaker’ Returns With New Clients & a Big Nemesis

Rudy Baylor (Milo Callaghan) went back into the courtroom in The Rainmaker Season 2’s premiere… but not for long.

The legal drama returned with Friday’s (October 16) premiere and revealed that J. Lyman Stone & Associates scored a major new client after their big win against Great Benefits: Nabisco, suing a competitor for intellectual property theft after they distributed Mallomars dupes, picked this firm specifically because of Rudy’s newfound renown.

As promising as that representation contract might sound, though, things were still a bit rough for the trio of Rudy, Bruiser (Lana Parrilla), and Deck Shifflet (P.J. Byrne). Their jury winnings were tied up in an appeal; Nabisco would quickly settle for injunctive relief after Rudy’s persuasive opening statement in the trial; and Rudy was being courted by a Nashville firm with promises of making partner, while Bruiser was actively denying him the same title. However, they were still getting pummeled by potential client letters from all walks of life and law, so it wasn’t all bad news for the scrappy team.

One of those inquiries came in puzzle form from a 12-year-old boy locked away in juvenile detention. After his first letter to Rudy was intercepted by guards, who delivered it back to him sealed with a knuckle sandwich, young Victor Suffredes (Asher DeLand) bought a birthday card at the canteen and addressed it to “Uncle Rudy.” Using a dollar bill’s serial number as a cypher, which only a dedicated Deck could decode, the kid hid his real message inside: “Help me.”

Deck led the charge on the response, learning that the boy’s mother was dead, his stepfather wanted nothing to do with him, his previous lawyer didn’t care about his fate, and the judge threw the book at him for hacking his school’s computers to pull a “Rick Roll” stunt on all of the screens. Not only was the kid serving three years after being promised mercy for a plea, but he was also being brutalized inside by the guards.

After meeting with Victor and being charmed by his inventiveness and appalled by the warden’s treatment of him, Rudy agreed to take the case. His appeal was denied, however, when he didn’t have a signature for Victor’s guardian. Luckily, Bruiser had a solution: By filing a civil proceeding instead of another appeal, they could get the court to appoint a guardian ad litem to represent his interests in the claim. Rudy knew just the person for the job: Dot Black (Karen Bryson).

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Bruiser took on an unconventional new client of her own in the premiere as well: her cheating ex-husband, Tom Cassidy (Austin Nichols), a former baseball star who was caught up in a minor league player’s gambling scheme after a game was thrown by the player on purpose. Tom begged Bruiser to represent the guy and help him in the process, and to pay her retainer, Bruiser helped herself to his new wife’s fancy handbag. This case is going to be all kinds of awkward.

Elsewhere in the premiere, we also caught up with Sarah Plankmore (Madison Iseman), whose post-Season 1 run has been eventful in the worst ways. Apparently, she lost her job at Lee Drummond’s (John Slattery) firm after he, too, was indicted, and she was struggling to find a new position.

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Sarah tried to get in the good graces of her idol, Amanda Vonn (Merle Dandridge), but she quickly learned that her reputation became “toxic” due to her client’s loss and the massive fallout that ensued after the Great Benefits trial. She had to strongly consider two terrible options due to her lack of luck: moving back in with her parents or taking an all-commission job at a factory that didn’t want anything to do with big cases.

Her mother did give Sarah a very good word of wisdom, saying, “Every time you’ve spoken in the last three months, you’ve told me how everybody got it wrong. Sweetheart, have you once stopped and asked where you went wrong?” After that, Sarah attempted to make things right with Rudy, showing up to the bar, congratulating him on his myriad successes, and admitting that she didn’t know why she allowed herself to take such a dark road in the Great Benefits trial. She also directly apologized for using his dead brother’s memory as a cudgel against Rudy, but all he could say to her was, simply, “We’re closed.” When Deck, who overheard, suggested she might’ve really been sorry, Rudy replied with, “Not a chance.” (Milo Callaghan previously told TV Insider that Rudy was “done” with her, but we still didn’t realize it was this done.)

The silver lining for Sarah eventually came, but we suspect it might be something of a poison pill. After Amanda Vonn learned about the lawsuit being brought over Victor’s detention and that it would give her a chance to go toe-to-toe with Rudy, she changed her mind and gave Sarah a call. Could we see another legal battle between these bitter exes? And how low can it go this time?!

The Rainmaker, Fridays, 10/9c, USA Network