COMEBACK

[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for The Rainmaker Episode 6.]

After being humiliated in court and then fired for the second time, you might think Rudy Baylor (Milo Callaghan) would just hang it up and find something else to do. But that was decidedly not the case on this week’s edition of The Rainmaker. Instead, Rudy returned to the bar to earn much-needed money while he searched for another job. Then, when that didn’t work, he gave the Black vs. Keeley case another run and made a miracle happen.

At the start of the episode, Sarah (Madison Iseman) flitted off to London in a private jet to enjoy the spoils of luxury on her client’s dime — and fell right into the open arms of Brad (Wade Briggs). About her attraction to Brad, showrunner Michael Seitzman explained, “With Tinley Britt, she is in the lion’s den, and she really only has two choices if she’s going to remain: if she’s going to be predator or she’s going to be prey. She’s surrounded by predators, and her ambition tells her that she needs to become a predator, whereas Rudy’s ambition tells him something else. Rudy’s ambition tells him that he has to fight for other people, but hers tells her that in order to get ahead, she has to be like them. So when she looks at Brad, it’s kind of like looking through a surface mirror. She sees some version of herself, but a little bit blurry, and as she moves along, that image becomes clearer and clearer. She wants to become one of them. So what she sees in Brad is she sees what she wants to be. She sees her ambition in its purest, most blood thirsty form, and it’s attractive to her.”

Meanwhile, Deck (P.J. Byrne) wisely declined Rudy’s effort to divulge details of the case, even as he championed for Bruiser to rehire him. However, Rudy still learned everything he needed when he was nearly run over by a key defense witness whose social media brags contradicted his story. After conferring with an old law school buddy who could give him intel on the man’s stock portfolio history, Rudy had a plan.

Bruiser was desperate to settle the case until Leo (John Slattery) dropped the offer to a number that her client would never accept. She came into the deposition with little hope of gleaning anything new from it until Rudy interrupted. Considering the man at the table was the one the mysterious-to-them nurse Jackie talked to about her suspicions about Melvin Pritcher (Dan Fogler), and he conveniently made some stock exchanges after speaking with her, Rudy believed he could get the guy to talk about the tissue committee and thus open it up to discovery despite the official ruling against him.

So what made Bruiser, who’d just fired Rudy, decide to let him take the lead on this? Seitzman said the whole exercise was a lesson. “Bruiser basically likes Rudy from the outset, and I think for Bruiser, she sees somebody who she could form in her image, the same way that Leo and Brad see someone in Sarah that they can form in their image. So I think when he shows up, he makes a lot of sense in that lobby. And I think she doesn’t really have many other cards to play in that room, but he comes in with a couple cards to play, and she sees it and thinks, ‘Why not?’” he explained. “I also think on some level, Bruiser is always rooting for Rudy. He doesn’t necessarily see it that way at first, but like any great mentor, she teaches with tough love sometimes, and I think that’s part of the fiery crucible that Rudy has to go through.”

As for the source of Rudy’s own confidence in the matter, Seitzman added, “With both Rudy and Sarah, they’re wrestling with confidence all the time, and I think very often, for most people, confidence is what holds people back. Overconfidence, rather, will cause people to stumble, but that confidence from the outset will make people they’ll make people fill the shoes that they’re dying to fill. And I think for Rudy, his confidence is born out of that, which is he also wants to fit into bigger shoes. And I think he walks into this with knowledge that he’s gleaned from hard work and intelligence, and I think he’s feeling pretty good.”

Indeed, at the deposition, Brad’s continuous objections to Rudy’s questions only amplified the irritation of the witness as Rudy pressed and pressed, and the guy finally broke, mentioning the tissue committee without realizing what he’d done. From there, Rudy was immediately welcomed back onto the team.

Upon reviewing the documents they fought so hard to get, Bruiser made a devastating discovery: Not only did Jackie reveal her suspicion that Melvin killed Donny Ray Black, but she also presented her theory that he’d killed multiple other victims as well… dun dun dun.

Elsewhere in the episode, Rudy’s mother made a plea for him to move on from trying to live the life his dead brother once wanted for himself, and Rudy convinced Kelly Riker (Robyn Cara) to run away from her abusive husband, with Dot (Karen Bryson) offering her a safe home to stay in for the time being.

The Rainmaker, Fridays, 11/10c, USA Network