Parents' Guide to The Rainmaker

Violence & Scariness

Descriptions of domestic violence in court cases, including murder cases. A character fights his mother's boyfriend, and a fire claims the life of another character's mother.

Language

Swear words including "hell," "a--hole," "s--t," "bastards," "sons of bitches," "and exclamatory uses of God, such as "Oh my God." Characters use sexual descriptions such as "limp-dick," and "boner" as coarse humor; other sexual descriptions, like a character telling another character to show them "the tit" and joking that a male character should "go be a waitress," is sexist in nature. But the sexist jokes are meant to be funny because they are said by a female character.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters drink alcohol, a character discusses her son's death, which was caused in part from opioids.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Two characters kiss in a scene that alludes to sex off-screen.

Products & Purchases

Coca-Cola is shown.

Positive Messages

Perseverance, ethics, compassion, courage and morals are key when fighting for others.

Positive Role Models

Rudy wants to do right by his clients and give them the justice they deserve. His earnestness, perseverance, and sense of morals and ethics revitalize the law firm he works for and help create a sense of teamwork when fighting for clients.

Diverse Representations

The Rainmaker isn't too racially diverse, but the diverse characters it does have are well-written and thoroughly acted. There is a moment in the first episode, however, when Rudy (Milo Callaghan) tells a Black female client that she is wrong to think he's had advantages that she hasn't. While his point is that he has lived a working-class life with family troubles, the conversation can come off as obtuse in today's climate; more people now recognize that even working-class white Americans have different advantages than their Black counterparts due to benefitting from America's history of racism, which can also affect economic standing and available financial opportunities.

There are several female characters, with the most fleshed-out one being law firm head Joceyln "Bruiser" Stone (Lana Parrilla, an actress with Puerto Rican and Italian background). Some of her lines are of their time, however, since she says some sexist things as jokes that might have flown in the 1990s. Second is Sarah Plankmore (Madison Iseman), Rudy's girlfriend and lawyer at a rival law firm. But Sarah's life is still a secondary storyline to Rudy's, and her rich upbringing is meant to be a foil to Rudy's hard-knock life.