In what is excellent news for me and every other Rake fan on the planet, ABC1 has confirmed a second season of the series has been commissioned. Production will begin in late 2011.
In May, Rake star Richard Roxburgh won a Logie for Most Outstanding Actor for his work in the series. Congratulations, Richard on the well-deserved win!
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Showing posts with label Richard Roxburgh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Richard Roxburgh. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
AUS Television: Rake, Episode 1.8 "R vs. Corella"
Rake
Season One, Episode Eight, R vs. Corella
Original Air Date: December 23, 2010
When the body of a murdered man is discovered in a construction area thanks to a blown water main, Mick Corella is arrested and charged with the murder. Mick wants Cleaver to defend him and sweetens the pot for Cleave by offering to make his $80,000 worth of gambling debts disappear and even give him a $25,000 line of credit. Missy confesses her past to David with disastrous results. Barney and Scarlett come to an understanding. It's time for Cleaver to pay the piper in his tax case but things take a surprising twist.
The action (no pun intended) starts at "a social gathering" seven months ago. Mick Corella (Richard Carter) is holding a swingers party. At the party, his wife, Kirsty (Robyn Malcolm) sees an old acquaintance, Nigel Turner (Paul Gleeson). The two strike up a casual conversation (while still seeing to their current partners, of course). It's clear Kirsty has had feelings for Nigel in the past, and still does. Kirsty introduces Nigel to Mick and the two men even shake hands. Nigel suggests he and Kirsty might be able to get together later to catch up on old times but she declines. Later, in the kitchen, once they are no longer attending to anyone at the party, Kirsty and Nigel again meet and continue talking. Nigel notices that Mick has an eye on them and the two old friends stop talking until he leaves. Kirsty then tells Nigel she would like to catch up and gives him a number where he can reach her.
Fast forward seven months later. A water main blows up in the area where a car park is being extended and a body is found. The body of Nigel Turner. A shopping receipt was left in a bag found with the body giving the police a time and date when the body was buried.
Cleaver, in dire straits over his tax issues, is rushing to prepare documents (with a fudged number and bit of information here and there) for his next court date with the help of Fuzz and Nicole. Fuzz is still a bit down over his break up with Fiona. Wendy arrives to pick him up and Cleaver takes the opportunity to ask her for money because he's pretty sure, in the range of 100% and upward, that they will be finding against him in his tax case. He wants a second mortgage for the house Wendy lives in and says he will pay the bill for it. Wendy is against this vehemently and is outraged when he tells her he's already spoken to the bank. She accuses him of being the "original butterfly that is the cause of every bit of chaos on the planet".
David speaks before the citizens of Huntley with Missy looking on. He gives a positive political speech promising to do everything in his power for them and expressing his excitement and gratitude for their support. Once everyone has gone, he tells Missy he's ruined and has destroyed his life. He's given up 70% of his income, Joe is dead, the Premiere is gone and he has no supporters inside the party. He will be a back-bencher in state Parliament until he dies. When he tells her all he has left to hold onto his her, she is quiet for a moment then tells him the complete truth about herself including her real name and that she used to be a prostitute. He isn't nearly as understanding as she would have hoped and tells her he'd like her to go.
Mick denies knowing Nigel Tanner when he is questioned by the police. Barney arrives a bit late and tells Mick he isn't obliged to answer any questions but Mick dryly says he's just having a friendly conversation with Bill Maraco (Damon Herriman) and introduces the two. Mick admits his company poured concrete at the location Nigel's body was found but denies the murder. Bill informs him they found traces of his DNA on Nigel's body and that he is being arrested on murder charges. Mick requests a private word with Barney. Once alone, he orders Barney to get him Cleaver and to get him out of the mess he's in. Barney tells Mick he doesn't work with Cleaver anymore as a matter of principal. Mick reminds him how much business he steered his way last year and Barney backs down.
Missy arrives at David's to pick up a few things and they end up arguing about her past. He ends up putting two and two together about Missy and Joe Sandilands and even Missy and Cleaver. He's probably most angry about her involvement with Cleaver.
The next morning, at the tax hearing, David tells Cleaver that "it ends today". David pulls out all the stops against Cleaver. He brings in a witness with evidence that Cleaver cannot stumble up in her testimony or cast doubt upon. Throughout the testimony, David stares at Cleaver with daggers in his eyes. The judge isn't nearly as lenient with Cleaver as he has been in the past. Things are looking very grim for our hero, indeed. The agitated judge isn't pleased with Cleaver and is ready to hand down a judgment against him when he has a heart attack and dies there at the bench. As David and Cleave are watching the judge's body being wheeled out of the courtroom, David says he knows Cleaver caused the judge's death. David vows to thrash Cleaver but Cleave shrugs it off saying he has his work cut out for him to do that from the Parliament back-benches.
As Cleaver is looking over the court transcripts of his tax case and wondering about a three week law trip to Bermagui with a deduction of $3,120 he knows he didn't claim, Missy walks up and sits down next to him. He finds other deductions in Bermagui that are a mystery to him as he's never even been to Bermagui. He called her for a meeting to tell her he can't stay mad at her and he wants the healing to begin. He can overlook every single thing except why she felt she needed to lie to him of all people. She wanted to come from someplace other than where she did but he insists she should live an authentic life, as he does, for good or bad. He tells her she should have given him a chance because he would have loved her with all the feebleness of his heart and he still does. She tells him that she told David the truth and they split because of it. She leaves him with a kiss telling him to call her when it's "bin night".
Cleave arrives at the office to find Nicole pushing boxes of papers to their new temporary office and asks her why she embezzled around $90,000 from him over the course of eight years. She doesn't deny in the least that she took money from him arguing that he would have just wasted the money anyway and she did something good with it. She saved some and used the rest to build a house for her and her fiance, Bevan, in Bermagui.
Barney and Scarlett meet with their lawyers regarding their divorce. Barney will be expected to compensate Scarlett for any interest she has in their home, the figures of which Barney isn't pleased about and offers to give Scarlett the house and let her pay him the amount instead. She can't do that because as of twenty minutes past nine that morning she had been suspended for a year because of her breaking the rule against cross-examining a friend (Cleaver). While both Barney and Scarlett are focusing on Scarlett's current situation, their lawyers are simply interested in how the case changes now that Scarlett has no income.
Cleaver informs Mick of the reality of the situation he's facing and Mick, in turn, offers to make Cleave's gambling debts disappear and even float him a line of credit if he gets him off the murder charges. Both Barney and Cleaver agree that the DNA evidence is so strong that even Cleaver, in all his glory and brilliance as a defense attorney, will have trouble getting him clear of that, if he even can. When asked by Barney where he was when the concrete was being poured, Mick reluctantly tells them he and Kirsty were hosting a "lifestyle party" at his place. He tells them about Nigel meeting Kirsty then proceeds to tell them how he doesn't do three-ways with another bloke unless his Mrs is filming. He says Nigel showed up pissed and dangerous at their place and he threw him out. Nigel came back later when everyone was gone and pulled a knife against him and Kirsty. They struggled and Nigel fell on his own knife. He was scared and panicked and didn't want to embarrass Kirsty so he hid the body. He's certain Kirsty will testify in his behalf as she knew what happened.
Cleaver and Barney can talk amiably about the case but when it goes beyond that, Barney is distant. He informs Cleaver he and Scarlett are getting a divorce, their house in on the market and that she hasn't got a job thanks to him. Barney wants to deal directly with Nicole on the case but he can't as Cleaver has sacked her for stealing from him. Nicole, who is out walking, sees a shadow on the sidewalk and, when she looks up, is struck by a falling gargoyle.
Barney pays a visit or Kirstie Corella who confirms Mick's story. She's clearly angry. Barney asks her to tell him how the swinger scene works and she does. She lists the different kinds of sex that can be had a the swingers parties saying it's "just sex". Barney doesn't understand how "just sex" can work once two people have invested everything into their marriage and made a commitment to one another. Surely, having sex with someone else ruins that. Kirsty softens her attitude a bit and tells him there's one rule that can't be broken: never get involved. He asks if she's confident to testify and she once again relates the facts of the case as Mick had told them to Barney and Cleaver. Barney notices she called Nigel by his first name.
At trial, the jury hears from Bill Maraco and an employee of Nigel Tanner's. Cleaver is able to establish with Tanner's employee that he was a very different man than the one she claimed to have known because of his swinging lifestyle.
David accosts Missy wanting to know about her relationship with Cleaver. He tells her about knowing since he was fifteen he wanted to make a difference and tried to live his life cleanly without any "blots" on his record. She has made him look like a fool. She leaves him with kind words about him deserving things to turn around for him. David then goes to speak with Cleaver and apologizes for his behavior with him outside the courtroom at the tax trial. They talk quite calmly about Missy who David admits he loves before David once again vows that he will take Cleaver down.
Barney is almost moved out of the house with Scarlett and he says goodnight to his children. He and Scarlett engage in a little small talk and she invites him to stay for dinner but he declines saying he's catching up with some old friends. He goes home to his flat to eat a salad alone.
Barney informs Cleaver that Kirstie knew Nigel Turner and they both agree the prosecution would chew her up in a minute. Barney doesn't want to become as bad as Mick just because they are being paid to defend him. In court, Cleave calls several witnesses to the stand to confirm Mick's accounting of Nigel's behaviour the night of the murder. All of the witnesses are clearly influenced by Mick and some even take cues from him during their testimony. One of the witnesses is Col, Mick's "former" enforcer. He testifies he felt frightened for his life by Nigel's behaviour.
Cleave goes to see Nicole in hospital. He offers her her job back and, when she declines, offers her a 10% raise. She admits she will still charge things to him when he's not looking. He reluctantly tells her she can keep pilfering from him but she must cap it at 5%. She holds out for at least 10%.
That night, Cleave prepares himself a microwave meal and, as he's staring at it, picks up his phone to call Missy telling her it's "bin night". She arrives with a few bags of belongings and tells him there's a van coming on Monday. He meant they should talk but she feels they should move in together and sort through everything as they go along. She laughs at the now-anxious Cleaver letting him know the moving in was a joke. She tells him she's leaving to trace the steps of her dead non-parents. He doesn't want her to leave but it's too late. She's made the plans and decided. She's leaving that night. She tells him she's been in love with him long enough to know a commitment from him isn't going to happen. He offers to come find her in a couple months and will still love her even if she is a completely different person by then. He gets up to get them a coffee and when he turns around, Missy is gone.
Before court, Cleave asks Mick if he has any aces up his sleeve as his swinging mates aren't cutting it with the jury. Mick shrugs the jury off. Cleaver surprises Barney when he calls Kirsty Corella to the stand. Kirsty re-tells the same story she told to Barney. Cleaver presses her stressing how Nigel was a venomous madman and bad person and how she loves and adores Mick. Kirsty becomes emotional and tells Mick Nigel never did anything to him. She continues telling him, in court, how good Nigel was to her. She keeps talking despite Cleave trying to end the testimony. In private, Mick confesses to Cleave and Barney that he did kill Nigel because of how he was "being intimate" with Kirsty.
Later, as Barney's belongings are being loaded into a moving truck, he and Scarlett begin arguing about what belongs to who. Barney smashes dishes and tells her she can have everything. Overcome with emotion, he sits down and, when she goes to him, he asks her if the divorce is what she really wants. He admits he loves her and the two embrace.
Wendy calls Cleaver over to speak with Fuzz who is sitting in his cupboard. Cleaver gets in with Fuzz and talks to him. He tells his son that he is the most special person he knows.
That night, Col pays Cleaver a visit wanting the $80,000 he owes Mick. Now that Mick is in prison for murder, Kirsty has taken over the business and she wants Cleave to pay up. He's still $38,000 in the hole after all Mick's legal fees were taken out so Col is there to give him a beating for the money. Barney drops by later to find a beaten Cleaver resting on the couch. Barney pours them a drink and they play Backgammon. Cleaver, despite his beating and bleeding, is in an up mood when Barney gets up to leave.
--
The first season of Rake ends on a good note, I think. It looks like Barney and Cleaver's friendship is back on the road to repair as is Barney and Scarlett's marriage. It remains to be seen if things will get back to where they were at the start of the season. Missy, aka Jane, has left leaving Cleave without the woman he loves and his Backgammon partner. I don't think she'll be able to stay away from Cleave very long, though, do you?
--
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Season One, Episode Eight, R vs. Corella
Original Air Date: December 23, 2010
When the body of a murdered man is discovered in a construction area thanks to a blown water main, Mick Corella is arrested and charged with the murder. Mick wants Cleaver to defend him and sweetens the pot for Cleave by offering to make his $80,000 worth of gambling debts disappear and even give him a $25,000 line of credit. Missy confesses her past to David with disastrous results. Barney and Scarlett come to an understanding. It's time for Cleaver to pay the piper in his tax case but things take a surprising twist.
The action (no pun intended) starts at "a social gathering" seven months ago. Mick Corella (Richard Carter) is holding a swingers party. At the party, his wife, Kirsty (Robyn Malcolm) sees an old acquaintance, Nigel Turner (Paul Gleeson). The two strike up a casual conversation (while still seeing to their current partners, of course). It's clear Kirsty has had feelings for Nigel in the past, and still does. Kirsty introduces Nigel to Mick and the two men even shake hands. Nigel suggests he and Kirsty might be able to get together later to catch up on old times but she declines. Later, in the kitchen, once they are no longer attending to anyone at the party, Kirsty and Nigel again meet and continue talking. Nigel notices that Mick has an eye on them and the two old friends stop talking until he leaves. Kirsty then tells Nigel she would like to catch up and gives him a number where he can reach her.
Fast forward seven months later. A water main blows up in the area where a car park is being extended and a body is found. The body of Nigel Turner. A shopping receipt was left in a bag found with the body giving the police a time and date when the body was buried.
Cleaver, in dire straits over his tax issues, is rushing to prepare documents (with a fudged number and bit of information here and there) for his next court date with the help of Fuzz and Nicole. Fuzz is still a bit down over his break up with Fiona. Wendy arrives to pick him up and Cleaver takes the opportunity to ask her for money because he's pretty sure, in the range of 100% and upward, that they will be finding against him in his tax case. He wants a second mortgage for the house Wendy lives in and says he will pay the bill for it. Wendy is against this vehemently and is outraged when he tells her he's already spoken to the bank. She accuses him of being the "original butterfly that is the cause of every bit of chaos on the planet".
David speaks before the citizens of Huntley with Missy looking on. He gives a positive political speech promising to do everything in his power for them and expressing his excitement and gratitude for their support. Once everyone has gone, he tells Missy he's ruined and has destroyed his life. He's given up 70% of his income, Joe is dead, the Premiere is gone and he has no supporters inside the party. He will be a back-bencher in state Parliament until he dies. When he tells her all he has left to hold onto his her, she is quiet for a moment then tells him the complete truth about herself including her real name and that she used to be a prostitute. He isn't nearly as understanding as she would have hoped and tells her he'd like her to go.
Mick denies knowing Nigel Tanner when he is questioned by the police. Barney arrives a bit late and tells Mick he isn't obliged to answer any questions but Mick dryly says he's just having a friendly conversation with Bill Maraco (Damon Herriman) and introduces the two. Mick admits his company poured concrete at the location Nigel's body was found but denies the murder. Bill informs him they found traces of his DNA on Nigel's body and that he is being arrested on murder charges. Mick requests a private word with Barney. Once alone, he orders Barney to get him Cleaver and to get him out of the mess he's in. Barney tells Mick he doesn't work with Cleaver anymore as a matter of principal. Mick reminds him how much business he steered his way last year and Barney backs down.
Missy arrives at David's to pick up a few things and they end up arguing about her past. He ends up putting two and two together about Missy and Joe Sandilands and even Missy and Cleaver. He's probably most angry about her involvement with Cleaver.
The next morning, at the tax hearing, David tells Cleaver that "it ends today". David pulls out all the stops against Cleaver. He brings in a witness with evidence that Cleaver cannot stumble up in her testimony or cast doubt upon. Throughout the testimony, David stares at Cleaver with daggers in his eyes. The judge isn't nearly as lenient with Cleaver as he has been in the past. Things are looking very grim for our hero, indeed. The agitated judge isn't pleased with Cleaver and is ready to hand down a judgment against him when he has a heart attack and dies there at the bench. As David and Cleave are watching the judge's body being wheeled out of the courtroom, David says he knows Cleaver caused the judge's death. David vows to thrash Cleaver but Cleave shrugs it off saying he has his work cut out for him to do that from the Parliament back-benches.
As Cleaver is looking over the court transcripts of his tax case and wondering about a three week law trip to Bermagui with a deduction of $3,120 he knows he didn't claim, Missy walks up and sits down next to him. He finds other deductions in Bermagui that are a mystery to him as he's never even been to Bermagui. He called her for a meeting to tell her he can't stay mad at her and he wants the healing to begin. He can overlook every single thing except why she felt she needed to lie to him of all people. She wanted to come from someplace other than where she did but he insists she should live an authentic life, as he does, for good or bad. He tells her she should have given him a chance because he would have loved her with all the feebleness of his heart and he still does. She tells him that she told David the truth and they split because of it. She leaves him with a kiss telling him to call her when it's "bin night".
Cleave arrives at the office to find Nicole pushing boxes of papers to their new temporary office and asks her why she embezzled around $90,000 from him over the course of eight years. She doesn't deny in the least that she took money from him arguing that he would have just wasted the money anyway and she did something good with it. She saved some and used the rest to build a house for her and her fiance, Bevan, in Bermagui.
Barney and Scarlett meet with their lawyers regarding their divorce. Barney will be expected to compensate Scarlett for any interest she has in their home, the figures of which Barney isn't pleased about and offers to give Scarlett the house and let her pay him the amount instead. She can't do that because as of twenty minutes past nine that morning she had been suspended for a year because of her breaking the rule against cross-examining a friend (Cleaver). While both Barney and Scarlett are focusing on Scarlett's current situation, their lawyers are simply interested in how the case changes now that Scarlett has no income.
Cleaver informs Mick of the reality of the situation he's facing and Mick, in turn, offers to make Cleave's gambling debts disappear and even float him a line of credit if he gets him off the murder charges. Both Barney and Cleaver agree that the DNA evidence is so strong that even Cleaver, in all his glory and brilliance as a defense attorney, will have trouble getting him clear of that, if he even can. When asked by Barney where he was when the concrete was being poured, Mick reluctantly tells them he and Kirsty were hosting a "lifestyle party" at his place. He tells them about Nigel meeting Kirsty then proceeds to tell them how he doesn't do three-ways with another bloke unless his Mrs is filming. He says Nigel showed up pissed and dangerous at their place and he threw him out. Nigel came back later when everyone was gone and pulled a knife against him and Kirsty. They struggled and Nigel fell on his own knife. He was scared and panicked and didn't want to embarrass Kirsty so he hid the body. He's certain Kirsty will testify in his behalf as she knew what happened.
Cleaver and Barney can talk amiably about the case but when it goes beyond that, Barney is distant. He informs Cleaver he and Scarlett are getting a divorce, their house in on the market and that she hasn't got a job thanks to him. Barney wants to deal directly with Nicole on the case but he can't as Cleaver has sacked her for stealing from him. Nicole, who is out walking, sees a shadow on the sidewalk and, when she looks up, is struck by a falling gargoyle.
Barney pays a visit or Kirstie Corella who confirms Mick's story. She's clearly angry. Barney asks her to tell him how the swinger scene works and she does. She lists the different kinds of sex that can be had a the swingers parties saying it's "just sex". Barney doesn't understand how "just sex" can work once two people have invested everything into their marriage and made a commitment to one another. Surely, having sex with someone else ruins that. Kirsty softens her attitude a bit and tells him there's one rule that can't be broken: never get involved. He asks if she's confident to testify and she once again relates the facts of the case as Mick had told them to Barney and Cleaver. Barney notices she called Nigel by his first name.
At trial, the jury hears from Bill Maraco and an employee of Nigel Tanner's. Cleaver is able to establish with Tanner's employee that he was a very different man than the one she claimed to have known because of his swinging lifestyle.
David accosts Missy wanting to know about her relationship with Cleaver. He tells her about knowing since he was fifteen he wanted to make a difference and tried to live his life cleanly without any "blots" on his record. She has made him look like a fool. She leaves him with kind words about him deserving things to turn around for him. David then goes to speak with Cleaver and apologizes for his behavior with him outside the courtroom at the tax trial. They talk quite calmly about Missy who David admits he loves before David once again vows that he will take Cleaver down.
Barney is almost moved out of the house with Scarlett and he says goodnight to his children. He and Scarlett engage in a little small talk and she invites him to stay for dinner but he declines saying he's catching up with some old friends. He goes home to his flat to eat a salad alone.
Barney informs Cleaver that Kirstie knew Nigel Turner and they both agree the prosecution would chew her up in a minute. Barney doesn't want to become as bad as Mick just because they are being paid to defend him. In court, Cleave calls several witnesses to the stand to confirm Mick's accounting of Nigel's behaviour the night of the murder. All of the witnesses are clearly influenced by Mick and some even take cues from him during their testimony. One of the witnesses is Col, Mick's "former" enforcer. He testifies he felt frightened for his life by Nigel's behaviour.
Cleave goes to see Nicole in hospital. He offers her her job back and, when she declines, offers her a 10% raise. She admits she will still charge things to him when he's not looking. He reluctantly tells her she can keep pilfering from him but she must cap it at 5%. She holds out for at least 10%.
That night, Cleave prepares himself a microwave meal and, as he's staring at it, picks up his phone to call Missy telling her it's "bin night". She arrives with a few bags of belongings and tells him there's a van coming on Monday. He meant they should talk but she feels they should move in together and sort through everything as they go along. She laughs at the now-anxious Cleaver letting him know the moving in was a joke. She tells him she's leaving to trace the steps of her dead non-parents. He doesn't want her to leave but it's too late. She's made the plans and decided. She's leaving that night. She tells him she's been in love with him long enough to know a commitment from him isn't going to happen. He offers to come find her in a couple months and will still love her even if she is a completely different person by then. He gets up to get them a coffee and when he turns around, Missy is gone.
Before court, Cleave asks Mick if he has any aces up his sleeve as his swinging mates aren't cutting it with the jury. Mick shrugs the jury off. Cleaver surprises Barney when he calls Kirsty Corella to the stand. Kirsty re-tells the same story she told to Barney. Cleaver presses her stressing how Nigel was a venomous madman and bad person and how she loves and adores Mick. Kirsty becomes emotional and tells Mick Nigel never did anything to him. She continues telling him, in court, how good Nigel was to her. She keeps talking despite Cleave trying to end the testimony. In private, Mick confesses to Cleave and Barney that he did kill Nigel because of how he was "being intimate" with Kirsty.
Later, as Barney's belongings are being loaded into a moving truck, he and Scarlett begin arguing about what belongs to who. Barney smashes dishes and tells her she can have everything. Overcome with emotion, he sits down and, when she goes to him, he asks her if the divorce is what she really wants. He admits he loves her and the two embrace.
Wendy calls Cleaver over to speak with Fuzz who is sitting in his cupboard. Cleaver gets in with Fuzz and talks to him. He tells his son that he is the most special person he knows.
That night, Col pays Cleaver a visit wanting the $80,000 he owes Mick. Now that Mick is in prison for murder, Kirsty has taken over the business and she wants Cleave to pay up. He's still $38,000 in the hole after all Mick's legal fees were taken out so Col is there to give him a beating for the money. Barney drops by later to find a beaten Cleaver resting on the couch. Barney pours them a drink and they play Backgammon. Cleaver, despite his beating and bleeding, is in an up mood when Barney gets up to leave.
--
The first season of Rake ends on a good note, I think. It looks like Barney and Cleaver's friendship is back on the road to repair as is Barney and Scarlett's marriage. It remains to be seen if things will get back to where they were at the start of the season. Missy, aka Jane, has left leaving Cleave without the woman he loves and his Backgammon partner. I don't think she'll be able to stay away from Cleave very long, though, do you?
--
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Friday, December 17, 2010
AUS Television: Possible Second Season for Rake?
While there is no official word from ABC1 just yet, there is hope that the awesome legal drama/comedy Rake will return for a second season.
In a 5th November, 2010 article on throng.com.au, the excellent numbers for Rake's debut are detailed. The show debuted with a 20% five city share, an audience of 900,000 which peaked at 938,000. The numbers were an increase of 9% over the same time slot the previous week.
The article quotes ABC1 Controller Brendan Dahill who said: “I am thrilled with the audience response to Rake and we are already in negotiations with the producers for a second series.
“Scheduling Rake on a Thursday night was risky, as it is a long time since the network aired a drama on that night. But I felt viewers wanted some fun later in the week and this wonderfully irreverent drama series fitted the bill perfectly.”
This is an older article, I know, but it is the only thing I've found thus far about the possibility or no of a second series for Rake.
Being a massive fan of Rake, I think it's wonderful news that ABC1 has been speaking with the producers of the show for a second series. It has been a brilliant summer show that hasn't failed to deliver excellent entertainment a single time. Each episode has been a pleasure and this Australian program is just as strong, if not superior, to most shows from the United States or even the UK.
Here's hoping we will be getting official word that a second series will indeed be on the way. If that announcement is made, I'll most certainly have to share the good news!
Source, Full article: http://www.throng.com.au/rake/new-comedy-rake-proves-winner-abc
In a 5th November, 2010 article on throng.com.au, the excellent numbers for Rake's debut are detailed. The show debuted with a 20% five city share, an audience of 900,000 which peaked at 938,000. The numbers were an increase of 9% over the same time slot the previous week.
The article quotes ABC1 Controller Brendan Dahill who said: “I am thrilled with the audience response to Rake and we are already in negotiations with the producers for a second series.
“Scheduling Rake on a Thursday night was risky, as it is a long time since the network aired a drama on that night. But I felt viewers wanted some fun later in the week and this wonderfully irreverent drama series fitted the bill perfectly.”
This is an older article, I know, but it is the only thing I've found thus far about the possibility or no of a second series for Rake.
Being a massive fan of Rake, I think it's wonderful news that ABC1 has been speaking with the producers of the show for a second series. It has been a brilliant summer show that hasn't failed to deliver excellent entertainment a single time. Each episode has been a pleasure and this Australian program is just as strong, if not superior, to most shows from the United States or even the UK.
Here's hoping we will be getting official word that a second series will indeed be on the way. If that announcement is made, I'll most certainly have to share the good news!
Source, Full article: http://www.throng.com.au/rake/new-comedy-rake-proves-winner-abc
AUS Television: Rake, Episode 1.7 "R vs. Tanner"
Rake
Season One, Episode Seven, R vs. Tanner
Original Air Date: December 16, 2010
Cleaver is bashed during an unsuccessful robbery attempt at a chemists shop and must testify at the trial of the young man accused of the robbery, bashing and death of his fellow robber. Joe Sandilands is outed as one of fourteen politicians who frequented Club Jules. Tired of the stress of the situation, Joe commits suicide. Cleaver is given the case of Travis Tanner, a young man accused of bashing and robbing "Glebe woman". Cleaver learns some shocking truths about Missy that have the ability to change the relationship between the two of them forever. Fuzz hits some relationship woes with Fiona. Barney deals with his separation from Scarlett.
Barney spends a sleepless night without Scarlett but, oddly enough, finds himself smiling as he stands by the pool drinking his coffee the following morning.
Joe Sandilands is outed as one of fourteen politicians who frequented Club Jules, the brothel where Missy used to work. Video of him leaving the Club was put on YouTube leaving Sandilands no choice but to issue a statement expressing regret and remorse to his family, colleagues and supporters.
Cleave, who is suffering from a lion of a hang-over begs Nicole to find something to "kill the bastard behind my eyes" but, alas, she cannot find anything that will do the trick. Two men go through their last minute preparations for a robbery. Unfortunately, they have chosen to rob the exact same chemists shop where Cleaver has gone to get something for his "step-mother of all headaches". They enter the shop while the chemist has gone to the back to fetch something for Cleave's headache. Poor Cleaver, who can't stop telling the young men that they are on "candid camera" and that they should bolt before getting caught ends up getting bashed in the side of the head.
The young men return to their flat after the unsuccessful robbery attempt and, while one who was severely injured during the attempt sleeps, the other tries to wash the web he'd drawn on his face off.
While having his injuries taken care of at hospital, Cleaver watches a news story about David "Harry" Potter and wonders where HIS parade is. Barney arrives at the hospital and tells Cleaver to never call him again as he isn't his next of kin. When Cleaver tells him they can get over everything, Barney informs him coolly that he has gotten over Scarlett and over his friendship with him then leaves.
Scarlett arrives angry at she and Barney's house to tell him that until she is informed otherwise, it is still their house and their children. Barney doesn't argue, he simply says 'okay' and walks away.
Cleave arrives back at his office where Nicole shows him a small newspaper article about his assault at the chemists shop. He's more angry that a Glebe woman who was bashed and robbed got a bigger story that he did. When Nicole hands him the brief for Travis Tanner, the man accused to bashing the Glebe woman, Cleave vows to get him off to show Glebe woman who's boss and what it's like to be below the fold. While going over the case with Simone from the Crown Prosecutors Office, Cleave is told that, while Tanner fits the description given by Glebe woman, there is a witness who claims to have seen Tanner in the city at the precise time Glebe woman's attack occurred. The witness just so happens to be Missy.
Cleave speaks with Missy about what had happened. She literally bumped into Tanner on Phillips Street. Tanner helped her pick up her belongings she had dropped and even introduced himself to her by name. She can even describe a tattoo on his shoulder. She heard about the crime on the radio (but didn't hear about the barista from King's Cross, unfortunately) and came forward and the case eventually was delivered to Cleaver. Cleaver sees the entire situation as proof of their spiritual connection.
Simone and Cleaver pay a visit to Tanner in jail who gives them the details of why he was on Phillips Street. He wanted to see "the blue". The weather was poor but he still spent most of the day by the harbour before going back to the halfway house where he was staying. He went past the law school where Missy studies because he doesn't know the city that well.
Wanting a private word with him, Mick and Col drop in on Cleave as he is having a drink. They heard what happened at the chemists shop. Mick tells him the boys that bashed him happens to be the son of a good friend of his. He goes on to say that the other boy, Tony, died and, after asking Cleave what happened and getting an answer, he (Mick) wants Cleave to make sure Josh won't get a sentence for murder (but manslaughter is okay).
Missy and Joe Sandilands meet and he tells her his wife has given him two weeks to find a new place to live. She knew he was visiting the Club but the humiliation of everyone knowing is too much for her. Jules is keeping an understandably low profile. Someone had hacked in and gotten the client list. Missy is worried that if the client list is out, the list of girls working at the brothel is also out. Joe assures her it's only the "celebs" anyone is interested in. When he suggests she tell David, she declines that saying they're too far down the track for that. He asks her if she ever enjoyed it when they were together at the Club. Her answers lead him to believe she didn't and that Cleaver was always the one for her. He asks if she fell in love with Cleaver and she replies once or twice but that he's a hopeless case. He leaves her with a few words that "it might have been" are the saddest words and a light touch on the cheek.
Barney and Scarlett attend couples therapy even though they've already made the decision to divorce, for the children's sake. They end up bickering over who Barney meant by 'them' (the kids). When they leave the office, Scarlett wants to know what Barney is playing at with his new facade. He says the fog has lifted and he's got the desire to move on, which is what they both want, of course.
Cleaver goes into the mens room and, when he hears coughing, assumes it's a colleague who is using the patch to try and quit smoking. After going on for a few seconds about how the man is destined to be a smoker, the man comes out of the stall and it's not his colleague. The man ridicules Cleaver for talking incessantly, even while using the loo, then tells him he wants to see "the prick Greene". Cleaver calmly gives him directions where he can find Greene. In Cleaver's office, the man from the mens room and his wife, Tanner's parents, and Simone, are waiting on him. They hardly seem to be hands-on parents.
Joe Sandilands drives out to the ocean and commits suicide. Cleaver, Wendy, David and Missy and Barney and Scarlett are in attendance at the funeral. Cleaver is clearly upset by the loss of his friend. Barney comforts Joe's widow telling her one day she will wake up, the pain will be gone and she will begin again.
After the funeral, Wendy tells Cleave she's having a dinner for Fuzz's birthday at her place if he's free and that Fiona will be there. He talks about how seeing her talking with Scarlett reminded him of how things used to be years ago and how much he misses those times. He's lost them all, he believes and he loves them all, most of all Wendy. He kisses her and she asks him to get out of the car.
He calls Missy and the two meet at a club and talk over the list of so-called Club celebrities published in the paper. He's annoyed that out of thirty names, he didn't get a mention. A drunken Barney visits a pole-dancing club. Missy tells Cleave she saw Joe the morning he committed suicide. She's distraught over if she could have helped Joe or not. Cleave comforts her confirming that Joe was just sick of the BS. Missy is as well and confides in Cleaver that she's sick of it all with David as she's having to lie to him and pretend she's someone she isn't. He tells her to give David the truth; be real with David the way she's real with him. She laughs it away as being not that simple before the two share a kiss.
Barney pays a dancer at the club $200 for a kiss. The next morning, still drunk, Barney dances in a public fountain where he is seen by Cleaver. When two constables tell him to get out of the fountain, Cleaver comes to his rescue. The constables leave Barney alone and, after much trouble, Cleave finally gets him out of the fountain.
Missy arrives at home and finds that David isn't as understanding of her mourning Joe as she thought he might be. He doesn't understand how she can mourn someone she just met a little while ago so hard. He chastises her for disappearing all the time and reminds her that he's running for Parliament and that they are getting married and he must know where she was the night before. She begins to cry and turns and runs into the bedroom and closes the door without answering him.
Cleave takes Barney to the cafe he lives above to pour some coffee into him to sober him up. Barney tells him he tried to be Cleaver for the night and that he went to the bar. As he was kissing the woman, everything came back to him and he burst into tears then threw up on the woman. Cleave pours Barnyard into a cab and takes him home where the two are met by Scarlett. She immediately assumes Cleaver did something to Barney. She orders Cleave to leave her family alone then takes Barney into the house.
Scarlett, who is prosecuting Cleaver's assault case, decides she wants to cross examine him when he takes the stand despite protests from her colleague. Mick arrives in the courtroom as Scarlett stands to start her examination. She questions him calmly but firmly about what he saw the night he was bashed and how, if he had been hit hard enough to send him to hospital, he is able to be sure he didn't actually see Josh strike his mate on purpose. She asks if he'd been drinking or even taking cocaine which draws a word from the judge. He admits he'd been to rehab for cocaine addiction two years ago and she asks if he's taken the drug since. She then asks if he's an associate of Michael Corella and he does admit to defending him. When the questions become too tough, Cleaver takes a novel approach: he tells the judge he has had sexual relations with Scarlett and that she is his best friends wife leading the judge to call Scarlett into chambers.
Cleaver rushes from his bashing trial to Travis Tanner's trial. Cleaver is surprised to learn from a constable that the "Glebe woman" wasn't a "Glebe woman" at all. The attack occurred in Glebe but the woman was actually from Annandale. He also learns that the seventy-one year-old woman was attacked from behind but was able to describe her attacker including a barbed wire tattoo on his arm. He gets the constable to admit he's seen barbed wire tattoos many times throughout the course of his career. Cleaver suggests that since Tanner was arrested within two hours of the attack, there was no real investigation and even went so far as to merely cross reference inhabitants of the halfway house to hit upon Tanner to pin the crime on.
Cleave attends Fuzz's birthday dinner and finds Wendy angry at him (for the kiss), Fuzz and "Vampira" (Fiona). Conversation is tense during the dinner and get even more tense when Wendy makes a comment about Fiona not acting her age. Fuzz calls his mother on the comment and says she must get used to the fact that he and Fiona are in love. As Cleaver is delivering a toast to his now 16 year-old son, Fiona stands and rushes from the room. Fuzz follows her. Both Wendy and Cleaver comfort their son who has been dumped by Fiona for someone younger. Fuzz is distraught because Fiona was "the one" and blames them for Fiona meeting the new man at the new school they drove her to. Cleave and Wendy can't help but share a small laugh after Fuzz storms out of his bedroom. He offers to call Fiona's new school in the morning to let them know of her penchant for young men.
Barney moves into a new home. David wishes Missy good luck with the "Glebe woman case" as she's getting ready to leave for court. She arrives at the courthouse and tries to avoid Cleaver but he follows her all the way to the ladies room where he finds her crying. She is upset that Tanner's parents are at the trial. She confesses to Cleave that Tanner's mum and dad are HER mother and father and Travis is her younger brother. She acknowledges that Travis did commit the crime but his life will be over if he goes into prison again. He warns her about the dangers of getting in the witness box and lying if she is found out. She continues to confess even more including the fact her name is Jane Tanner. He's angry that she felt the need to lie to him but she insists she started the lies before she ever met him.
In court, Cleaver questions Missy/Jane about what she claimed happened on the night of the attack with two questions: what time she saw him and if she is convinced it was Travis Tanner she saw. She answers both questions with the lie she made up to save her brother. As Cleave is leaving the courthouse with Simone, Missy runs up to him to thank him. He politely replies to her then turns back to Simone saying drinks are in order.
--
This episode sure was packed to the gills! I certainly can't NOT mention Joe Sandilands suicide. I really liked Joe. The character added some great humor to the show when he appeared. Geoff Morrell was awesome as the no-nonsense, say exactly what he's thinking politician. I'm sad Joe is leaving and I will certainly miss him showing up from time to time.
The biggest news from this episode are the truths Missy dropped on Cleaver before the Travis Tanner trial. She told him so many of her darkest secrets. Secrets she'd never tell anyone else. She trusted him with who she really is. She also put Cleaver in a position she really didn't have any right to put him in. Sure, she wanted to protect her brother, but at what cost? If it's learned she lied on the stand her life will be destroyed and Cleaver will surely see some trouble from it as well since he allowed her to lie. I can only imagine this will damage their friendship. Maybe not permanently as Cleaver is extremely fond of her, but it will cause some damage. And just maybe this needed to happen to Cleaver. He now knows what it feels like to have been painted into a corner by someone he loves. He was in the exact same situation with Missy that he had put his friends and loved ones in many times.
We have one more episode left this season. It's a shame Rake is coming to a close so soon. When a show is this good, I could watch a brand new episode every single week and never tire of it. The final episode of the first season of Rake airs on 23rd December, 2010. Could you ask for any better Christmas prezzy than that?
--
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Season One, Episode Seven, R vs. Tanner
Original Air Date: December 16, 2010
Cleaver is bashed during an unsuccessful robbery attempt at a chemists shop and must testify at the trial of the young man accused of the robbery, bashing and death of his fellow robber. Joe Sandilands is outed as one of fourteen politicians who frequented Club Jules. Tired of the stress of the situation, Joe commits suicide. Cleaver is given the case of Travis Tanner, a young man accused of bashing and robbing "Glebe woman". Cleaver learns some shocking truths about Missy that have the ability to change the relationship between the two of them forever. Fuzz hits some relationship woes with Fiona. Barney deals with his separation from Scarlett.
Barney spends a sleepless night without Scarlett but, oddly enough, finds himself smiling as he stands by the pool drinking his coffee the following morning.
Joe Sandilands is outed as one of fourteen politicians who frequented Club Jules, the brothel where Missy used to work. Video of him leaving the Club was put on YouTube leaving Sandilands no choice but to issue a statement expressing regret and remorse to his family, colleagues and supporters.
Cleave, who is suffering from a lion of a hang-over begs Nicole to find something to "kill the bastard behind my eyes" but, alas, she cannot find anything that will do the trick. Two men go through their last minute preparations for a robbery. Unfortunately, they have chosen to rob the exact same chemists shop where Cleaver has gone to get something for his "step-mother of all headaches". They enter the shop while the chemist has gone to the back to fetch something for Cleave's headache. Poor Cleaver, who can't stop telling the young men that they are on "candid camera" and that they should bolt before getting caught ends up getting bashed in the side of the head.
The young men return to their flat after the unsuccessful robbery attempt and, while one who was severely injured during the attempt sleeps, the other tries to wash the web he'd drawn on his face off.
While having his injuries taken care of at hospital, Cleaver watches a news story about David "Harry" Potter and wonders where HIS parade is. Barney arrives at the hospital and tells Cleaver to never call him again as he isn't his next of kin. When Cleaver tells him they can get over everything, Barney informs him coolly that he has gotten over Scarlett and over his friendship with him then leaves.
Scarlett arrives angry at she and Barney's house to tell him that until she is informed otherwise, it is still their house and their children. Barney doesn't argue, he simply says 'okay' and walks away.
Cleave arrives back at his office where Nicole shows him a small newspaper article about his assault at the chemists shop. He's more angry that a Glebe woman who was bashed and robbed got a bigger story that he did. When Nicole hands him the brief for Travis Tanner, the man accused to bashing the Glebe woman, Cleave vows to get him off to show Glebe woman who's boss and what it's like to be below the fold. While going over the case with Simone from the Crown Prosecutors Office, Cleave is told that, while Tanner fits the description given by Glebe woman, there is a witness who claims to have seen Tanner in the city at the precise time Glebe woman's attack occurred. The witness just so happens to be Missy.
Cleave speaks with Missy about what had happened. She literally bumped into Tanner on Phillips Street. Tanner helped her pick up her belongings she had dropped and even introduced himself to her by name. She can even describe a tattoo on his shoulder. She heard about the crime on the radio (but didn't hear about the barista from King's Cross, unfortunately) and came forward and the case eventually was delivered to Cleaver. Cleaver sees the entire situation as proof of their spiritual connection.
Simone and Cleaver pay a visit to Tanner in jail who gives them the details of why he was on Phillips Street. He wanted to see "the blue". The weather was poor but he still spent most of the day by the harbour before going back to the halfway house where he was staying. He went past the law school where Missy studies because he doesn't know the city that well.
Wanting a private word with him, Mick and Col drop in on Cleave as he is having a drink. They heard what happened at the chemists shop. Mick tells him the boys that bashed him happens to be the son of a good friend of his. He goes on to say that the other boy, Tony, died and, after asking Cleave what happened and getting an answer, he (Mick) wants Cleave to make sure Josh won't get a sentence for murder (but manslaughter is okay).
Missy and Joe Sandilands meet and he tells her his wife has given him two weeks to find a new place to live. She knew he was visiting the Club but the humiliation of everyone knowing is too much for her. Jules is keeping an understandably low profile. Someone had hacked in and gotten the client list. Missy is worried that if the client list is out, the list of girls working at the brothel is also out. Joe assures her it's only the "celebs" anyone is interested in. When he suggests she tell David, she declines that saying they're too far down the track for that. He asks her if she ever enjoyed it when they were together at the Club. Her answers lead him to believe she didn't and that Cleaver was always the one for her. He asks if she fell in love with Cleaver and she replies once or twice but that he's a hopeless case. He leaves her with a few words that "it might have been" are the saddest words and a light touch on the cheek.
Barney and Scarlett attend couples therapy even though they've already made the decision to divorce, for the children's sake. They end up bickering over who Barney meant by 'them' (the kids). When they leave the office, Scarlett wants to know what Barney is playing at with his new facade. He says the fog has lifted and he's got the desire to move on, which is what they both want, of course.
Cleaver goes into the mens room and, when he hears coughing, assumes it's a colleague who is using the patch to try and quit smoking. After going on for a few seconds about how the man is destined to be a smoker, the man comes out of the stall and it's not his colleague. The man ridicules Cleaver for talking incessantly, even while using the loo, then tells him he wants to see "the prick Greene". Cleaver calmly gives him directions where he can find Greene. In Cleaver's office, the man from the mens room and his wife, Tanner's parents, and Simone, are waiting on him. They hardly seem to be hands-on parents.
Joe Sandilands drives out to the ocean and commits suicide. Cleaver, Wendy, David and Missy and Barney and Scarlett are in attendance at the funeral. Cleaver is clearly upset by the loss of his friend. Barney comforts Joe's widow telling her one day she will wake up, the pain will be gone and she will begin again.
After the funeral, Wendy tells Cleave she's having a dinner for Fuzz's birthday at her place if he's free and that Fiona will be there. He talks about how seeing her talking with Scarlett reminded him of how things used to be years ago and how much he misses those times. He's lost them all, he believes and he loves them all, most of all Wendy. He kisses her and she asks him to get out of the car.
He calls Missy and the two meet at a club and talk over the list of so-called Club celebrities published in the paper. He's annoyed that out of thirty names, he didn't get a mention. A drunken Barney visits a pole-dancing club. Missy tells Cleave she saw Joe the morning he committed suicide. She's distraught over if she could have helped Joe or not. Cleave comforts her confirming that Joe was just sick of the BS. Missy is as well and confides in Cleaver that she's sick of it all with David as she's having to lie to him and pretend she's someone she isn't. He tells her to give David the truth; be real with David the way she's real with him. She laughs it away as being not that simple before the two share a kiss.
Barney pays a dancer at the club $200 for a kiss. The next morning, still drunk, Barney dances in a public fountain where he is seen by Cleaver. When two constables tell him to get out of the fountain, Cleaver comes to his rescue. The constables leave Barney alone and, after much trouble, Cleave finally gets him out of the fountain.
Missy arrives at home and finds that David isn't as understanding of her mourning Joe as she thought he might be. He doesn't understand how she can mourn someone she just met a little while ago so hard. He chastises her for disappearing all the time and reminds her that he's running for Parliament and that they are getting married and he must know where she was the night before. She begins to cry and turns and runs into the bedroom and closes the door without answering him.
Cleave takes Barney to the cafe he lives above to pour some coffee into him to sober him up. Barney tells him he tried to be Cleaver for the night and that he went to the bar. As he was kissing the woman, everything came back to him and he burst into tears then threw up on the woman. Cleave pours Barnyard into a cab and takes him home where the two are met by Scarlett. She immediately assumes Cleaver did something to Barney. She orders Cleave to leave her family alone then takes Barney into the house.
Scarlett, who is prosecuting Cleaver's assault case, decides she wants to cross examine him when he takes the stand despite protests from her colleague. Mick arrives in the courtroom as Scarlett stands to start her examination. She questions him calmly but firmly about what he saw the night he was bashed and how, if he had been hit hard enough to send him to hospital, he is able to be sure he didn't actually see Josh strike his mate on purpose. She asks if he'd been drinking or even taking cocaine which draws a word from the judge. He admits he'd been to rehab for cocaine addiction two years ago and she asks if he's taken the drug since. She then asks if he's an associate of Michael Corella and he does admit to defending him. When the questions become too tough, Cleaver takes a novel approach: he tells the judge he has had sexual relations with Scarlett and that she is his best friends wife leading the judge to call Scarlett into chambers.
Cleaver rushes from his bashing trial to Travis Tanner's trial. Cleaver is surprised to learn from a constable that the "Glebe woman" wasn't a "Glebe woman" at all. The attack occurred in Glebe but the woman was actually from Annandale. He also learns that the seventy-one year-old woman was attacked from behind but was able to describe her attacker including a barbed wire tattoo on his arm. He gets the constable to admit he's seen barbed wire tattoos many times throughout the course of his career. Cleaver suggests that since Tanner was arrested within two hours of the attack, there was no real investigation and even went so far as to merely cross reference inhabitants of the halfway house to hit upon Tanner to pin the crime on.
Cleave attends Fuzz's birthday dinner and finds Wendy angry at him (for the kiss), Fuzz and "Vampira" (Fiona). Conversation is tense during the dinner and get even more tense when Wendy makes a comment about Fiona not acting her age. Fuzz calls his mother on the comment and says she must get used to the fact that he and Fiona are in love. As Cleaver is delivering a toast to his now 16 year-old son, Fiona stands and rushes from the room. Fuzz follows her. Both Wendy and Cleaver comfort their son who has been dumped by Fiona for someone younger. Fuzz is distraught because Fiona was "the one" and blames them for Fiona meeting the new man at the new school they drove her to. Cleave and Wendy can't help but share a small laugh after Fuzz storms out of his bedroom. He offers to call Fiona's new school in the morning to let them know of her penchant for young men.
Barney moves into a new home. David wishes Missy good luck with the "Glebe woman case" as she's getting ready to leave for court. She arrives at the courthouse and tries to avoid Cleaver but he follows her all the way to the ladies room where he finds her crying. She is upset that Tanner's parents are at the trial. She confesses to Cleave that Tanner's mum and dad are HER mother and father and Travis is her younger brother. She acknowledges that Travis did commit the crime but his life will be over if he goes into prison again. He warns her about the dangers of getting in the witness box and lying if she is found out. She continues to confess even more including the fact her name is Jane Tanner. He's angry that she felt the need to lie to him but she insists she started the lies before she ever met him.
In court, Cleaver questions Missy/Jane about what she claimed happened on the night of the attack with two questions: what time she saw him and if she is convinced it was Travis Tanner she saw. She answers both questions with the lie she made up to save her brother. As Cleave is leaving the courthouse with Simone, Missy runs up to him to thank him. He politely replies to her then turns back to Simone saying drinks are in order.
--
This episode sure was packed to the gills! I certainly can't NOT mention Joe Sandilands suicide. I really liked Joe. The character added some great humor to the show when he appeared. Geoff Morrell was awesome as the no-nonsense, say exactly what he's thinking politician. I'm sad Joe is leaving and I will certainly miss him showing up from time to time.
The biggest news from this episode are the truths Missy dropped on Cleaver before the Travis Tanner trial. She told him so many of her darkest secrets. Secrets she'd never tell anyone else. She trusted him with who she really is. She also put Cleaver in a position she really didn't have any right to put him in. Sure, she wanted to protect her brother, but at what cost? If it's learned she lied on the stand her life will be destroyed and Cleaver will surely see some trouble from it as well since he allowed her to lie. I can only imagine this will damage their friendship. Maybe not permanently as Cleaver is extremely fond of her, but it will cause some damage. And just maybe this needed to happen to Cleaver. He now knows what it feels like to have been painted into a corner by someone he loves. He was in the exact same situation with Missy that he had put his friends and loved ones in many times.
We have one more episode left this season. It's a shame Rake is coming to a close so soon. When a show is this good, I could watch a brand new episode every single week and never tire of it. The final episode of the first season of Rake airs on 23rd December, 2010. Could you ask for any better Christmas prezzy than that?
--
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Thursday, December 9, 2010
AUS Television: Rake, Episode 1.6 "R vs. Langhorn"
Rake
Season One, Episode Six, R vs. Langhorn
Original Air Date: December 9, 2010
Radio personality Eddie Langhorn is arrested for inciting racial hatred because of controversial comments she made on her radio show during an interview with Joe Sandilands. She turns to old friend Cleaver Greene to represent her. Cleave makes another appearance in tax court. This time, it doesn't end so favorably for him. Missy gives Cleave some expected, but unwelcome, news. Cleave must deal with a family emergency when his father has a stroke. Barney comes to Scarlett's aid during a trial she's prosecuting.
Radio personality, Eddie Langhorn (Rachel Griffiths) interviews Joe Sandilands and pulls no punches in her questioning of him. She wants to know what will be done about crime, particularly a series of rapes that haven't been solved. She blames him for the vigilantes who have starting working in some of the neighborhoods. A group of young men with ball bats brutally attack and bash another group of young men and leave them where they fall.
Scarlett is still not home with Barney. Her sister comes into the nursery to feed the baby and tell Scarlett that she received a phone call from her boss, Warrick (the Director of Public Prosecutions). Cleave is awakened by Nicole as he was sleeping beneath his desk. He gets up to get ready for court and is caught buck naked in the men's room washing up.
The police place Eddie Langhorn under arrest for causing a riot and inciting racial hatred. She isn't bothered by the charges in the least and the officers that arrest her are quite star-struck. David, Missy and Joe, on the campaign trail, spend some time with some of the "less controversial ethnic groups" and even do some dancing for the cameras.
Cleave is still hitting the cocaine pretty hard. Before making an appearance in tax court, he picks up a black rubbish bag to take in as his "evidence". David is still prosecuting the case and wants Cleave to produce the documents he requests under subpoena or be held in contempt. Cleave assures the court he has the documents with him and presents the rather smelly bag of documents. The smell invades the court room and the judge orders him to remove the documents immediately. The judge holds Cleaver in contempt and orders him to remand. As he is getting into the vehicle to take him to jail, he receives a call from his sister, Lilly, informing him their father has had a stroke and is in hospital. As he will be occupied for the next couple of days, Cleaver promises he will try to get up to see their father on the weekend. Cleave arrives in jail and all the unsavory characters in the cell know him.
Warrick briefs Scarlett on the arrest of Eddie Langhorn as she will be prosecuting the case.
Missy goes to see Cleaver in jail. She knows he's doing cocaine again. Cleave isn't as kind to her as he usually is and is actually rather rude to her. She leaves after telling him he will die if he keeps his behavior up.
Scarlett goes home to pick up a file and finds a woman she doesn't know there. Scarlett's son, Adam, is home from school with a fever and Sylvia is watching over him. Scarlett gives Barney an angry call because he didn't let her know Adam was sick and because he is parading Sylvia around in front of the children. Barney is quite pleased with the way he handled the conversation with Scarlett once she hangs up.
When he is released from jail, Cleave gets another call from Lilly. Their father keeps asking to see him. He asks to borrow Nicole's car for the weekend to drive up to see his father. Nicole is moving them into yet another new office previously belonging to a Tolga Urdan. Cleave enters the room and finds Eddie Langhorn sitting in his chair waiting for him.
Cleave doesn't agree with Eddie's opinions and wonders why she chose him to represent her. She feels justified in her actions because of the gang rape she questioned Joe Sandilands about. He refuses to represent her and leaves the office. She goes after him and they are caught by a group of reporters. She makes a heartfelt statement to the reporters and Cleave interrupts wanting to know if he can say something. When Eddie steps aside to allow him to speak he asks if any of the reporters can lend him a car for the weekend.
Cleave goes to Wendy who lends him her car and insists Fuzz go along to see his grandfather and to give Cleave time to talk with their son about his teacher/girlfriend. Wendy makes note that he is defending the "gorgon". He denies that and she reminds him that the last time they saw Eddie she ruined their marriage but Cleave claims he did that all by himself.
Fuzz listens to loud music on the drive up to see the elder Greene. At the hospital, Cleave's father awakens and is "better" for seeing Cleave. Cleave spends another few uncomfortable seconds in the room then gets up and leaves. They go to see his sisters Lilly and Jane who both start into Cleave. Even they make comment about him defending Eddie. He maintains he isn't defending her and continues to talk about how their father wasn't good to him. They remind him that he was a handful even as a child.
On the way home, Cleave pulls the car over and tells Fuzz if he wants nothing to do with him then he can get out. He's tired of people passing judgment on him. Fuzz gets out of the car and starts walking and Cleave gets out to stop him and the two argue. As Cleave is telling his son how much he loves him, a lorry swerves around a corner and bashes into Wendy's car. Cleave calls her and tells her the damage is "largely superficial" but the car is a mess. He promises her he'll pay for the damage as he's "good for it".
Missy and David meet with a local woman, Elspeth, who has a complaint she thinks he should handle. She is having issues with the weekly collection of garden waste and he needs to take care of it. He gets her vote as she likes him.
Cleave and Eddie meet for lunch and he asks her if she really believes what she says on air. She does. He is familiar with the rape cases she is rallying against and feels it doesn't have to be anything but it suits her to make it mean something. They get into an argument over different ethnic groups and their customs then end up in the bathroom kissing and snorting cocaine.
At the courthouse, Scarlett expresses her opinion of Eddie Langhorn to Cleaver who says that democracy is built upon the inalienable right to express moronic opinions. Scarlett feels she is "the Devil". In her opening arguments, Scarlett makes it clear that Langhorn knew exactly what she was doing in trying to incite violence. She questions one of the young men who committed the beatings and he admits he doesn't know if he would have done the beatings if he hadn't listened to Eddie. Cleaver then makes the case that the young man didn't understand what Eddie was talking about as he couldn't define many of the words she used in her broadcast.
Joe, Missy and David try to figure out a piece of artwork. Joe thinks it's a human organ while Missy is certain it has to be an animal of some kind. When Joe steps away for a second, David asks Missy the name of the town where her parents renewed their wedding vows. Joe steps back with them and a woman walks up and notes that the camel has caught their eyes.
Scarlett questions the general manager of the station where Eddie works. He's clearly happy with the performance Eddie has done on the station and with the revenue she's brought in. Ted Gorman, another personality at the station will be leaving and Eddie is a candidate to fill that position and Scarlett suggests everything could have been a publicity stunt. He doesn't see things that way at all.
In his office, Cleave asks Eddie why she neglected to tell him about Gorman leaving the station. She accuses him of humiliating her listeners, the boy from court. If he didn't have the opportunity for a good education she is proud to speak on his behalf. She tells him they are both advocates for hire; two sides of the same coin.
That night, Scarlett is walking in a park and is followed by a group of boys. She gets on her knees and they pass her by but she is severely shaken by the encounter. She calls Cleave, who is asleep at his desk and he immediately goes to her aid. He finds her hiding beneath a bridge. The next day, Cleave finds Barney and tells him Scarlett was attacked the night before. He blames it on Eddie Langhorn.
David tells Missy that after the election and before he gets sworn in, they should take a trip to Italy and end up in the same town where her parents reaffirmed their vows. He says he thinks they should get married.
Barney wants to talk over the Langhorn case with Joe over a game but Joe declines saying the case is off limits. When they are getting ready to leave the gym, Joe picks up his bag, says goodbye to Barney and leaves. Barney sees some papers on the bench where Joe's bag was sitting and calls to him that he forgot them. He picks them up and sees they are the case file for the Mary Drouin case, Eddie Langhorn's cause.
Eddie claims in court she only wanted to get answers about the Drouin case and the other rapes from her on-air conversation with Joe Sandilands and did not mean to cause racial unrest or a riot. Scarlett acts her to clarify some of her on-air statements. As Eddie is testifying, Barney enters the courtroom and sits down to watch the proceedings. When Scarlett sees him, she requests a brief recess. He gives her the Drouin case file and fifteen minutes to read over it before he must have it back. He tells her Sylvia is an agency nanny that charges $32 an hour.
Once back in court, Scarlett questions Eddie about knowing Mary Drouin's sister who came to visit her a week before the broadcast. Eddie had given her $20,000, which she claimed was to help Mary with her medical and psychological needs. She claimed Mary's sister came to her with a wild story she didn't believe. That the rape didn't happen as Mary had described it and that it was perpetrated instead by a family member. The story about the Muslim gang was invented to cover up the family rape. Eddie's general manager, unhappy about the new information, gets up and leaves the courtroom. Cleaver objects and asks the judge to strike the evidence from the record. The judge agrees and orders the jury to not take the information into account. Eddie is acquitted but Cleaver knows the truth about her.
That night, Cleaver cooks his steak on his iron. Missy pays him a visit and asks if he's going to rehab (which he isn't). They kiss and she tells him she and David are getting married. When she leaves, he looks through the photo album Lilly gave Fuzz. He goes back to see his father and takes one of the photos from the album with him. He listens to the radio (which has Eddie now playing easy listening) until his father awakens and asks him to "turn that wretched harpie off, son".
As always, everything seems to be crumbling around poor Cleave. His cocaine usage is getting worse. Missy knows he's using again but even her pleas for him to get help fall on deaf ears. He pushes her away when she comes to visit him in jail. That was more a defensive move on his part than real anger at her, I do think. His father has had a stroke and he must come to terms with his feelings for him. Fuzz is still bitterly angry at him for how he treated his girlfriend/teacher. He's on speaking terms with Wendy again, but now that her car got trashed in his custody that might change. And worst of all, Missy drops the news on him that she and David are getting married. I can't help but believe Missy isn't truly happy at the prospect of being Mrs. Melissa Potter. She still has Cleave in her heart and head too much to truly be dedicated 100% to David.
I thought it was quite big of Barney to extend a professional olive branch to Scarlett. He's clearly still very angry and hurt with her having slept with Cleave but he put that aside for a few minutes and did the right thing. And I won't believe he wasn't genuinely concerned when Cleave told him Scarlett had been attacked. His reaction wasn't one of an angry husband but one of a concerned husband.
The previews for next week look great. We might just see the ice melt a bit between Cleave and old Barnyard. I sure do hope so as I love Barney and look forward to seeing him and Cleave working together again.
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Season One, Episode Six, R vs. Langhorn
Original Air Date: December 9, 2010
Radio personality Eddie Langhorn is arrested for inciting racial hatred because of controversial comments she made on her radio show during an interview with Joe Sandilands. She turns to old friend Cleaver Greene to represent her. Cleave makes another appearance in tax court. This time, it doesn't end so favorably for him. Missy gives Cleave some expected, but unwelcome, news. Cleave must deal with a family emergency when his father has a stroke. Barney comes to Scarlett's aid during a trial she's prosecuting.
Radio personality, Eddie Langhorn (Rachel Griffiths) interviews Joe Sandilands and pulls no punches in her questioning of him. She wants to know what will be done about crime, particularly a series of rapes that haven't been solved. She blames him for the vigilantes who have starting working in some of the neighborhoods. A group of young men with ball bats brutally attack and bash another group of young men and leave them where they fall.
Scarlett is still not home with Barney. Her sister comes into the nursery to feed the baby and tell Scarlett that she received a phone call from her boss, Warrick (the Director of Public Prosecutions). Cleave is awakened by Nicole as he was sleeping beneath his desk. He gets up to get ready for court and is caught buck naked in the men's room washing up.
The police place Eddie Langhorn under arrest for causing a riot and inciting racial hatred. She isn't bothered by the charges in the least and the officers that arrest her are quite star-struck. David, Missy and Joe, on the campaign trail, spend some time with some of the "less controversial ethnic groups" and even do some dancing for the cameras.
Cleave is still hitting the cocaine pretty hard. Before making an appearance in tax court, he picks up a black rubbish bag to take in as his "evidence". David is still prosecuting the case and wants Cleave to produce the documents he requests under subpoena or be held in contempt. Cleave assures the court he has the documents with him and presents the rather smelly bag of documents. The smell invades the court room and the judge orders him to remove the documents immediately. The judge holds Cleaver in contempt and orders him to remand. As he is getting into the vehicle to take him to jail, he receives a call from his sister, Lilly, informing him their father has had a stroke and is in hospital. As he will be occupied for the next couple of days, Cleaver promises he will try to get up to see their father on the weekend. Cleave arrives in jail and all the unsavory characters in the cell know him.
Warrick briefs Scarlett on the arrest of Eddie Langhorn as she will be prosecuting the case.
Missy goes to see Cleaver in jail. She knows he's doing cocaine again. Cleave isn't as kind to her as he usually is and is actually rather rude to her. She leaves after telling him he will die if he keeps his behavior up.
Scarlett goes home to pick up a file and finds a woman she doesn't know there. Scarlett's son, Adam, is home from school with a fever and Sylvia is watching over him. Scarlett gives Barney an angry call because he didn't let her know Adam was sick and because he is parading Sylvia around in front of the children. Barney is quite pleased with the way he handled the conversation with Scarlett once she hangs up.
When he is released from jail, Cleave gets another call from Lilly. Their father keeps asking to see him. He asks to borrow Nicole's car for the weekend to drive up to see his father. Nicole is moving them into yet another new office previously belonging to a Tolga Urdan. Cleave enters the room and finds Eddie Langhorn sitting in his chair waiting for him.
Cleave doesn't agree with Eddie's opinions and wonders why she chose him to represent her. She feels justified in her actions because of the gang rape she questioned Joe Sandilands about. He refuses to represent her and leaves the office. She goes after him and they are caught by a group of reporters. She makes a heartfelt statement to the reporters and Cleave interrupts wanting to know if he can say something. When Eddie steps aside to allow him to speak he asks if any of the reporters can lend him a car for the weekend.
Cleave goes to Wendy who lends him her car and insists Fuzz go along to see his grandfather and to give Cleave time to talk with their son about his teacher/girlfriend. Wendy makes note that he is defending the "gorgon". He denies that and she reminds him that the last time they saw Eddie she ruined their marriage but Cleave claims he did that all by himself.
Fuzz listens to loud music on the drive up to see the elder Greene. At the hospital, Cleave's father awakens and is "better" for seeing Cleave. Cleave spends another few uncomfortable seconds in the room then gets up and leaves. They go to see his sisters Lilly and Jane who both start into Cleave. Even they make comment about him defending Eddie. He maintains he isn't defending her and continues to talk about how their father wasn't good to him. They remind him that he was a handful even as a child.
On the way home, Cleave pulls the car over and tells Fuzz if he wants nothing to do with him then he can get out. He's tired of people passing judgment on him. Fuzz gets out of the car and starts walking and Cleave gets out to stop him and the two argue. As Cleave is telling his son how much he loves him, a lorry swerves around a corner and bashes into Wendy's car. Cleave calls her and tells her the damage is "largely superficial" but the car is a mess. He promises her he'll pay for the damage as he's "good for it".
Missy and David meet with a local woman, Elspeth, who has a complaint she thinks he should handle. She is having issues with the weekly collection of garden waste and he needs to take care of it. He gets her vote as she likes him.
Cleave and Eddie meet for lunch and he asks her if she really believes what she says on air. She does. He is familiar with the rape cases she is rallying against and feels it doesn't have to be anything but it suits her to make it mean something. They get into an argument over different ethnic groups and their customs then end up in the bathroom kissing and snorting cocaine.
At the courthouse, Scarlett expresses her opinion of Eddie Langhorn to Cleaver who says that democracy is built upon the inalienable right to express moronic opinions. Scarlett feels she is "the Devil". In her opening arguments, Scarlett makes it clear that Langhorn knew exactly what she was doing in trying to incite violence. She questions one of the young men who committed the beatings and he admits he doesn't know if he would have done the beatings if he hadn't listened to Eddie. Cleaver then makes the case that the young man didn't understand what Eddie was talking about as he couldn't define many of the words she used in her broadcast.
Joe, Missy and David try to figure out a piece of artwork. Joe thinks it's a human organ while Missy is certain it has to be an animal of some kind. When Joe steps away for a second, David asks Missy the name of the town where her parents renewed their wedding vows. Joe steps back with them and a woman walks up and notes that the camel has caught their eyes.
Scarlett questions the general manager of the station where Eddie works. He's clearly happy with the performance Eddie has done on the station and with the revenue she's brought in. Ted Gorman, another personality at the station will be leaving and Eddie is a candidate to fill that position and Scarlett suggests everything could have been a publicity stunt. He doesn't see things that way at all.
In his office, Cleave asks Eddie why she neglected to tell him about Gorman leaving the station. She accuses him of humiliating her listeners, the boy from court. If he didn't have the opportunity for a good education she is proud to speak on his behalf. She tells him they are both advocates for hire; two sides of the same coin.
That night, Scarlett is walking in a park and is followed by a group of boys. She gets on her knees and they pass her by but she is severely shaken by the encounter. She calls Cleave, who is asleep at his desk and he immediately goes to her aid. He finds her hiding beneath a bridge. The next day, Cleave finds Barney and tells him Scarlett was attacked the night before. He blames it on Eddie Langhorn.
David tells Missy that after the election and before he gets sworn in, they should take a trip to Italy and end up in the same town where her parents reaffirmed their vows. He says he thinks they should get married.
Barney wants to talk over the Langhorn case with Joe over a game but Joe declines saying the case is off limits. When they are getting ready to leave the gym, Joe picks up his bag, says goodbye to Barney and leaves. Barney sees some papers on the bench where Joe's bag was sitting and calls to him that he forgot them. He picks them up and sees they are the case file for the Mary Drouin case, Eddie Langhorn's cause.
Eddie claims in court she only wanted to get answers about the Drouin case and the other rapes from her on-air conversation with Joe Sandilands and did not mean to cause racial unrest or a riot. Scarlett acts her to clarify some of her on-air statements. As Eddie is testifying, Barney enters the courtroom and sits down to watch the proceedings. When Scarlett sees him, she requests a brief recess. He gives her the Drouin case file and fifteen minutes to read over it before he must have it back. He tells her Sylvia is an agency nanny that charges $32 an hour.
Once back in court, Scarlett questions Eddie about knowing Mary Drouin's sister who came to visit her a week before the broadcast. Eddie had given her $20,000, which she claimed was to help Mary with her medical and psychological needs. She claimed Mary's sister came to her with a wild story she didn't believe. That the rape didn't happen as Mary had described it and that it was perpetrated instead by a family member. The story about the Muslim gang was invented to cover up the family rape. Eddie's general manager, unhappy about the new information, gets up and leaves the courtroom. Cleaver objects and asks the judge to strike the evidence from the record. The judge agrees and orders the jury to not take the information into account. Eddie is acquitted but Cleaver knows the truth about her.
That night, Cleaver cooks his steak on his iron. Missy pays him a visit and asks if he's going to rehab (which he isn't). They kiss and she tells him she and David are getting married. When she leaves, he looks through the photo album Lilly gave Fuzz. He goes back to see his father and takes one of the photos from the album with him. He listens to the radio (which has Eddie now playing easy listening) until his father awakens and asks him to "turn that wretched harpie off, son".
--
The case Cleaver works on in this episode isn't as wild as some have been in the past. After all, bestiality and cannibalism are pretty hard to top, aren't they? Cleave is old friends (well, more than friends, exactly) with his client in this case but they don't see eye to eye on hardly anything. Still, he comes through for her and manages to get her acquitted. However, that acquittal comes at a price to her.As always, everything seems to be crumbling around poor Cleave. His cocaine usage is getting worse. Missy knows he's using again but even her pleas for him to get help fall on deaf ears. He pushes her away when she comes to visit him in jail. That was more a defensive move on his part than real anger at her, I do think. His father has had a stroke and he must come to terms with his feelings for him. Fuzz is still bitterly angry at him for how he treated his girlfriend/teacher. He's on speaking terms with Wendy again, but now that her car got trashed in his custody that might change. And worst of all, Missy drops the news on him that she and David are getting married. I can't help but believe Missy isn't truly happy at the prospect of being Mrs. Melissa Potter. She still has Cleave in her heart and head too much to truly be dedicated 100% to David.
I thought it was quite big of Barney to extend a professional olive branch to Scarlett. He's clearly still very angry and hurt with her having slept with Cleave but he put that aside for a few minutes and did the right thing. And I won't believe he wasn't genuinely concerned when Cleave told him Scarlett had been attacked. His reaction wasn't one of an angry husband but one of a concerned husband.
The previews for next week look great. We might just see the ice melt a bit between Cleave and old Barnyard. I sure do hope so as I love Barney and look forward to seeing him and Cleave working together again.
--
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
AUS Television: Rake, Episode 1.5 "R vs. Chandler"
Rake
Season One, Episode Five, R vs. Chandler
Original Air Date: December 2, 2010
Dr. Bruce Chandler is in need of the stellar legal services of Cleaver Greene when a DVD hidden in the good doctors briefcase is discovered following the theft of said briefcase. Barney doesn't want anything to do with Cleaver. Scarlett shows up at Cleaver's flat after Barney kicks her out of their house. David Potter starts his political run but will it cause problems between he and Missy?
Cleave tries to get Barney to talk to him and wants Barnyard to even give him a good hit. Barney keeps his cool until Cleave tells his friend he has too much respect for him. He accuses Cleave of never giving respect no matter how much he talks about it and of being a selfish turd. Things don't go too much better when Cleave drops by Wendy's. Fuzz will not let him in the house because neither he or Wendy want him there. He pleads his case to Wendy (and Fuzz) in that he thought his son was seeing a girl his own age and not a 28 year-old woman. She tells Cleaver to not come back until he feels he can shoulder some of the responsibility of raising their son. Cleave walks away grumbling about how their conversation should have gone.
Dr. Bruce Chandler's (Sam Neill) briefcase is stolen as he is at the check out at the market. A policeman later finds the briefcase on the curb and takes it back to his desk to look through it where he finds a DVD hidden in the case. The police pay a visit to Dr. Chandler at the hospital about his stolen briefcase (and the contents of the DVD). Chandler ends up at the police station. When his wife, Jan (Heather Mitchell), comes to visit him, he whispers to her that they found the DVD. She's angry he didn't keep the DVD in their home safe. That wasn't an option because their daughter, Bec (Brooke Harman) has the combination to the safe.
At a loss in every other aspect of his life, Cleave goes where he feels at home: to gamble on the fights. He goes into the restroom with some cocaine and, after a few moments of though, does all four lines.
Chandler tells Bec about his current problems. She wants to see the DVD but he refuses to let her.
Cleave, now high and drinking beer, goads the fighters and demands Col (Steve Le Marquand) double the bet he placed. Cleave loses the bet, of course, and ends up taking the punishment for it because he didn't have the money to cover the bet as he claimed he did. "Life's too short to wait for a beating" so he urges Col to get on with things. Cleave goes back to Barney's but his old (and now former) friend still doesn't want anything to do with him. He goes home and Missy comes to his aid when called. She takes care of his injuries and cleans him up. They kiss and he confesses to her that he slept with his best friends wife and she replies "I know". He asks her how she knew and when he looks at her it's Wendy, not Missy. The buzzer awakens him from his dream and it is Scarlett there to see him. Barney has kicked Scarlett out of their home. She is going to spend the day at Cleave's flat.
At work, Lincoln (Rhys Muldoon) will be briefing Cleave (who is suffering from a great case of hay fever) on the Chandler case, after he learns how to work the DVD player. Finally, Cleave must call Nicole in to start the DVD for them. The contents of the DVD are apparently something judging from Cleave's reaction to them. Lincoln isn't the best assistant Cleave could ever hope for. He cannot find some of the necessary information for the case and appears to be totally unprepared. Cleave is perfectly familiar with Chandler as he delivered Fuzz. Chandler, at first, maintains it wasn't him in the room. Then, maintains it was him in the room but the room was in Canada so he technically didn't commit any crime under New South Wales law.
Cleave goes to see Chandler and makes it clear the Canada story will never fly as the opera house and Sydney Morning Herald can be clearly seen in the video. He admits to Cleave that so far, the only thing he's told Bec about the situation is that he was with a prostitute and taking drugs. We also learn that the DVD contained Chandler and "the other woman" having "a three-way with the family dog". Chandler doesn't want his wife Jan charged with anything so he insists the woman he was with in the video was a prostitute and not his wife.
David Potter makes his first public speech in his run for the Labour Party candidate against his opponent, an electrician from the area the candidate will represent, Jack Fulton (David Webb). Joe Sandilands doesn't want David to worry about Jack but he's cautioned by Gav Myers (Alan Flower) to be prepared all the same.
Cleave arrives home that night to find Scarlett has cleaned his flat and is preparing dinner. He excuses himself and goes to the bathroom to snort some more cocaine. He gives her dozens of other options where she could stay and wants to know what will happen with Barney found out. Barney dropped her at Cleaver's. Scarlett starts to leave in tears but Cleave stops her.
Missy assumes that "be prepared" means they must find some dirt on Jack Fulton. David informs her he already has dirt on Fulton, which surprises her. David is comfortable with the whole thought of all the candidates, and their backers (including Joe) digging up dirt on each other. Missy is worried and doesn't like the idea that she will have her private life and past possibly brought out in the process.
Missy goes to Cleaver's flat to tell him she thinks she's left David. She starts to leave when she realizes he has company but he calls her to come back. Cleave, Missy and Scarlett sit up talking about David. Missy feels she isn't good enough for David and Scarlett tries to understand why she feels that way. Missy reveals to her that she used to be a prostitute and Scarlett understands this was Cleave's old favorite.
That night, the family dog wanders into the Chandler's bedroom. Bruce wants the animal out of the room immediately but Jan doesn't mind him staying as he was lonely outside. Bruce is upset because his good name has been sullied by the DVD of them "buggering the family hound". Bruce is beside himself with worry but Jan is calm and cool. He tells her he's thinking of having Cleaver change his plea to guilty because a trial will only make things worse for her and Bec. She refuses to allow him to do that. He gets back in the bed but jumps up when he realizes the dog is under the covers with him and Jan.
Missy and Scarlett go to sleep in Cleave's bed and, as he is sitting there watching them, the buzzer sounds. It's Wendy wanting to know if Fuzz is there. She can't find him anywhere, even at the home of his teacher (she must have moved). He suggests they change the approach they are using with Fuzz. Wendy questions him on who is in his bed with Scarlett and he tells her it's Missy. Cleave calls Fuzz's mobile and leaves a message for him to call, at the very least, Wendy. Fuzz texts him back to let them know he's with his teacher and will see his mother in the morning. After Wendy drinks more wine than she really should, Cleave ends up sitting and watching Missy, Scarlett and Wendy sleep in his bed. The next day, he is awakened by the noise of all three women and Scarlett's children talking and playing in his flat. He snorts more cocaine and is caught with some still under his nose when one of Scarlett's kids come into the bathroom.
Jan Chandler finds things aren't as perfectly fine as she thinks when a clerk at the supermarket she frequents doesn't want to answer a question and avoids getting near her.
Missy makes an angry call to David while watching a news story detailing the dirt he had found on Fulton. David wants her to come home but she needs some time to think and stays at Cleaver's. Cleave goes downstairs to the diner to eat and Missy drops in while he's there. David calls a few seconds after she sits down. She doesn't see how it can work with David. He tells her she needs to either tell David the truth or end the relationship because there is no way she can keep a secret in this town. He offers her the job of helping him out with his current case for a distraction. They go back to his office to watch the DVD and she's disgusted by what she sees. When they return to Cleave's flat, it is empty. Scarlett has gone to stay with her sister for a few nights. Missy, too, soon leaves to stay at a friend's place while her friend is away.
A photographer (Brett Heath) is harassing Bec Chandler. When Missy sees this, she bumps into him so Bec can get away then knees him in the groin. Missy and Bec talk about why the photographer was hounding her. Missy tries to reassure her that everyone is into something but Bec doesn't understand what she means. She explains further then tells her she's working for her father. Later, Bec wants her father to explain things to her. He doesn't feel he could really give her a proper explanation that would be good enough for her. She asks why mum is so forgiving of him and if he is protecting her.
Cleave takes more cocaine before working over the case with Missy. They work late and Missy suggests they shouldn't necessarily be afraid of the DVD. They toss around the thought of playing it over and over and over because the more it's watched, the more the viewer becomes immune to it. Lincoln arrives with a revelation that he might have come up with a way to minimize how much the jury sees the DVD.
In court, Cleaver goes with the non-stop DVD playing theory. He goes through the video literally frame-by-frame, almost one-hundred thousand of them and does commentary making frequent reference to the "unknown prostitute". The judge takes Cleave and the prosecutor into his office about the "unknown prostitute" comments. Cleaver admits that his directions are that Chandler and his wife love their daughter and want to keep Jan out of things. He asks the judge and prosecutor to give the kid a break.
Cleaver questions Dr. D/Antonio (Genevieve Hegney) if she equates the act Chandler is accused of with the act of paedophilia, which she does. He then asks if children and dogs are pretty much the same to her which draws an objection from the prosecutor. He gets her to admit that she doesn't see why a dogs life is any less valuable than a humans. He then suggestions that her views on animal welfare are extreme, which she rejects. When she says she doesn't believe a dog should be forced to have sex against his or her will, Cleave goes back to the DVD. He wants her to show them where the exact moment Felix the dog is being forced, coerced or encouraged.
While having lunch outside the courthouse, Missy stops Bec from entering the building. Bec wants to know if it was her mother in the room with her father on the DVD. Missy assures her it was a prostitute and even gives her the woman's name and where she works. When the trial resumes, the prosecution questions Chandler as to where he found the prostitute and how much he paid for the "specialization", then asks no further questions. Cleave delivers amusing and statistic-filled closing arguments. The jury finds Chandler not guilty.
Joe Sandilands calls Missy to encourage Missy to go back to David. She calls a rain check for a celebration with Cleave and spends a sleepless night with David. Scarlett isn't sleeping either. And Cleaver, he's at his flat alone indulging in all his bad habits. Felix the dog scratches to get into the Chandler's bedroom that night.
Sam Neill was awesome as Bruce Chandler. I'm a great fan of Neill's to start off with so it was wonderful to see him here. He was perfectly paranoid every time we saw him, at some points, almost to where I thought for sure Chandler would be having a heart attack at any second. Neill's range as an actor is amazing and he never ceases to amaze me.
It's episodes like this that are proof positive that Rake isn't like any other legal drama on television. I'm yet to find another that deals with cannibals, bestiality, politicians and lawyers the way this show does. It's unique and it's perfect.
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Season One, Episode Five, R vs. Chandler
Original Air Date: December 2, 2010
Dr. Bruce Chandler is in need of the stellar legal services of Cleaver Greene when a DVD hidden in the good doctors briefcase is discovered following the theft of said briefcase. Barney doesn't want anything to do with Cleaver. Scarlett shows up at Cleaver's flat after Barney kicks her out of their house. David Potter starts his political run but will it cause problems between he and Missy?
Cleave tries to get Barney to talk to him and wants Barnyard to even give him a good hit. Barney keeps his cool until Cleave tells his friend he has too much respect for him. He accuses Cleave of never giving respect no matter how much he talks about it and of being a selfish turd. Things don't go too much better when Cleave drops by Wendy's. Fuzz will not let him in the house because neither he or Wendy want him there. He pleads his case to Wendy (and Fuzz) in that he thought his son was seeing a girl his own age and not a 28 year-old woman. She tells Cleaver to not come back until he feels he can shoulder some of the responsibility of raising their son. Cleave walks away grumbling about how their conversation should have gone.
Dr. Bruce Chandler's (Sam Neill) briefcase is stolen as he is at the check out at the market. A policeman later finds the briefcase on the curb and takes it back to his desk to look through it where he finds a DVD hidden in the case. The police pay a visit to Dr. Chandler at the hospital about his stolen briefcase (and the contents of the DVD). Chandler ends up at the police station. When his wife, Jan (Heather Mitchell), comes to visit him, he whispers to her that they found the DVD. She's angry he didn't keep the DVD in their home safe. That wasn't an option because their daughter, Bec (Brooke Harman) has the combination to the safe.
At a loss in every other aspect of his life, Cleave goes where he feels at home: to gamble on the fights. He goes into the restroom with some cocaine and, after a few moments of though, does all four lines.
Chandler tells Bec about his current problems. She wants to see the DVD but he refuses to let her.
Cleave, now high and drinking beer, goads the fighters and demands Col (Steve Le Marquand) double the bet he placed. Cleave loses the bet, of course, and ends up taking the punishment for it because he didn't have the money to cover the bet as he claimed he did. "Life's too short to wait for a beating" so he urges Col to get on with things. Cleave goes back to Barney's but his old (and now former) friend still doesn't want anything to do with him. He goes home and Missy comes to his aid when called. She takes care of his injuries and cleans him up. They kiss and he confesses to her that he slept with his best friends wife and she replies "I know". He asks her how she knew and when he looks at her it's Wendy, not Missy. The buzzer awakens him from his dream and it is Scarlett there to see him. Barney has kicked Scarlett out of their home. She is going to spend the day at Cleave's flat.
At work, Lincoln (Rhys Muldoon) will be briefing Cleave (who is suffering from a great case of hay fever) on the Chandler case, after he learns how to work the DVD player. Finally, Cleave must call Nicole in to start the DVD for them. The contents of the DVD are apparently something judging from Cleave's reaction to them. Lincoln isn't the best assistant Cleave could ever hope for. He cannot find some of the necessary information for the case and appears to be totally unprepared. Cleave is perfectly familiar with Chandler as he delivered Fuzz. Chandler, at first, maintains it wasn't him in the room. Then, maintains it was him in the room but the room was in Canada so he technically didn't commit any crime under New South Wales law.
Cleave goes to see Chandler and makes it clear the Canada story will never fly as the opera house and Sydney Morning Herald can be clearly seen in the video. He admits to Cleave that so far, the only thing he's told Bec about the situation is that he was with a prostitute and taking drugs. We also learn that the DVD contained Chandler and "the other woman" having "a three-way with the family dog". Chandler doesn't want his wife Jan charged with anything so he insists the woman he was with in the video was a prostitute and not his wife.
David Potter makes his first public speech in his run for the Labour Party candidate against his opponent, an electrician from the area the candidate will represent, Jack Fulton (David Webb). Joe Sandilands doesn't want David to worry about Jack but he's cautioned by Gav Myers (Alan Flower) to be prepared all the same.
Cleave arrives home that night to find Scarlett has cleaned his flat and is preparing dinner. He excuses himself and goes to the bathroom to snort some more cocaine. He gives her dozens of other options where she could stay and wants to know what will happen with Barney found out. Barney dropped her at Cleaver's. Scarlett starts to leave in tears but Cleave stops her.
Missy assumes that "be prepared" means they must find some dirt on Jack Fulton. David informs her he already has dirt on Fulton, which surprises her. David is comfortable with the whole thought of all the candidates, and their backers (including Joe) digging up dirt on each other. Missy is worried and doesn't like the idea that she will have her private life and past possibly brought out in the process.
Missy goes to Cleaver's flat to tell him she thinks she's left David. She starts to leave when she realizes he has company but he calls her to come back. Cleave, Missy and Scarlett sit up talking about David. Missy feels she isn't good enough for David and Scarlett tries to understand why she feels that way. Missy reveals to her that she used to be a prostitute and Scarlett understands this was Cleave's old favorite.
That night, the family dog wanders into the Chandler's bedroom. Bruce wants the animal out of the room immediately but Jan doesn't mind him staying as he was lonely outside. Bruce is upset because his good name has been sullied by the DVD of them "buggering the family hound". Bruce is beside himself with worry but Jan is calm and cool. He tells her he's thinking of having Cleaver change his plea to guilty because a trial will only make things worse for her and Bec. She refuses to allow him to do that. He gets back in the bed but jumps up when he realizes the dog is under the covers with him and Jan.
Missy and Scarlett go to sleep in Cleave's bed and, as he is sitting there watching them, the buzzer sounds. It's Wendy wanting to know if Fuzz is there. She can't find him anywhere, even at the home of his teacher (she must have moved). He suggests they change the approach they are using with Fuzz. Wendy questions him on who is in his bed with Scarlett and he tells her it's Missy. Cleave calls Fuzz's mobile and leaves a message for him to call, at the very least, Wendy. Fuzz texts him back to let them know he's with his teacher and will see his mother in the morning. After Wendy drinks more wine than she really should, Cleave ends up sitting and watching Missy, Scarlett and Wendy sleep in his bed. The next day, he is awakened by the noise of all three women and Scarlett's children talking and playing in his flat. He snorts more cocaine and is caught with some still under his nose when one of Scarlett's kids come into the bathroom.
Jan Chandler finds things aren't as perfectly fine as she thinks when a clerk at the supermarket she frequents doesn't want to answer a question and avoids getting near her.
Missy makes an angry call to David while watching a news story detailing the dirt he had found on Fulton. David wants her to come home but she needs some time to think and stays at Cleaver's. Cleave goes downstairs to the diner to eat and Missy drops in while he's there. David calls a few seconds after she sits down. She doesn't see how it can work with David. He tells her she needs to either tell David the truth or end the relationship because there is no way she can keep a secret in this town. He offers her the job of helping him out with his current case for a distraction. They go back to his office to watch the DVD and she's disgusted by what she sees. When they return to Cleave's flat, it is empty. Scarlett has gone to stay with her sister for a few nights. Missy, too, soon leaves to stay at a friend's place while her friend is away.
A photographer (Brett Heath) is harassing Bec Chandler. When Missy sees this, she bumps into him so Bec can get away then knees him in the groin. Missy and Bec talk about why the photographer was hounding her. Missy tries to reassure her that everyone is into something but Bec doesn't understand what she means. She explains further then tells her she's working for her father. Later, Bec wants her father to explain things to her. He doesn't feel he could really give her a proper explanation that would be good enough for her. She asks why mum is so forgiving of him and if he is protecting her.
Cleave takes more cocaine before working over the case with Missy. They work late and Missy suggests they shouldn't necessarily be afraid of the DVD. They toss around the thought of playing it over and over and over because the more it's watched, the more the viewer becomes immune to it. Lincoln arrives with a revelation that he might have come up with a way to minimize how much the jury sees the DVD.
In court, Cleaver goes with the non-stop DVD playing theory. He goes through the video literally frame-by-frame, almost one-hundred thousand of them and does commentary making frequent reference to the "unknown prostitute". The judge takes Cleave and the prosecutor into his office about the "unknown prostitute" comments. Cleaver admits that his directions are that Chandler and his wife love their daughter and want to keep Jan out of things. He asks the judge and prosecutor to give the kid a break.
Cleaver questions Dr. D/Antonio (Genevieve Hegney) if she equates the act Chandler is accused of with the act of paedophilia, which she does. He then asks if children and dogs are pretty much the same to her which draws an objection from the prosecutor. He gets her to admit that she doesn't see why a dogs life is any less valuable than a humans. He then suggestions that her views on animal welfare are extreme, which she rejects. When she says she doesn't believe a dog should be forced to have sex against his or her will, Cleave goes back to the DVD. He wants her to show them where the exact moment Felix the dog is being forced, coerced or encouraged.
While having lunch outside the courthouse, Missy stops Bec from entering the building. Bec wants to know if it was her mother in the room with her father on the DVD. Missy assures her it was a prostitute and even gives her the woman's name and where she works. When the trial resumes, the prosecution questions Chandler as to where he found the prostitute and how much he paid for the "specialization", then asks no further questions. Cleave delivers amusing and statistic-filled closing arguments. The jury finds Chandler not guilty.
Joe Sandilands calls Missy to encourage Missy to go back to David. She calls a rain check for a celebration with Cleave and spends a sleepless night with David. Scarlett isn't sleeping either. And Cleaver, he's at his flat alone indulging in all his bad habits. Felix the dog scratches to get into the Chandler's bedroom that night.
--
Cleaver is kind of spiraling out of control in this episode, isn't he? He's getting back into the cocaine he had kicked previously, which can only mean trouble. His relationship with Barney is in tatters and Fuzz is pretty angry at him right now as well. We can surely hope that things work out for our hero at some point, can we not?Sam Neill was awesome as Bruce Chandler. I'm a great fan of Neill's to start off with so it was wonderful to see him here. He was perfectly paranoid every time we saw him, at some points, almost to where I thought for sure Chandler would be having a heart attack at any second. Neill's range as an actor is amazing and he never ceases to amaze me.
It's episodes like this that are proof positive that Rake isn't like any other legal drama on television. I'm yet to find another that deals with cannibals, bestiality, politicians and lawyers the way this show does. It's unique and it's perfect.
--
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Saturday, November 27, 2010
AUS Television: Rake, Episode 1.4 "R vs. Lorton"
Rake
Season One, Episode Four, R vs. Lorton
Original Air Date: November 25, 2010
A young male prostitute is found murdered in a lane. The man who is accused of the crime has a surprising past and might just be Cleaver's one truly innocent client. Meanwhile, David and Missy are thrust into new territory when Joe Sandilands asks David to run for state Parliament. Wendy and Cleaver Greene meet Fuzz's new girlfriend. Barney makes a shocking discovery about his good friend, Cleaver Greene.
A young man is found bound and murdered in a lane. There was one witness, Stanley Shrimpton, who said he saw a man stab the boy, run out of the lane, saw the man holding the knife and saw him dump the knife in a bin. The man who did the killing, according to the witness, calls himself "Peaker".
David and Missy attend an art gallery opening where he wants her to choose something to put on the walls of "their" house. She doesn't like his taste in art and would prefer to paint the walls in cheese dip. Missy gets a call and Joe Sandilands arrives and says hello to David (who introduces Joe to Missy). Joe and Missy act as if they have never met and the conversation continues. Joe tells David the Premiere wants to meet him and wants to know on which side of the labour fence he sits and tells David to call. A drunk Cleave stumbles towards Missy and David. He kisses Missy's hand and takes the opportunity, as always, to send a jab David's way. Cleave also takes the opportunity to heckle the gallery owner before being escorted out by "a better class of bouncers". Missy finds him sitting outside on the curb and tells him to go home and go to bed--without her. Later that night, Missy is riding her exercise bike when David walks into the room. She had trouble sleeping in the bed after they had sex that night and had to leave the room. She declines his offer of tea saying she will cycle a bit more then come back to bed.
The next day, Cleaver arrives for court and exchanges a look with his prosecutor who is none other than Scarlett! Cleaver questions the constable on the stand about a stash of porn the constable found beneath Cleaver's clients bed. Apparently, the constable spent a good deal of time meticulously cataloging the porn "to make sure it wasn't kiddie porn". The constable admits it took him about a half hour to go through the porn under the bed. Cleaver, being the thorough attorney he most certainly is, asks the constable if he masturbated while he was under the bed, a question Scarlett objects to.
The police get a match to "Peaker", a man by the name of Danny Lorton who has form for sexual assault 30 years ago. The dead boy in the lane was Benjamin Rigby, 15, who was selling himself for 18 months or so. Rigby's mother was a junkie so the boy wasn't reported missing. While discussing the case with the detective, the female constable wonders why the room they are in has to be so ugly. She chatters on about how she could improve the look of the room then muses she's wasted in her current profession. The detective orders her to pick Lorton up.
In payment for winning the case, Cleaver's client wants to give him a bag of cocaine. However, Cleave will not accept it. He goes on a strictly cash basis now ever since waking up in a hotel room with 3rd degree burns on his arse and no idea how they got there. Scarlett calls him to chastise him on his behaviour in court that morning. Nicole interrupts his conversation with Scarlett to let him know he was due at a meeting a Fuzz's school an hour ago.
Wendy is surprised when Fuzz's English teacher, Fiona McCready, gives her a glowing recommendation of her son. The teacher describes him as an absolute pleasure to teach which is in stark contrast to what the other teachers have said (everything from "is everything alright at home" to "have doctors mentioned medication?"). The teacher tells her he expresses himself beautifully. Cleaver arrives and is introduced to Fiona who tells him she thinks Fuzz might even be wanting to follow in his father's footsteps. After speaking with Miss McCready, Wendy and Cleave discuss Fuzz's academic behavior and Miss McCready and how impressed she was with Fuzz. Wendy asks him right out if he was still seeing Scarlett and how poor Barney is doing. While lecturing Fuzz on why he should take his studies more seriously, Cleave gets a call that he must take. He claims the call is work but it's actually his bookie.
The tension between Barney and Scarlett is unspeakable. They don't talk much. And when they do talk, it's cold. They both even snap at their son when he asks which one of them is going to read him a story. Barney wants to know the name of the man Scarlett had an affair with but she refuses.
The Benjamin Rigby murder case lands on Cleaver's desk. Barney and Cleaver interview their client, Danny Lorton (David Field). Despite the fact that the police have Lorton's DNA on the knife and Rigby's blood on Lorton's clothing, he denies killing the young man. He says Rigby was alive when he found him. He took the knife out of Rigby but the boy died. When Lorton leaves the room, Cleave turns the legal pad Lorton was doodling on and finds that he had drawn the picture of man. Over a drink, Cleave and Barney talk about the case. Everything sounds like "Peaker" killed the boy and his past certainly doesn't do him an favours.
David tells Missy Joe Sandilands wants him to run for the state Parliament. He says it is something that would make him happy but he never thought he could have had a chance at it. She implies that the reason he was asked was because he was shot. She points out that most politicians she knows are sad. He wants to do some good instead of spending his life trying to get people like Cleaver Greene to pay their taxes.
Cleaver talks with some of the other people where Lorton lives and takes a look round his room. It's dark and full of artwork and art supplies.
Wendy sees Fuzz on the street with his teacher, Miss McCready. When the two part, McCready blows Fuzz a kiss. At home, Wendy tells her son that his relationship with his teacher is "age inappropriate sex". He should instead be having exploratory sex with a girl his own age and maybe some oral. He refuses to end the relationship despite his mother's protests that it is immoral and could cause him irreparable damage. She threatens to report them to the school so the teacher will go to prison and he can visit her on weekends. He claims they love each other.
Cleaver returns to the gallery where he showed out a couple of days earlier to speak with the owner about Lorton's drawings. Once Lorton's name is mentioned, she immediately knows him from. He had several major exhibitions and two paintings in the National Gallery before he disappeared. She thought he had died. When asked what his paintings are worth, she tells Cleaver it depends on the size of them. His work used to go for up to $60,000.
Wendy starts in on Cleaver about how he could let their son have sex in his apartment. He hails a cab while telling Wendy that their son is almost 16 and he's just a kid in love with another kid from his English class. Wendy informs him that the girl is his teacher. A girl gets into the cab he hailed and, even though he's stunned over Fuzz's girlfriend, Cleaver reaches into the cab, takes the girls shopping out and puts it on the curb then gets in the cab. Cleaver insists Fuzz will tire of his teacher but Wendy accuses Cleave of ruining both her life and Fuzz's.
Cleaver and Nicole talk about art while he puts his feet up and she does all the work packing up their office. She bends over to pick up some folders and Cleaver, being the perfect gentleman he always is, asks her if it isn't about time she went on a diet. She's the perfect weight, she says. Barney arrives to tell Cleaver he has found out what Lorton does with his money. He makes a painting, sells it for half what it's worth then wanders around the city handing out money to homeless people.
Cleave once again speaks to Lorton who tells him he doesn't need money. Money was in his old life as Danny Lorton. In his new life he finds money an intrusion. Lorton, who had sold something, had been told about Rigby and thought he could use some cash and that he could possibly sketch Ben. He had been told Ben was beautiful and he wanted to see for himself but he found Ben dying instead. Cleaver does something he rarely does. He asks Lorton straight out if he murdered Ben to which his client replies that he did not. Lorton then pushes a paper across the table. It contains a dotted picture of Ben.
David and Missy attend a party with Joe Sandilands at Parliamnet House so David can start working towards his run for Parliament. David watches with a smile on his face while Missy talks with the wives.
Cleave tells Wendy to leave the school out of the situation with Fuzz. He'll talk to their son as well as speaking with "Mrs. Robinson". Cleave and Barney go to the lane where Rigby was killed to recreate the crime. The details of the crime don't add up to them the way Shrimpton set them out in his statement.
Missy excuses herself from the ladies she's speaking with and goes outside to call Cleave. They meet and she tells him about David having been asked to run. She can't tell him why she keeps calling him. She's reminded of a long weekend they spent together where she was able to really sleep. She hurries back to David with Cleave calling after her to "call me anytime!".
Cleaver pays a visit to Scarlett to ask her about a drug case she prosecuted a couple of years ago against Stanley Shrimpton. He feels he might be defending a genuinely innocent man but Scarlett wants nothing of that conversation. She wants to know why he went to bed with her if he didn't really want her. He finally tells her it was because he was drowning and she was a life buoy and in the same wet place he was in. She tells him Stanley Shrimpton got off child abuse charges by becoming a police informant then asks him to leave.
Missy apologizes to David for leaving. She was bored talking with the women. David is angry that she left the party. Missy explains that one of the women has a brother that might have known her father while they were in Peru. There was a woman at the embassy that her father had an affair with that ruined his career and drove her mother to the brink of suicide. (That's where cousin Angus came in.) She didn't want to talk about that in front of those women. He ends up feeling bad for how he feels and asks her if she wants him to drop his run. He must do what he has to do.
The prosecution opens their case with a statement mentioning the evidence they will be presenting and that there was even a witness to the crime. The detective who investigated the case testifies about the blood evidence that was found on Lorton's clothing and the prosecutor gives the jury photos from the crime scene. Cleaver questions the detective about the nature of Benjamin Rigby's profession. He asks whether there were semen tests done on the contents of Rigby's stomach and whether or not Lorton's DNA was found there. It wasn't. He points out that there were many men who "abused" Rigby who weren't questioned in the case but the one man they know who didn't abuse him was accused of the crime. Cleaver presents the theory that Lorton was, in fact, trying to help Ben rather than kill him.
Shrimpton gets on the stand and relates what he claims to have seen the night Ben Rigby died. When it is Cleave's turn to question Shrimpton, he is quiet for a moment then stands and asks if it is the first time he's given evidence in a criminal trial. Shrimpton admits to having given evidence in drug cases. The prosecutor objects when Cleave asks if Shrimpton had been given immunity from prosecution for testifying against the accused in past trials. The judge allows the question. Shrimpton admits he knew Lorton and was even given money by him once. He also admits to having led Lorton to the lane that night to see Ben and admits that he (Shrimpton) had had oral sex with Ben that night. Cleave goes on to present Shrimpton with the details of the crime that do not add up and suggests that Shrimpton was the killer rather than Lorton.
While having a celebratory drink at a pub, the detective on the Lorton murder steps up next to Cleave and tells him he did some checking into Lorton's old statutory rape case 30 years ago. Lorton slashed both of the girls breasts but she wouldn't cooperate with the police because she said Lorton was "a genius" and that's what geniuses do.
Barney arrives home and still refuses to talk to Scarlett. She breaks down and tells him the man she had the affair with was a man she met at the Adelaide conference. He was an Englishman who is now safely back in Devon with his wife and will never be returning to Australia. Barney still wants to know his name. Scarlett gives him a name: John Bartrop--the same name Cleave is joking about in the alley while he and Barney are reconstructing the Rigby murder.
Cleaver spends the night going over the Rigby murder case and looking at the crime scene photos. He realizes that Lorton killed Ben and posed him in the style of a Guido Reni painting. He goes to see Lorton at his room and Lorton tells Cleave that in six months the streets would have made Ben ugly and he would have died in a crack haze. He gave Ben his moment of absolute perfection. Cleave hits Lorton and tells him he will go to the police but, as Lorton knows, there's nothing he can be charged on.
Fuzz and Fiona McCready arrive at Cleaver's flat and he welcomes them. Cleaver is completely nice and cordial to Fiona and has even gotten them dinner, burgers and chips. Fiona sends Fuzz to get her purse from the car while she tries to explain her position to his father. She wants to protect Fuzz emotionally and care for his academic future. He calls her delusional when she claims she wants to protect Fuzz. She tries to turn the tables on Cleave but he will have none of it. He tells her she doesn't want to turn his son into his father. The best thing she can do for him is to get in her car and keep driving (preferably off a cliff, he implies). Fuzz, who has returned, hears his father. Fuzz gets his things and he and Fiona leave.
When he is alone, Cleave calls Barney because he needs to hear a friendly voice after such a bad day. Barney tells Cleave they should have nothing further to do with one another and to ask Scarlett about the name both of them knew.
--
Poor Cleaver! A bad day just kept getting worse! He tried doing the right thing with Fuzz and his teacher but that didn't go very well. His friendship with Barney is in tatters and you know how that will affect him. Cleave thinks very highly of old Barnyard and it will be hard on him that the two aren't speaking. Fuzz's relationship with his teacher is something he probably thought his father, of all people, would understand and not have a problem with. Thing is, Cleaver is more of a father than Fuzz probably gives him credit for. The one client Cleave really had a feeling was innocent turned out to be horribly guilty. That had to be a good blow to the ego. (On a side note, it was great seeing David Field as Lorton. Can Field play an awesome character or what?)
The truth about Missy's past is going to come out sooner or later. Now that David is going to be running for Parliament she is going to have to associate with a lot of the same men she used to have as clients. All of them won't be as gentlemanly about things as Joe Sandilands or even Cleaver. She's going to run up against another Norton at some point and before she can call in Cleave for help, the cat will be out of the bag.
Next weeks episode should be a can't-miss (isn't every episode of Rake a can't-miss, really?). The amazing Sam Neill will be guest starring as Greene family friend, Dr. Bruce Chandler.
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Season One, Episode Four, R vs. Lorton
Original Air Date: November 25, 2010
A young male prostitute is found murdered in a lane. The man who is accused of the crime has a surprising past and might just be Cleaver's one truly innocent client. Meanwhile, David and Missy are thrust into new territory when Joe Sandilands asks David to run for state Parliament. Wendy and Cleaver Greene meet Fuzz's new girlfriend. Barney makes a shocking discovery about his good friend, Cleaver Greene.
A young man is found bound and murdered in a lane. There was one witness, Stanley Shrimpton, who said he saw a man stab the boy, run out of the lane, saw the man holding the knife and saw him dump the knife in a bin. The man who did the killing, according to the witness, calls himself "Peaker".
David and Missy attend an art gallery opening where he wants her to choose something to put on the walls of "their" house. She doesn't like his taste in art and would prefer to paint the walls in cheese dip. Missy gets a call and Joe Sandilands arrives and says hello to David (who introduces Joe to Missy). Joe and Missy act as if they have never met and the conversation continues. Joe tells David the Premiere wants to meet him and wants to know on which side of the labour fence he sits and tells David to call. A drunk Cleave stumbles towards Missy and David. He kisses Missy's hand and takes the opportunity, as always, to send a jab David's way. Cleave also takes the opportunity to heckle the gallery owner before being escorted out by "a better class of bouncers". Missy finds him sitting outside on the curb and tells him to go home and go to bed--without her. Later that night, Missy is riding her exercise bike when David walks into the room. She had trouble sleeping in the bed after they had sex that night and had to leave the room. She declines his offer of tea saying she will cycle a bit more then come back to bed.
The next day, Cleaver arrives for court and exchanges a look with his prosecutor who is none other than Scarlett! Cleaver questions the constable on the stand about a stash of porn the constable found beneath Cleaver's clients bed. Apparently, the constable spent a good deal of time meticulously cataloging the porn "to make sure it wasn't kiddie porn". The constable admits it took him about a half hour to go through the porn under the bed. Cleaver, being the thorough attorney he most certainly is, asks the constable if he masturbated while he was under the bed, a question Scarlett objects to.
The police get a match to "Peaker", a man by the name of Danny Lorton who has form for sexual assault 30 years ago. The dead boy in the lane was Benjamin Rigby, 15, who was selling himself for 18 months or so. Rigby's mother was a junkie so the boy wasn't reported missing. While discussing the case with the detective, the female constable wonders why the room they are in has to be so ugly. She chatters on about how she could improve the look of the room then muses she's wasted in her current profession. The detective orders her to pick Lorton up.
In payment for winning the case, Cleaver's client wants to give him a bag of cocaine. However, Cleave will not accept it. He goes on a strictly cash basis now ever since waking up in a hotel room with 3rd degree burns on his arse and no idea how they got there. Scarlett calls him to chastise him on his behaviour in court that morning. Nicole interrupts his conversation with Scarlett to let him know he was due at a meeting a Fuzz's school an hour ago.
Wendy is surprised when Fuzz's English teacher, Fiona McCready, gives her a glowing recommendation of her son. The teacher describes him as an absolute pleasure to teach which is in stark contrast to what the other teachers have said (everything from "is everything alright at home" to "have doctors mentioned medication?"). The teacher tells her he expresses himself beautifully. Cleaver arrives and is introduced to Fiona who tells him she thinks Fuzz might even be wanting to follow in his father's footsteps. After speaking with Miss McCready, Wendy and Cleave discuss Fuzz's academic behavior and Miss McCready and how impressed she was with Fuzz. Wendy asks him right out if he was still seeing Scarlett and how poor Barney is doing. While lecturing Fuzz on why he should take his studies more seriously, Cleave gets a call that he must take. He claims the call is work but it's actually his bookie.
The tension between Barney and Scarlett is unspeakable. They don't talk much. And when they do talk, it's cold. They both even snap at their son when he asks which one of them is going to read him a story. Barney wants to know the name of the man Scarlett had an affair with but she refuses.
The Benjamin Rigby murder case lands on Cleaver's desk. Barney and Cleaver interview their client, Danny Lorton (David Field). Despite the fact that the police have Lorton's DNA on the knife and Rigby's blood on Lorton's clothing, he denies killing the young man. He says Rigby was alive when he found him. He took the knife out of Rigby but the boy died. When Lorton leaves the room, Cleave turns the legal pad Lorton was doodling on and finds that he had drawn the picture of man. Over a drink, Cleave and Barney talk about the case. Everything sounds like "Peaker" killed the boy and his past certainly doesn't do him an favours.
David tells Missy Joe Sandilands wants him to run for the state Parliament. He says it is something that would make him happy but he never thought he could have had a chance at it. She implies that the reason he was asked was because he was shot. She points out that most politicians she knows are sad. He wants to do some good instead of spending his life trying to get people like Cleaver Greene to pay their taxes.
Cleaver talks with some of the other people where Lorton lives and takes a look round his room. It's dark and full of artwork and art supplies.
Wendy sees Fuzz on the street with his teacher, Miss McCready. When the two part, McCready blows Fuzz a kiss. At home, Wendy tells her son that his relationship with his teacher is "age inappropriate sex". He should instead be having exploratory sex with a girl his own age and maybe some oral. He refuses to end the relationship despite his mother's protests that it is immoral and could cause him irreparable damage. She threatens to report them to the school so the teacher will go to prison and he can visit her on weekends. He claims they love each other.
Cleaver returns to the gallery where he showed out a couple of days earlier to speak with the owner about Lorton's drawings. Once Lorton's name is mentioned, she immediately knows him from. He had several major exhibitions and two paintings in the National Gallery before he disappeared. She thought he had died. When asked what his paintings are worth, she tells Cleaver it depends on the size of them. His work used to go for up to $60,000.
Wendy starts in on Cleaver about how he could let their son have sex in his apartment. He hails a cab while telling Wendy that their son is almost 16 and he's just a kid in love with another kid from his English class. Wendy informs him that the girl is his teacher. A girl gets into the cab he hailed and, even though he's stunned over Fuzz's girlfriend, Cleaver reaches into the cab, takes the girls shopping out and puts it on the curb then gets in the cab. Cleaver insists Fuzz will tire of his teacher but Wendy accuses Cleave of ruining both her life and Fuzz's.
Cleaver and Nicole talk about art while he puts his feet up and she does all the work packing up their office. She bends over to pick up some folders and Cleaver, being the perfect gentleman he always is, asks her if it isn't about time she went on a diet. She's the perfect weight, she says. Barney arrives to tell Cleaver he has found out what Lorton does with his money. He makes a painting, sells it for half what it's worth then wanders around the city handing out money to homeless people.
Cleave once again speaks to Lorton who tells him he doesn't need money. Money was in his old life as Danny Lorton. In his new life he finds money an intrusion. Lorton, who had sold something, had been told about Rigby and thought he could use some cash and that he could possibly sketch Ben. He had been told Ben was beautiful and he wanted to see for himself but he found Ben dying instead. Cleaver does something he rarely does. He asks Lorton straight out if he murdered Ben to which his client replies that he did not. Lorton then pushes a paper across the table. It contains a dotted picture of Ben.
David and Missy attend a party with Joe Sandilands at Parliamnet House so David can start working towards his run for Parliament. David watches with a smile on his face while Missy talks with the wives.
Cleave tells Wendy to leave the school out of the situation with Fuzz. He'll talk to their son as well as speaking with "Mrs. Robinson". Cleave and Barney go to the lane where Rigby was killed to recreate the crime. The details of the crime don't add up to them the way Shrimpton set them out in his statement.
Missy excuses herself from the ladies she's speaking with and goes outside to call Cleave. They meet and she tells him about David having been asked to run. She can't tell him why she keeps calling him. She's reminded of a long weekend they spent together where she was able to really sleep. She hurries back to David with Cleave calling after her to "call me anytime!".
Cleaver pays a visit to Scarlett to ask her about a drug case she prosecuted a couple of years ago against Stanley Shrimpton. He feels he might be defending a genuinely innocent man but Scarlett wants nothing of that conversation. She wants to know why he went to bed with her if he didn't really want her. He finally tells her it was because he was drowning and she was a life buoy and in the same wet place he was in. She tells him Stanley Shrimpton got off child abuse charges by becoming a police informant then asks him to leave.
Missy apologizes to David for leaving. She was bored talking with the women. David is angry that she left the party. Missy explains that one of the women has a brother that might have known her father while they were in Peru. There was a woman at the embassy that her father had an affair with that ruined his career and drove her mother to the brink of suicide. (That's where cousin Angus came in.) She didn't want to talk about that in front of those women. He ends up feeling bad for how he feels and asks her if she wants him to drop his run. He must do what he has to do.
The prosecution opens their case with a statement mentioning the evidence they will be presenting and that there was even a witness to the crime. The detective who investigated the case testifies about the blood evidence that was found on Lorton's clothing and the prosecutor gives the jury photos from the crime scene. Cleaver questions the detective about the nature of Benjamin Rigby's profession. He asks whether there were semen tests done on the contents of Rigby's stomach and whether or not Lorton's DNA was found there. It wasn't. He points out that there were many men who "abused" Rigby who weren't questioned in the case but the one man they know who didn't abuse him was accused of the crime. Cleaver presents the theory that Lorton was, in fact, trying to help Ben rather than kill him.
Shrimpton gets on the stand and relates what he claims to have seen the night Ben Rigby died. When it is Cleave's turn to question Shrimpton, he is quiet for a moment then stands and asks if it is the first time he's given evidence in a criminal trial. Shrimpton admits to having given evidence in drug cases. The prosecutor objects when Cleave asks if Shrimpton had been given immunity from prosecution for testifying against the accused in past trials. The judge allows the question. Shrimpton admits he knew Lorton and was even given money by him once. He also admits to having led Lorton to the lane that night to see Ben and admits that he (Shrimpton) had had oral sex with Ben that night. Cleave goes on to present Shrimpton with the details of the crime that do not add up and suggests that Shrimpton was the killer rather than Lorton.
While having a celebratory drink at a pub, the detective on the Lorton murder steps up next to Cleave and tells him he did some checking into Lorton's old statutory rape case 30 years ago. Lorton slashed both of the girls breasts but she wouldn't cooperate with the police because she said Lorton was "a genius" and that's what geniuses do.
Barney arrives home and still refuses to talk to Scarlett. She breaks down and tells him the man she had the affair with was a man she met at the Adelaide conference. He was an Englishman who is now safely back in Devon with his wife and will never be returning to Australia. Barney still wants to know his name. Scarlett gives him a name: John Bartrop--the same name Cleave is joking about in the alley while he and Barney are reconstructing the Rigby murder.
Cleaver spends the night going over the Rigby murder case and looking at the crime scene photos. He realizes that Lorton killed Ben and posed him in the style of a Guido Reni painting. He goes to see Lorton at his room and Lorton tells Cleave that in six months the streets would have made Ben ugly and he would have died in a crack haze. He gave Ben his moment of absolute perfection. Cleave hits Lorton and tells him he will go to the police but, as Lorton knows, there's nothing he can be charged on.
Fuzz and Fiona McCready arrive at Cleaver's flat and he welcomes them. Cleaver is completely nice and cordial to Fiona and has even gotten them dinner, burgers and chips. Fiona sends Fuzz to get her purse from the car while she tries to explain her position to his father. She wants to protect Fuzz emotionally and care for his academic future. He calls her delusional when she claims she wants to protect Fuzz. She tries to turn the tables on Cleave but he will have none of it. He tells her she doesn't want to turn his son into his father. The best thing she can do for him is to get in her car and keep driving (preferably off a cliff, he implies). Fuzz, who has returned, hears his father. Fuzz gets his things and he and Fiona leave.
When he is alone, Cleave calls Barney because he needs to hear a friendly voice after such a bad day. Barney tells Cleave they should have nothing further to do with one another and to ask Scarlett about the name both of them knew.
--
Poor Cleaver! A bad day just kept getting worse! He tried doing the right thing with Fuzz and his teacher but that didn't go very well. His friendship with Barney is in tatters and you know how that will affect him. Cleave thinks very highly of old Barnyard and it will be hard on him that the two aren't speaking. Fuzz's relationship with his teacher is something he probably thought his father, of all people, would understand and not have a problem with. Thing is, Cleaver is more of a father than Fuzz probably gives him credit for. The one client Cleave really had a feeling was innocent turned out to be horribly guilty. That had to be a good blow to the ego. (On a side note, it was great seeing David Field as Lorton. Can Field play an awesome character or what?)
The truth about Missy's past is going to come out sooner or later. Now that David is going to be running for Parliament she is going to have to associate with a lot of the same men she used to have as clients. All of them won't be as gentlemanly about things as Joe Sandilands or even Cleaver. She's going to run up against another Norton at some point and before she can call in Cleave for help, the cat will be out of the bag.
Next weeks episode should be a can't-miss (isn't every episode of Rake a can't-miss, really?). The amazing Sam Neill will be guest starring as Greene family friend, Dr. Bruce Chandler.
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Saturday, November 20, 2010
AUS Television: Rake, Episode 1.3 "R vs. Dana"
Rake
Season One, Episode Three, R vs. Dana
Original Air Date: November 18, 2010
Famous chef George Dana is arrested for having not one but two wives and families: one for each of his restaurants. Things go from bad to worse for Dana when it is learned that he has not just two but three wives. Cleaver has an affair with Scarlett. Barney pays a visit to Cleave's office asking about a private investigator and Cleave talks him out of it suggesting instead that he (Barney) talk to her himself. David asks Missy to move in with him. She agrees, but only until he recovers from his injuries and she will make him no promises. Cleaver comes through in a big way to help Missy.
Successful and famous chef George Dana (Lech Mackiewicz) returns home to find Detectives Turner and Bradbury (Johann Walraven) waiting for him. Taylor showers him with compliments and praise for his recipies and cooking while Bradbury gets more to the point about an issue in the Blue Mountains where one of the two restaurants Dana owns is located, with a third to soon be opening in Newcastle. Dana begs the detectives for a moment to freshen up after his long drive which they grant. Dana tries to flee and trips over his sons bicycle on the front walk. The detectives rush out and place him under arrest. Dana assures his wife that, no matter what happens, he loves her.
Cleaver awakens with a woman's hand wrapped around his bits and rolls over to see it's none other than Scarlett sleeping behind him. He replays the previous night over in his head while bashing his forehead against the bathroom mirror. Scarlett walks into the bathroom and asks him "what will become of us all, Mr. Wizard?". His mistake with Scarlett dominates his thoughts all day and his day just gets worse when Nicole shows him the paper with headlines about David Potter's heroism on the front page. He can't help but wonder how the shooter could miss David at point blank range. The news gets better when she reads him the small article about his disgrace on page five.
Cleaver goes to clear his good name. He ends up at The Club where he accepts a drink but declines the cocaine. He has plans for a certain girl, Tammy. He holds a meeting with two members of the committee that will soon be judging him, Danny and Johnny, and states his case. It's hardly news when a barrister has sex with a client! He humbly agrees with them that they are all accountable for their own actions. Enter Tammy. Dressed in a smart business suit, Cleave introduces her as his new assistant. She calls them both by name and we get a brief look at how they spend their free time. Danny and Johnny, while not condoning Cleaver's actions in the slightest, find that the evidence against him is, at best, murky.
When Cleave arrives back at his office, Barney is there waiting on him. He drops off a brief for Cleave and asks if he's seen Scarlett. Cleave dances around the question as he's been dealing with the committee for his legal indiscretions. Scarlett didn't go home last night (of course!) and she hasn't called Barney. Barney wants the name of a private detective Cleave used on an old case but Cleave doesn't think it's a good idea (wonder why?). Cleave suggests that Barney just talk to Scarlett, in a general way, not getting bogged down in details. When Barney asks if maybe Scarlett did find someone better, kinder, more giving and able to properly love her, Cleave guarantees him that isn't the case at all.
The brief Barney left for Cleave was the Dana case. Cleave goes to Dana's restaurant there in town and talks with him. Dana has nothing but glowing things to say about both of his wives. He knows he has made both of his wives unhappy (downright angry!). He's married to each separately in his heart; each one is an equal part of his life. He managed to conceal the marriages for six years because he's always coming and going between his two restaurants and no one has ever asked. The first marriage was legally solid as a rock. He couldn't have divorced his first wife because he made a solemn promise to her in a church before God. The second wife, she wanted a proper marriage with all the trimmings. Neither wife had an illness that would have been exacerbated by a divorce. The fact he loves both women means nothing as the law takes a very dim view of love, according to Cleave. He wants as many happy snaps of George and his kids that he can round up.
David Potter leaves the hospital and the press is right there waiting on the good hero. He doesn't consider himself a hero as he feels he did what any normal person would have done under the circumstances and would do so again. Once they are home, David asks Missy to move in with him. She agrees to stay until he's well but makes him no promises. Cleaver pays a visit to the equally distracted Scarlett to tell her their night together was a mistake, which they both already know. They talk about their previous relationship a long time ago and the circumstances surrounding it but Scarlett felt that the night they just had was different from any other time they had been together. Cleaver will not continue an affair with her because of Barney. Even though she says she isn't in love with Barney, he tells her she must be. He asks her to please try and forget last night. She cries in the ladies room before going into court.
When Scarlett arrives home that evening, Barney reminds her of her cousin Joe at their wedding who removed his teeth and whistled "My Way". Everyone laughed at Joe except Scarlett who got up and sang along with him. He asks if it is really awful living with him. She tells him she's dying there and wants a different life. She wants a break from the law and perhaps return to her painting. He asks if she's constructing all the problems in her head so she can run off and have her little affair. Before she can respond, their son runs in to talk to her.
Cleave stops by Wendy's for another of his freebie sessions. He spends a few minutes giving her a hilarious account of the life of chimpanzees then tells her about having sex with Scarlett. She is shocked and angry at him for what he did. Cleaver asks Fuzz about the new love of his life. The girl is in Fuzz's English class and into Shakespeare. He's working on his homework and one of the questions is to understand Iago by defining a bad man. Cleaver gives him a brilliant description of a bad man and we know he is describing himself.
George Dana has made the cover of the newspaper. His first wife doesn't want to have a chat with Cleaver and Barney and his second wife is furious. Cleaver asks Barney to "go and lavish wife #1 with some of the old Barnyard charm" while he pays a visit to the judge in chambers. The judge is angry wanting to know why he intends to plead Dana not guilty. Cleaver feels that the laws relating to bigamy are outdated and give him the basis for the plea. The judge reluctantly agrees that Cleaver's argument does have some merit.
Dana's first wife, Sonja, feels guilty for her husband's bigamy. She feels she drove him into the arms of another woman. When she comments that she had always known she wasn't meeting George's needs, she and Barney begin a mutual conversation on the subject. They commiserate on the heartbreak of loving someone and doing everything for them.
In court, while the prosecution details her case against Dana in her opening statement, Cleaver looks over the jury and sets his sights on a pretty young woman in the front row. He smiles at her and, when it is his turn to deliver his opening statement, he informs the jury that the laws support the ideals of Victorian Britain and that things have changed.
Mrs. Dana #2 gets on the stand and she's clearly angry and upset but she admits he was never cruel to her and was, in fact, her fairy tale prince but he's destroyed everything they worked hard to build. When Dana takes the stand, Cleave questions him on various things about being a good dad. Dana can tell him what his children's favorite toys are and what their favorite sports are. The judge is clearly taken by George's attention to detail in his children's lives, so much so that the prosecutor calls to him to distract him.
Barney returns home that night and Scarlett admits that there is someone else. Barney immediately goes to Cleaver with the news that "she admitted it". However, she didn't admit who the someone else was. They go out for a drink and Cleaver isn't happy about being at a lawyers bar where everyone has irritable bowel syndrome. HE wants to go somewhere where he feels more like a gynecologist. Barney can't stop talking about Scarlett. Cleaver is even more unhappy when David Potter and Missy walk in. The good times keep rolling when Barney drops the news that Scarlett said the other guy was "hopeless, and indulgent, tragic, middle-aged failure" and that he wasn't even all that good in bed.
David introduces Missy to his friends as "the love of my life". When, Norton, one of David's friends sits down to talk with them, Missy excuses herself and goes to the ladies. Norton comes in a few minutes later and she wants him to leave. He was a former client of hers at The Club and she begs him to not say anything to David about her past life. He propositions her but she's able to get away from him. The next day, she's waiting on Cleaver in his office. She wants him to help her so that David will know nothing about her past.
Sonja admits on the stand that she still loves George and that he's been a fine father to their children. She also says that when the judge hands down his decision, she would like it to be seven years in prison. What she talked about with Barney got her to thinking. Cleaver wants to stop her testimony but the prosecution is quite pleased with it.
While Cleaver is delivering his heartfelt closing arguments, someone comes in and gives the prosecutor a bit of information which causes her to interrupt Cleave. A third wife has been found. Dana was hoping the third wife wouldn't come to light. Cleaver tells him he needs to stop marrying women. When Dana replies that he loves the women, Cleaver tells him that he's going to have to learn to start loving men in showers as he doesn't know how to save him.
Cleave pays a visit to Norton and tells him to leave Missy be and allow her to live her life. If he doesn't leave her alone, Cleave will drag him down to his level, and even Cleave doesn't want to live there. Norton makes it clear that he will do with Missy whatever he feels like. When the lift doors open, a woman walking by sees Cleaver standing with his hands in his pockets and Norton on the floor of the lift, bloodied and groaning.
Barney tells Scarlett that he is unchaining her and she can have her precious freedom. He tells her that her art is crap and that it's crazy she wants to give up the law for it.The prosecution delivers her closing arguments pointing out that Dana has proven himself to be a liar and a criminal. Cleaver paints a picture of Dana as the last, true champion of marriage as he is one of the few who still believe in marriage. The jury finds Dana guilty. The judge agrees with the prosecution that Dana was aware of the law and knowingly deceived three women. He also agrees with Cleaver that the penalties under the law greatly outweigh the crime. He gives Dana a three year sentence but suspends all but three months and Dana must divorce at least two of his wives. Cleaver whispers to Dana "try not to marry anyone while you're inside, will ya?".
David refers to the house to Missy as "our home". That night, she gets out of bed and calls Cleaver. She thanks him for whatever he did to help. She admits that David is a good man who loves her and she could be happy with him, but she doesn't know why when things turned bad she went to Cleave rather than David.
Another excellent episode! I'm really loving this show so much! Nothing seemed to go right for poor Cleaver this week. Cleave put his own feelings aside and came through in a big way for Missy when she needed him. I believe he's truly remorseful about the night he spent with Scarlett because of how much he thinks of Barney. He doesn't want to hurt his best friend. Despite everything bad about our charming and unusual hero, he does have a lot of good in him as well.
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Season One, Episode Three, R vs. Dana
Original Air Date: November 18, 2010
Famous chef George Dana is arrested for having not one but two wives and families: one for each of his restaurants. Things go from bad to worse for Dana when it is learned that he has not just two but three wives. Cleaver has an affair with Scarlett. Barney pays a visit to Cleave's office asking about a private investigator and Cleave talks him out of it suggesting instead that he (Barney) talk to her himself. David asks Missy to move in with him. She agrees, but only until he recovers from his injuries and she will make him no promises. Cleaver comes through in a big way to help Missy.
Successful and famous chef George Dana (Lech Mackiewicz) returns home to find Detectives Turner and Bradbury (Johann Walraven) waiting for him. Taylor showers him with compliments and praise for his recipies and cooking while Bradbury gets more to the point about an issue in the Blue Mountains where one of the two restaurants Dana owns is located, with a third to soon be opening in Newcastle. Dana begs the detectives for a moment to freshen up after his long drive which they grant. Dana tries to flee and trips over his sons bicycle on the front walk. The detectives rush out and place him under arrest. Dana assures his wife that, no matter what happens, he loves her.
Cleaver awakens with a woman's hand wrapped around his bits and rolls over to see it's none other than Scarlett sleeping behind him. He replays the previous night over in his head while bashing his forehead against the bathroom mirror. Scarlett walks into the bathroom and asks him "what will become of us all, Mr. Wizard?". His mistake with Scarlett dominates his thoughts all day and his day just gets worse when Nicole shows him the paper with headlines about David Potter's heroism on the front page. He can't help but wonder how the shooter could miss David at point blank range. The news gets better when she reads him the small article about his disgrace on page five.
Cleaver goes to clear his good name. He ends up at The Club where he accepts a drink but declines the cocaine. He has plans for a certain girl, Tammy. He holds a meeting with two members of the committee that will soon be judging him, Danny and Johnny, and states his case. It's hardly news when a barrister has sex with a client! He humbly agrees with them that they are all accountable for their own actions. Enter Tammy. Dressed in a smart business suit, Cleave introduces her as his new assistant. She calls them both by name and we get a brief look at how they spend their free time. Danny and Johnny, while not condoning Cleaver's actions in the slightest, find that the evidence against him is, at best, murky.
When Cleave arrives back at his office, Barney is there waiting on him. He drops off a brief for Cleave and asks if he's seen Scarlett. Cleave dances around the question as he's been dealing with the committee for his legal indiscretions. Scarlett didn't go home last night (of course!) and she hasn't called Barney. Barney wants the name of a private detective Cleave used on an old case but Cleave doesn't think it's a good idea (wonder why?). Cleave suggests that Barney just talk to Scarlett, in a general way, not getting bogged down in details. When Barney asks if maybe Scarlett did find someone better, kinder, more giving and able to properly love her, Cleave guarantees him that isn't the case at all.
The brief Barney left for Cleave was the Dana case. Cleave goes to Dana's restaurant there in town and talks with him. Dana has nothing but glowing things to say about both of his wives. He knows he has made both of his wives unhappy (downright angry!). He's married to each separately in his heart; each one is an equal part of his life. He managed to conceal the marriages for six years because he's always coming and going between his two restaurants and no one has ever asked. The first marriage was legally solid as a rock. He couldn't have divorced his first wife because he made a solemn promise to her in a church before God. The second wife, she wanted a proper marriage with all the trimmings. Neither wife had an illness that would have been exacerbated by a divorce. The fact he loves both women means nothing as the law takes a very dim view of love, according to Cleave. He wants as many happy snaps of George and his kids that he can round up.
David Potter leaves the hospital and the press is right there waiting on the good hero. He doesn't consider himself a hero as he feels he did what any normal person would have done under the circumstances and would do so again. Once they are home, David asks Missy to move in with him. She agrees to stay until he's well but makes him no promises. Cleaver pays a visit to the equally distracted Scarlett to tell her their night together was a mistake, which they both already know. They talk about their previous relationship a long time ago and the circumstances surrounding it but Scarlett felt that the night they just had was different from any other time they had been together. Cleaver will not continue an affair with her because of Barney. Even though she says she isn't in love with Barney, he tells her she must be. He asks her to please try and forget last night. She cries in the ladies room before going into court.
When Scarlett arrives home that evening, Barney reminds her of her cousin Joe at their wedding who removed his teeth and whistled "My Way". Everyone laughed at Joe except Scarlett who got up and sang along with him. He asks if it is really awful living with him. She tells him she's dying there and wants a different life. She wants a break from the law and perhaps return to her painting. He asks if she's constructing all the problems in her head so she can run off and have her little affair. Before she can respond, their son runs in to talk to her.
Cleave stops by Wendy's for another of his freebie sessions. He spends a few minutes giving her a hilarious account of the life of chimpanzees then tells her about having sex with Scarlett. She is shocked and angry at him for what he did. Cleaver asks Fuzz about the new love of his life. The girl is in Fuzz's English class and into Shakespeare. He's working on his homework and one of the questions is to understand Iago by defining a bad man. Cleaver gives him a brilliant description of a bad man and we know he is describing himself.
George Dana has made the cover of the newspaper. His first wife doesn't want to have a chat with Cleaver and Barney and his second wife is furious. Cleaver asks Barney to "go and lavish wife #1 with some of the old Barnyard charm" while he pays a visit to the judge in chambers. The judge is angry wanting to know why he intends to plead Dana not guilty. Cleaver feels that the laws relating to bigamy are outdated and give him the basis for the plea. The judge reluctantly agrees that Cleaver's argument does have some merit.
Dana's first wife, Sonja, feels guilty for her husband's bigamy. She feels she drove him into the arms of another woman. When she comments that she had always known she wasn't meeting George's needs, she and Barney begin a mutual conversation on the subject. They commiserate on the heartbreak of loving someone and doing everything for them.
In court, while the prosecution details her case against Dana in her opening statement, Cleaver looks over the jury and sets his sights on a pretty young woman in the front row. He smiles at her and, when it is his turn to deliver his opening statement, he informs the jury that the laws support the ideals of Victorian Britain and that things have changed.
Mrs. Dana #2 gets on the stand and she's clearly angry and upset but she admits he was never cruel to her and was, in fact, her fairy tale prince but he's destroyed everything they worked hard to build. When Dana takes the stand, Cleave questions him on various things about being a good dad. Dana can tell him what his children's favorite toys are and what their favorite sports are. The judge is clearly taken by George's attention to detail in his children's lives, so much so that the prosecutor calls to him to distract him.
Barney returns home that night and Scarlett admits that there is someone else. Barney immediately goes to Cleaver with the news that "she admitted it". However, she didn't admit who the someone else was. They go out for a drink and Cleaver isn't happy about being at a lawyers bar where everyone has irritable bowel syndrome. HE wants to go somewhere where he feels more like a gynecologist. Barney can't stop talking about Scarlett. Cleaver is even more unhappy when David Potter and Missy walk in. The good times keep rolling when Barney drops the news that Scarlett said the other guy was "hopeless, and indulgent, tragic, middle-aged failure" and that he wasn't even all that good in bed.
David introduces Missy to his friends as "the love of my life". When, Norton, one of David's friends sits down to talk with them, Missy excuses herself and goes to the ladies. Norton comes in a few minutes later and she wants him to leave. He was a former client of hers at The Club and she begs him to not say anything to David about her past life. He propositions her but she's able to get away from him. The next day, she's waiting on Cleaver in his office. She wants him to help her so that David will know nothing about her past.
Sonja admits on the stand that she still loves George and that he's been a fine father to their children. She also says that when the judge hands down his decision, she would like it to be seven years in prison. What she talked about with Barney got her to thinking. Cleaver wants to stop her testimony but the prosecution is quite pleased with it.
While Cleaver is delivering his heartfelt closing arguments, someone comes in and gives the prosecutor a bit of information which causes her to interrupt Cleave. A third wife has been found. Dana was hoping the third wife wouldn't come to light. Cleaver tells him he needs to stop marrying women. When Dana replies that he loves the women, Cleaver tells him that he's going to have to learn to start loving men in showers as he doesn't know how to save him.
Cleave pays a visit to Norton and tells him to leave Missy be and allow her to live her life. If he doesn't leave her alone, Cleave will drag him down to his level, and even Cleave doesn't want to live there. Norton makes it clear that he will do with Missy whatever he feels like. When the lift doors open, a woman walking by sees Cleaver standing with his hands in his pockets and Norton on the floor of the lift, bloodied and groaning.
Barney tells Scarlett that he is unchaining her and she can have her precious freedom. He tells her that her art is crap and that it's crazy she wants to give up the law for it.The prosecution delivers her closing arguments pointing out that Dana has proven himself to be a liar and a criminal. Cleaver paints a picture of Dana as the last, true champion of marriage as he is one of the few who still believe in marriage. The jury finds Dana guilty. The judge agrees with the prosecution that Dana was aware of the law and knowingly deceived three women. He also agrees with Cleaver that the penalties under the law greatly outweigh the crime. He gives Dana a three year sentence but suspends all but three months and Dana must divorce at least two of his wives. Cleaver whispers to Dana "try not to marry anyone while you're inside, will ya?".
David refers to the house to Missy as "our home". That night, she gets out of bed and calls Cleaver. She thanks him for whatever he did to help. She admits that David is a good man who loves her and she could be happy with him, but she doesn't know why when things turned bad she went to Cleave rather than David.
Another excellent episode! I'm really loving this show so much! Nothing seemed to go right for poor Cleaver this week. Cleave put his own feelings aside and came through in a big way for Missy when she needed him. I believe he's truly remorseful about the night he spent with Scarlett because of how much he thinks of Barney. He doesn't want to hurt his best friend. Despite everything bad about our charming and unusual hero, he does have a lot of good in him as well.
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Friday, November 12, 2010
AUS Television: Rake, Episode 1.2 "R vs. Marx"
Rake
Season One, Episode Two, R vs. Marx
Original Air Date: November 11, 2010
Cleave's problems just never end. Mick and Vanessa make him a deal to pay what he owes them. His nemesis, David Potter, becomes a hero after wrestling with a gunman after having been shot by him. His son, Fuzz, wants to use his flat as a meeting place with his girlfriend after school so his mother won't know about their relationship. He learns that Missy has been seeing David Potter. Cleave and Barney take the case of Lucy Marx, a woman who believes her daughter was innocent of the murder she was convicted of. Lucy is charged with tampering with a juror after the trial and she actually wants to go to jail. But, will the affair she starts up with Cleave cause problems for them both?
Mick and Vanessa (Haiha Le), two people Cleave owe a great deal of gambling money to, have a sit down with him to discuss payment arrangements. They have rolled their two debts into one for him to make things easier. They have agreed on an interest rate of 29% compounded weekly that is an exclusive just for him. However, that stellar rate comes with a confidentiality clause. If he tells anyone, that beautiful rate will "literally become crippling interest".
After leaving the meeting with Mick and Vanessa, Cleave runs across Scarlett. They go back to his place where they talk for a little while before he tells her to bugger off back to her husband and kids. Scarlett has pretty much decided she wants to end her marriage which doesn't please Cleave too much. Barney arrives at Cleave's flat leading Scarlett to hide out in the bathroom so he won't know she was there (as she was supposed to be at her sisters). Barney confides in Cleave that he feels something is wrong with Scarlett. He even checked on her at her sisters but was told she'd already left but he suspected she'd never been there. Barney worries his wife has found another man and acknowledges the marriage has been in a rut. Scarlett hears every word he says from where she is hiding.
When Barney leaves, Cleave goes into the bathroom and tells Scarlett to go home. Meanwhile, the scenes flash back and forth between Cleave, Scarlett and Barney to show us a beautiful blond woman and a handsome young dark haired man having sex then talking about jury duty while drinking tequila. The woman is apparently plying the young man for information as she wants to know about the case he served on. He tells her about the case of a murdered footie star, Gavin Warner, and the woman accused of the crime, Tanisha Marx. The jury found her guilty. She continues digging for information during their tryst claiming that she's into crime as it sort of turns her on. He expresses that there was a doubt about how the woman was able to get the man she killed, who was a large man, into the car.
We learn that the woman is the mother of Tanisha Marx, Lucy Marx (Lisa McCune) and has taped everything the young man told her and plays the tape at a press conference. The young man told her that the cousin of Gavin Warner was a mate of the head juror. She believed the foreman bullied other jurors into finding her daughter guilty. She wants to prove her nineteen year-old daughters innocence and went so far as to drop 20 pounds and have a complete makeover then go in search of jurors to seduce to gain information about the trial. Attorney General Joe Sandilands knows she is right that the system failed. Joe tells Bill Hampton (Matt Walker) that two things need to happen now: Tanisha Marx needs to get out of jail and Lucy Marx will not go to jail.
Cleave is back before the tax judge. This time, he admits that the removalists were not at fault for the destruction of the records the tax offices are requesting. The documents were already damaged before the move, he says. But, he is reliably informed by the janitor of his former storage facility, Turgut Erezem (Ivan Topic) that a dormer window was left open during the storm causing considerable flooding in the area where his papers were stored. David Potter requests the judge either force Cleave to produce the records or find him in contempt. Cleave even brings Turgut Erezem in to testify before the tax judge but his poor English seems to be a great problem. The judge orders them to reconvene in 3 months time with a Turkish translator. As Cleave is leaving, Turgut asks him about a trip to the dog races on Friday in perfect English.
The judge orders that Lucy Marx's tape is inadmissible as it was obtained illegally. An angry Lucy Marx stands and yells at the judge that if they truly want the public to have faith in the jury system they need to do something to fix it then storms out. She goes to the press and calls on the Attorney General to act.
Lucy Marx has a meeting with Cleave and Barney. She is perfectly happy to go to jail because if she gets off on the charges, it will be in the news for five minutes. If she goes to jail, every day more questions will arise and it will stay an issue longer. She instructs Cleve to plead her guilty. He advises her to do the opposite, however, and make them prove their case, hound her and persecute her. He assures her that in his capable hands there will be no way she could avoid a jail term.
Joe makes it clear to his staff that Lucy Marx cannot go to jail. The charges cannot be dropped because she has publicly admitted to a serious offense. Joe suggests that they choose a very green ("emerald is what we want") prosecutor for the case and a mother on the bench as the judge.
Cleave feels it is nice to finally have a client who is guilty for all the right reasons. He and Barney are still at the office as they are waiting for Scarlett to meet them there. Cleave asks his friend how the marriage is going and Barney replies "very cool". Nicole comes in to drop a file off and Barney notices she has an engagement ring on her finger. Three weeks ago she became engaged to her boyfriend of eleven years, Bevan. He has been her first and only and Cleave wishes to know if she is curious about all the other men out there of all shapes, colors and sizes and even if she's curious about women. Cleave goes into an awesomely funny diatribe about how she could find out one day that she could have had something better than Bevan. But he IS happy for her.
Scarlett, Barney and Cleave go to dinner with some friends, including David Potter. Cleave is stuck at the opposite end of the table from Barney and Scarlett and is forced to listen to what he feels has to be the most boring conversation ever between two women. He even considers stabbing his eyes out with his fork. Cleave is shocked when Missy shows up at the restaurant and is there as David Potter's date! When Missy gets up to go to the ladies room, he gets up and follows her to question her about why she's there with David. She met David when he gave a tax seminar at her law school. She didn't put it together, at first, that David was the man Cleave spent over a year complaining about because he called him "Harry" and David called Cleave "a clown". She goes into the ladies and he waits for her. David sees the two of them talking in the restaurant. David asks her if she'd met Cleave before. She says he is an old friend of a cousin of hers. She texts that to Cleave to make sure the story is safe. Cleave can no longer take the conversation between the two women and critiques the grammar of one of them, LeeAnn. The other woman throws her wine in his face and he simply says "You go girl!"
David accosts Cleave in the men's room and asks about his friendship with her cousin, Angus. Cleave sticks to the story and even adds to it a bit. Apparently, in Cleave's version of the story, Melissa and her cousin Angus had a relationship when she was barely seventeen and he around 38 or 39. They are first cousins and this angered the family because the relationship lasted the better part of a year. The longer Cleave talks, the more sordid the affair gets.
Cleave runs into Lucy Marx the next morning when he goes down to the cafe for breakfast. They go up to his flat where they immediately proceed to have sex on his bar. Barney and Scarlett have sex and talk about the Marx case afterwards. She tells her husband to have a chat with Dennis, Tanisha's solicitor because even he had his doubts about his client's innocence. Missy wakes up with David watching her sleeping. He tells her that Cleaver had told him about everything between she and Angus. He tells her she can tell him anything or nothing. When Dennis goes out to get the paper, a gunman runs up and shoots his neighbour then Dennis. Despite having been shot in the shoulder, Dennis jumps the gunman (who later turns out to be the neighbours brother) but is shot a second time in the stomach. The shoulder was a flesh wound and the bullet went through the abdomen so David got lucky.
Fuzz tells his father he is seeing someone and he wants to be able to bring her to Cleave's flat because there isn't anywhere else they can go. He knows his mother would insist they start a dialogue with the girls parents and the girl can't or won't tell her parents about her relationship with Fuzz. Fuzz only wants 2 (or 3 max) afternoons a week and since Cleave will be at work anyway there shouldn't be a problem.
Cleave sees the story about David having been shot on the news and calls Missy. She recalls the entire exciting story for him and how David is such a hero. Cleave is clearly jealous and says he could have done the same thing despite going crazy when the fire alarm when off by mistake once at the Club.
Lucy Marx comes over and while she and Cleave are in bed, she rolls over onto a used condom that Cleave tells her "would be my sons". Once the scare of the condom has passed, they resume their "conference" because, after all, she doesn't want him doing any real prep because then she might stand a chance of being acquitted.
Cleave meets with Joe to ask about Katrina Ryan, the prosecutor of the trial, who is just two years out of law school. The judge is Jessica Mason, a single mother with four daughters, one of whom lost a leg in a ferry disaster last year. He knows something is up because "Julie Andrews is the judge and Shirley Temple is the prosecutor" but Joe denies that he had anything to do with it.
Barney has lunch with "Dennis the Menace", Tanisha Marx's solicitor. According to Dennis, none of Warner's teammates would talk about his murder even with the prosecution. They gave just the barest of information on him. He could tell Tanisha wasn't well liked because when her name was mentioned "the room got a little chillier".
Katrina Ryan is a mess in court. She stutters and stumbles in her words, her paperwork is a mess and she appears generally uncomfortable in a court setting. Cleave requests an adjournment to confer with Lucy and takes the chance to speak with Katrina. It is her first big trial and she's a bundle of nerves. He gives her an entire pack of beta blockers and her performance in court is much improved thanks to them. She gives a brilliant opening statement that impresses even those from her own office. Cleave delivers a completely sexist opening statement directed toward women. He reveals that Lucy's daughter was the product of a one-night stand she had in Auckland nineteen years ago and her father is still blissfully ignorant of his daughter. He also has to get the fact that Lucy Marx had a lot of sexual partners when she was young in there for good measure. Judge Mason chastises Cleave for his opening statement and even brings Barney in on the chat. They both make it clear to her that Lucy Marx is pleased with the way the case is being handled.
On the stand, Lucy answers the prosecutors questions perfectly to illustrate that she knew exactly what she was doing was against the law. Barney is starting to wonder if Tanisha Marx really might be guilty but Cleave assures him he knows what he's doing. Barney pays a visit to Michael Warner, Gavin Warner's cousin. Barney asks him to tell him what really happened. Michael had information about the murder and wanted to tell the police but no one would back him up. Tanisha was having an affair with Gavin's coach, Clive Booth. Gavin called Michael the night he died and told him he was going to confront Tanisha about the affair. He believes Clive was the one who helped her get rid of Gavin's body. Clive Booth died from a heart attack four months after Gavin.
Barney goes to see Cleave that night and asks if Lucy is upstairs, which she is. He tells Cleave that Tanisha is guilty of the murder. He tells him everything Michael had told him about Booth and the affair and warns Cleave that Lucy is using him. When he goes back upstairs, Cleave doesn't tell Lucy the reason Barney was there.
The next day in court, Cleave questions the juror Lucy used to get information about the trial. He asks how much Daniels received for his story which angers Lucy. She feels Cleave isn't sticking to the plan to make her look bad and everyone else look good. Cleave asks her about her being her daughters alibi and presents her with how he feels things happened the night of Gavin Warner's murder. He informs her he can't represent her anymore because he was only prepared to put her in jail when she wasn't guilty. She threatens him that it will have consequences for him.
Cleave talks to Wendy about Lucy Marx. The judge declared a mistrial and referred Cleave to the Professional Conducts Committee of the Bar Association. Lucy gets on television and accuses Cleave of not only being incompetent at trial but for seducing her when she was at her most vulnerable point. She had taped him too, just like she did the juror. As Cleave is sitting in a cafe drowning his sorrows, Scarlett walks up to him and asks him if he's OK.
I love this show more and more each week. It's got just about everything that makes a great show great: humor (tons of humor), awesome characters, compelling story lines, good actors and good writing. I love that there is a serious story in each episode along with all that excellent humor. Richard Roxburgh is brilliant as Cleaver Greene. Note to self: never watch Rake and drink tea at the same time. Drinking tea and laughing hysterically do not mix. If Rake keeps up the awesome lines by Cleaver and the absurdly funny situations he gets himself into, by time this eight episode first run is over, it will most certainly be my very favorite show on television.
"You go, girl!"
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Season One, Episode Two, R vs. Marx
Original Air Date: November 11, 2010
Cleave's problems just never end. Mick and Vanessa make him a deal to pay what he owes them. His nemesis, David Potter, becomes a hero after wrestling with a gunman after having been shot by him. His son, Fuzz, wants to use his flat as a meeting place with his girlfriend after school so his mother won't know about their relationship. He learns that Missy has been seeing David Potter. Cleave and Barney take the case of Lucy Marx, a woman who believes her daughter was innocent of the murder she was convicted of. Lucy is charged with tampering with a juror after the trial and she actually wants to go to jail. But, will the affair she starts up with Cleave cause problems for them both?
Mick and Vanessa (Haiha Le), two people Cleave owe a great deal of gambling money to, have a sit down with him to discuss payment arrangements. They have rolled their two debts into one for him to make things easier. They have agreed on an interest rate of 29% compounded weekly that is an exclusive just for him. However, that stellar rate comes with a confidentiality clause. If he tells anyone, that beautiful rate will "literally become crippling interest".
After leaving the meeting with Mick and Vanessa, Cleave runs across Scarlett. They go back to his place where they talk for a little while before he tells her to bugger off back to her husband and kids. Scarlett has pretty much decided she wants to end her marriage which doesn't please Cleave too much. Barney arrives at Cleave's flat leading Scarlett to hide out in the bathroom so he won't know she was there (as she was supposed to be at her sisters). Barney confides in Cleave that he feels something is wrong with Scarlett. He even checked on her at her sisters but was told she'd already left but he suspected she'd never been there. Barney worries his wife has found another man and acknowledges the marriage has been in a rut. Scarlett hears every word he says from where she is hiding.
When Barney leaves, Cleave goes into the bathroom and tells Scarlett to go home. Meanwhile, the scenes flash back and forth between Cleave, Scarlett and Barney to show us a beautiful blond woman and a handsome young dark haired man having sex then talking about jury duty while drinking tequila. The woman is apparently plying the young man for information as she wants to know about the case he served on. He tells her about the case of a murdered footie star, Gavin Warner, and the woman accused of the crime, Tanisha Marx. The jury found her guilty. She continues digging for information during their tryst claiming that she's into crime as it sort of turns her on. He expresses that there was a doubt about how the woman was able to get the man she killed, who was a large man, into the car.
We learn that the woman is the mother of Tanisha Marx, Lucy Marx (Lisa McCune) and has taped everything the young man told her and plays the tape at a press conference. The young man told her that the cousin of Gavin Warner was a mate of the head juror. She believed the foreman bullied other jurors into finding her daughter guilty. She wants to prove her nineteen year-old daughters innocence and went so far as to drop 20 pounds and have a complete makeover then go in search of jurors to seduce to gain information about the trial. Attorney General Joe Sandilands knows she is right that the system failed. Joe tells Bill Hampton (Matt Walker) that two things need to happen now: Tanisha Marx needs to get out of jail and Lucy Marx will not go to jail.
Cleave is back before the tax judge. This time, he admits that the removalists were not at fault for the destruction of the records the tax offices are requesting. The documents were already damaged before the move, he says. But, he is reliably informed by the janitor of his former storage facility, Turgut Erezem (Ivan Topic) that a dormer window was left open during the storm causing considerable flooding in the area where his papers were stored. David Potter requests the judge either force Cleave to produce the records or find him in contempt. Cleave even brings Turgut Erezem in to testify before the tax judge but his poor English seems to be a great problem. The judge orders them to reconvene in 3 months time with a Turkish translator. As Cleave is leaving, Turgut asks him about a trip to the dog races on Friday in perfect English.
The judge orders that Lucy Marx's tape is inadmissible as it was obtained illegally. An angry Lucy Marx stands and yells at the judge that if they truly want the public to have faith in the jury system they need to do something to fix it then storms out. She goes to the press and calls on the Attorney General to act.
Lucy Marx has a meeting with Cleave and Barney. She is perfectly happy to go to jail because if she gets off on the charges, it will be in the news for five minutes. If she goes to jail, every day more questions will arise and it will stay an issue longer. She instructs Cleve to plead her guilty. He advises her to do the opposite, however, and make them prove their case, hound her and persecute her. He assures her that in his capable hands there will be no way she could avoid a jail term.
Joe makes it clear to his staff that Lucy Marx cannot go to jail. The charges cannot be dropped because she has publicly admitted to a serious offense. Joe suggests that they choose a very green ("emerald is what we want") prosecutor for the case and a mother on the bench as the judge.
Cleave feels it is nice to finally have a client who is guilty for all the right reasons. He and Barney are still at the office as they are waiting for Scarlett to meet them there. Cleave asks his friend how the marriage is going and Barney replies "very cool". Nicole comes in to drop a file off and Barney notices she has an engagement ring on her finger. Three weeks ago she became engaged to her boyfriend of eleven years, Bevan. He has been her first and only and Cleave wishes to know if she is curious about all the other men out there of all shapes, colors and sizes and even if she's curious about women. Cleave goes into an awesomely funny diatribe about how she could find out one day that she could have had something better than Bevan. But he IS happy for her.
Scarlett, Barney and Cleave go to dinner with some friends, including David Potter. Cleave is stuck at the opposite end of the table from Barney and Scarlett and is forced to listen to what he feels has to be the most boring conversation ever between two women. He even considers stabbing his eyes out with his fork. Cleave is shocked when Missy shows up at the restaurant and is there as David Potter's date! When Missy gets up to go to the ladies room, he gets up and follows her to question her about why she's there with David. She met David when he gave a tax seminar at her law school. She didn't put it together, at first, that David was the man Cleave spent over a year complaining about because he called him "Harry" and David called Cleave "a clown". She goes into the ladies and he waits for her. David sees the two of them talking in the restaurant. David asks her if she'd met Cleave before. She says he is an old friend of a cousin of hers. She texts that to Cleave to make sure the story is safe. Cleave can no longer take the conversation between the two women and critiques the grammar of one of them, LeeAnn. The other woman throws her wine in his face and he simply says "You go girl!"
David accosts Cleave in the men's room and asks about his friendship with her cousin, Angus. Cleave sticks to the story and even adds to it a bit. Apparently, in Cleave's version of the story, Melissa and her cousin Angus had a relationship when she was barely seventeen and he around 38 or 39. They are first cousins and this angered the family because the relationship lasted the better part of a year. The longer Cleave talks, the more sordid the affair gets.
Cleave runs into Lucy Marx the next morning when he goes down to the cafe for breakfast. They go up to his flat where they immediately proceed to have sex on his bar. Barney and Scarlett have sex and talk about the Marx case afterwards. She tells her husband to have a chat with Dennis, Tanisha's solicitor because even he had his doubts about his client's innocence. Missy wakes up with David watching her sleeping. He tells her that Cleaver had told him about everything between she and Angus. He tells her she can tell him anything or nothing. When Dennis goes out to get the paper, a gunman runs up and shoots his neighbour then Dennis. Despite having been shot in the shoulder, Dennis jumps the gunman (who later turns out to be the neighbours brother) but is shot a second time in the stomach. The shoulder was a flesh wound and the bullet went through the abdomen so David got lucky.
Fuzz tells his father he is seeing someone and he wants to be able to bring her to Cleave's flat because there isn't anywhere else they can go. He knows his mother would insist they start a dialogue with the girls parents and the girl can't or won't tell her parents about her relationship with Fuzz. Fuzz only wants 2 (or 3 max) afternoons a week and since Cleave will be at work anyway there shouldn't be a problem.
Cleave sees the story about David having been shot on the news and calls Missy. She recalls the entire exciting story for him and how David is such a hero. Cleave is clearly jealous and says he could have done the same thing despite going crazy when the fire alarm when off by mistake once at the Club.
Lucy Marx comes over and while she and Cleave are in bed, she rolls over onto a used condom that Cleave tells her "would be my sons". Once the scare of the condom has passed, they resume their "conference" because, after all, she doesn't want him doing any real prep because then she might stand a chance of being acquitted.
Cleave meets with Joe to ask about Katrina Ryan, the prosecutor of the trial, who is just two years out of law school. The judge is Jessica Mason, a single mother with four daughters, one of whom lost a leg in a ferry disaster last year. He knows something is up because "Julie Andrews is the judge and Shirley Temple is the prosecutor" but Joe denies that he had anything to do with it.
Barney has lunch with "Dennis the Menace", Tanisha Marx's solicitor. According to Dennis, none of Warner's teammates would talk about his murder even with the prosecution. They gave just the barest of information on him. He could tell Tanisha wasn't well liked because when her name was mentioned "the room got a little chillier".
Katrina Ryan is a mess in court. She stutters and stumbles in her words, her paperwork is a mess and she appears generally uncomfortable in a court setting. Cleave requests an adjournment to confer with Lucy and takes the chance to speak with Katrina. It is her first big trial and she's a bundle of nerves. He gives her an entire pack of beta blockers and her performance in court is much improved thanks to them. She gives a brilliant opening statement that impresses even those from her own office. Cleave delivers a completely sexist opening statement directed toward women. He reveals that Lucy's daughter was the product of a one-night stand she had in Auckland nineteen years ago and her father is still blissfully ignorant of his daughter. He also has to get the fact that Lucy Marx had a lot of sexual partners when she was young in there for good measure. Judge Mason chastises Cleave for his opening statement and even brings Barney in on the chat. They both make it clear to her that Lucy Marx is pleased with the way the case is being handled.
On the stand, Lucy answers the prosecutors questions perfectly to illustrate that she knew exactly what she was doing was against the law. Barney is starting to wonder if Tanisha Marx really might be guilty but Cleave assures him he knows what he's doing. Barney pays a visit to Michael Warner, Gavin Warner's cousin. Barney asks him to tell him what really happened. Michael had information about the murder and wanted to tell the police but no one would back him up. Tanisha was having an affair with Gavin's coach, Clive Booth. Gavin called Michael the night he died and told him he was going to confront Tanisha about the affair. He believes Clive was the one who helped her get rid of Gavin's body. Clive Booth died from a heart attack four months after Gavin.
Barney goes to see Cleave that night and asks if Lucy is upstairs, which she is. He tells Cleave that Tanisha is guilty of the murder. He tells him everything Michael had told him about Booth and the affair and warns Cleave that Lucy is using him. When he goes back upstairs, Cleave doesn't tell Lucy the reason Barney was there.
The next day in court, Cleave questions the juror Lucy used to get information about the trial. He asks how much Daniels received for his story which angers Lucy. She feels Cleave isn't sticking to the plan to make her look bad and everyone else look good. Cleave asks her about her being her daughters alibi and presents her with how he feels things happened the night of Gavin Warner's murder. He informs her he can't represent her anymore because he was only prepared to put her in jail when she wasn't guilty. She threatens him that it will have consequences for him.
Cleave talks to Wendy about Lucy Marx. The judge declared a mistrial and referred Cleave to the Professional Conducts Committee of the Bar Association. Lucy gets on television and accuses Cleave of not only being incompetent at trial but for seducing her when she was at her most vulnerable point. She had taped him too, just like she did the juror. As Cleave is sitting in a cafe drowning his sorrows, Scarlett walks up to him and asks him if he's OK.
I love this show more and more each week. It's got just about everything that makes a great show great: humor (tons of humor), awesome characters, compelling story lines, good actors and good writing. I love that there is a serious story in each episode along with all that excellent humor. Richard Roxburgh is brilliant as Cleaver Greene. Note to self: never watch Rake and drink tea at the same time. Drinking tea and laughing hysterically do not mix. If Rake keeps up the awesome lines by Cleaver and the absurdly funny situations he gets himself into, by time this eight episode first run is over, it will most certainly be my very favorite show on television.
"You go, girl!"
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
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