The events of the 5th (and final) season of Rake take place one year after Cleaver Green gets elected to Senate. As was to be expected, he didn’t do anything after moving to Canberra, except for subletting his apartment (paid for from the state budget) to various people via the Internet. Nicole works as his chief of staff and basically does everything. Barney went on a vacation to Italy, where he met a ‘Monica-Belucci-look-alike’ and decided to never come back, thus breaking Nicole’s heart. Fuzz went on a trip somewhere, and came back only by the end of the season; he more or less broke up with Missy, the mother of his child, but started reconsidering things upon return. Missy is still living with Wendy, taking care of the baby, which interferes with Wendy’s practice. The main bulk of the season’s events are related one way or another to the political activity of Cleave, which after the first year takes off with growing speed, especially after he gets assigned a new driver – Jacub – who appears to know a lot about the backstage political life of Australia, and also lends Cleaver a lot of money, because he suffers from severe lack of money the whole time, but after he stops a legislation created in favour of several investment banks looking to come into the country. Primary framework of the season is determined by the unexpected explosion in the parliament house, which at first gets designated as a terrorist act – although later it turns out to be about bad plumbing, and although the top officials (PM and some of the senators) know very well about it, that fact never gets revealed to the public, and most of the people involved try very hard to keep it that way. Cleaver finds out the truth late in the season and manages to use it to his advantage in the finale. Also, during the season Cleaver re-connects with his former pal, now US secretary of defence, who pays a visit to Australia for an important treaty negotiations; gets accused of pedophilia; joins the milk committee; stops a video game act, promoted by Bevan; wears a zebra suit to work; hires Missy to be his press secretary; gets into a squabble with another senator and manages to take her down; suffers from plumbing problems at home; sleeps with Nicole’s sister; hires a man to shoot at him; and kisses a chinese bride. Nicole discovers that her real father is George Plimpton. Cal McGregor gets gradually pushed out from his own TV program; becomes a senator himself, and clashes with his half-brother, also a politician, over a stupid picture, but later comes to terms with him and becomes a Prime Minister. Wendy gets offered a permanent position with the Parliament, and becomes senators’ shrink.

Australian politics, when presented as a comedy, seems to be pretty funny, although I’m sure that in reality it’s boring as hell, with those constantly interchanging Prime Ministers and penniwise squabbles in the parliament, occasionally interspersed with important, yet just as boring legislation initiatives. Well, that’s what usually goes on in countries relatively trouble-free.

The story of the season is quite great – pretty much the same level as the previous four seasons, although there were a few things that remained not very clear to me, such as the nature of the drivers’ might, or the exact breakdown of the final scheme, when Cleaver became set for life. But those might be because I don’t fully understand what some of the characters say because of the accent; with subtitles, I’m sure, those issues would go away.

In general, though, the story seems to be very elegant and engaging. It is surely funny – the dialogs are hilarious at times, and very nicely written through-out. The new characters are great as well; it’s a pity that some of the old ones weren’t able to re-join the cast, but, well, what can you do; besides, the writers used those hiccups to the advantage of the story.

The execution is wonderful, no question about it; the only thing, perhaps, is that some of the characters seem to age not as smoothly as the others, but that happens in life, too. All in all, the season is very nicely done.

To summarize, the show proved to be internally consistent over the 10 years of its run, and quality-consistent as well. It combines funny and tragic in a unique proportion, and seasons the mix with Australian authentic culture and speech. It’s a great show, I enjoyed it very much. And I recommend you do the same.

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The 4th season of Rake starts at the exact moment in which the 3rd resulted, i.e. the unfortunate balloon flight, undertaken by Cleaver and Barney. The first gets sort of saved by an old acquaintance, while the second takes off and ends up in New Zealand several days later, barely alive. Barney becomes somewhat famous, but is mostly compelled to stick to the fame because of the huge bill raised to him by the government – for the rescue, that is. His cancer went away, but the whole affair also really spoiled his relationship with Nicole. In the meantime Cleaver gets entangled with the Ed Thompson business, with Thompson being a man wanted by the Australian government for many years, who recently returned to visit his sick mother in hospital and got busted. Things get so bad, Cleaver even has to hide for several months, and almost gets murdered, but later it turns to the better. Red tries to make it work with David, but the children just hate him. Wendy gets a little closer to Cleave. Missy gets back from the States really messed up and hooks up with Cal McGregor. Nicole gets back with Bevan, which turns out to be not the best idea. The season is divided in the middle by a genuinely severe tragedy. David almost goes to jail, but gets helped by Cleaver. Barney takes the development very hard. Missy settles in the Wendy’s house, with everybody trying to help her. She eventually grows very close with Fuzz. Cleaver’s sister announces her intention to run for the Senate, and blackmouthes her brother so bad (also getting friendly with Cal at the same time), that out of pure spite he runs against her, with no political program whatsoever. He gets driven to the idea mostly by his desperate situation, when he gets punished way to harshly for saying the truth. Wendy gets back with a crush of her youth, woman named Jack, who’s a political consultant, but that relationship eventually gets out of hand.

By structure the season is closer to the 3rd – it is also a collection of intertwining storylines that develop more or less simultaneously or evolve into each other. In terms of quality, nothing changed much – the show is still a superior work of cinema, to which epithets such as deep, meaningful, rich, funny and powerful are applicable best of all.

The development of the story is just as wild as previously; at the same time, everything is bound by the laws of logic, and seem to stay in harmony of internal consistency through-out the season. The acting is great, as well.

All in all, there’s nothing to criticize here at all. In its own way the show is pretty much perfect.

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In the 3rd season of Rake the narrative takes yet another shape as compared to any of the previous seasons. Now it amounts to a number of fluent storylines (and not geometrical figures, like before) that evolve over the course of the show, influencing and amplifying one another. Cleaver is confined to prison in the beginning of the season, and, having spent almost a year behind bars, dreams of a successful appeal. It becomes possible, when the prison community is joined by a disgraced judge, who has some information on his colleagues, including those of them, who would be presiding on the Cleaver’s case. While in jail Cleave has to deal with Georgy Corrella, who basically runs everything inside, as well as Cal McGregor, and Kirsty’s right-hand man Col. He also meets a guy named Malcolm, who dreams of singing. After the release Cleaver works hard to regain his place in the changed circumstances. Red, having worked for some time as a barrister, makes it to silk. Barney gets diagnosed with cancer, and has a hard time dealing with it. The two of them form an unstable alliance with Nicole, who also starts working as Red’s assistant (and lives in Cleave’s apartment). Melissa oversees her book being made into a movie, and starts a novel. Red aspirs to be with David, but doesn’t allow herself to do it because of Barney’s illness. David remains the last man standing in his party, and manages to gain a decent reputation as a politician. Wendy almost marries Roger; Fuzz goes to Africa with his wife-to-be, but returns prematurely without her, but with a wife of Congolese minister and a load of blood diamonds, for which he almost goes to prison. In parallel, Cal McGregor becomes a TV host after his release, due to his partnership with Tikki Whendon, one of the Australia’s richest woman and a ruthless schemer, whose primary aspiration in the season was to build a casino. As an anchor Cal gains power he never though he could have; but later his interests dispersed from those of Tikki. As one of season’s primary Clever’s cases, he defends a friend of Tikki’s stepson, who gets falsely accused of insider trading (or something), and during those proceedings the Tikki-Cal conflict achieves its peak. Cleaver also defends a mother who committed an insurance fraud by claiming that her children are sick with cancer; and a catholic priest, an old pal of his, who concealed his brother’s involvement in cases of pedophilia. Soon after his release from prison Cleave meets Malcolm’s sister named Felicity, and after a lot of effort manages to win her over.

On the one hand, the season has a more traditional layout, but on the other – the ability of the writers to adapt and change is astonishing, because it’s different every time, and every time it works like a charm. The overall development of the story is internally consistent, boisterous and interesting to follow. Every single story told over the course of the season is worth seeing; many of them add a significant component of drama into the narrative (which adds a lot of depth); others add no less significant component of action. And, as usual, everything is pierced with signature Rake humor, which is just as impressive as before.

The new characters are all rather great; Felicity is just as gorgeous as all the other women in Cleaver’s life. The acting is wonderful, as well as the execution in general. All in all, the quality of the show remains extremely high in all the major components, thus summing up to an extraordinary, perhaps, even outstanding series.

Names and figures

In the 2nd season of Rake the structure of the story, which was rather complex previously, gets even more so. The figure of the agent of chaos Cleaver Green is still in the center, only now it is engaged in several different storylines, some of which resemble triangles (like in season 1), while others represent a more or less straight lines, but all intertwine with each other comprising a complicated narrative. The primary influences of the season include Cleave’s relationship with his friends Barney and Red, who try to distance themselves from him in the beginning, but then inevitably gravitate towards him under the pressure of circumstances. Barney also has an affair with Nicole, Cleave’s secretary, who was stealing from him in season 1, which eventually ruins Nicole’s long-term relationship with Bevan (who is only a mention); and Red almost sleeps with David Potter, which turns out to be enough to cause some commotion. Cleaver keeps seeing his ex-wife and keeps treating her like his therapist; their mutual son first gets another older woman pregnant, and after she makes an abortion and moves away, finds a girlfriend of his own age, who is a religious freak. Missy, although absent in the beginning, soon re-appears as the author of a book based on her own life; she becomes engaged to Joshua, who leaked important government information and got persecuted for it. Cleave takes it upon himself to defend the guy, which might have become a ticket out of his messy life for him, but Josh gets killed and Cleave ends up defending Missy who gets accused in his murder. Cleaver maintains a relationship with Kirsty, the lady boss, whom he owes almost 200 grand now; that bond becomes a sexual for a while, after which he manages to fix up Kirsty with her right-hand man Col; but that leaves him in the world of trouble nonetheless. Then there’s the politicians: over the course of the season Cleaver manages to bring down first the premier of the New South Wales, and then the attorney general, too. He fails to help a friend of his who played with fire and got burned. He experiences the loss of father, who, as it turns out, was conned just a few month before the demise out of all his life savings. Having failed to pursue the issue in court, Cleaver makes a terrible mistake, which brings himself to the defendant’s bench.

Along with the complexity of the story, its exuberance and fertility have grown as well. The season is filled with events that cumulatively might seem like a complete mess, but in all actuality are very thoroughly structured. The impression of the chaos is maintained through the abundance of stuff, as well as the essence of the main hero. As before, and maybe even more so, the show is full of provoking, lively humor, and also of deep, substantial drama.

It is rather hard to keep hold of all of that, and still be able to make it into a vibrant, powerful story, and yet the writers manage to do just that. And it seems like the show grows more and more potent with each instance.

It’s really good all in all, and keeps getting better.

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Rake is an australian drama series about the lawyer Cleaver Greene who deals with the cases that are usually controversial and have a low chance of winning; he defends murderers, cannibals and devotees of bestiality. He is a stickler for the law, but doesn’t care too much about justice – or so he makes it seem. Being a brilliant law man, he wins most of his cases, no matter how hopeless they are. He’s a gambler and doesn’t win at the poker table very often, which is why up to his neck in debt, and owns most of it to the organized crime. He hasn’t been disbarred only thanks to his unrivaled resourcefulness; but he might be if the proceeding on his tax evasion would result in an expected outcome. Apart from his vivacious personality and his professional activities, there are 3 more elements that constitute the show. First is the triangle that includes him, Melissa (aka Missy), an ex-prostitute, whom he has been frequenting until she quit to be a lawyer herself, went into the university and started dating Harry-sorry-David Potter, a successful tax attorney who tries to nail Cleaver down and later goes into politics only to be elected at the exact moment when his party goes into opposition. Missy is torn between her past, the good thing that she has going on with David, and her feelings for Cleave; this dynamics ensures a lion’s share of story development. Then there’s another triangle, that includes, once again, Cleaver, and also Barney, his friend and partner, and Barney’s wife Scarlet (aka Red). Their marriage is sinking, and Cleave turns out to be in the middle of it, at the great risk of losing all the people he actually cares about. Finally, there’s Wendy, Cleaver’s ex-wife and also his shrink, and Fuzz (aka Finnegan), their mutual son. Cleaver genuinely loves all the women in his life; he tries to be good friend to Barney and Fuzz; but, because of his unbalanced personality, he is constantly on the verge of fucking everything up. And sometimes he crosses that border.

This is pretty great show that produces an impression of being somewhat loose, but that’s actually due to the essence of the central character, while the structure of series, although complex, is very much harmonious and balanced out. The cross-cutting narrative is full of deep and serious drama; the vertical stories are all pretty interesting, even though they usually take up the lesser part of their respective episodes. The cast is really amazing, I mean, all the actors engaged in the project are wonderful, but especially – Richard Roxburgh, who plays Cleaver, and Adrienne Pickering (Missy).

The execution is not exactly top-notch (evidently, the budget was in australian dollars), but still quite good, and the important thing is that they weren’t skimping on truly important stuff, such as actor’s motivation.

All in all, it’s captivating enough, fascinates with the sincerity of the tragedy, is not devoid of fine humor, and is very much enjoyable as a result.

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