'The Rainmaker' Episode 3 Recap: Was Melvin Pritcher A Serial Killer?

In episode 3 of The Rainmaker, Jocelyn visited her father in prison. The former lawyer had gotten himself involved in shady business, and Jocelyn believed that Leo Drummond had made some arrangement with her father. When she asked him about it, her father simply advised her to do as Leo had asked her to. He was set to be released in a month, and he didn’t want Jocelyn to mess things up for him. Meanwhile, the difference in financial status continues to be an obstacle in Rudy and Sarah’s relationship. Sarah’s new scenic view apartment reminded Rudy of all the things he’d once wished for but failed to live up to. Sarah was optimistic about Rudy’s future; she strongly believed he would soon find a reputable firm to work at. Rudy hoped the same as well, but he was too invested in the case he was working on, and a change of job was not something he was considering for the moment. 

Spoiler Alert

How did an azalea bouquet lead Rudy to the truth?

The doctor who was assigned Donny Ray’s case was trained by Tinley Britt to answer the question of the lawyers appointed by the plaintiff a certain way. But Rudy was brilliant at his job, and at the very first instance, he established that the doctor had barely any recollection of the patients he had treated in the past. So whatever he had to say about Donny Ray’s treatment should be taken with a pinch of salt. To prove Rudy wrong, Sarah reminded her client of the azaleas. The doctor quickly responded that he remembered treating Donny Ray because of the bouquet of azaleas in his room that he was allergic to. So, every time he entered Ray’s room, he couldn’t stop sneezing. Before ending the session, Rudy slyly asked the doctor if he treated his patients under supervision because of his history with addiction. He simply wanted the doctor’s past to be mentioned on record, and it left the doctor irritated. 

While he stuck to his story, the mention of azaleas helped Rudy and his team solve the mystery. Dot wasn’t informed about Donny’s condition, and she only found out that he was hospitalized after his death, which meant that she hadn’t sent him the flowers, so there must have been another patient who shared the room with Donny. Deck meticulously called all the florists on the yellow pages to find the patient since the hospital would not give them a name. While most of the florists didn’t sell azaleas, Deck finally found one that did, and with the help of their records, he managed to track down the patient who’d shared the room with Donny. Ross was a college student who was initially hesitant to talk to Rudy and Deck, but when they mentioned how hard Dot was fighting to bring justice to her son, he finally agreed. He mentioned that Jackie checked up on him and Donny; he added that a doctor was allergic to the flowers his mother had sent him. When they asked if he’d seen the same doctor giving Donny medication, Ross responded that a male nurse had changed his medication—the nurse had injected something into Donny’s IV bag. When they showed him Melvin Pritcher’s picture, he immediately recognized him, stating that he was the one. 

Was Melvin Pritcher a serial killer?

It became evident that Melvin Pritcher had killed Donny Ray, and the hospital was trying to cover it up because they had basically hired a killer without doing a detailed background check on him. Melvin was a nurse at the hospital, so if he’d killed Donny, not only would he be arrested, but the hospital would also be held responsible. This would completely tarnish the hospital’s reputation, and Wilford Keely would face severe repercussions. The firm’s investigators also attempted to murder Melvin to silence him, fearing that as long as he was alive, he would continue to be a problem. Even though Rudy and his team now knew the truth, Jocelyn wasn’t sure if they were at a stage to state the conclusion that they’d drawn in court. They only had one witness who claimed to have seen Pritcher inject something (likely morphine) into Donny’s IV, but the defense would dismiss the witness by claiming that he was not in the right physical or mental state at the time, and therefore his memory couldn’t be trusted. Rudy suggested that they could also bring to light the suspicious heart attack that Jackie’s neighbor, Melvin, had suffered. Clearly, Melvin was trying to hunt down Jackie because she had possibly caught him in the act, and she wanted to do the right thing and report him to the cops. But her moral conscience had cost her her job, and she was likely threatened by the hospital to not reveal any details, because they were involved in a criminal conspiracy. 

Will Leo’s client accept the settlement offer? 

Rudy figured that they didn’t really have time; they were dealing with a murderer who could kill many more if they failed to act swiftly. Melvin was a menace to society, and his immediate arrest was the need of the hour. Jocelyn wasn’t sure if getting the cops involved was the right move; she instead wanted to do an autopsy on Jackie’s neighbor and find out if she died of a morphine overdose to neatly tie the case together. Towards the end of The Rainmaker episode 3, Jocelyn met Leo in secrecy. Jocelyn was evidently in a tricky situation—the FBI had showed up at her chambers and asked her about Rosalie Sutton. Apparently Jocelyn’s father had arranged for Rosalie to leave the country before she could testify, and that was why he’d ended up in prison. The agents had informed Jocelyn that Rosalie had been recently murdered, and they wondered if they would like to revisit her testimony. Jocelyn claimed to have little to no knowledge about Rosalie, but that was not really the case. Her father had asked her to look after Rosalie and her newborn before she was sent abroad. We don’t know what Jocelyn’s father’s connection to Rosalie’s murder was, and the impact of the whole situation on Jocelyn, but clearly it’s going to be quite crucial to the show. Jocelyn met Leo because she was afraid that if she didn’t reach a settlement, it would have an impact on her father’s prison sentence. 

At the end of The Rainmaker episode 3, Jocelyn asked Leo to call off the FBI, and in return she would speak to her client and convince her to accept a settlement deal of 80 million. Leo laughed in disbelief, but his expression changed the minute Jocelyn said that Melvin Pritcher was a murderer and Leo and Wilford Keely knew all about it, so if they didn’t want to lose everything; they had to pay Dot Black 80 million. Considering the tricky situation Keely was in, he would likely offer whatever price Jocelyn ended up demanding. But the question is—will Dot Black agree to settle? That seems quite dicey. Now if Black rejects the offer, then Jocelyn might end up in trouble, or maybe her father will end up paying the price. Rudy will not want Dot to accept the deal as well, because it would mean that Melvin, a murderer, would stay out of prison even after killing a bunch of people. Will this result in a falling out between Rudy and Jocelyn? That does not seem improbable. 

What happened to Jackie?

Jackie had been hiding from the investigators at the Tinley Britt firm and, of course, Melvin. Perhaps the firm had offered her compensation but she hadn’t accepted it, and Melvin planned on killing her because she was at a loose end. She had been hiding in her ex-boyfriend’s garage, but after Rudy and Deck showed up at his place, he asked Jackie to leave. Jackie was on the road when she suddenly discovered that she had a flat tire. She searched for help and was relieved when a car stopped by. But soon she realized that the man was Melvin Pritcher. He had been keeping a close watch on Jackie, and he was responsible for puncturing one of the tires of Jackie’s car. He followed his usual method—he injected her with a sedative. At the end of episode 3, we discovered that Melvin had taken Jackie hostage in his cabin. She was unconscious but probably still alive. Will Rudy’s discovery result in Melvin’s arrest? Will the cops manage to rescue Jackie on time? Let’s hope for the best!

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