The Best Episodes of Rake
Last Updated: Feb 17, 2019
On any single day, Cleaver Greene is described as many things. Whilst his ex-wife may call him 'unreliable', his son will call him 'a mate'. To his learned friends at the bar table he is 'a real wag', to his jurors he is 'hilarious', and to most judges he is 'an outrage'. To the Tax Office, he is 'a defendant', to a certain brothel owner 'a legend', and to his former cocaine dealer 'a tragic loss'.
#1 - R v Dana
Season 1 - Episode 3
Consumed by remorse after sleeping with his best friend's wife Scarlet, and facing his ninth appearance before the Bar Association, Cleaver gets a needed distraction defending a famous chef charged with bigamy. And to add insult to injury, as he and Barney commiserate at a favorite bar, Missy arrives once more with David Potter. The bigamy case is going well...that is until Cleaver discovers his client had left out some very important details. As Cleaver receives another late night phone call from Missy, they're both left wondering what it is they can't let go of.
8.50
#2 - Episode 8
Season 4 - Episode 8
Cleaver considers a career change but David throws a spanner in the works. Cleaver's determined to win Wendy back from Jack, but Jack is scheming to get rid of him for good. Will it work? Fuzz has some surprising news.
8.24
#3 - Episode 8
Season 3 - Episode 8
Something is seriously awry in Cleaver's world. His practice is booming. Barney is thriving. And he is falling in love with Felicity. But does fate have some nasty surprises in store?
8.23
#4 - R v Corella
Season 1 - Episode 8
Cleaver is forced to defend his loan shark Mick Corella on murder charges, and it means working with Barney again. But hope of dodging his back taxes is fading fast
8.15
#5 - R v Tanner
Season 1 - Episode 7
As Barney (Russell Dykstra) starts to rebound from his recent marriage woes, Joe Sandilands (Geoff Morrell) is publicly outed as one of the MPs who patronise brothel Club Jules. Meanwhile, seeking relief for a hang-over, Cleaver (Richard Roxburgh) gets hit over the head during a botched robbery at a local pharmacy. So too does one of the hapless robbers when his accomplice takes a wild swing at a CCTV camera and misses, badly injuring his mate.
8.09
#6 - R v Langhorn
Season 1 - Episode 6
Unable to resist her charms, Cleaver agrees to defend an old flame - now a successful radio shock jock Eddie Langhorn - who's charged with inciting racial hatred. Meanwhile, his tax case catches up with him and he's placed on remand. Then he learns his father has had a stroke. Scarlet, acting as prosecutor on the Langhorn case, is stumped by Cleaver's impressive defense, but Barney comes to her rescue. Cleaver despairs when he realizes his client has conned him but allows himself a glimmer of hope when Missy arrives unannounced once more. But she's come to tell him that she and David are getting married!
8.06
#7 - Episode 6
Season 3 - Episode 6
Roger bans Cleaver from Wendy's, and Fuzz has returned with a Congolese wife, a Cleaveresque attitude, and (according to the AFP) a suitcase full of stolen blood diamonds.
8.03
#8 - R v Turner
Season 2 - Episode 5
Missy is on trial for murdering her fiancé. The only way Cleaver can save her is to expose the conspiracy by the security apparatus Joshua humiliated. Assisted by a mysterious smoking man, he follows the money trail to ASIO, the CIA and towards information that may bring down the international banking system and several governments. Kirsty is furious that Cleaver is spending so much time with Missy, but when Col threatens to express that disapproval in the usual manner, Cleaver recognises that Col has a secret. Delirious after a mosquito-induced broken arm, Barney confesses to Scarlet that he has met someone else. Hurt and confused, Scarlet allows an innocent lunch with Harry-Sorry-David to progress down a primrose path that, with some help from Cal McGregor, will lead to perdition. Can Cleaver maintain professional standards long enough to have Missy acquitted? Will ASIO and the CIA allow him to win?
8.00
#9 - Greene v Diaries
Season 5 - Episode 5
It's a new week and a new Prime Minister. Indigenous Liberal Greg Peters has come to the fore to lead the country with his own agenda; just as there's panic in the Capital as ministerial diaries are to be published.
8.00
#10 - Episode 5
Season 3 - Episode 5
Cleaver is retained for a low rent tawdry sex offence, but the Royal Commissions that have decimated David's front bench mean that even barrel-bottom Cleaver Greene is getting lots of briefs.
8.00
#11 - R v Floyd
Season 2 - Episode 4
Missy and Joshua Floyd are Australia's most newsworthy couple: the bestselling author of a controversial memoir, and the founder of an on-line leaks site currently facing treason charges. A bitter Cleaver, having been ditched by Barney, represents a 'mammophile' peeping tom for the incompetent solicitor Lincoln Lincoln.
7.96
#12 - R v Chandler
Season 1 - Episode 5
Cleaver prepares to defend family friend Dr. Bruce Chandler, when a very incriminating DVD finds its way to the local police. Meanwhile, Barney won't speak to him, and ex-wife Wendy blames him for Fuzz's predicament, so Cleaver turns to gambling and cocaine, scoring another beating from Mick Corella's stand-over man. Then a homeless Scarlet arrives on his doorstep, followed closely by Missy railing at the realities of partner David's new political life. And when Wendy arrives looking for Fuzz, Cleaver is left reeling. A call from Joe Sandilands has Missy scurrying back to dependable David, while Cleaver seeks solace in another line of coke.
7.93
#13 - R v Greene
Season 2 - Episode 8
Cleaver is in prison, charged with the manslaughter of Lane Hole's sweet, elderly neighbour. He is bailed out by Missy, flush with funds since optioning the rights to her story to Hollywood. Polly Nesbitt moves on him, but has her own agenda. Kirsty will allow Cleaver to retain his extremities, if she and Col are not implicated in his trial and he pays every last cent he owes, now. Barney warns Cleaver that he will go down for manslaughter but advises he is likely to beat a murder charge. Cleaver goads Cal McGregor into having the charge upgraded, but Cal didn't get to be Attorney-General without a few devious tricks of his own. Cleaver will need the help of all his friends and several enemies if he is to escape a hefty stretch behind bars.
7.92
#14 - R v Lorton
Season 1 - Episode 4
Cleaver takes on a case defending a once famous but now homeless artist who is accused of murdering a 15-year old male prostitute. Cleaver's guilt about Barney and Scarlet sees him make a drunken spectacle of himself in front of Missy and David. But Missy is struggling to keep up her charade with David as he considers running for public office. To add to Cleaver's woes, he and Wendy discover that Fuzz is dating his very young and attractive English teacher. At Barney's insistence Scarlet relents and makes up a name for the man she slept with...a name that implicates Cleaver.
7.91
#15 - R v Fenton
Season 2 - Episode 2
Cleaver's affair with the Premier proves costly when her husband begins a campaign of harassment against him. David Potter sues Cleaver for defamation, and after the clown punch-up at Max's birthday party, he's persona non grata to Barney as well.
7.90
#16 - Greene v The Unflushables
Season 5 - Episode 6
After a 21-week term Peters is out as PM and Morrow is in; Cleaver's own plumbing issues shed light on the true cause of the explosion at Parliament House; and an intended hit gone wrong results in a Senate resignation.
7.84
#17 - Episode 1
Season 3 - Episode 1
Cleaver Greene languishes in prison surrounded by enemies and friends. Many former colleagues from Macquarie St and the bench are also inside, courtesy of corruption scandals.
7.83
#18 - Episode 2
Season 3 - Episode 2
Cleaver outsmarts the appeals judges, but life outside is not good. He is a legal pariah, jobless, homeless and phoneless, and while he has been inside, his world has been sliding towards chaos.
7.83
#19 - R v Wooldridge & Anor
Season 2 - Episode 3
Missy's novel based on her life as a prostitute has caused a sensation. At her book signing she reveals to David that she's now engaged to the infamous founder of an on-line leaks site. Meanwhile, Cleaver's roving eye has led him to stray again, this time with Michelle, who tells him she's making a short film for Tropfest. He discovers she's not yet 16, and is horrified, but it's too late. Michelle is soon charged with accidentally killing a fellow actor while filming a scene, and blackmails Cleaver into defending her.
7.81
#20 - Episode 7
Season 3 - Episode 7
Siege veteran Cleaver leads Wendy, Fuzz and Prue out of Roger's hostage crisis, but is accidentally shot in the buttock.
7.79
#21 - Episode 5
Season 4 - Episode 5
Barney & Cleaver are back on speaking terms and share a case; Cleaver rescues Missy who's been enjoying a cocaine-hazed few days with Cal McGregor, and appeals to Wendy's better nature to take her in.
7.79
#22 - Episode 4
Season 4 - Episode 4
Thompson has Cleaver in the frame for drug trafficking, but Wendy comes to the rescue. David is desperate to save his relationship with Scarlet, and Nicole is scrolling through her ex-husband posts.
7.76
#23 - R v Alford
Season 2 - Episode 6
When a piercing scream splits the dawn silence of a leafy, suburban arcadia Cleaver and Barney are soon defending an IT lecturer accused of severing his neighbour's penis with garden shears. Cleaver and Barney wade into the unfamiliar swamp of Rotarians, golf and backyard barbecues to uncover the truth behind the 'bobbitting'. Barney and Nicole have failed in their attempts to end their affair, despite Nicole's approaching wedding. And even incurious Cleaver works out that the emotional rollercoasters of both Nicole and Barney are moving in sync. Only one thing could worsen their situation... Cleaver deciding to help. Wendy is falling for Roger, the husband of Fuzz's ex-lover, while Fuzz has a surprise new girlfriend. When Cleaver attempts to cure Missy's depression at a dinner with his family, he ends up being everyone's target. Scarlet and David are firmly on Cal McGregor's hook, but David's colleagues push him to sacrifice Scarlet to save himself. Poised between political oblivion and the dangled promise of the Opposition leadership, David, typically, prevaricates. Cal will happily fire a bullet at Scarlet in the hope it also takes out David, even better if he can wing Cleaver too. Scarlet realises there is only one lawyer devious and unethical enough to get her out from under the sword of Damocles.
7.76
#24 - Episode 3
Season 3 - Episode 3
At Malcolm's funeral Cleaver meets Mal's sister Felicity, a honey blonde with an acid wit; and baulks at being Scarlet's junior in the case of a gambling-addicted client.
7.75
#25 - Episode 4
Season 3 - Episode 4
A murder brings Felicity back into Cleaver's life. He knows he needs Barney, despite everything that's happening in Barney's life; and he can't say goodbye to Wendy or Missy.
7.75