Last night’s episode of Rake was absolute gold as always. The bumbling Lincoln Lincoln (Rhys Muldoon) was introduced as a man of complete awkwardness but with a delightful on screen presence to make us feel like slapping him. Frequently. Poor old Barney’s (Russell Dykstra) still not talking to Cleaver (Richard Roxburgh) but I’m sure it’s merely a matter of time until our Cleave drags him back into some form of hell.
It was wonderful to see a fifteen year old psychotic blackmailing skank take on our Cleave but even better when he, eventually, outsmarted her and fed her to the wolves! A nasty piece of work indeed! Although her attempt to put their sex tape online failed, it delivered Cleaver’s best line of the episode, ‘www dot fuck me dot com, bring back paper quills and carrier pigeons’.
The problem for Cleave now is the scary and super clingy gambling queen Kirsty (Robyn Malcolm) who is starting to become a tad stalker-ish and very attached to Cleave, watching his apartment, calling him all the time and speaking as if they are actually in a relationship. Scary stuff for Cleaver but scarier that he owes her $200k and going along with her façade is much easier than coughing up the dough.
As Missy (Adrienne Pickering) returns with a tell all book and announces she’s engaged Cleaver still holds a flame for her but now she’s been seduced by the media and book signings our poor old Cleave appears to be old hat. Cleave was sadly born as ‘old hat’ it would seem.
If all of that wasn’t enough, Fuzz (Keegan Joyce) has announced he and Sally are having a baby and although she’s forty-something and he’s seventeen he maintains its true love. Poor Fuzz. His obsession with older women is getting as curly as that wayward mop of his.
In the final scene Cleaver must choose if he should go to dinner with the beautiful Missy or meet up with super attached Kirsty. There’s $200k at stake. Who will he choose? The one that will end in a severe beating? Trusty Cleaver.
Always good for a beating.
Rake: Series 2 premieres at 8.30pm on ABC1, Thurs 6 September. Read more reviews in this series.
