[Warning: The following post contains spoilers for The Rainmaker‘s series premiere.]

When we first meet Rudy Baylor (Milo Callaghan) in the new series adaptation of The Rainmaker, he seems to be on top of the world. He’s got a bright and beautiful girlfriend in Sarah Plankmore (Madison Iseman) and a new job as a first-year associate at the prestigious Tinley Britt law firm right alongside her.

It doesn’t take long, though, for things to fall apart. After hearing that his mother’s boyfriend wants to replace his late brother’s room with a home gym, he picks a fight that becomes physical, leaving his suit and face bloodied up just in time for his first day at the office. Not only does he arrive late and disheveled to work, but he gets challenged by his new boss, Leo Drummond (John Slattery), to name a person for whom the legal system isn’t fair. He rises to the occasion, emphatically explains why domestic violence victims don’t have the same rights under the current system, but this rankles Leo to the point that he fires him right then and there.

So is he self-sabotaging by starting that argument on the morning of his big day? Per Callaghan, the answer is no. “I think he’s protecting his mom. I think that’s a real valiant moment of maybe misguided valor in the face of what he sees as an abuse and a manipulation of someone he loves,” the actor told TV Insider.

After Rudy is summarily dismissed by Drummond and struggles to find another lucrative opportunity — hiring season has already past — his last best hope comes in the form of “Bruiser” Lyman (Lana Parrilla), an attorney who has a history with Rudy’s former boss at the bar, Prince (Tommie Earl Jenkins).

He’s not quite sold on her approach to the practice, however. After meeting her and seeing Deck (P.J. Byrne) in action, dropping into hospital rooms to sign unsuspecting new clients, he makes that much clear.

Rudy’s aversion to both versions of lawyering — the cold, corporate styling of Drummond and Bruiser’s morally dubious style — is simple enough for the actor portraying him.

“I think that there’s an arrogance to both sides. I don’t know if he even sees himself as beneath Leo. I think part of his crutch and why he falls off very early on is that… his arrogance pits him against his boss — this boss of a huge firm, who I’m sure he looks up to and thinks about in a really, like, reverent way, until he’s fired,” Callaghan explained. “So when he meets Bruiser, it’s less Bruiser and it’s more about what she stands for. It’s this idea of the law. I think Rudy is very idealistic and has a very idealistic view of the law and the world, and she shatters that for him because she represents this kind of back street ambulance chasing group of contingent fee attorneys who seem, in his mind, to prey on the vulnerable and the weak, and that doesn’t sit well with him.”

Rudy has a chance to change the calculus, of course, when he decides to take on Dot Black (Karen Bryson) as his first client at Bruiser’s firm. Her son died in a hospital after coming in with a bad case of the flu, and she’s convinced it was due to negligence and wants justice. His experience with loss endears him to her, and she signs on with him… even if that means he’ll be at odds with Sarah and her firm.

The Rainmaker, Fridays, 10/9c, USA