HBO's 'Rain Dogs' Is A Bitter Pill

By Jen Maravegias | TV | April 28, 2023 |

By Jen Maravegias | TV | April 28, 2023 |

I’ve tried hard to force myself to finish watching the new HBO series, Rain Dogs, but I can’t do it. It’s not the fault of the actors. Daisy May Cooper (Am I Being Unreasonable and Avenue 5) does an outstanding job as Costello Jones, a down-on-her-luck single mother and aspiring writer, hustling her way through life. She’s an exotic dancer, dabbles in sex work, and runs small-time scams to provide for herself and her daughter, Iris (Fleur Tashjian), while she tries to break through as a writer and keep herself sober.

When the show opens, none of those efforts are enough, and Costello finds herself evicted. As she and her daughter careen around London, we’re introduced to Costello’s long-time problematic bestie and dysfunctional father-figure to Iris, Selby (Spencer and Poldark’s Jack Farthing). He’s just being released from prison and immediately hits the Mahjong parlor to make some quick money, most of which ends up paying Costello’s back rent when she reaches out to him for help.

The show gets messier from there. Costello and Selby have a complicated history. He has generational wealth that he freely spends on drugs, gambling, and Costello. He moves Iris and Costello into his family’s abandoned luxury home in an attempt to create a family unit. But the fairytale comes to an abrupt end when Selby becomes abusive, and his mother kicks Costello out, leaving her and Iris back where they started, or possibly worse because now they’ve had a taste of a beautiful life.

Costello cannot win. It seems like everywhere she turns, there’s an obstacle dropped into her path. It’s frustrating to watch and feels too familiar at times. All Costello needs is to catch a break, but the universe will not cooperate. She bounces around between bad situations and questionable relationships, monetizing her misery as best she can with little to show for it.

If all of these shows about people whose lives are bottoming out are supposed to make me feel better about my own, it’s not working. Tiny Beautiful Things, Beef, Am I Being Unreasonable, and Rain Dogs, just off the top of my head, all make for very compelling television, but the stories are bleak AF. I wonder if we should be worried about Daisy May Cooper as the lead and creative force behind two of these. Is she OK? Maybe it’s us. Maybe it’s just too difficult to face the unflinching truth of how society is beating us all down. There’s a lot of toxicity in both the environment and relationships of these shows. And while Tiny Beautiful Things feels like it’s reaching for redemption, Rain Dogs is unapologetic about the necessity of Costello living her life as she is. It’s a bitter medicine that’s not for everyone.

All episodes of Rain Dogs Season 1 are now available to stream on HBOMax.