Drama
The Rainmaker
This adaptation may lack the depth of its source material, but it isn’t a bad option if you’re itching for a new legal drama.
Welcome to Orange County, California. Here, most people pride themselves on their strong families and conservative values. But not all.
A group of teenage friends, and occasionally foes, can’t seem to find their place in a community they see as stifling, or even their own homes—especially as they’re discovering their ever-expanding sense of sexuality.
Take the twins, boy-crazy Naomi and bisexual Nathan who live with their hyper-structured religious parents. There’s Naomi’s foul-mouthed bestie, Arianna, who likes to toss out bigoted comments every now and then to mask her mountain of insecurities. Riley is a popular artist who doesn’t care much for school, or her home life, but who does care for both men and women.
Greta is living with her transgender relative, Ana, and her brother, while getting used to her estranged mom, Sela, being back in the home… all while crushing on Riley and the rough-around-the-edges Lucia. Then there’s the openly gay Chester, Riley’s close friend, who always makes it known what trends to follow and who he’s into.
This group of teens isn’t necessarily interested in trying to fit in. Instead, their goal is to attempt to make sense of the world as they discover who they are—both inside and outside of the bedroom.
Think back to when you were growing up. Now drop everything you experienced and buckle up for HBO’s edgy teen drama, Genera+ion.
This series features a group of friends who are all discovering and experimenting with their sexuality as they navigate life. Some have OK homes, but most teens here have been marked by parents, both hetero and homosexual, who have dropped the ball when it comes to raising them. And you can tell five minutes into the first episode.
Teen sex, sexual experimentation and conversations are the focus. Even the titles of episodes are profane, and the sexual acts seen or suggested can be shocking. Teen boys have sex with one another. And I’ve not seen every episode but I’m assuming this is also true of lesbian relationships—of which there are many.
We see sexual intimacy including same-sex make-outs, graphically suggested masturbation and male genitalia. And if that wasn’t enough to worry about with this show, go ahead and throw in secret pregnancies, pornography, conversations about suicide, depression, non-binary pronouns and foul language.
All of these things come together to form a profane show that fits perfectly within the HBO family, but that assumes that the lives of teenagers are equally as sordid and graphically pushes an agenda.
Riley struggles to decide what she wants to do with her life and if is she is ready to make a move on Greta. Similarly, Greta crushes on Riley but wrestles with her attraction to another female. Greta has a trans relative who gives her dating advice. Greta’s mom talks about a time she made out with a guy who gave her a hickey.
Two teen boys make out, grope one another and unbutton their pants. Although sex isn’t shown, it is implied. Teen girls kiss. A young woman says she is in a relationship with a much older man (she says this while wearing a white, see-through top and no bra).
Riley jokes about being a serial killer and tells her friends she wants the ability to feel absolutely nothing. Riley tells her school counselor she was incorrectly diagnosed with ADD then told she was bipolar.
The f-word is heard about 10 times and the s-word around five times. Other profanity includes multiple uses of “p-ssy,” “a–hole,” “b–ch,” and a few profanities in Spanish.
Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).
This adaptation may lack the depth of its source material, but it isn’t a bad option if you’re itching for a new legal drama.
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