Australian Series RAKE Stars Richard Roxburgh

The diabolically delicious Australian series aptly named "Rake" is about a roguish attorney from down under whose ingratiatingly the best, bad boy wonder.  Starring Richard Roxburgh as Cleaver Green, Esq., Roxburgh steals every scene with his conniving charm, wry humor.  He is the penultimate salacious, social misfit.  Green's his own worst enemy.  Racking up betting debts that can't be met get him repeated brutal beatings.  He's an alcoholic & coke addict whose had it with rehab yet somehow is a high functioning criminal attorney who manages to absolve his notorious clients from outrageous charges.  The legal cases in RAKE take the cake for being incredibly disturbing and absurd that watching them unfold is an unmitigated guilty pleasure.  Dir. Peter Salmon and writer Andrew Knight and an all star cast makes watching RAKE such wicked fun to watch it seem illegal.  Thankfully, it's legit and its rapid fire wit is laugh out loud funny.  Roxburgh will have you eating out of the palm of his hand and rooting for the guy with the mischievous grin & twinkling blue eyes regardless of his loathsome habits & insatiable womanizing.  Perhaps, it's his gusto for life & unflappability that string us & all his exes along.  Green can be counted on to screw up & screw his best friend's wife but he's a complicated mix of dependability, tenacity and undying loyalty.  Green is in good stead with his ex-wife Wendy (Caroline Brazier) & mother to their teenage son.  Wendy is a shrink always there to lend him her ear and he's never far from heart.  Melissa (Adrienne Brazier) is the gorgeous ex-prostitute resolute on turning her life around.  Melissa & Green have a gravitational pull that keeps their paths in each other's orbit.  And, Barney (Russell Dykstra) as Cleaver's business partner and best mate is 1st rate.  Note: this doesn't preclude Cleaver from having sex with his wife.  The ongoing dilemma's of Cleaver's floating office space, irreverent asst. and court ordered appearances regarding his unpaid taxes continue to pay dividends.  The elite list of A+ actors from Australia & New Zealand clamor for parts in this unconventional series despite causing chagrin.  Refrain from judging the entire series based on its first episode in which Cleaver defends a cannibal.  RAKE may be an acquired taste but anyone who doesn't find in favor shows culpability for lacking the whereabouts of a honed sense of humor.