Rafferty's Rules: Season 3
Season 3 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Rafferty's Rules Season 2.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 3 Progress Shield
Nine Tenths of the Law
Feb 4, 1989
Michael wrestles with the concept of possession after the discovery of Aboriginal remains creates a conflict of ownership between the state and the Indigenous community.
Freedom
Feb 11, 1989
Michael is caught between a rock and a hard place when he is forced to decide the fate of a young boy whose doctors believe is sick, but whose parents are refusing further tests on
Those Who Can
Feb 18, 1989
Fulvio learns that his teacher and idol isn't quite the perfect magistrate that he thought after he takes over when Michael falls ill.
Sense of Duty
Feb 25, 1989
The courthouse becomes the centre of the fallout from a Secret Intelligence Agency training exercise.
One for the Road
Mar 10, 1989
Gibson faces his past after a series of alcohol-related prosecutions force him to confront the reasons he gave up drinking.
Confessions
Mar 17, 1989
A series of sexual assaults has consequences for the courthouse when the police fit up suspects and Paulyne is attacked in her own home.
Horse Play
Mar 24, 1989
Pauline finds that her personal life is mirroring her professional life when her former lover Gavin reappears and announces that he is getting married, just as she is defending a w
Truth's a Dog
Mar 31, 1989
Paulyne accuses an insurance company of racism when they report a Lebanese man to the police after he claims his precious rings were stolen just days after taking out a policy.
The Great Divide
Apr 7, 1989
Michael, Paulyne and Gibson find their ethics challenged when they deal with a man accused of raping his wife; however, it soon becomes apparent to all that the case is far more si
Quanity of Mercy
Apr 14, 1989
Rafferty is confronted with the limitations of the law when it comes to dispensing justice.
Peace of Mind
Apr 21, 1989
The courthouse finds itself becoming caught up in the deadly web of a cult. Michael is shocked when he goes on an early morning run and discovers the body of a young woman washed u
Thursday the Twelfth
Apr 28, 1989
Michael takes responsibility for a foreign woman after she shows up on his doorstep.
Friends and Neighbours
May 5, 1989
A heatwave frays tempers at the courthouse when everyone arrives at work to find the air-conditioning broken.
The Fleet's In
May 12, 1989
The personal and the professional converge for Flicker when the anti-nuclear group his son is involved in begins protesting the arrival of nuclear warships.
Crispin's Day
May 26, 1989
The Bard comes into the courtroom when an elderly man reciting Shakespeare is arrested for busking without a licence.
Mum's the Word
Jun 2, 1989
Michael's hopes of reuniting with his estranged wife are dashed when Joanne reveals that she has come to visit to end their relationship, and then their son falls ill.
Brief Candles
Jun 9, 1989
An unexpected tragedy forces Paulyne to re-evaluate her life; meanwhile she struggles to remain objective while defending a man accused of manslaughter over the death of a pedestri
The Deep End
Jun 16, 1989
New Legal Aid solicitor Lisa Blake starts work at the courthouse; however, she soon finds herself coming into conflict with Michael when she grandstands in the courtroom, then fail
A Matter of Circumstances
Jun 23, 1989
A journalist sets out to prove that corruption exists in Rafferty's court.
Waifs and Strays
Jun 30, 1989
Lisa continues to have problems settling in, with her abrasive nature putting Michael offside.
The Beast
Jul 7, 1989
Lisa begins to wonder whether evil does exist when she defends a sociopath.
Systems
Jul 14, 1989
The entire courthouse struggles to cope when Michael is forced to decide whether a man accused of murder has a case to answer.
Those Who Can't
Jul 21, 1989
Lisa defends a young man who seems to be heading for the same life of crime as his father once did, but she refuses to believe Ray Brown's claims that the father's intentions are a
Blood Relations
Jul 28, 1989
Michael's world is turned upside down after learning that he has a twenty-two year old daughter from a previous relationship.
Star Quality
Aug 4, 1989
Flicker's prosecution against a young policeman who has broken the law is complicated when he begins to recognise that something even more suspicious is going on.
Private Lives
Aug 11, 1989
More than one life is on the line after a former children's television performer is charged with propositioning young boys for sex in the changing rooms of a local swimming pool.
You Can Never Tell
Aug 18, 1989
A criminal nicknamed 'The Hairy Bandit' is causing havoc and the courthouse is feeling the impact.
The Affair That Never Was
Aug 25, 1989
Michael's divorce from Joanne officially comes through, just as former Public Solicitor Paulyne Gray reappears in his life after a six month absence.
Curtains for Ringo
Sep 1, 1989
Michael considers his attitudes towards both politics and rural life after his cousin comes to the city, having now been elected to Parliament and holding very different opinions t