History Series / Rake

* EasilyForgiven: This is one of Cleaver's great strengths, due to his own...[[JerkWithAHeartOfGold shortcomings]]. He forgives Nicole in a minute for embezzling hundreds of thousands from him, and [[CrossesTheLineTwice lets her keep doing it]]. He also takes his rocky relationships with Scarlett and Barney in his stride.

** Including his best friend's wife Scarlett.

** Even Barney, who has been faithful to Scarlett, and Nicole, who has only had one boyfriend (Bevan), before [[spoiler: have sex in Season 2.]]
* {{Expy}}: Missy starts dating Joshua Floyd in the second season; Floyd is wanted internationally for treason after leaking sensitive government information via his website in a situation not at all unlike that of Julian Assange in real life.

* HeroicBSOD: Missy goes through one following [[spoiler:her fiancee's murder.]]
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Cleaver and Barney, who even recover from [[spoiler:Cleaver sleeping with Scarlett]] in Season 1, with a great deal of HomoeroticSubtext that gets called out in Season 3.

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming

* KavorkaMan: Barney is a fat, balding, soppy old romantic, with barely a tenth of the roguish nihilism and hedonism that Cleave possesses. Not only is he married to the rather foxy Scarlet, he has an affair with secretary Nicole, and ends up with both women living with him together in the same house.

* MayDecemberRomance: This becomes a RunningGag with Cleaver's teenage son Fuzz, who exclusively dates much older women, ranging from his teachers, his mum's friends and even the wives of foreign diplomats.

* MrViceGuy: Cleaver, who has sex with prostitutes, is an [[TheAlcoholic functional alcoholic]], and a somewhat unorthodox lawyer.

* {{OutGambitted}}: Cleaver publicly trolls, trashes and coaxes Cal and the DPP into upgrading his charges, from 'manslaughter of Albert Platt' to 'murder of Albert Platt', on the premise that murder would be impossible to prove and therefore leading to automatic acquittal. It seems like a great piece of XanatosSpeedChess, until Cleave finds out he's been out-gamed; [[spoiler:the charges are unexpectedly upgraded to 'conspiracy to murder Lane Hole' instead.]]
** This mistake proves extremely costly for Cleave, [[spoiler:who is found guilty of conspiracy to murder, and sentenced to ''fourteen years'' in prison. The original manslaughter charge would have only gotten him two years.]]

* AmoralAttorney: Cleaver Greene - being an extremely proficient lawyer, Cleaver will twist the rules, consult outside sources and even ''sleep'' with his clients if he thinks it'll help. It’s played with, though; while Cleave does some pretty amoral things, he's shown to have genuine moral compass that makes him reluctant to defend people who don't deserve his help like [[WellIntentionedExtremist Eddie Langhorn]], [[MorallyBankruptBanker Damien Trengrove]] or [[TheDon Mick Corella]]. He's also shown to be legitimately furious when he finds out too late that Denny Lorton really was guilty of killing a teenager.

** In Season 2, Cleaver seems to have extricated himself from [[spoiler:the murder charge]] by accusing McGregor of corruption, but [[spoiler:as the judge points out, none of this prevents himself from having conspired to commit the murder...so he goes to prison anyway.]]

* BelligerentSexualTension: Cleaver and Scarlet have a simmering, powerful attraction to each other dating back to their university days, but for various reasons, neither one is ever willing to commit to the other. When his and Scarlett's [[ShipSinking ship sinks]], he and Wendy develop more of a relationship akin to this.

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: The three women in Cleaver's life - Missy (blonde), Scarlett (red), and Wendy (brunette).

** Harry becomes a tragic version in Season 4. [[spoiler:After Scarlett's sudden death, he goes to trial for murder, is accused of being a domestic abuser, and loses his reputation.]]

** Harry-Sorry-David gets hit with this trope repeatedly — he quits the Bar to (unknowingly) become a back-bencher in the Opposition, he goes steady with Missy - who everyone but him knows is an ex-prostitute - and he gets shot twice on top of everything else.

* TheCasanova: Cleave has no trouble whatsoever in hooking up with the opposite sex, and has a long string of affairs and sexual trysts with various married women. Not to mention his regular visits to the brothel.

* YourCheatingHeart: This happens frequently.

* TheJailBaitWait: {{Inverted}} with Fuzz and Fiona's relationship-once Fuzz reaches his 16th birthday, Fiona loses interest in him and starts seeing an even younger student.

* BiTheWay: It's revealed that Cleave stole Wendy from a woman (Jacqueline/Jack) when they were in college.

* BelligerentSexualTension: Cleaver and Scarlet have a simmering, powerful attraction to each other dating back to their university days, but for various reasons, neither one is ever willing to commit to the other.

** Harry-Sorry-David is also kind of this, but it might cross over with InformedAttribute. He describes himself as [[TheBore a bore]] who nevertheless manages to propose to Missy and hook up with Scarlett, but he's really not ''that'' bad.

* TheNicknamer: Cleaver Greene, especially where Harry-Sorry-David Potter, the Shadow Minister for Toasters, Lobotomies and Nasal Hair is concerned.

* TriangRelations: Cleaver<- Missy ->David "Harry" Potter.
** It's sort of resolved in the Season 1 finale.

* BecomingTheMask[=/=]SecretIdentityIdentity: Missy goes through a variation of this.

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: The three women in Cleaver's life - Missy, Scarlett and Wendy.

* BigBad: Attorney General Cal [=McGregor=] for Season 2. In Season 3, this title is passed to ruthless industrialist Tikki Wendon, and in Season 4 it's Edgar Allan Thompson - the most dangerous criminal in Sydney.

In January 2014, a US remake starring GregKinnear began airing on the Fox network, but [[{{Cancellation}} only lasted one season]].

* AmoralAttorney: Cleaver Greene - being an extremely proficient lawyer, Cleaver will twist the rules, consult outside sources and even ''sleep'' with his clients if he thinks it'll help.
** Played with; while Cleave does some pretty amoral things he's shown to have genuine moral compass that makes him reluctant to defend people who don't deserve his help like [[WellIntentionedExtremist Eddie Langhorn]], [[MorallyBankruptBanker Damien Trengrove]] or [[TheDon Mick Corella]]. He's also shown to be legitimately furious when he finds out too late that Denny Lorton really was guilty of killing a teenager.

-->'''Barney''': Oh, please, I can't see the board with you dripping blood...
-->'''Cleaver''': Well I apologise for my subdural haematoma inconveniencing you, mate!

* ButtMonkey: Played-with. Cleaver Greene sometimes he deserves some of the things that happen and sometimes he doesn't.
** Harry-Sorry-David gets hit with this trope repeatedly - he quits the Bar to (unknowingly) become a back-bencher in the Opposition, he goes steady with Missy - who everyone but him knows is an ex-prostitute - and he gets shot twice on top of everything else.

* CoincidentalBroadcast: Cleaver gets up and watches TV in the early hours, and during some rolling credits, the channel announces that Alfred Hitchcock's movie 'Rope' is on next. This flicks a lightbulb in Cleaver's head, and it turns out that this exact movie was the inspiration for a stabbing by two sociopathic teenage girls (one of who Cleaver is defending).

* KarmaHoudini: Immoral con-artist Lane Hole is set up as this in series 2. He is dragged to court by Cleaver, harassed in person and even has a hit from Cleave's gang mates placed on his head, but he miraculously escapes every single encounter through sheer luck and fate.
** This is finally averted right at the end of series 2, when Lane faceplants after Fuzz knocks him off his bike. [[spoiler:It's a tiny consolation though, as Cleaver is imprisoned for 14 years for conspiring to murder Lane.]]

* LikeFatherLikeSon: Fuzz - over the course of four seasons - becomes more and more like his philandering father, culminating in his seducing a princess whilst doing charity work in Africa.

* DrivenToSuicide: Attorney General Joe Sandilands throws himself off a cliff after scandalous media revelations about his brothel visits. [[MoodWhiplash He is shown cheerfully whistling to some Gilbert & Sullivan in his car only moments before.]]

** 'Smoking Guy', Cleave's MysteriousInformant in season 2 is very similar to [[TheXFiles Deep Throat]]. Missy even lampshades this by calling Cleaver Agent Mulder.

* YourCheatingHeart: Frequently.