Put on that Jacket I Like & Talk to Me
It is a testament to how great season 6 was that I pulled this show from my top 10 list coming out later this week to talk about it on its own post. I don’t get a lot of time these days to sit down and talk to you, so if I’m doing it for one show it means you have to watch it.
Sling TV had Showtime this past weekend. I don’t know if it was a promo, but I saw it late on Sunday night and the first thing that comes to my mind is: Ray Donovan!
I tend to binge Ray a year after the show has come out so having season 6 right in front of me on a long weekend was a Valentine’s day gift.
Do you remember how we left Ray? Abby had just died. He’s riddled (of course) with all of that guilt and he’s working for a strong and scary boss lady (played by Susan Sarandon). He just can’t take it anymore so he jumps off a building into the East River.
I don’t think they knew whether they would be back for season 6 when they shot the end of 5, but I think they knew season 7 was in the bag because every episode of season 6 was amazing.
Traveling through the psyche of Ray is great television. He’s had to deal with some shit, but his boss making him go up against the NYPD John Wick-style was crazy. I’m from California and I’m also a bit of a hot-head and I found myself yelling at my screen a few times, “Don’t do it, Ray!”
Like a lot of self-inflicted pain, there’s a time to sit on the couch and just not think about anything. Ray goes through this period and he comes out a few pounds heavier with hand-me-down baggy jeans and a sweatshirt.
Did my love for Ray dim in his newly acquired attire? Yes. I learned I’m a bit shallow when it comes to Ray. The schlep look is not for him. After about half an episode with him walking around New York wearing a pair of worn in New Balance sneakers and I was getting a rash. I knew there would be a metamorphosis, but I also knew it would be a bit of a cheat. Schreiber was never seen pudgy outside of the sweatshirt and he never had weight on his face, so my thinking is that it was padding underneath the sweatshirt so when he’s jumping right to burn off the extra pounds, they weren’t there to begin with.
Having Ray back in his black suit just made me feel better about the world. What did we learn from George Michael’s Freedom 90 then? I’m not too sure. I just know that I need Ray Donovan to look a certain way. Whether he’s having a mental breakdown or covered in blood, I picture him in that black suit with the crisp lines. Let’s not dwell here and just accept.
What I took away from Season 6:
Bunchy — we have to ask ourselves if Bunchy is just on the spectrum. The decisions he makes are goofball, but I feel that he wouldn’t make them if he didn’t have a learning disability. Darryl is pretty dumb too, but he doesn’t get into the same scenarios that Bunchy does and I don’t know if it’s the pain from childhood or genuine mental issues, but this needs to be addressed and they can’t allow him to make decisions like he’s of sound mind.
Darryl — he needs something. Darryl cracks me up and I love that they took him to Southie on their road trip. When they come back for Season 7 I hope they find a way to bring that movie to the big screen. Also, I would love to see them in Los Angeles again. NYC was too gloomy.
Terri — The Fight Club storyline was great, but I steeled myself to not feel sorry for him when I knew the fighting would bring his Parkinson’s symptoms back. People tend to do what they want to do and Terri’s a boxer so I I really didn’t see another outcome coming out of that.
Bridget — I think she’s finally figuring out that she is a member of her family and it’s up to her to keep everyone in line. The way she took a chainsaw to those bodies, I see a stronger, grittier Bridget standing up and realizing that she needs to be the coordinator of that Donovan business and watch out for everybody. They also just need to put her new husband on the payroll as well.
Micky — He went through it emotionally on the last few episodes. There was a body count, there was blood, millions of dollars had slipped through family member’s hands, but with that whiskey in his glass, the most important thing to him was for his kids to acknowledge that he was there for them as a father when they were growing up. The way all four boys sort of half shrugged when he asked for affirmation must have gutted him. Micky will never change, but he still wants to be loved.
Lena — She moved to NYC for Ray and she lost a lot this season. I don’t want to see her disappear from the storyline and I don’t want her to be another Donovan casualty either. There’s a reason that she’s loyal to Ray and if they can explore her backstory a little in season 7 and flesh out her storyline, I think it would be worth it.
Ray — I’m glad he has a therapist. I hope Alan Alda gets to the bottom of it (I think it has something to do with his dead sister and hopefully they address that next season because I think there’s a bigger story there that we didn’t explore). We saw him laugh once and he hooked up with one girl. This was a loveless season for Ray, but he had a lot to deal with.
I don’t know what is in store for season 7, but from my calculations, we are broke and we need a job. Will that be in NYC or are we headed back to California? Either way, I hope there is a little more sun in the next season. I think everyone could use it.
