Last week on Ray Donovan, a plan to kill Mickey was set in motion. Of course that plan did not go so well, and Mickey appeared at the gym at the end of the episode, giving Ray a good scare after he thought that his father was dead. Ray was at a loss for what to do and called up Ezra as the episode ended, giving him an update on the situation.
This week, we see Ray show up at Ezra's house and they talk about what they can do in order to fix their dilemma. Ezra seems to insist that the only solution to their problem is for Ray to kill his father, with every other option ending in failure. As it has been apparent for some time now, Ray is unable to do it and tells Ezra that he simply cannot kill his father. That is why he hired Sully in the first place, right? No matter how much Ray wants the job done, he knows that there is no way he would be able to do the job himself.
Ray also calls up Frank, who returns to the show after being absent for the last few episodes. Frank tells Ray that he has figured out his connection to Sean and that he must be involved with Sean's murder in some way, but Ray simply replies that if he is going to jail, then he will be taking Ray with him. Next, the LAPD shows up at Mickey's place, arriving to "ask him a few questions." Mickey is able to evade these officers easily enough, making up excuses about how he loved Sean and hopes they find out who killed him. He goes into detail about how he was starting to make a career with the deceased, but one thing that starts to trip him up is when the police ask him where he was on the night of Sean's murder. He says that he was with a woman, which is true, but we all know that the woman he was with is now dead and will not do him much good. As a result, he calls up Claudette, asking her to lie and say that she was with him on the night of Sean's murder, which seems to work out perfectly.
The other plotline that takes up much of this episode concerns Bunchy and what he does after confronting the priest that abused him as a boy. He walks into the gym early on in the episode, telling Terry that he messed up and Ray is called over immediately. Audiences are left on the edge of their seats until Ray arrives and we find out that Bunchy actually shot Father O'Connor and that the priest is in the gym on the verge of bleeding to death. Ray, Terry, and Bunchy are forced to deal with this situation throughout, as Bunchy insists that it was an accident. Frances was also there at the time and tells them that they need to bring him to a hospital. The hospital? She must be kidding - this is the Donovans we are talking about...they do things their way and decide they need to take care of this on their own. The priest continues to insist that he doesn't know who any of them are and will not admit to or apologize for anything.
Eventually, after they continue to threaten Father O'Connor, he gives in and tells them who he is and admits that he is the priest that they knew from Boston. Ray also tells Bunchy that it is Ray's fault that he was abused, since he was at a baseball game waiting for Mickey when he should have been at home in order to protect Bunchy, finding O'Connor leaving the house as he returned home. Terry says that what they are doing is wrong and feels that they should take the priest to the hospital. For some reason, Ray agrees to do so and then it is finally revealed why he has so much passion for torturing this man. Father O'Connor tells the other Donovan boys present that there is no way that Ray is going to take him to the hospital and that once Ray takes him away, it will be over. Ray continues to tell him to shut up and then he shoots the priest. Before Ray can do it, Father 'Connor tells Ray that he loved him, revealing that Bunchy was not the only one abused by Father O'Connor. Bunchy admits that he is glad Ray pulled the trigger, but Terry tells him that he is going to hell for what he did.
The acting in this episode is excellent and we get to see a number of revelations surface that we did not know about before. Ray has become absolutely ruthless, indicated by how he shoots the priest without any hesitation. Abby is also at home with the kids the whole time, being guarded by Avi. She is unwilling to let herself be a prisoner in her own house and goes to the gym, finding the priest there, and she realizes that he must be the one who abused Bunchy. She does not even question Ray this time, believing that he is actually doing the right thing. Once he comes home, we see him and Abby have a very emotional moment, when she finds out that Father O'Connor had abused Ray as well. Ray tells her to leave, not knowing how to handle the situation, and she walks away with tears in her eyes. This is one of the first times that we've seen Abby actually getting emotional and feeling a strong connection to Ray. Ray also talks to Frank at the end of the episode, after finding Van Miller dead and accusing Ray of committing the crime. He looks to be intent on catching Ray for the crime of killing a FBI agent now, even though audiences know that it was Mickey who did it.
Thoughts and Quotes
-- Audiences have seen for some time now that Ray wants Mickey dead, but he is not bring himself to do the deed himself. He admits to Ezra at the beginning of this episode, "I'm not killing my father." I don't blame him; as much as someone may want it to happen, killing your own father is quite an act.
-- Ezra: "Our problems didn't go away. They got worse." Well that's for sure. Mickey is still alive, Sean is dead and their money is gone...what to do now?
-- Bridget: "We don't have any beliefs. I'm going to be a Buddhist." Okay, Bridget...where did that come from? She tells this to Avi in an awkward moment when he is talking about his religion and they are all having breakfast together.
-- Terry: "You've done enough for this family. It's my turn now." He says he will take credit for what Bunchy did and go to jail for him, if they can find no other solution. Terry is tired of Ray trying to run the family and wants to be able to take charge.
-- "There must be something in me, something he saw. He was nice to me most of the time. He took me camping, we went to games..." Bunchy tries to admit that he maybe he wanted it to happen and deserved it or something? He is simply trying to make excuses and we realize that he is not even the only one that it happened to later on.
-- "I wasn't there. I didn't protect you." Ray tells Bunchy that it was his fault that Bunchy was abused. Ray should have been there for him, but was waiting for Mickey at a baseball game (and Mickey never showed up). It sounds like Ray has blamed himself after all these years, which is clearly not fair to him.