As the season is coming to a close, audiences see the events of Ray Donovan start to wrap up a bit. Sully has come to Los Angeles and the deal is being set up for him to kill Mickey during a fight night at the gym. Ray will attend the fight, something that he does not normally do; this change of routine causes some suspicion from Terry and Daryll, but the fight provides Ray with an alibi anyway. The episode starts with a man digging a grave, which we can only assume will shortly belong to Mickey. The scene then cuts to the Donovan home, where Ray is looking through a box labeled "Boston," full of old things. Then Conor walks in the room and begins to question him in his typical annoying way, learning about Ray's early days in Boston when he would box with each of his brothers.
Ezra soon arrives with a bag of money for Ray to give to Sully's guy from Boston, in exchange for killing Mickey. Everything is starting to fall into place, but somehow this all seems just a little too easy. Abby questions why Ezra would be at their house and begins to worry that something bad might be about to happen. Abby is innocent in the situation, but anytime she inserts herself into Ray's business, it seems to cause them trouble. It would be best if Abby simply kept her mouth shut and did not worry. Let's be honest: she clearly does not want to know what Ray actually does and how his actions have an effect on people. Ray and Abby continue to have problems communicating throughout the episode and she eventually figures out that something is up with Mickey, and asks Ray about it. This actually causes Ray to feel bad for what he's done, showing actual emotion (breaking into tears), a sight that audiences do not see often.
In the previous episode, Bunchy ran into a priest that he felt like he recognized from somewhere. He did not want to believe it, but Ray had told him already that he found out about Mickey killing the wrong man after he got out of prison. Bunchy realizes that this is the same man who molested him as a kid and confronts him outside of the church. The priest denies the accusations, of course, with another boy standing right at his side, but Bunchy has clearly not forgotten the trauma be endured as a kid. Bunchy goes to Mickey with this information, telling him that Ray was right, that he killed the wrong man, determined that the priest he meant to take care of is now living in Los Angeles. Bunchy also gets very personal with the priest, facing his past and for the first time on the show, and he reveals his name to be Brendan.
The deal is being officially set up; Mickey is scheduled to be killed during Daryll's fight, and we see him being prepared for it. The woman that Mickey attacked last week calls him and they meet for coffee, before retreating to his place to have sex. Mickey continues to treat her in an awful fashion, and just after they finish in the bedroom, Sully and his partner show up to do the job. She certainly picked the wrong time to call up Mickey; if only she knew who he was. Wondering how Sully found Mickey, Mickey questions him, only to find out that it was his own son that planned to have him killed. The intensity is heating up as the show switches back and forth between Sully preparing to kill Mickey and the fight at the gym, attended by the rest of the Donovan family. Ray is then told by Sully's guy in the gym that the job has been done and he hands over the money, although as audiences know, Mickey can be tricky, and since we did not see a murder occur, I am certainly not convinced.
Just as Sully is getting ready to finish the job, he tells Mickey why he's agreed to commit murder and that Mickey needs to pay for what he did. This leads to Mickey revealing that Sean Walker was the one who actually killed Colleen, and Sully is willing to spare Mickey's life; then they travel together to Sean's to kill him instead. Sully kills Sean, after finding out that he is the one who really killed Colleen. News of his death appears immediately on the television screen and everyone in the gym is aware of what happened. Just as everyone starts to freak out, Mickey appears out of nowhere all bloody, walking up behind Ray, shocking him. Realizing that he must have been involved with Sean's death somehow and not thinking that Mickey would even be alive at this point, Ray questions him about what he did; Mickey doesn't answer.
Ezra calls up Ray as he leaves the gym and finds out the news of what has just happened; they try to think of a way to fix the situation, realizing that Mickey is still alive and their money is gone. A very chilling end to the episode features Ray busting into Sully's hotel room, only to find Sean's baby sitting on the bed. Liev Schrieber's acting is excellent in this episode, and after a very intense sequence, it will be interesting to see where the show takes us from here.
Thoughts and Quotes
-- Ray: "What do you want to learn to fight for?" Ray questions Conor after his son asks a million questions about his boxing past. Ray does not seem to want Conor to fight; he prefers for his son to stay safe. Conor givese a pretty weak reason for wanting to learn, simply saying "because you did."
-- Abby: "The last time you two were together, you pulled a gun on him. I want to know how you and Mick resolved it." Resolved it? That's a good one...as if Ray and Mickey could resolve anything. Ray sure gets a good chuckle over that one. There is simply no peaceful resolution between these two ruthless men.
-- Mickey continues to treat the woman that he met in the previous episode in a terrible way (of course). After they finish having sex, he tells her "I'm surprised I could f**k you. You're really not my type." He sure knows how to treat a woman, huh? Why does he even do it if he was going to react to her this way after the fact? Are people truly that cruel?
-- Terry: "What's going on with you, Ray? I've been having fight nights for years. You've been to what, three? What's so special about tonight?" Oh, Terry if you only knew...it does seem a bit odd that each of his other brothers are able to defend Mickey so well when Ray has such hatred for him. Ray cannot tell Terry what he was doing, of course.
-- Sully: "I needed you to see that, Mick. An eye for an eye." Mickey acts as if he does not know what Sully is talking about, and in fact he truly does not. Mickey did not kill Colleen, but he was set up for the murder actually committed by Sean Walker. He is able to admit this to Sully and save himself from being killed, which is unfortunate for Ray.
-- Upon Mickey returning to the gym just after the news of Sean Walker's death, Ray pleads to him and asks, "What did you do?" He knows that he must have been involved with Sean's death in some way, but Mickey simply asks him the same question, knowing that Ray wanted to have him killed instead.
