Not Everything Can Be Fixed. Advance Review: Ray Donovan Series Premiere - "The Bag or the Bat"

Season 1, Episode 1

Air Date: Sunday, June 30, 2013, 10 p ET/PT on Showtime

Rating: ★★★★★

“We’ve done bad things, Ray. I’ve asked you to fix things that should never have been fixed.” – Ezra Feldman

The hatred between Mickey and Ray is palpable, especially when Ray warns Mickey to stay away from his family.

After doing 20 years in prison, Mickey Donovan (Jon Voigt) gets an early release, and no one from his family is there to pick him up. What is wrong with this picture? This is the crux of Ray Donovan—Mickey’s relationship with his son Ray (Liev Schreiber), a professional fixer for the elite of Los Angeles. But their relationship—or lack thereof—is not the only component of the show. Ray Donovan tackles child abuse, the Catholic Church and the scandal surrounding it, drug addiction, infidelity, illness, crime, and cover-ups.

Ray (not seen here) isn’t too happy when Bunchy and Terry tell him about Daryll.

Ray is good at his job but his personal life is a whole other matter. He cheats on his wife Abby (Paula Malcomson), who is not happy about being transplanted from south side Boston to Los Angeles yet has no trouble living the high life her husband provides. Ray also has trouble communicating with his kids—Bridget (Kerritt Dorsey) and Conor (Devon Bagby)—and is unsuccessful in helping his alcoholic brother Bunchy (Dash Mihok) kick the sauce. Then, there’s Ray’s brother Terry (Eddie Marsan), who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, brought about by his copious years in the boxing ring. Haunting the entire Donovan family is the ghost of Bridget (Natalie Ciulla), Ray’s teenage sister who committed suicide. Oh, and let’s not forget Daryll (Pooch Hall), the 20-year-old half-brother, who, strangely enough, Ray knows nothing about. Can you say dysfunctional family?

Ray has several problems to fix in “The Bag or the Belt,” not the least of which is what to do when a famous ballplayer client, Deonte Brown (Mo McRae), wakes up next to a dead girl. The creativity Ray uses, which involves another client, Tommy Wheeler (Austin Nichols), is nothing short of wizardry, and the scenario provides some of the premiere’s funniest lines. Mickey’s line, later in the episode—“If you can’t laugh, what are you gonna do? Cry all the time?”—explains showrunner Ann Biderman’s (Southland) reason for including these brief bits of levity. As she noted in an interview, “Humor makes everything bearable.” Amen to that because humor is definitely needed in this series. It is filled with violence, nudity, explicit language, heavy dramatic scenes, and extremely serious subject matter.

Avi definitely knows how to take care of business.

While I enjoyed most of “The Bag or the Belt,” the series premiere is not without its problems, the largest of which is the introduction of so many characters. In addition to the Donovan family members, there’s Ray’s staff, which is comprised of Avi (Steven Bauer), an Israeli who does Ray’s bidding at the drop of a hat, and Lena (Katherine Moennig), a hardcore lesbian who is Ray’s number two. Then, there are Ray’s employers, Ezra Goldman (Elliott Gould) and his partner Lee Drexler (Peter Jacobson), of the powerful Hollywood law firm Goldman Drexler. There’s not enough time to get to know these characters well, or get a feel for what they mean in the grand scheme of things. It is nearly impossible to connect with anyone other than Ray and Mickey. On the surface, we learn Ray’s staff is devoted to him, more so than most real life employees would be. Ezra is Ray’s mentor, and strikes me as the Jewish power guy who’s just a little bit crazy. Drexler provides some of the funnier moments of the episode, with his over-the-top portrayal of a Hollywood lawyer. I’m sure, or perhaps I should say I hope, that as the season progresses, we will learn more about these characters—what makes them tick, where they came from, how they got to where they are now, and how deep their loyalty to Ray is, and vice versa.

Some people have compared Ray Donovan to NBC’s Scandal, I suppose because both shows revolve around a professional fixer. While I like Scandal, Ray Donovan is not that show. Ray is a man of little words, using his powerful presence to command those around him while Scandal’s Olivia Pope, played by the beautiful Kerry Washington, is the direct opposite, using every bit of dialogue to get what she wants. And while Olivia lives, works, and plays with the power elite of Washington, D.C., Ray, a South Boston transplant, resides in and works with the major players of Los Angeles. Olivia has sex with various people, and Ray…well, he’s a dedicated family man who engages in a dalliance with Ashley (Ambyr Childers). The former child star was once Ray’s client and is now the epileptic girlfriend of current client Stu Feldman (Josh Pais), and Ray is surveilling her for Stu. Of course, there is the inevitable comparison to The Sopranos but I’m not going to go there. Ray Donovan should be judged on its merits alone, and as far as I’m concerned, this series is going to be as good, if not better, than the shows it’s being compared to.

The title of the episode, “The Bag or the Bat,” comes from how Ray deals with Bob (Colin Christopher), the guy Ray accidentally discovers is stalking Ashley. Having to choose between the unknown contents of a paper bag and the bat Ray is wielding is a scary choice, but it’s what’s inside the bag that gave me a good, hearty chuckle.

Not so funny is when Ray tells Ezra his father is coming to town, and Ezra responds, “Why don’t we kill him?” I know Ezra is responsible for bringing Ray to Hollywood but I don’t understand why he would have such a reaction to that news. Obviously, the two men are very close and Ezra wants to protect Ray, but what, or who, is he protecting him from? And that’s not my only question. What crime did Mickey commit, and what could possibly cause a son to set up his father? Moreover, what did Mickey do to cause such hatred from Ray?

Memorable/funny lines:

Drexler to Tommy: “Women don’t have cocks, you moron.”

Tommy: “I didn’t know it was a guy, I swear!”

Drexler: “The guy had an Adam’s apple the size of my fist!”

Drexler to Ray: “Suck one cock, you’re a cocksucker for life. Get caught with a dead girl, admit to a drug problem, go to rehab, no problem. Crazy town, right?”

Ezra to Ray: “No lie lives forever, Raymond. It’s time to pay the piper.”

Ray to Abby about Mickey: “My father coming here? You let him near this family, everything we worked for, everything we built, it’ll be over. Whatever you think happened, it was ten times worse. Don’t let the wolf in the gate, Abby.”

That last quote, especially the “wolf” part, combined with something that is said earlier in the episode makes me believe there is more to Ray than we know. When Darryl and Ray first meet and Darryl tries to shake Ray’s hand, Ray backs away. Bunchy explains, “He doesn’t like strangers touching him.” Is this because Ray, like Bunchy, was abused as a child? If so, who did it? Could it possibly be Mickey? We know Bunchy’s abuse was at the hands of a priest but I don’t get the same feeling where Ray is concerned. More important, why doesn’t anyone else in the family hate Mickey the way Ray does?

I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on the superb acting by both Schreiber and Voigt. Playing an aging criminal who shows no remorse for his wrongdoings, Voigt is gripping, intimidating, multilayered, and exciting to watch. He is as powerful as he ever was in any role. (And I loved his dance!) Schreiber, playing the opposite end of the bad guy spectrum, is compelling in every scene, charismatic, intelligent, masterful, and says more with his eyes than he does with dialogue. When I think of these two performances, they bring to mind what über critic Gene Siskel had to say about Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voigt in Midnight Cowboy: “I cannot recall a more marvelous pair of acting performances in any one film.” My feelings exactly about Schreiber and Voigt. Showtime has another hit on its hands, and with so many characters to bring to life, and a multitude of stories to be told, Ray Donovan is sure to be around for a very long time to come.

Tune in to the series premiere of Ray Donovan, Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 10 pm ET/PT, only on Showtime.

LIKE Ray Donovan on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RayDonovanOnShowtime.

Follow the series on Twitter @SHO_RayDonovan. And follow cast mates @LievSchreiber, @iam_POOCHHALL, @dizmihok, @DevonBagby, @kerrisdorsey, @thestevenbauer, @AUS10NICHOLS, @JohnSchaech, @katemoennig, and @eddiemarsan.

Stay up-to-date with the series on the official Ray Donovan website: http://www.sho.com/raydonovan.

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Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!