‘Ray Donovan’ episode 2 review: A strong, but flawed, drama starts to surface
When you look at so many elements of Showtime’s “Ray Donovan,” from the cinematography to the directing and the performances by Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight, you have to sit there and wonder why there are not more people talking about this show two episodes in. It’s the closest thing to a mob drama that we have on premium cable right now, except it seems to combine some of those “family” aspects with, as we’ve said times before, the Hollywood glamour of “Entourage” and the job description of “Scandal.”
But Ray is no Olivia Pope; he’s not entirely diplomatic, and he’s often brutal to get what he wants. This is not a good man in most aspects, but there are two attributes that stood out from him this week: He is fiercely loyal, and as we saw with Chloe (who was trying to get a million bucks to change her life), he also has compassion. He just doesn’t have any for his father Mickey, even to the point where he will even try to set him up in order to keep him away from his family.
This is all fantastic; and then, the problem of suspending belief comes into play. We tend to hold these dramas to a premium standard, and when we don’t understand something, it bothers us immensely and takes away from the experience. In this case, we don’t even remotely understand why Abby would allow her children with Ray to be around Mickey. Even if she doesn’t believe that the man is as bad as her husband makes him out to be, they’re still his kids too, and ignoring this request and covering up a trip to Malibu feels like a slap in the face to him. Plus, he had to have told his kids some bad things about the man, but they act like he’s some sort of legend despite going to jail.
The weird way in which Mickey is treated in this world to us makes him the hole in “Ray Donovan’s” armor, and we find that we enjoy this show supremely more when we’re watching Ray try to bail out snotty celebrities with problems. It’s almost two separate shows, and we prefer more the celebrity aspect of things than the part that feels like “The Sopranos” in Los Angeles. Hopefully we do see some sort of overflow between the two stories in subsequent weeks, or that some characters’ intentions start to become clearer.
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Photo: Showtime