No ‘Ray’ of sunshine, but terrific drama
RAY DONOVAN is the kind of guy whose number you want on your phone, just for those special moments when you need him.
Like, say, you wake up and discover that the person next to you in bed, the person you just met the previous evening, is dead. Give Ray a call, and he makes it go away. But it turns out there are some things Ray can’t fix. Like his family.
After he finally got his rotten father, Mickey, sent to prison for 25 years, the stupid prison system released him after just 20. Dontcha hate that? “Ray Donovan” could be TV’s next goto-dark drama, thanks to Liev Schreiber’s mesmerizing performance as Ray, and Jon Voight’s superb bobbing and weaving as the menacing Mickey.
They’re the twin pillars of what starts as a complex drama about the underbelly of celebrity America and turns out to be an even more complex drama about family.
Mickey’s an evil charmer, almost more a cult leader than a father. He has messed up his kids — okay, the molesting priest didn’t help, either — but also formed a bond with Ray’s wife, Abby (Paula Malcomson) that enables him to bypass Ray and start charming Ray’s son and daughter.
Meanwhile, Ray keeps getting distracted by transvestite scandals, manipulative former Disney stars and arrogant movie moguls.
It’s a world that needs someone like Ray, with his cold anger, his binoculars and his baseball bat, to keep even minimal order.
Viewers may find it takes some concentration to sort out the lineup and the dramas here. The payoff is worth the investment.