Ray Donovan 7.8: The Wife

An unusually good episode 7.8 of Ray Donovan tonight, in an unusually good season.  And the single best line, coming from the late, electrocuted O'Malley's son, was about what Jim Sullivan did, not only to Ray's sister, but his "wife".

Now as I've no doubt already mentioned elsewhere in these Ray Donovan reviews, we still don't really know why Ray's sister Bridget took her own life.  I'd always assumed she was going through some kind of profound trauma based on what the priest did to Ray and his brothers.  And she was on drugs.  But, for all we know, Bridget could have jumped off a roof for a completely different reason - because of something Jim Sullivan did to her, or made her do.

There are only two more episodes, and I hope that's time enough for us to get an answer.  But in many ways even more important is what Jim Sullivan did to Abby.

First, let's assume that Ray's wife back then was Abby.  It's not impossible he was briefly married to someone else back then, before Abby.  But not very likely.  We saw an episode or more in an earlier season with Abby and Ray, much younger, in Boston.  Not as young as the Ray in Boston we saw tonight.  Old enough that Ray and Abby were played by Liev Schreiber and Paula Malcomson, but much younger than Ray is now.  I can't quite recall if Bridget was in any of those older episodes, but I'm pretty sure she was, back around the 2013 season?   So that means that Jim Sullivan could well have done something bad to both Ray's wife and his sister, as O'Malley's son indicated.

Which would be a major, story-changing revelation.  It would mean that Ray and his family were victimized not only by the priest, and, in a very different way, but their biological father Mick, but by Jim Sullivan.

I haven't gone into some of the other important developments in tonight's episode, like Daryll's girlfriend apparently killed, and Smitty wearing a wire to entrap Ray.   Those two elements in the story would in themselves make the next two episodes especially worth watching.  But the Jim Sullivan revelation skyrockets that right off the charts.

See also Ray Donovan 7.1: Getting Ahead of the Game ... Ray Donovan 7.2: Good Luck ... Ray Donovan 7.3: "The Air that I Breathe" ... Ray Donovan 7.4: Claudette and Bridget ... Ray Donovan 7.5: Bing! ... Ray Donovan 7.6: Phone Booths and Cellphones ,,, Ray Donovan 7.7: Back Story

See also Ray Donovan 6.1: The New Friend ... Ray Donovan 6.2: Father and Sons ... Ray Donovan 6.4: Politics in the Ray Style ... Ray Donovan 6.6: The Mayor Strikes Back ... Ray Donovan 6.7: Switching Sides ... Ray Donovan 6.8: Down ... Ray Donovan 6.9: Violence and Storyline ... Ray Donovan 6.10: Working Together ... Ray Donovan 6.11: Settled Scores and Open Questions ... Ray Donovan Season 6 Finale: Snowfall and Mick

See also Ray Donovan 5.1: Big Change  ... Ray Donovan 5.4: How To Sell A Script ... Ray Donovan 5.7: Reckonings ... Ray Donovan 5.8: Paging John Stuart Mill ... Ray Donovan 5.9: Congas ... Ray Donovan 5.10: Bunchy's Money ... Ray Donovan 5.11: I'm With Mickey ... Ray Donovan 5.12: New York

See also Ray Donovan 4.1: Good to Be Back ... Ray Donovan 4.2: Settling In ... Ray Donovan 4.4: Bob Seger ... Ray Donovan 4.7: Easybeats ... Ray Donovan 4.9: The Ultimate Fix ... Ray Donovan Season 4 Finale: Roses

And see also Ray Donovan 3.1: New, Cloudy Ray ... Ray Donovan 3.2: Beat-downs ... Ray Donovan 3.7: Excommunication!

And see also Ray Donovan 2.1: Back in Business ... Ray Donovan 2.4: The Bad Guy ... Ray Donovan 2.5: Wool Over Eyes ... Ray Donovan 2.7: The Party from Hell ... Ray Donovan 2.10: Scorching ... Ray Donovan 2.11: Out of Control ... Ray Donovan Season 2 Finale: Most Happy Ending

And see also Ray Donovan Debuts with Originality and Flair ... Ray Donovan 1.2: His Assistants and his Family ... Ray Donovan 1.3: Mickey ... Ray Donovan 1.7 and Whitey Bulger ... Ray Donovan 1.8: Poetry and Death ... Ray Donovan Season 1 Finale: The Beginning of Redemption


It started in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn Monroe walked off the set of The Misfits and began to hear a haunting song in her head, "Goodbye Norma Jean" ...

Ray Donovan 1.2: His Assistants and His Family

My favorite scene in Ray Donovan 1.2 last night was Avi talking Ray down from storming off and likely shooting his father.   Just the way Avi was standing says a lot - holding Ray's gun, but not pointing it at Ray, just standing in front of Ray, with the gun pointing to the side, and reasoning with Ray.   The scene shows the loyalty and intelligence of Ray's assistants, in this case Avi.

Lena also played a significant role last night, as the deliverer of Ray's generosity, to the transvestite blackmailing Ray's client - for a cool million - so she can pay for an operation to make her completely a woman.   Ray of course protects his client - he won't have his client pay out a million - but he has Lena deliver a packet of money sufficient to pay for the operation.   Amidst all of his troubles and toughness, Ray has a heart of gold.

The big story continues to be Ray's father Mickey, who much to Ray's distress easily charms Ray's wife and kids.  Still not clear is why Ray hates his father so much.  When Ray's wife Abby (played by Paula Malcomson of Caprica fame) asks Mickey why Ray hates him, Mickey gives a vague (if heartfelt) answer about being a bad father.   But there must be something more - enough to leave Ray's hatred unslaked even when he smiles at the picture of the priest (who at very least molested Ray's younger brother) and the knowledge that Mickey killed him.

Whatever that source of hatred, another piece of its puzzle is why Ray's brothers - especially his older brother Terry - are so much more forgiving of their father than is Ray.   Did Mickey do something that only Ray knows about?   Possibly - but Terry doesn't give the impression of missing much.   Given that Terry has been functioning as the de facto father of the family, seeing to his brothers (including Darryl) much more than has Ray - at least on an emotional basis - Terry might well have reason to resent Mickey.  But he doesn't.

The tables are still being set for this powerful new drama, and I'm in.

See also Ray Donovan Debuts with Originality and Flair


 


#SFWApro

Fringe 3.17: Bell, Olivia, Lee, and the Cow

Well, the most exciting part of Fringe 3.17 tonight was likely supposed to be Olivia channeling Bell - and Anna Torv did put in a fine performance (in addition to the excellent portrayals of Olivia and Fauxlivia she's already given us this season) - but my favorite part was seeing Lee (Seth Gabel) at work in our reality.  He's outfitted here with glasses, but his persona came through.   He might even be Lee from the other side - the one we know as leader now of their Fringe division - but my guess is we saw his alternate self here, attracted to our Fringe for the same reason he became a Fringe agent over there.  Nice work, in all cases.

Meanwhile, Bell is inhabiting Olivia, whom Bell assures us is just fine.  But there is a need to get him into a more suitable vessel, and it occurred to me before the characters even said it that it might be the cow (occurred to me because Bell said his new host did not even have to be human).  Finally, a use for that cow, other than as an emblem of Walter's charming nut-cased-ness!   But at the end of tonight's episode, Bell learns that his transfer to another living body may not be easy - it may be that any time a bell rings his soul is summoned somewhere.

Caprica also has a role in tonight's show - at least, Paula Malcomsom played the sympathetic villain tonight - a woman who will do just about anything to join her husband and son, killed in accident, which she was in, too, but for some reason didn't die.

Actually, that reason has something to do with the deterioration of our universe because of Walter's breach, which brings me back to wanting not standalone stories, but more of the riveting central story of Fringe.

See also Fringe 3.1: The Other Olivia ... Fringe 3.2: Bad Olivia and Peter ... Fringe 3.3: Our/Their Olivia on the Other Side ... Fringe 3.5: Back from Hiatus, Back from the Amber ... Fringe 3.7: Two Universes Still Nearing Collision ... Fringe 3.8: Long Voyages Home ... Fringe 3.10: The Return of the Eternal Bald Observers ... Flowers for Fringenon in Fringe 3.11 ... Fringe 3.12: The Wrong Coffee  ... Fringe 3.13: Alternate Fringe ... Fringe 3.14: Amber Here ... Fringe 3.15: Young Peter and Olivia ... Fringe 3.16: Walter and Yoko

See also reviews of Season 2: Top Notch Return of Fringe Second Season ... Fringe 2.2 and The Mole People ... Fringe 2.3 and the Human Body as Bomb ... Fringe 2.4 Unfolds and Takes Wing ... Fringe 2.5: Peter in Alternate Reality and Wi-Fi for the Mind ... A Different Stripe of Fringe in 2.6 ... The Kid Who Changed Minds in Fringe 2.7 ... Fringe 2.8: The Eternal Bald Observers ... Fringe 2.9: Walter's Journey ... Fringe 2.10: Walter's Brain, Harry Potter, and Flowers for Algernon ...  New Fringe on Monday Night: In Alternate Universe? ... Fringe 2.12: Classic Science Fiction Chiante ... Fringe 2.13: "I Can't Let Peter Die Again" ... Fringe 2.14: Walter's Health, Books, and Father ... Fringe 2.15: I'll Take 'Manhatan' ... Fringe 2.16: Peter's Story ... Fringe 2.17: Will Olivia Tell Peter? ... Fringe 2.18: Strangeness on a Train ... Fringe 2.19: Two Plus Infinity ... Fringe the Noir Musical ... Fringe 2.21: Bring on the Alternates ... Fringe 2.22:  Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming ... Fringe Season 2 Finale: The Switch

See also reviews of Season One Fringe Begins ... Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope ... 4: The Eternal Bald Observer ... 7: A Bullet Can Scramble a Dead Brain's Transmission ... 8. Heroic Walter and Apple Through Steel ... 9. Razor-Tipped Butterflies of the Mind ... 10. Shattered Pieces Come Together Through Space and Times ... 11. A Traitor, a Crimimal, and a Lunatic ... 12, 13, 14: Fringe and Teleportation ... 15: Fringe is Back with Feral Child, Pheromones, and Bald Men ... 17. Fringe in New York, with Oliva as Her Suspect ... 18. Heroes and Villains across Fringe ... Stephen King, Arthur C. Clarke, and Star Trek in Penultimate Fringe ... Fringe Alternate Reality Finale: Science Fiction At Its Best

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

Lightman on Caprica, Fungus, and Sociopathic Markers: Lie to Me Returns

Well, he's not really on Caprica, but Lightman is in a mental institution in Episode 3.9, where he sees his deceased mother, played by Paula Malcomson, who played Amanda Graystone, on the late, lamented (certainly by me) Caprica. Lightman has deliberately put himself undercover in the fun house, on behalf of a father of his daughter's friend, and it seems the head shrink is for whatever reason drugging both the friend's father (Wayne) and now Lightman. But the cause of the madness is a fungus (medieval, in fact - ergot), supplied by Wayne's sister through muffins brought to Wayne by his unknowing daughter. Lightman cracks the case, and along the way we get some interesting Lightman family history.

No fungus in Episode 3.10 - we got a double billing tonight - but it did have Gina Ravera from The Closer and a search for "sociopathic markers" in a con man (George) so good at his craft that his face and voice are lie-revelation-proof.   Doesn't protect him from being murdered, and Lightman and crew turn to figuring out which or how many of his former wives (all swindled) did him in but- turns out George almost has the last laugh, because the ingenious con man isn't dead at all ...

I won't tell you exactly what happened, but this a better than usual, tip top episode of Lie to Me, pitting master lie-detector against master liar, and even two nice shots of that wall of famous lying faces in Lightman's office, which I don't recall seeing in Episode 3.9 in the first hour.  But hey, it did give me a chance to mention Caprica, that bygone world of elusive reality, an attractive asylum of sorts in itself, and that's no lie ...

See also my reviews of Lie to Me and Bill O'Reilly, Saddam Hussein, and Ben Reynolds in Lie to Me 2.6 and Lie to Me 2.7: The Redeeming of Loker and Lie to Me 2.8 in Afghanistan and Viva Lightman and Las Vegas in Lie to Me 2.9 ... Lie to Me 2.11: Double Feature ... Lie to Me 2.12:  The One Prevarication ... Lie to Me 2.13: The Whole Truth and Rep Joe Wilson ... Lie to Me 2.14: Paranoids Can Have Real Enemies ... Lie to Me 2.15: Melissa George and Shawn Ryan ... Lie to Me 2.16: Ria's Sister ... Lie to Me 2.17: 'Poling on the Campaign Trail' ... Lie to Me 2.18: Lightman on the Darkside ... Lie to Me 2.19: The Shield Reunion ... Lie to Me 2.20: Dr. Burns

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book