Firstly, I really hope they renew Ray Donovan for a Season 6. It’s not 100% that they will, but something tells me they will. I’m probably one of the few people who did actually enjoy Season 5… when I say enjoy, I didn’t hate it. It was certainly the weakest season of them all, since it premiered all those years ago, but you know what, it still had it’s charm and beauty. I love the show, the soundtrack and the acting and I sincerely hope it returns to its roots, which I think it will. If you haven’t checked it out, Danny did a really fair review on the season as a whole, I’d really recommend reading it.

Anyway, rather than talk about Season 5, I’d like to discuss where I think the show is headed and I’ll break it down character by character.

Ray
Oh Ray, you miserable massive oaf. Time to stop overly dwelling on the past and start lightening up a little bit and start acting and thinking more logically. The best of Ray is when he’s one step ahead of the viewer. When you literally have no idea how he’s going to get out of something and BOOM, he pulls in a manipulation technique or does something completely shocking to turn around a series of events.

Whether Abby (played by Paula Malcomson) was to be written out of the show anyway, or the actress no longer wanted to be in it any more, getting rid of her was always going to be tough. She’s very much a love or hate character but regardless she’s been in the show from the beginning and it had to be done in a classy way. They created an extremely intense and in my opinion overly depressing story line for her, but you know what, I’m cool with it because it didn’t shoe horn a stupid forced and fast exit (which can easily come across as lazy). Personally I’d have liked a more *Dexter spoilers* Rita-esc exit for Abby, but the exit she did end up getting was okay if not dragged out way too long.

Saying all of this, it meant that Ray’s character was mainly focused around that centrepiece story; Abby’s bar, the family home etc. It’s evident that they’re moving away from all this. Ray has sold the family home, given the bar the Bunch and is moving to New York, so it will really change the dynamic of the whole show. Ray will leave a lot behind and start a new… even Lena mentioning that they’ve lost a load of clients due to Ray’s bad publicity in the press is a nod to the fact that he needs to start again. There were other nods too, like him letting go of Abby’s Bar (giving it to Bunchy), letting Abby fall, which perhaps was metaphor for him letting her go and Ray finally jumping into the water himself thus washing away the past. Of course if none of that poncy metaphoric stuff is for you, ignore me.

Lena & Avi
Lena is a brilliant. Cool, calm and collected. She’s Ray’s right hand (wo)man and I think it’s 100% certain that she’ll follow Ray to New York. She may be quite one-dimensional and mainly there to improve Ray’s standing as a massive player in America but none-the-less she does drily brighten a lot of scenes.
Avi on the other hand, I personally think it’s the end of him. A great character but for whatever reason he’s been written out and I don’t see a return for him.

Daryl, Bunchy & Terry
Ray’s 3 brothers are a large part of what’s been a great television show, however I do actually think there’s a case to suggest that these guys are done in the show. Let me explain. Daryl has finally finished off Mickey (against what he may have wanted to do) and started his new role working under Actor Jay White. Terry heads back to the kid boxer and seems to put things aside with the whole Dad turning back up and Bunchy has been given Abby’s bar and finally finished it off completely with the strange, irritating and bitch of a character, Teresa. For what reason would any of these guys have to follow Ray? It definitely remains to be seen what will happen, but I just don’t know. They are all great individual actors, so keeping them in the show would be beneficial for Ray Donovan but I just don’t get how they will do it.

Bridget and Connor
Firstly, I think Bridget will remain in the show, she’s the strongest actor out of Ray’s kids and she’s always played a prominent part in every season. I think she’ll remain in NY with Smitty and we may see her own story with him develop even more. She may also build a few bridges with Ray after his heroics of getting Smitty the cancer treatment after all, but the relationship there is certainly still raw.
As for Connor, he’s just a terrible character. The acting isn’t great and it’s clear he’s moving to the Marines so the show can be done with him. I’m sure he’ll get a mention, but I do think the character will be omitted from Season 6.

Mickey
Of course Jon Voight is just brilliant and it would be a shame for him to be written out of the show and for that reason I don’t think he will. I love the way he brings comedy to every scene he’s in, even in the more duller Season 5 there was the hooker scenes and the Viagra scenes which were just brilliant and the dialog between Mickey and Daryl was hilarious; the same goes for the Jay White katana storyline.
I think he’ll have his own side storyline in prison which will largely be around him working out a way to get out and get back at Ray. His line “You’ve fucked me for the last time Raymond” tells me that he will get his revenge, but quite how, I’m unsure.
I can see there being no interaction with Mickey and Ray for a long time and instead it will focus on Mickey’s exploits in jail. This could make for some great comedy too.

Of course omitting characters is sad but this will open up opportunities for new characters to arrive on the scene. We’ve been given some great characters over the years in Ray Donovan and I hope we see lots more. Where Ray Donovan is best is when they create these awesome overly exaggerated players who desperately need Ray’s help. It always creates good comedy and good action which balances a lot of the drama in a typical season of Ray Donovan. There was definitely a poor balance in terms of drama and lightheartedness in Season 5 which needs to be addressed, but I’m optimistic the ground work has been laid to achieve this.

Perhaps I am a little too optimistic with what seems to be a show on the decline, but I’m a Ray loyalist and I really hope he pulls us back in with an epic in Season 6.

“Slainte”…

Please follow and like us: