TV Review – Ray Donovan: The Complete Second Season
2 min read
LA’s most notorious “fixer” is back in the hit Showtime series Ray Donovan starring Liev Schrieber and John Voight. Season 2 picks up shortly after the dramatic conclusion of season 1, where Boston gangster “Sully” Sullivan was killed on the dock.
The repercussions of Sully’s murder are a thread throughout the season, and a vehicle for introducing a couple of new characters, including an attractive reporter from Boston who isn’t buying the FBI’s story about Sully’s death, and a new director of the LA bureau of the FBI played by Hank Azaria. As Ray maneuvers from one sticky situation to the next, his modis-operandi of exploiting peoples’ darkest secrets in order to solve his client’s problems proves more than ever that if you lie with dogs, you get fleas. We always knew Ray was protective of his family, but in this season we learn to exactly what lengths Ray would go to protect them, as well as what lengths Mickey (Voight) would go to screw them over!
All the old cast returns for season 2 including Eliot Gould as Ezra, Sheryl Lee Ralph as Claudette, as well as a few new ones like Brian Geraghty as a cop Abby falls for, and an appearance by Ann Margret who, at 74, still looks stunning.
Of the 12 episodes in season 2, the standout for me was episode 7, “Walk This Way”, where Conor’s only birthday wish is to get the whole family together for a party. Ray gets very drunk, and it quickly descends into chaos as already high tensions boil over, and dark family secrets are revealed. Both tense and hilarious, the episode was also directed by Liev Schrieber. It’s a great example of the fantastic writing that makes Ray Donovan one the best shows on television.
::: Renowned For Sound Technical Director and Film Reviewer ::: Robert is an IT geek, movie fan and part-time movie reviewer/editor. Robert also looks after the ‘behind the scenes’ technical elements of Renowned For Sound.