Ray Donovan

Somewhat relevant.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/07/26...n-cable-series

Really good show but holy fucking shit are those boston accents unbearable.

Finally watched all five episodes yesterday. I'm impressed and looking forward to more.

Thought this would be shallow and overly Hollywood stylistic city gangster gunplay but I've now seen all the episodes & I love it. Totally surprised me for the better.

I want more Steven Bauer!

How the fuck was this show on page 3? Excellent last episode, I just love all the storylines in this show. I am really curious about the father and what he might have done/didn't do to Bridget. Seems like this episode hinted that Ray might be mistaken in his beliefs.

This episode was great. Thus far, this has been my favorite new series, it's right up there with the greats like Sopranos, Wire, BWE and the rest.

lol, I think the Lesbian office chick is my favorite character though. She's pretty bad ass. Either her or Steven Bauer.

Yeah I tried the Pilot and didn't like it then some friend told me it gets way better than the father-son hate bullshit. Quite a good show so far, Liev Shreiber is quite good at being a sociopath.

Lithose_sl said:

it's right up there with the greats like Sopranos, Wire, BWE and the rest.

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I agree. Hopefully it will get more publicity, I don't think it gets enough credit. Though...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3605631.html

I think it's entertaining, but saying it's up there with The Sopranos and The Wire is quite a stretch. The show is pretty stupid when you really think about it. I mean the writers have Ray Donovan, one of the most connected men in L.A., travel to Boston just so they can introduce some irritating Whitey Bulger type from his past. The show is just full of annoying characters and they keep finding lousy ways to introduce new ones.

supertouch_sl said:

I think it's entertaining, but saying it's up there with The Sopranos and The Wire is quite a stretch. The show is pretty stupid when you really think about it. I mean the writers have Ray Donovan, one of the most connected men in L.A., travel to Boston just so they can introduce some irritating Whitey Bulger type from his past. The show is just full of annoying characters and they keep finding lousy ways to introduce new ones.

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You mean like when Tony Soprano, the head of the NJ mafia, went out and made a deal with those cubans in Florida? Sopranos was guilty of breaking story rationality for use of the main character in scenes dozens of times. The first scene even if Tony breaking someone's knees in public view (A mob *captain* out doing enforcement.) But those things don't matter in the Sopranos, because internal rationality (Tony handled his own stuff until after Season 2) trumped realism. The Wire was different, but it's themes reflected that.

Also, as for this example specifically, Ray went to see him because he didn't have anyone else he could involve in amurderplot, who was also connected enough to actually get in to see the guy. It would have made much, much less sense for him to send anyone else. Unless you're saying he could have just hired a hit man locally? But there has been nothing in the show so far to illustrate that he would use people outside of his organization to do something like that--Because in the show, it seems like him and Manny are the muscle. So them not trusting an outside contract killer, especially with something a sensitive as this? Makes sense to me. (And again, this is not realism, of course realistically the head of an organization doesn't get his own hands dirty--but internal consistency, much like in the above Sopranos example, trumps realism, unless your show is about realism, like The Wire.)

So, no, I don't think it's dumb when looking at this example...I mean, there have been dumb aspects of the show (Even the best shows have them--lol white knight Reporter/Serial Killer Mcnulty S5 Wire), but this example is not one of them.

That FBI agent was so damned full of himself he didn't even realize that he signed his own death warrant ;P

Yeah, the moment he said he was working alone I knew it was lights out. Kinda wish Mickey had just done it immediately instead of letting him ramble on that long.

Thing about it is now Ray is fucked and so is his leak at the department. As soon as he hands the bosses that agents file and they investigate and find the picture board and other evidence, all the attention is going to Ray.

Should I give this show another chance? I was completely unimpressed with the first episode. His demeanor and decision making made no sense to me. The writers seemed to be trying to paint him as the mobster with a heart of gold who happens to be a cold stone badass who wants to do the right thing but only has internal struggles for about 2 minutes until he finally gives in and fucks the dumb drunk. And jesus christ was his wife annoying.

I'm in the same boat as Khane. I saw the first episode and the beginning of the 2nd, then put it aside. I didn't really give a shit about the characters. I have every episode sitting on my harddrive, but I'm unsure if I'll watch it.

Is it really worth a damn, or just another skippable drama?

It's decent. It's not going to become a cultural talking point, but it does improve as the season goes on.

I think it's really good, obviously, especially as they move toward the ensemble more and less about Ray. I actually think the other characters are more interesting than him, and they get a good deal more play in the later episodes.