All Must Be Loved Recap: Ray Donovan

A lot of encounters ended in violence in “All Must Be Loved” (Ray Donovan, S3 E7, 8-23-2015), so we didn’t quite get the significance of the title.

Repent!

Bless me, Father – So as it turns out, Father Thomas Romero didn’t lie to Bunchy about being abused himself. Or, so he told Ray, who was totally shocked to get a call from him just when he was trying to get the stadium deal back on track and had already successfully bribed Helen Miller, Fish & Game with $200K. Ray called Terry and Bunchy together to find out what Bunchy had told Romero and Bunchy was shocked to learn his “friend” was a priest. Ray went to find out what Romero had besides the word of his “alcoholic brother.” The Servant of the Paraclete wanted Ray to confess and swore that the seal of the confessional would be absolute. After 36 years since his last confession, Ray entered the confessional and began the words no Catholic ever forgets: “Bless me Father, for I have sinned,” but he could not bring himself to go through with it.

He stormed out with Romero following, pleading with him to repent. Then he made the mistake of saying he knew how much Father O’Connor hurt Ray and how much Ray loved Father O’Connor and Ray proceeded to kick his ass. Lucky for Father Romero that Terry came in to see what was taking so long and pulled Ray off the priest. Romero excommunicated Ray and his accomplices, cutting them off from the sacraments. Ray didn’t care and said he would kill all the priests in there but it did bother Terry some. Who knows why? We really haven’t seen him going to Communion lately anyway. Since Father Romero is putting himself in this very dicey situation, we may never learn what is driving him to try to save Ray Donovan’s soul. And yeah, Romero shouldn’t kid himself. Father Danny was not innocent. Bunchy saw him alone in his car with a young boy. Surely having no contact with minors must have been the top condition of his release.

Bunchy the Lion and Super Teresa – Ray wasn’t keen at all on the idea of handing Bunchy his settlement money. But Bunchy is definitely in love, even if his intended gives his shorts to the garbageman and keeps a shrine for her dead brother in their room with a picture of a young girl holding a dead bird. (It means his life flew away). Bunchy punched Terry in the face when he made a disparaging remark about Teresa who saw what looked like Ray and Terry ganging up on Bunchy. She told them to stop treating him like a baby and warned them to get used to her now that she and Brendan are in love. Terry reminded Ray how Bunchy used to hole up in his room with super girl comic books as if they were Playboy magazines. Teresa, he said, is just the kind of girl that Bunchy has been looking for all his life. It’s like she stepped right out of one of his comic books.

Bunchy went to see Mickey and Daryll about getting some work since Ray won’t fork over his settlement, arriving a very auspicious moment — when Mickey is about to go meet the Armenians to get Daryll back his $70K Caddy. They pistol-whipped Daryll, took his ride and shook down two of the girls. Mickey is supposed to bring them $30K but he really has a package of Monopoly money and a lead pipe. When Davros Minassian discovered the fake money, Mickey took out the pipe and attacked him. His gang members began to beat the hell out of Mickey and Daryll. Bunchy got a pipe out of the car and took out all his frustrations on the Armenians. Mickey was hurt pretty bad but was just awed by Bunchy’s performance. “You were a lion out there tonight,” he marveled. We have to say the scene where Bunchy told Terry and Ray that they think he’s dumb and weak felt like a total Fredo Corleone moment. We were half expecting him to say “I’m smart and I want respect!” But, Bunchy clearly has no intentions of letting anything get between him and Teresa.

Buying the Kelly Bah: Ray gave the go-ahead for Abby to purchase her family’s bar even though Harriet thought it was a real money pit that hasn’t turned a profit in 12 years. It’s going to cost Ray $375K and then Abby will get some kind of Sister-of-the Year Award. “Get it done,” Ray says. As a result, Abby’s nagging has decreased exponentially. When Ray gets a call and says it’s work, she says “okay” but it’s kindakilling her.

And those calls are usually from Paige Finney, who has served her husband, Varick, with divorce papers. She tells Ray that it’s going to cause all kinds of problems but tells Varick she wants him out by the end of day. After she gets rid of Varick, she lies to Ray that she needs him to come over.

The Donellen Crush: Bridget brought bad influence Janet home and let her get into the family liquor cabinet. Janet showed her Mr. Donnellen’s deceased wife’s Facebook page that he never took down. Bridget mooned over that a while after Janet left, then took out a guitar and sat around singing “Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us”.