Ray Donovan Recap: Michael

The 11th episode of Ray Donovan’s Season 5 was named after Mickey Donovan, the man with all the angles. It usually winds up badly for someone other than Mickey and that potential was certainly present in this episode.

The episode opened with Ray asleep at the Fite Club. He was dreaming that he was watching the LSN Shopping Channel. He was in the audience when Chef Dave, who looked just like Acid Man, and Sarah, an Abby look-alike, wanted a volunteer to put his/her hand on a hot burner. Ray cheerfully bounded up on stage, swept Sarah into his arms and kissed her. That reminded Sarah/Abby of her Uncle Tobias who used to molest her and out came Terry dressed like a clown. This was one weird ass dream but Officer Maureen Dougherty, Terry’s wife or ex-wife (as the case may be), interrupted it before Ray burned his hand. She came to inform him that his daughter, Bridget, was under arrest, charged with assault with a firearm, attempted extortion, breaking and entering, and unlawful imprisonment. Wow! Ray tried to call Frank Barnes. He struck out there and he also struck out when he paid a visit to the victim, Dr. Bergstein, and tried to get her to drop the charges.

Ray went to the home of Kyle, an FBI agent Frank worked with for 4 years to find out where Frank was. Kyle initially claimed Frank was on assignment in Mexico but Ray got him to admit that Frank’s been missing for 4 days and he thinks the Justice Department has opened up a homicide investigation. Ray’s primary suspect is his father. It was Ray, after all, who told Frank to lock Mickey up for the Las Vegas murders and throw away the key.

Ray went to the family bar and tried to get Mickey to admit that he did Frank in. Mickey refused to tell Ray what happened, even though Ray said he needed Frank to get Bridget out of jail. Mickey did say that Ray was going to have to find another way to spring Bridget, at least confirming Frank’s permanent unavailability. Ray tried to put the pressure on but Mickey told his son “you’ll have to kill me, Raymond.” Ray sucker-punched Mickey. That made Bunchy think Mickey killed Frank, too. “What did you do?” he asked, with a disgusted look.

Ray went to see his half-brother Daryll, Mickey’s usual sidekick, the person who actually dispatched Frank to the hereafter. Daryll was just as obliging with Ray as he was with Jay White, when he confirmed the details of Sensei Shoota’s death on tape with the District Attorney listening in. Daryll was already crumbling under the pressure of that. He demanded to know how Ray could help him out of this situation and Ray said he would blame Frank’s murder on Avi.

Ray went straight to D.A. Jackson Holt and told him Frank Barnes was dead and he would give him the body and tell him who did it if he released Bridget. Holt tried to play cute. Ray began to walk out but Holt called him back and agreed to the deal. This is all very ironic, isn’t it? The last time Ray made a deal with Jackson Holt was to get Mickey out of jail. No, we did not buy for one minute that Ray was going to pin this on Avi.

At the same time that the police were dragging Frank’s body out of the deep, Ray was telling Mickey that he was framing Avi for the crime. Mickey breathed a sigh of relief and told Ray how, the night before, he dreamed he was walking the dog at Fenway Park when a baseball hit him in the face, right where Ray hit him. Mickey said when Ray hit him, Ray looked like his father, Michael, Sr., aka “Nine Fingers,” the meanest man he ever knew. When Ray got up to leave, Mickey took his hand and said “goodnight, son.” The piercing look, full of hatred, that Ray gave Mickey before saying “good night” certainly confirmed that Ray was lying about framing Avi.

As Mickey, Linda the hooker and Daryll sat down to eat the homemade spaghetti dinner Mickey made, a knock on the door became more insistent and Daryll got up to answer it. The police burst in and hauled Mickey off to jail. When Ray returned, Daryll wanted to know what Mickey ever did to deserve this. Did he burn Ray with cigarettes or beat him with a tree branch? What? Ray just laughed and told Daryll that he was going to give Ray the murder weapon. Daryll, Ray said, was going to the Lost Hills police station and tell them that he knows Mickey shot Frank Barnes because he saw it, then go home and go to sleep. Daryll was on the verge of tears and told Ray that whatever Mickey did to him, it really messed him up.

It wasn’t the sly fox
Teresa had a confession to make. She told Bunchy that she slept with someone while she was on tour with the luchadors. Bunchy immediately assumed it was Zorro Astuto, but it was worse than that! “I didn’t know him,” Teresa sobbed, “It was just some guy that came to the show.” Whatever possessed her to tell him? Baby Maria started crying and he wouldn’t even let Teresa go get her or touch him.

Damon’s Daddy
When Terry returned to New York, he found Damon working under his father’s direction. Damon wanted Terry to make his dad, Mason King, a member of the team but Terry laid down an ultimatum: “If he’s in, I’m out. And all the money in this place here too– that’s out.” Mason said he wasn’t having that and left. A disappointed Damon called Terry cold. Mason admitted he wasn’t there for Damon and that his absence from being high or in jail led to bad times, but he’s been clean for a year and 9 days now and wants to make it up to his son.

As it turned out Terry could not keep the schedule he set with Damon on the very first day because he had to go to the hospital with Smitty. At Bridget’s request, he went to Smitty’s place, fed him, smoked weed with him and kept him company, but Smitty began throwing up and had to go to the hospital. No doubt Damon went to dinner with his father.

Once she was released from jail, Bridget demanded to be taken to the airport and rejected Ray’s contention that she didn’t even know Smitty. She insisted that she was in love with him. Bridget said she blames Ray for everything. Ray and God. She demanded that Ray tell her he didn’t sleep with Natalie James while her mother was dying, which Ray of course could not do. Bridget said she was going to stay with Smitty and hold his hand when he died because that is what decent people do.

SUPPORTING CAST OF “MICHAEL”

In the end, after Daryll left, Ray noticed that the spaghetti sauce was still bubbling away on a hot burner. He went over, moved the pan and turned off the burner. He saw Sarah/Abby seemingly daring him to touch the burner and he put his hand, palm down, on it. Quickly, he pulled it away and looked at the burns. He turned to look for Sarah. She was gone. Ray went to watch the LSN Shopping Channel. His phone went off. Mickey used his one call to ask Ray if he sent Frank Barnes that day to arrest him. Ray freely admitted it: “Of course I did.” Mickey declared war: “I’m gonna get you, Raymond.”