Ray Donovan Recap: Never Gonna Give You Up

Ray’s worst fear did not come to pass in “Never Gonna Give You Up” (Ray Donovan, S6 E11 1-6-19). Oh, there were bodies and there were sorry’s. There was treachery and a few absurdities, and the “Previously On” intro was really looo-nnn-gg, wasn’t it? Showing the scenes with Emerson Lake misled us into thinking they would reveal his ultimate fate but they didn’t.

Hey Jimmy, be a good boy and go back to bed ~ Rad Radulovic

On his way to Mac’s house, Ray passed McDonoghue’s where bartender Lou was standing outside the bar, smoking a cigar. Lou spotted Ray and got his cell phone out and we cut to Mike “Rad” Radulovic brutalizing Mac’s ex-wife, Amber, while her son Jimmy watched from the second floor. Rad cocked his gun and gave her one last chance to tell him where Mac was when he got Lou’s call. He told Jimmy to go to bed and left, leaving Amber sobbing on the stairs.

At Mac’s, Mickey and Ray left Daryll in the car with instructions to call the FBI “if anything happens.” Inside, Ray and Mickey found nothing. Outside, Daryll saw Rad pull up and approach the house with gun in hand. Daryll broke out his gun and entered the house. Rad came up behind him and ordered him to give up the gun and get on his knees. Daryll refused so Rad bashed him in the head with his gun. Suddenly, Ray appeared and went all Tony Montana on Rad.

Ray stormed off to the bar, with Mickey and Daryll chasing him. He broke in and beat up Lou, who swore he didn’t know Mac or Bridget’s whereabouts. A news report came on the TV announcing Feratti’s instructions to kill Judge Scholl. That made Ray think that Bridget was dead.

You took his kid? ~ Mayor Ed Feratti

Ray stormed back to Mac’s place, got Rad’s cell phone and called Mayor Feratti, who just heard the news during his bowling match with Whit. Ray promised to fix everything if the mayor would just tell him where Bridget was. Feratti didn’t even know that Bridget had been kidnapped. He hung up on Ray and called Mac, instructing him to find and deliver Ray. Mac called Ray and set up a meet near the Greenpoint Terminal in Brooklyn. Ray chose to go there alone and told Mickey and Daryll to bring the bodies to Sandy’s.

The other body was that of Big Al, whom Mickey shot in “Baby.” When they went back to the Rosemary address to get him, they saw a trail of blood going out the back door, as if a body had already been dragged out. We assume this scene was just put in there to make you think it was Bridget when they showed it in the preview. Mickey tried to get some last words out of Big Al as to where Bridget was but all he had to say before the lights went out permanently was “tell Barbara.”

I saved her. I saved both of you. Just remember that. ~ Mac McGrath

Ray realized that Mac’s mental state was fragile and let him talk. Mac told Ray that none of what happened was his idea and in another life, he and Ray could have been brothers, explaining what Ray’s friendship meant to him. He said he would never let anything happen to Bridget and took Mac to the West Shore Motel, where he had stashed Bridget in Room 216. While Ray went in and rescued his daughter, Mac called Amber to tell her it was all over. He said he was sorry and asked her to tell Jimmy he loved him. Then he shot himself in the head. Bridget could not take her eyes off the sight of Mac’s head on the steering wheel, making the horn blare. Despite all of the trauma she has been through and this horrifying turn of events, what she wants to know is why Ray jumped in the East River. She doesn’t want to see Ray end up like Mac.

What do you know? It’s a cop-kebab ~ Sandy Patrick

Smitty told Aunt Sandy how Ray “poisoned” him and she told him what a strange child Ray was, holding his breath till he passed out and slamming his head on hard surfaces. Meantime, their captive, Danny Bianchi was working on loosening up the ties that bind. After a visit to the loo, Sandy noticed that he was not in his seat of honor and went in the room to investigate. He jumped on her and tried to choke her. Smitty grabbed a poker from the fireplace and impaled him with it. Why, you may ask, did Bianchi attack the old lady and not Smitty? Well, listening to their conversation, he probably reached the same conclusion as Sandy: that Smitty is a dumbass.

Smitty got physically ill and was blown away at the realization that he just killed a cop. Sandy gave the body a closer look, picked her cigarette up, took a drag and made herself a drink. Mickey and Daryll arrived with Rad’s body, rolled up like a burrito in the granny quilt. Sandy told Mickey what happened and Mickey told Smitty that he could help Daryll with the other body now that he was “acquainted with corpses.”

Are you on the spectrum, Mr. Donovan? ~ FBI Agent Ange Howe

Agent Ange Howe tried hard to get Bunchy to tell her where Mickey is and agree to testify against Mickey in exchange for a plea. Otherwise, he is facing 30 years for attempted murder, aiding and abetting a known cop killer, and two counts of armed robbery. Well, Bunchy really doesn’t know where Mickey is and we’re sure Agent Howe could find Mickey without Bunchy’s help. She had no problem finding Terry and persuading him to come down and try to talk Bunchy into giving up Mickey. Terry had no better luck than Howe but Terry told Howe that he would give Mickey up if she cut Bunchy a deal. “As long as he testifies,” Howe said. We can’t see that happening. Bunchy was the only one who gave Daryll advice on how to make sure there was no case against Mickey in the Barnes murder.

I should have my bleeping head examined, sitting here with you now. ~ Judge Scholl

We agree, Your Honor. Why would you believe anything Ed Feratti had to say now? But Feratti gave him a cockamamie story about Sam Winslow manufacturing the recording through her Hollywood connections. Feratti claimed that this would not prevent him from winning the election and nailing Winslow’s butt to the wall. We’ll see about all that in the season finale next week!