Ray Donovan Recap: The Dead (Season 6 Finale)

There were two types of cleaning up going on in “The Dead” (Ray Donovan, S6 E12 1-13-19): the bodies out in Long Island had to be disposed of. In Manhattan, it was more on the order of evening the score and sweet revenge. Again, there was a pretty long “previously on” intro while “New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down” by LCD Soundsystem played. Very appropriate considering how messed up everything has been since Ray hit the Big Apple. Maybe even an understatement!

Today we’re going down to the Justice of the Peace and we’re gonna get married. ~ Smitty

Clean up was underway at Aunt Sandy’s. Bridget was making sandwiches but Smitty was just watching TV. Sandy asked him if he was going to move his rump anytime soon. Out in the backyard, Daryll and Mickey were digging a big hole and Mickey told Smitty to go help Aunt Sandy. Smitty got physically sick when he saw Sandy in there cutting off Rad’s head with a chain saw. Bridget came out with the food. Smitty said he couldn’t help with the chain saw so Bridget volunteered to behead Danny Bianchi. Mickey told Smitty to make himself useful and start cleaning the bathroom. When Terry arrived the first thing he saw was Smitty cleaning up a bloody mess in the hall. After all of this, Smitty decided that he and Bridget had to go down and get married by the Justice of the Peace that very day. Nothing like a couple of severed heads to make you want to become part of the family.

The comedic highlight of this part, however, was when Terry went into the garage and saw Bridget helping Aunt Sandy get a head into a plastic bag. “Jesus bleeping Christ,” he muttered. Holding the bag, Aunt Sandy greeted him nonchalantly. “Hey Terry, how are you?” Terry said “Hey Aunt Sandy” and shut the door. Just another day in the life of the Donovans.

We need to talk ~ Ray Donovan

You would think that the last two people on earth who would talk to Ray Donovan would be Sam Winslow and Mayor Feratti, wouldn’t you? Sam, because her action in releasing the tape may have cost Ray’s daughter her life. How can she know at this point whether Bridget is safe or not? Feratti, because he got in his current jam thanks to Ray wearing a wire the last time they met. But they both give him an audience.

Sam sent Vinnie, her new bodyguard, to escort Ray up to see her. When the elevator door opened, Vinnie was unconscious on its floor. Sam took note of that and told Ray “Doesn’t look like you stopped by to have a drink.” She tried to sweet talk him, caressing his face and saying she wanted to trust him again and she wanted him to trust her. We didn’t find out that he did her the same way Vinnie did Justine until the very end. Ray took Vinnie to another place, texted the address to Lena and let her finish him off, avenging Justine. They both paid their separate respects to Justine at the funeral parlor so that her soul could rest in peace.

Ray planned on taking Feratti out, too, which was a bit ridiculous when Hizzoner had a number of armed men in there with guns trained on Ray from every angle. Feratti needed something from Ray, though, and he had something to offer in return that Ray needed. Ray corroborated Feratti’s cover story that the hit tape on Judge Scholl was concocted by Sam Winslow’s camp, assuring that Feratti would be reelected. Feratti got Bunchy out of jail.

It was James Joyce! … James Joyce, The Dead, the story I used to tell you when you were you were kids ~ Mickey Donovan

Apparently, Ray was still wrestling over whether he should help Mickey despite the latter being a stand-up guy and being there for him during Bridget’s ordeal. He refused to believe that Mickey had been there for any of them when he was a kid, and accused him of lying when Mickey said he used to recite the end of a story that he learned from his own drunk father. Bunchy didn’t remember that event either, but Bunchy pointed out that he doesn’t remember much of his childhood. Certainly, the good memories get erased by the bad ones when a child is traumatized in the way Bunchy and Ray both were. The accusation gnawed away at Mickey. When Ray arrived at Sandy’s during the dinner celebration of Smitty and Bridget’s union, Mickey recalled the last paragraph from “The Dubliners” that he used to recite:

… the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.

Mickey’s voice broke a little on the last few words and he said “I was there.” Ray went outside and for the second time in the episode, he called Dr. Amiot. This time, he finally spoke. Dr. Amiot said it was very brave of him to call and they made a date to meet. Right then, it began to snow, as if it was a sign that Mickey was telling the truth.

We really don’t see how hard it can be to get Mickey off the hook for Frank Barnes’ murder. Originally, Ray claimed he was going to frame Avi for it. Even if that ship has sailed, he shouldn’t have that much of a problem exposing what a corrupt FBI agent Barnes was so there would be little sympathy for his demise by the time Ray found another fall guy. But we’ll have to wait till next season to see how these loose ends are tied up.