The Texan Recap: Ray Donovan

Mickey got out of the can in “The Texan,” Episode 8 of Ray Donovan’s Season 4 (8-14-2016). Terry’s hopes of doing something big before his number came up almost went up in flames thanks to Marisol Campos and Bunchy had to make a very difficult decision.

The episode opened with Ray walking into a hospital with a big satchel that you just knew was filled with money. He asked for Ed Cochran’s room at the desk, went to that room and came out without the satchel. We never even got to see old Ed! On his way out, Ray noticed that the Texan was in the ICU and went in to talk to him. The Texan told Ray how he came to work for Ezra Goldman after he got back from Vietnam “when Hollywood was out of control” and so was he. He reiterated what Avi said in “Norman Saves the Day”: that Ezra protected Ray from the “bleak sh*t.” The Texan told Ray that “you can only be clever so long and then it all turns to blood and burials.” He said his daughter, Julia, didn’t know what he did for a living and he wanted to keep it that way, mentioning where Ezra “kept his secrets.”

Ray’s next stop was to pick up the newly released Mickey at the Men’s Central Jail and take him out to breakfast. Mickey’s stock has risen in the Donovan clan for getting the cops off Ray’s back in the Armenian thing. How far up or how long that’s gonna last, we don’t know yet but it was certainly a first to see Ray interact with Mickey without the usual bitter backlash. Terry also gave Mickey a respectful welcome at the Fite Club. Mickey went to see Bunchy so he could borrow his car to drive to Primm and get Silvie Starr back. Bunchy had just learned that Teresa’s brother, Marco, had her admitted to a mental hospital so Mickey decided to go with Bunchy to see Teresa first.

Meantime, Ray went home where he found Conor playing with a “Just Dance” video. Conor challenged Ray and put the game on easy so Ray wouldn’t have a heart attack. Abby soon joined in the “Chiwawa” dance but then their neighbor, Larry Marchioni, showed up to inform Ray about Conor’s escapade with the gun and the bouncy house after Maria’s baptism. Conor tried to play tough guy with Ray. So it was time for a real-life lesson for Conor. Ray took Conor to a bad part of town. Avi showed up with a file containing graphic photos of dead kids who thought it would be cool to have a gun. Conor continued to be a wiseguy so Ray threw him and the gun out of the car. He was standing there with the presumably not loaded gun while the neighborhood thugs eyed him up. Just when Conor began to panic, Ray stopped his car and swung the passenger door open. Conor ran to safety amid laughter and taunts.

Marisol Airs the Campos’ Dirty Laundry

Ray got a call from Terry to come to the club right away because Hector Campos was losing it. While Hector was training, Marisol went public at last on TV with their “more than just siblings” relationship and everyone in the Fite Club saw it. By the time Ray got there, Hector had been replaced in the Whittaker fight for violating his morality clause. Hector thought he should just kill himself. Terry thought Ray should help Hector get the fight back so he could continue to train for it at their gym.

Ray cooked up a plan on the spot, even lining up Daryll for an important part of it on his way out the door. He called Lena and tasked her with ghosting Stu Feldman’s computer, looking for porn or anything else he shouldn’t be watching. Lena shut down Stu’s computer with a fake FBI warning that it was flagged for kiddie porn. Stu got a hold of Ray who was just standing by his car waiting for the call. Ray needed Stu to play golf with the fight arranger, Randall Dyckman, and get him to say something that could be used against him. That turned out to be rather easy for Stu to pull off. Dyckman used a racial slur when talking about his wife’s affair with a Mexican, even though he should have been suspicious of how loud Stu was talking.

When confronted with the tape, Dyckman refused to pull Joxy Maguire off the fight and only agreed to let Hector fight the winner of the Whittaker/Maguire bout. That’s where Daryll came in. He went to a bar where a celebration in honor of Joxy’s upcoming fight was happening. Posing as Frank Guinness. Darryl got to meet Maguire, acting all star-struck until he got a “Do it” text from Ray and he did it. He put on some brass knuckles and punched Joxy in the eye outside in the alley. Joxy was out and Hector was back in. Ray told Hector that he owed both Terry and Daryll for this turn of events and warned him to cut it off with Marisol. (Please let that be true).

The Return of Wonder Woman

In the mental hospital, Teresa was not very responsive. In fact, she appeared to be heavily drugged. Bunchy was thoroughly discouraged when she did not want to leave there with him but Mickey convinced him that he had to get her out if he loved her. At Marco’s house, Bunchy collected some of Teresa’s things while Marco filled him in on her long history of suicidal and violent behavior and said her family was done with her. Bunchy said the Donovans don’t throw people away. At the hospital, he showed Teresa her luchadora mask and told her about his boyhood crush on Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman and how the Bracelets of Submission and the Magic Lasso turned him on. He knew that Teresa was the one when he saw her with that mask on. Bunchy took Teresa out of there and she sat in the back seat of the car with the same fixed glassy-eyed stare she had the whole time. Bunchy decided to head to Primm so Mickey could get his girl back, too. Oh, boy! If you recall, Bill Primm warned Mickey never to see foot in his town again.

Conor’s Second Lesson

We’re not going to tsk tsk over Abby’s decision to take Conor to a gun range and let him practice shooting, but really? She told her son he was a natural with a gun and he better not tell Ray about the target practice, pretty much turning the whole first lesson into a waste. Abby also told Conor about her cancer and assured him that she wasn’t going to die.

Ray emptied stuff out his safe when he got home. Then he stopped by the hospital to see the Texan once more but it ws too late. The Texan was dead. His daughter came in and told Ray she knew he didn’t work at any insurance company with her father. Ray told her that everything the Texan did, he did for her. Obviously, he believes that everything he does is for his own family. When Ray got home, he apologized to Conor for dumping him in the hood and talked about how he and Abby are different than their kids and want to keep it that way.