One thing that struck me when watching "Get Even Before Leavin'" was that I couldn't care less about the main plot of this season regarding Belikov and Little Bill Primm, and I don't mind, because so far it has managed to provide some excellent character moments, such as the Ray and Mickey pairing this week.
In fact, the writers don't even seem to care a great deal about the season's main plot, but are instead far more interested in using it to reveal more about the show's primary characters. This is slightly different to every other season of the show. In the past, Ray Donovan actually tried to develop some of its guest characters, to varying degrees of success. One of the worst examples was last season with Ian McShane's character, who started off promising before becoming pretty irrelevant by season's end. But this season no real attempt has been made to flesh out characters like Bill Primm or Sonia, and I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, in the long run. After all, the only characters who truly matter are the Donovans, and everyone else is expendable. That's how this show has always been, and this season it seems like the show isn't even trying to hide it.
I've overall been quite positive about this season, as it has focused more on the central characters than any other season. In these first five episodes, there have been plenty of insightful character moments sprinkled throughout an unengaging narrative completely lacking in urgency. Two episodes ago a hitman was sent to Ray's house, yet I don't feel any fear for these characters, most of whom I like. The Belikov business is merely a plot device being used to explore these characters in further detail, and I'm fine with this, at least so far.
The spine of this episode is the Ray/Mickey pairing, and it strikes gold, due to solid characterization and terrific yet subtle performances from Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight. Some of their scenes in this episode were firmly in the realm of black comedy (I loved the recurring gag of the "piss jar"), and the rest are filled with memories of the past, a past which has come to define Ray Donovan more so than anything else. Some of their talk of the past was nostalgic and touching, such as Mickey remembering Bunchy and Ray as happy kids. But this memory is also filled with tragedy, given what happens to both boys not long after.
Mickey talking about when his wife got sick mirrors the situation Ray and Abby find themselves in, and is an example of the show drawing further parallels between Ray and Mickey as husbands and father. Ray blames Mickey's terrible parenting for so much in his life, yet he replicated his father's behaviour by ignoring his kids and cheating on Abby. In my review of the second episode of this season I wrote a little about one of this show's themes, that of behaviour passing down through generations, a pattern always repeating itself. This theme appears in these scenes between Ray and Mickey, especially when Mickey mentions Conor, and wonders if he will learn the same lessons from his father as Ray did from his.
This almost justifies the screentime Conor receives in this episode. Him wanting to get a gun after what happened makes sense - and is bound to end badly - but it feels a little bit contrived given that the show has never really put much effort into Conor as a character (all the writers have made clear about Conor is that he's arrogant, spoiled and entitled).
Bunchy's material in this episode doesn't really work that well either. Theresa, it seems, is feeling depressed, and now wants nothing to do with the baby or Bunchy, and so now Bunchy must be a single dad. That's it. It's a tad underwhelming, to say the least, but maybe some good stuff will come out of him trying to raise a baby on his own. Anyway, I think Dash Mihok had the best line reading of the night with this:
"Last night, I wanted to take a pair of scissors and stab you."
"What I do?"
Things are starting to look up for Terry though, as he continues to teach his new protege. Also, the fight club got some business when Hector Campos decided to train there in order to detox. And by the looks of it, we have seen the last of paedophile Ken Cosgrove, as in this episode we learn that Bridget broke up with him after finally realising that he is, in fact, just a paedophile. It's strange that all of this happened off-screen given how much screen time that relationship got last season, but I'm (unsurprisingly) fine with how it was resolved in this episode. It also further showed just how irrelevant any non-Donovan character is, in the grand scheme of things.
Another thing that struck me after this episode was that I have absolutely no idea where the rest of this season is going to go. Mickey's decision at the end of the episode to give himself up for the murders from last season would seem to wrap up the whole Belikov business, but given that we're not even halfway through the season, I somewhat doubt that this is the end of it. Also, given that Bill Primm is played by Ted Levine, we're certain to see more of that character this season. It's just unclear how it will all fit together.
