The show has always
lived on the edge. Ann Biderman created a fascinating anti-hero, a sociopath
with a conscience. (Yes, I know that’s an oxymoron. Watch the show and see if
you don’t agree with me.) Ray had a knack for creative solutions, often using
one problem to solve another and getting what each client wants, though maybe not
in the manner expected. Or hoped for. Too bad. What a lot of powerful people
forget about someone like Ray is that once you ask him to get you out of
trouble, he has something on you. Ray has a code, so your secret is safe.
Unless you fuck with him.
The show rides on the backs of the Donovan boys: Ray (Liev Schreiber, who has become
Seasons One and Two
worked because there was a line to how crazy things got. Ray always found a
clever way out before things overwhelmed him altogether, and the solution never
strained one’s suspension of disbelief.
Then Biderman left
the show. I can’t find anything that said she was forced out—though she did
appear to run over budget based on one account—and I did get the impression
from interviews she prefers getting a project off the ground to keeping it
running. For whatever reason, she left. And took her vision with her.
I’m big on vision
in creative projects. As an old boss used to say, “If you don’t know where
you’re going, any road will get you there.” Biderman knew where she was going,
and she knew how to get there. She had a gift for creative, multi-tiered
solutions to Ray’s problems. Combining that with the interplay between the
Donovan men made the first two seasons fascinating television I’ll definitely
watch again.
Biderman’s
replacement—I could look up his name, but don’t feel like it—lacks her gift for
the clever solution, and doesn’t appear to understand how best to leverage the
Donovan family dynamic. His solution is to keep creating more outrageous
situations with solutions that require brute force more than wit. The best
thing about Season Four was promoting Mickey’s son by a different mother,
Daryll (Pooch Hall) into a more interesting part. Terry doesn’t do much more
than run the gym, and Bunchy’s story has become a soap opera. Abby got breast
cancer early in the season and made a miraculous recovery; Bunchy’s wife Teresa
(Alyssa Diaz) comes down with post-partum depression and snaps out of it just
in time to resolve a crisis. So, meh.
The worst failing
in Season Four is Ray. He recovers from the wounds at the end of Season Four
and takes six months to stop drinking and looking to live a better life. First
problem he finds, and boom!! He’s
worse than ever. He’s always asked Avi and Lena for extraordinary devotion, but
they knew, no matter how much he broke their balls, he had their backs, and
they owed him. In Season Four he’s become a prick with them, too, hanging them
out to dry until Avi find himself in a situation—thanks to Ray—he can’t get out
of. Ray comes through, but things have reached a point where one has to wonder
what it is he did for Avi and Lena to inspire this level of devotion.
With all this in
mind, will I watch Season Five when it’s ready? Damn right. Schreiber as Ray
2 comments:
I love the actors but the story lines have not been strong the last two seasons. I will probably give it a try again, but I am not sticking it out if they don't move on from the same issues. A circular narrative is my least favorite. And I am truly sick of his relationship with his wife. All of their relationships with women are troublesome.
I'm with you there. Sometimes I think the only purpose of Abby and the kids is to break Ray's balls at the worst possible moment.
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