‘Ray Donovan’ Was One Of The Best Bad Guys On TV

Speaking of Ray Donovan, the series and its lead, in the past tense feels somehow wrong, like there should be more story to tell. As a diehard Donofan, the name ascribed to the show’s loyalists, it seems as though this tough guy could potentially keep going. As America’s favorite fixer, Ray came across as an unstoppable force. If you were rich and famous, and could afford him, you or your people had Ray on speed dial and he never missed a call. 

Ray was what my grandfather would call a man’s man: Women adored him and men wanted to be him. You could say there was a sliver of James Bond mixed in. Liev Schreiber was perfectly cast in the titular role created by Ann Biderman. 

Though Ray had a knack for making the worst of problems disappear for others, he remained in his own personal hell. We watched him struggle to come to terms with his troubled childhood and issues with his father, Mickey Donovan, played brilliantly by the one and only Jon Voight…talk about some of the best lines any actor has ever been given.

The series ran for seven seasons from 2013 to 2020 and immediately set viewership records for Showtime. A multitude of Emmy, Writers Guild and Critics’ Choice awards nominations followed. Some shows lag at some point but not this one; it got better with each passing season.

Per the cable giant, it remained one of its top series every year that it aired. If you haven’t binge-watched yet, you just need to set aside 84 hours to catch up; that’s the series’ 82 episodes plus the two-hour movie finale which just premiered Friday, January 14.

Ray Donovan: The Movie followed fan outrage after Showtime abruptly ended the series after its seventh season. The issue was that the show wasn’t over and we needed to know what was going to happen next. The film was co-written by Schreiber and series showrunner David Hollander, who is also the director. Both serve as executive producers alongside Mark Gordon, Bryan Zuriff and Lou Fusaro. 

In a recent interview, Schreiber discussed his feelings about that premature cancellation. “I was upset because I felt like we hadn’t been given a chance to complete our journey. I also felt like it was abrupt. It didn’t make any sense. The numbers didn’t justify it. We were successful and I just didn’t understand it at first and it hurt.”

This was a family drama but as Schreiber points out, it was Ray’s relationship with his father, Mickey, that was at its core. “So much of the energy of the family was driven by their relationship.”

This was one of the storylines that the fans had to get closure on. At the very end of the film finale, Ray is finally able to forgive his father. If you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to stop reading now.

In the very last moments of the film, Ray’s daughter Bridget (Kerris Dorsey) kills Mickey in front of him. She’s doing what she feels she has to do to save the family and in turn, Ray does the same claiming he killed his father. His instinct is to protect her even then because that’s what the Donovans do. It’s all about protecting the family at any cost.

Season seven and the film gave the audience a glimpse into the Ray/Mickey backstory. “Ray had a chance to go back into his childhood and relive those memories and he got a taste of what it was like for his father to raise him,” says Schreiber.

Schreiber points to a pivotal scene that replays throughout of Ray as a child standing at the edge of a pool with a young Mickey coaxing him to jump in. He holds his arms out wide for his son, telling him it’s safe for him to make that leap. Little Ray does and he lands safely in his father’s arms and both erupt into laughter. 

“It shows what it was like for Ray at that moment to be in his father’s arms, how warm and secure that felt for him,” Schreiber explains. “That’s an important memory for Ray and it goes back to what set his life on the course he ended up going on.”

Schreiber adds how much Ray wanted to forgive his father. “He’s not sure he can survive that wound and that memory forces him to face his own trauma and that of his father.”

The fixer finally fixes himself but was it too late? “Bridget has inherited his relentless anger. Of course she gets that from him and she wants to protect the family and she takes it into her own hands. It’s very Shakespearean. It’s like, ‘Wow, Ray, you figured it out but it’s too late for your kid.’ I liked that piece.”

There was a darker subject that was important for Schreiber to delve into. “I explored the idea of inherited trauma and how it’s passed down through generations. This was very meaningful to me having just lost my own father. And because we exploit childhood trauma for our narrative, we owed it to the people who lived through that to have some sort of conclusion.”

He reflects on his relationship with his father and tells me he never lived with him when he was a young child. “Our relationship started later. I first met him when I was 12 and we really hung out for the first time when I was 17. I had baggage about that but I was able to let go of that piece. You don’t know how hard it is to be a parent until you’re a parent. This was a valuable journey for Ray in the arc of that storyline. He wants to finally, once and for all, end the source of his family’s woes.”

The father-daughter relationship took on signifiant relevance later in the series. In a separate interview, Dorsey spoke about growing up on the show and how her character, Bridget, came completely full-circle. When we first met her, she was young and innocent. We watched her grow into a full-fledged Donovan decapitating corpses and now killing her grandfather. This, she confirms, is a rare opportunity for an actor.

“Her evolution is shocking but it also makes sense considering the world in which she was raised,” says Dorsey. Her storylines and character arc are an actors’ dream. As for that wild ending, Dorsey is happy with how it turned out. “I feel satisfied. It’s hard to end a long-running show and to tie it up.”

When asked if she feels it’s really the end of the line for the Donovans, Dorsey isn’t sure. “The whole world is really rich and there’s so much to explore. Though I feel there could be endless seasons and it could still be interesting and new, I’d say that right now we all feel it’s a really good ending, but also who knows? And that’s what’s so exciting about TV right now. Ultimately, though, you don’t want to overstay your welcome.”

As for Schreiber, he jokes when asked the same question. “As far as we know he’s alive at the end but is he still alive when he gets to the hospital?” Though admittedly nervous about his next chapter, Schreiber is mostly filled with gratitude these days.

“Something extraordinary happened when we thought we were canceled,” he reflects. “As I was licking my wounds there was this huge outpouring of support from the fans! It was very powerful and emotional. It was a great feeling, really great. I was very grateful when Showtime came back and asked if we’d consider finishing the story.”

The beauty about TV these days is that if a series is beloved, there is usually ample opportunity to keep it going. For the fixer who always had a plan, a clean, perfectly pressed crisp white shirt and a baseball bat in the trunk of his sleek black sedan, we bid farewell (for now). Ray deserves a break, after all. For Schreiber, saying goodbye is bittersweet. “I love Ray. He shaped my life in so many ways.”