It was very good the first couple of seasons but you are right about it becoming repetitive. I also agree that a main character or two needs to be culled from the herd.
I thought it was going to be Javy this year, which I would have been disappointed with since I like him, but would have understood. I kind of hope they move the show
back to Boston and see where they could go with that, or possibly do a flashback season to understand some of the backstory of the family. The Ray Donovan character
remains one of my favorite on TV.

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He's back starting this weekend. Season 5. Really hoping this gets back to its roots but going back to what Rick said, someone
from this family needs to go eventually after all the shady shit this family does.

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They did flash backs in the opener to tell the story of what's going on. That's a good way to keep an audience. Although I would have been in either way.

The wife died. Didn't see that coming. She said she was in the clear in the last season.

It might have been a suicide for Abbey.

Because the flashback scene has the daughter crying outside the bedroom. So it wasn't expected. Then Ray goes in.

So, they finally kill off a family member in this show, and the person is still on the show all the time.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Did we really need to see Terry's ass in this last episode?

It makes me curious. As there filming it, if he asks that question to the director? "Why does my dumb ass have to be naked for a short scene where I'm asking my wife why she's leaving me?"

What's the point of being naked for that scene? He could have been wearing shorts and the scene would have been the same. But, no. We had to see Terry's ass. Makes me think the director is gay and just wanted to see him naked.

This season has gotten off to a bit of a slow start, not all that impressed thus far. It is a little strange that it kind of jumps around in the
timeline and Ray's wife is still in a number of scenes. I thought it was funny that his son has become some kind of tough kid with an
attitude sent to military school. I have never believed that kid was a mini Ray with an anger issue.

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The first 3 episodes have actually been depressing.

But I think we're about to get into the fun stuff. Some scheming by Mickey and we'll probably get some killings soon.

The show is still depressing.

But they threw us a bone in episode 4. Mickey chopped up a body and threw it in the ocean. Then used it against the actor to get his movie made. That was cool.

I think more fun stuff is coming.

Just watched it yesterday. It was alright I guess. Did they ever confirm that it was suicide that killed his wife? I know that is the assumption,
I forgot that she had a bad diagnosis of cancer. I like when Mickey gets involved and acts all over the top tough. Bunchy is such an idiot putting
all that money in the diaper bag. I thought that storyline was dumb but I am sure Ray will get involved and find some of his money.

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They haven't explained her death yet. I'm guessing suicide because she was terminal and didn't want to deal with it. Plus she died in her own bed. So it was unexpected based on Ray's look on his face. Looked like he saw his wife all bloody from a gun shot.

Can somebody explain to me Susan Sarandon and her situation with Ray? I don't quite get it. What does she need Ray to do for her and why?

Yeah I don't really get her role yet. She is the head of a movie studio so I guess that would go along with that young girls storyline but I didn't get where
her story about getting drunk and driving the car came in. I should probably re-watch that scene, it's possible I missed something there.

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I think whoever made that drunk driving incident go away kept a piece of evidence, and now someone is using that evidence to blackmail her somehow, so Ray needs to get hold of whatever that evidence is.

Who was the older guy that came to Ray's front door?

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Kind of a ho hum season thus far. Just kind of strange when they cut back to scenes with Ray's wife. Never found her all that
attractive over the years but we do get to see quite a bit of her with no clothes on this episode and she has a decent body. I
really enjoy Ray's character but if they aren't going to get some better storylines then I wish they would just end the series.
Sarandon has been a throw away character in this series thus far. More scenes with her could be good. Everything just seems
really disjointed. A lot of storylines going on and I don't really care about any of them.

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Halfway through the season and it's still a bit of a head scratcher. I liked this last episode better than many of the earlier ones.
I never thought too much about his wife's acting but she is doing a nice job this year looking like she actually has cancer. With
some of the comments made during this last one, maybe Terry had something to do with her death. Not sure. Again, the son
doesn't come off as being any kind of hard ass with a bad temper. Even the punch he throws Ray looked more fake than it should
have.

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Probably the best episode of the season. Should be interesting from here on out.

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1. Ray's father fucks things up.

2. Ray fixes it.

3. Ray fucks a hot girl.

That's the story line of every season.

The writer of this show must have been in a bad place when he wrote this season.

Because this is a dark and depressing season. Every episode

It is a very dark season but overall I have enjoyed it. Definitely not the worst season they have done. Quite a few things to wrap up
in the final two episodes.

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Pretty good season but much darker than anything they have done in the past. Kind of left the end up in the air. I am
assuming they come back for another season but if they wanted to end it there I suppose they could. I think that if they
do come back that it would be best if Ray leaves LA and goes back to Boston and maybe they flesh out that backstory a
bit more. Not sure if Voight is leaving the show either, a storyline behind bars would be lame but if Ray were to go back
to Boston I am pretty sure Mickey could make his life difficult assuming he still has old friends back there.

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I see the new season has started and I believe Ray has found himself in NYC now. This is a series I have a love/hate relationship with because
they have such a great character in Donovan but they seem to waste him. I hope this season gives us a bit more or else I am ok with the show
just riding off into the sunset. I'll likely catch the first one tonight.

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Caught the first episode last night and it was just ok. A lot of the same type of plot lines. Ray takes a header off a 10 story building into the
East River and gets fished out by a cop ( Domenick Lombardozzi ). He will look familiar to most of you that end up watching. He has been on
a lot of series over the years. Including "Herc" in the Wire, "Dom" on Entourage and Al Capone's brother in Boardwalk Empire just to name the
HBO titles. I won't give much away for any of those planning on tuning in. The two end up buddying up and Ray crashes at his place for some
undetermined amount of time. He gets a call from Susan Sarandon's character and he is given a new job to help a young woman that is running
for mayor ( who no doubt Ray will sleep with ). Pretty formulaic when it comes to this show. They also showed a couple of other scenes to
tie in the old characters in the family, who will no doubt play a part in the season, most notably his father who appears to find a way to escape
jail.

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Hello, anybody out there...?

Well you aren't missing much with this season. Things did pick up a bit in the 2nd episode when Ray kind of snaps out of his funk and appears to be getting
back to his old bad assed self. The storyline with his father is just ridiculous. Voight was very good in this series the first few seasons, but he has become a
caricature of himself. Other than his brother that runs the gym, the other siblings and his kids are pretty much worthless, and with his wife dead this show
is really struggling to find people to help prop up the show. Susan Sarandon is not playing a likeable character at all either.

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Season finale was Sunday. I'll check it out tonight but I seriously hope they pull the plug on this series. It is just a shell of it's former self. I
have hung on for 2 or 3 seasons too many.

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I watched the finale. I don't know why they'd have a season 7. Does Ray move to Miami next?

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I've watched the entire series since day one. I agree with you, GJ, there's no reason to bring this back. This was good at the beginning but it has run its course.

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

Yeah it sure seemed like a series finale to me. Ray will always be a memorable character for me but it is time for Schreiber to do something else.

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