RAY DONOVAN Chooses "The Bag or the Bat"

Article first published as RAY DONOVAN Review on Seat42F.

Grade: 91%

Showtime’s RAY DONOVAN is a series about an L.A. man named Ray Donovan (Liev Schreiber, Taking Woodstock, Salt) who is a fixer, someone who can solve everyone’s problems but his own. That’s a very familiar type on television today, echoed across a number of networks and programs. So why should you tune into such a familiar concept?

Well, for one thing, it’s Liev Schreiber. Like other top leading men, he is a wonderful actor with range and depth. And he is surrounded by other notable performers, who we’ll get to in a minute. So even though the story is pretty pat, it’s still entertaining to watch actors at the top of their game.

Ray, like a Tony Soprano or a Marty Kaan, is surrounded by people that count on him, and think he is the only one that can help them. There’s his brother Terry (Eddie Marsan, Little Dorrit), a boxer with Parkinson’s. And his other brother Bunch (Dash Mihok, Greetings From Home), who was molested by a priest as a kid, and now suffers from substance abuse problems. And Ray’s biracial half-brother, who he has just found out about, Daryll (Pooch Hall, The Game).

Ray also has his more immediate family, his wife, Abby (Paula Malcolmson, Caprica), whom he has promised to stop cheating on, and his children, Bridget (Kerris Dorsey, Brothers & Sisters) and Conor (Devon Bagby). Ray very much cares about them, even when he and Abby fight, and between them and his brothers, he has his hands full as head of the family.

Then, in the first episode, “The Bag or the Bat,” Ray’s father, Mickey (Jon Voight, 24, National Treasure), whom Ray himself sent to jail, gets out five years early on parole. Suddenly, Ray has another alpha dog to contend with, someone who doesn’t mind being a bad influence, and whom Ray’s family is drawn to, either from a need for acceptance, or because they don’t know any better.

This is a mess, to be sure. Ray has already overcome so much, including his sister’s death, which still haunts him, so one will assume that he can beat Mickey, too. After all, he has to if he wants to maintain his position as protector and leader of the clan. But might this be the straw that breaks the camel’s back? Might Mickey be too much for Ray to handle, with Mickey having had a long time to plan his return, and Ray taken by surprise?

It doesn’t help that Ray’s professional life chooses this exact moment to fall apart, too. Ezra (Elliott Gould, Ocean’s Eleven, MASH), the man who brings Ray to the West Coast in the first place, is going senile and wants to come clean about all the shady things they’ve done, and Ray’s colleague Lee (Peter Jacobson, House) can’t handle Ezra alone. Plus, there’s temptation when a young woman who Ray helped out years ago re-enters the picture with designs on Ray.

So to say Ray is at a tipping point, with everything in his life poised on the brink of disaster, is an understatement, if anything. Ray is facing a lot of challenges on many fronts, and doesn’t quite know how to handle them. A man of few words, all of this plays out mainly on his face, and Schreiber does a stellar job conveying the complex emotions and stresses of the role.

Which is why it’s easy to sympathize with Ray when he gets the simple pleasure of beating a stalker with a baseball bad. Given the option “The Bag or the Bat,” the creep initially chooses the bag, but goes back on his deal, causing Ray to return and cause pain. It’s the moment of the first hour where Ray seems the most raw and pure, totally in his element, blowing off some steam.

Ray’s job may be his salvation. He’s clearly very good at it, even if he gets a little too personally involved with certain clients. In the opening sequence, he solves two very messy situations at once with some creative thinking, proving his sharp with matches his brawn, and that he is a natural born decision maker. Perhaps, if he can pour his energy into his career, ignoring anyone who causes him distractions, he can eventually find the strength to deal with everything else.

Or it will all erupt in spectacular fashion, which is what the people want to see, anyway. Ray Donovan is a man in a precarious position. Only by watching further installments will we learn if he will thrive or crack under the pressure. With a cast this good, and a story well written, I’ll be tuning in to see more.

RAY DONOVAN airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on Showtime.

Mad Men Goes Through "The Doorway"

Article first published as Mad Men Goes Through "The Doorway" on TheTVKing.

As we go through "The Doorway" into Mad Men's sixth season on AMC, we can immediately see that a lot has changed. Some of it is surface, such as the hair styles, an excess of marijuana smoking, and the bustling, busy, successful, two-story Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce agency. But some of it goes deeper, as the unhappiness that has long-festered in several of the leads comes to the surface even more now, making "The Doorway" a pretty depressing and dark installment.

Don (Jon Hamm) is our main character. As "The Doorway" opens, after a cut scene of an unknown man having a heart attack, he lounges on the beaches of Hawaii, reading Dante's Inferno. There is a stark contrast between the white sands and blue water and Don's choice of reading material. Plus, Don himself is silent, letting life happen around him, but not really participating in it.

We've seen Don like this before. While, last year, he is an active participant in his marriage with Megan (Jessica Paré) and the firm's work, guiding the ship, prior to that he is shown as a sort of numb robot. The season premiere returns Don to that unhappy state, not connecting with the others around him.

We don't know why Don is this way. Obviously, the advertising agency he helped found is doing well, so there aren't professional woes. And Megan is still in love with him, despite her successful career as a TV star, presumably working on a soap opera, so he's not neglected at home. Could it be that Don only functions well when there is a crisis that he must solve, and once that goes away, he returns to his old self? Could he be spurred to go introspective after witnessing his doorman's heart attack, and didn't like what he found inside himself?

I think there is a clue when Don participates in a wedding ceremony on the beach, one he doesn't tell Megan about, but which we see affects him deeply, even after they return from vacation. Something about that young soldier bothers him. Does he represent lost promise? Remind Don of his somewhat shady past? Who knows?

Don brings this attitude back to the office with him, and it's here where we realize that he may not himself understand how unhappy he is. The Hawaii trip is a working one, and he pitches an ad idea for the hotel he stays in. But his vision is one interpreted by many as invoking suicide. Don sees escape as a pleasant thing, but there's a gray area when considering how big of an escape he might actually want to make. A permanent one, perhaps?

The sign of hope we see for Don is his friendship with his new neighbor, a Jewish doctor (Brian Markinson, The Killing, Caprica). We've never seen Don have a friend like this, an equal who is not connected with him professionally. They seem to understand one another and have mutual respect for the work that they do. This looks to be the makings of a wonderful outlet for Don to be Don, and help him cope with disappointments in other areas of his life.

Unfortunately, as we find out at the end of the hour, Don is sleeping with the good doctor's wife. I can't decide if I feel the betrayal more deeply on behalf of Megan or the doctor. After all, Megan knows the kind of man Don is before marrying him, and Don has a history of cheating when he gets restless, as he is now. The doctor, on the other hand, has no reason to suspect Don's activities, which makes it doubly bad. It also means that their friendship will never last.

All of this points to a very dark ending for Don. With only two seasons left, it is doubtful he will be content to stay where he is. Will he end up running away, taking on a new identity again, as he did when he became Don Draper? Or might he decide it's better not to live at all?

Roger (John Slattery) is just as unhappy as Don. He has never found peace in the arms of a woman for long, and professionally he does have a purpose, but it is not an obvious or constant one. In "The Doorway" we see him hamming it up around the office, but not doing anything of note.

Until he gets the news that his mother has died. Those around him are upset by this, Roger's secretary bawling, and Don getting wasted and puking at the funeral. Roger is more frustrated, as he tells his psychiatrist, that he feels nothing. He is fully numb, unable to work up the sadness he thinks he should feel, and regretful of the way he has lived his life, as his mother's passing forces him to face his own mortality.

Roger isn't actually emotionless, of course. Once he gets over the shock, a near-stranger's death sends the tears flowing. But it's one of those defining moments in life, where one takes stock of oneself, and like Don, Roger doesn't like what he sees. Roger doesn't have anyone close to him to share himself with, or to mourn his passing. Not even his daughter, Margaret (Elizabeth Rice), cares, only wanting his money. This starts to affect him negatively, more so than we've ever seen before.

While many show up for Roger's mother's funeral, including ex-wives Jane (Peyton List) and Mona (Talia Balsam), the latter of whom actually offers sound advice, there is a glaring absence: Joan (Christina Hendricks). They may no longer be lovers, but Joan knows Roger better than anyone, and likely has cared about him more than anyone. Why does she not come to him in his hour of need? Have things deteriorated that much between them? How incredibly sad!

The third character that gets much focus in "The Doorway" is Betty Francis (January Jones). Betty identifies with one of her daughter, Sally's, friends (Kerris Dorsey, Brothers & Sisters), who has lied about getting accepted to Julliard, but still wants to run away to New York City at the ripe age of fifteen. Betty, who lived the poor life as a model in the big city when she was young, tries to talk the child out of it, then goes in search of her when the kid disappears.

This plot may show Betty being a good mother figure to a child who is not her own, but it's also about Betty's past and missteps. She is in a good place now, with a loving husband and a nice house, but she definitely has her rocky times. She has a lousy first marriage, has trouble connecting with her own daughter, Sally (Kiernan Shipka), which is still an issue, and has a hard time finding the right path for her life. Betty wants to not only spare the young teen from making the same mistakes, but also seems to hope it will make up for her own spotty past. And she's willing to go into a truly scary area of town to do it.

Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) has less to do in the season premiere, but we do get to see how she has adjusted to her life away from SCDP and Don's shadow. She is flourishing, her genius shining through, though she is still struggling with managing others, as she doesn't see herself in a position of power, and doesn't have full confidence in herself. She looks and acts like a grown up, and it's pretty clear that, while she does still have a few professional skills to hone, she is well on her way to being a strong, independent woman, the breadwinner for her household, the kind of woman that little girls look up to. It's nice to see someone doing well!

In the office of SCDP, many changes have happened. The layout is totally different, and while "The Doorway" doesn't show us much of the upstairs, it does seem that all the young guys are up there, leaving Don and Roger down in the old section, which makes obvious a distinction. Has the firm somewhat split into two pieces? Are the new guys becoming more relevant than the old, or at least staking their claim as an equally important element? The separation is tangible.

We are also introduced to a new employee (James Wolk, Political Animals), who kisses the butts of the partners enthusiastically, earning him the resentment of Ken (Aaron Staton). Is the newbie earnest, or manipulative? Are his motives pure, or selfish? Should we admire his drive, or does he only have his charm, lacking the talent to back it up? I admit, I am immediately intrigued by him, much more so than the smattering of other fresh faces we see around the building.

Overall, it's hard to say that I truly enjoyed "The Doorway," since it is quite depressing, but I did very much appreciate it. I am interested in the direction the characters are going, and intrigued by the slow and steady departure away from who they were.

Mad Men airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.