Ray Donovan: All Must Be Loved (Review)

Last week on Ray Donovan Abby asked what he was doing with “these people.” This week, in All Must Be Loved Paige answers that question “Because you’re addicted to the fight,” she tells Donovan and she is partially right, it is not necessarily the fight but the challenge, the game, that draws Ray in.

Although it could be said that the entire Donovan clan is addicted to the fight. Punches and lead pipes are thrown in this episode. It is easy to see where the “boys” get their aggression from. Mickey takes after the Armenian’s who grab Daryll’s caddy in lieu of the $30K that the two men owe Mrs. Minassian who now owns 50 percent of their new business.

While this week’s title may be “all must be loved” there is quite a bit of violence throughout. Bunchy punches Terry in the mouth after saying he cannot marry his luchadora, Mickey, Bunchy and Daryll beat the Armenians down, but not until Mickey gets bloodied up pretty good and Ray beats Father Romero to the ground.

Before the end credits roll Ray finally looks to be hooked by Paige, Bunchy’s new fiancee sticks up for her man, Terry turns down the offer to move in with Abby and Ray, Mickey stands up to Mrs. Minassian and her brother Davros and Ray learns what Bunchy told Father Romero. The priest then reveals to Ray what he really wants. All the Donovan brothers are excommunicated from the Church and Bridget begins her campaign to catch her widowed teacher.

Romero, it turns out, wants to forgive Ray for killing the priest who abused him and his brother. Ray almost goes for it and then stops. Enraged he beats the priest who then excommunicates Ray and his “accomplices.” Terry stops Ray from doing more damage to Romero but he is upset as he thinks the priest kicked him out of the Church as well.

Bunchy tells Ray and Terry about Teresa and Terry tells his brother that he cannot marry “that Mexican.” This earns him a punch in the mouth and Ray tells Bunchy that he cannot do that. Teresa comes in later and tells the two Donovan brothers to stop treating Brendan like a kid. She also tells them that they had better get used her being around.

Paige serves divorce papers to her husband Varick and when Ray asks if this will cause problems she replies, “All kinds.” Donovan has not given up on the NFL deal. He tells Paige to collect $200K which he takes to the Wild Life Commissioner. He sets Lena up to work on the next obstacle, Napier, when Romero calls him. Ray immediately asks Lena to find out who the priest is.

The largest part of this episode was devoted to the Father Romero reveal. It did seem like the priest was going to blackmail the family but the truth was much more bizarre. Romero runs a halfway house for pedophile priests and he too was abused by a priest. He wants Ray to confess so that God can forgive him his sin. While Romero seems sincere, he threatens Ray with excommunication if he does not confess.

Romero follows Donovan out of the church and then tells him he knows how much the priest hurt Ray and how much Donovan loved him (the priest). Ray loses it. He knocks Romero to the ground shouting “I’ll f**king kill you! F**k you! I’ll kill all of you and every one of these f**king freaks you got hiding in here.” Terry grabs Ray and pulls him off of Romero who begins speaking in Latin and follows through with the excommunication threat.

Obviously the Romero issue is not over and one feels that he will continue to be a problem for Ray. Daryll is concerned that since they faced up to Davros that repercussions will be forthcoming. There is an air of expectancy from more than one Donovan by the time episode ends.

The Paige and Ray issue is not over either. He may have turned down Paige before when Abby returned but as Andrew Finney’s daughter has proven she does not stop until she has won. She rings Ray and tells him meet her at the house. Paige tells Ray she has figured out how to handle Napier.

Abby rings Ray as he drives to Paige’s. He tell her about Terry not wanting to live with them and when she asks where he is, Ray tells Abby he has work. “Okay Ray,” Abby says. At the house Paige reveals that she lied about Napier and it is here that she says what makes Ray tick. Ray tells her he has to go. “No you don’t,” Paige whispers and goes up the stairs to the bedroom expecting him to follow.

The dysfunctional Donovan family continues to lurch along from one crisis to the next. Ray is addicted to the fight, to a degree, but he responds aggressively to every challenge not just the fight, as Paige believes. To Ray, like the title of the episode says, all must be loved. Bunchy, Terry, Abby, Bridget and Conor, Ray loves each one and he may even have a little love for Mickey. This love means he has to rise to each familial challenge as well his personal and professional ones.

What remains to be seen is whether Ray will follow Paige up those stairs; all for the love of that NFL deal and his three percent or whether Abby will win this one. Kudos to Katie Holmes, Liev Schreiber, Dash Mihok, Eddie Marsan and Paula Malcomson for raising the bar. Kerris Dorsey knocked it out of the park tonight as Bridget, this performer has made her character a major player with her “To Sir with Love” story line.

Ray Donovan airs Sundays on Showtime. Do not miss this quality drama television show that has a powerhouse cast and entertains thoroughly.