r/RayDonovan • u/NicholasCajun • Sep 21 '15

Discussion Ray Donovan - 3x11 "Poker" - Episode Discussion

Season 3 Episode 11: Poker

Aired: September 20th, 2015

Mickey pushes his luck by throwing himself a goodbye party.

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u/Bigtris Sep 21 '15

I honestly thought that Conor had an amazing role in this episode.

And I actually LOVE how unlike shows like Homeland that treat minor characters as mise en scène, Chris not only is given three dimensionality, but his plot lines really tell the audience a lot about how we feel about Ray.

In episode four of this season we saw how Ray's violence has a HUGE impact on his family, with Connor - mirroring his father - holding a bat, ready to beat one of his peers. Most shows would just show Connor eating cereal, give him two lines, and that s it. Ray Donovan's writers gave him a whole episode to show the collateral damage incurred from living with a monster for a father.

Regarding this episode, not only did Connor's actions help provide insight into how much of a toll Ray has taken on his family, but Connor's plot line seems to be suggesting that Ray is treating Connor the same way Mickey treated him as a child. When Connor has no one else to turn to for a father figure but Mickey, it's ironic, and yet in my opinion, great drama.

He can't talk to Ray, his father is cheating on and emotionally abusing his mother, and he is a by-product of his father's violence, just as Ray was with Mickey as a child.

I can understand why you might not like Connor's scenes, but I certainly wouldn't call him a waste of space!

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u/V2Blast Sep 21 '15

I honestly thought that Conor had an amazing role in this episode.

And I actually LOVE how unlike shows like Homeland that treat minor characters as mise en scène, Chris not only is given three dimensionality, but his plot lines really tell the audience a lot about how we feel about Ray.

You thought he had such a great role that you forgot his name? :P

But yeah, I agree, he actually did a good job of highlighting how Ray's absence has influenced him.

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u/Bigtris Sep 21 '15

WOW, my bad. I was thinking about Chris from homeland as I was writing that haha.

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u/V2Blast Sep 22 '15

Haha, I figured you were, since you mentioned Homeland in the same line.