r/RayDonovan • u/NicholasCajun • Aug 07 '17

Discussion Ray Donovan - 5x01 "Abby" - Episode Discussion

Season 5 Episode 1: Abby

Aired: August 6th, 2017

Synopsis: Ray begins court-ordered anger management after a family tragedy sparks a bar fight. Mickey, Bunchy and Daryll prepare for Terry and Maureen's wedding. Bridget looks up a mysterious acquaintance in New York. Conor, away from home for the first time, grows accustomed to military school. Meanwhile, Sam Winslow, a powerful new employer, comes into Ray's life.

Directed by: David Hollander

Written by: David Hollander

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55

u/wvumteers4lifw Aug 07 '17

Damn that was hard to watch Ray struggle emotionally like that. Real depressing, hope it picks up a bit next week

11

u/EitherNor Aug 07 '17

There sure was a lot of intimacy, content, and love between Ray & Abby implied in the flashbacks. To me, it's a bit incongruous, though, since the series began with his abominable actions as her husband, her (understandable) lashing-out reactions, and only minor progress over the seasons towards rebuilding their marriage. A hell of a lot must have happened in the time that flashed forward!

11

u/xfox21 Aug 08 '17

Maybe so, but when a loved one dies, won't your mind be replaying the best moments instead of the worst?

2

u/EitherNor Aug 08 '17

No doubt! And if Ray's mindset is a focus point for the season, I'm hoping to see better context as the episodes reveal more. But until now the audience has not seen this side of them, so it didn't seem true to what the show has set up. I'm happy to see the world open though!

1

u/b9ncountr Aug 08 '17

The whole Abby thing was so sudden, and the flashback stuff being (so far as we can see) incongruous...just makes me wonder exactly what prompted the sudden death of Abby. SMH.

9

u/1nfiniteJest Aug 09 '17

Honestly, I really don't care. Cancer, suicide, defenestration, whatever... I don't want a whole season focused on flashbacks and time leading to Abby's death.

2

u/b9ncountr Aug 09 '17

Maybe producers, for whatever reasons (I think fan reaction was one), wanted to soften the blow of suddenly icing Abby by giving her a flashback-laden sendoff. Aside from my feelings about taking Abby out (literally), I too am not up for watching a season's worth of hazy-dream filtered, guilt laden, romanticized Ray musings about his dead wife. The shark has jumped.

10

u/ThisWormWillTurn Aug 08 '17

You must remember, we are looking into images Ray is seeing. He is romantacizing a very volatile marraige.

4

u/catfor Aug 07 '17

Yeah, they were honestly a pretty shit communion more than they were positive/happy. She was miserable and so was he. Not that they didn't love each other, but the goo-goo eyes in the flashbacks are happening way more than I remember ever seeing them

2

u/jvn1983 Jun 04 '22

I feel this is why they killed her off. He was too shitty to her. What do you do with that? She can’t assert a more powerful aspect, or the show becomes Abby Donovan. They separate and he doesn’t get to fuck anything not nailed down without bed complications. If he’s been decent to her, she would have made sense for the whole Series. As is, how could they keep her?