Ray Donovan – “Volchek” Top Five Moments. Lives Begin to Unravel.

Season 2, Episode 10

Airdate: Sunday, September 14, 2014 at 9:00 pm ET/PT on Showtime

Rating: ★★★★★

“The story we put out is wrong. You gotta get a retraction ready…just hear me out. I got something new. I’m going to bring down the president’s appointee for the head of the FBI—and maybe even solve the Sean Walker murder.” – Kate McPherson

Things are beginning to unravel for more than one character in Ray Donovan’s “Volcheck,” forcing me to wonder, ‘Is everyone on Ray Donovan going nuts this season?’ Abby (Paula Malcomson) is having a hard time dealing with the events surrounding ReKon (Kwame Patterson) and Marvin’s (Octavius J. Johnson) deaths in “Sunny.” Bridget (Kerris Dorsey), on the other hand, the one I assumed would be most affected by their deaths, seems to be doing fine. Ray (Liev Schreiber), however, is more concerned about what Kate (Vinessa Shaw) learned during her prison visit with Mike Renzetti (Frank Renzulli) in “Snowflake.” The one who is most perturbed about Kate’s return to Los Angeles is FBI Bureau Chief Ed Cochran (Hank Azaria), and rightfully so. With his possible appointment as the new national FBI Director, Cochran has an awful lot to cover up during the vetting process for this prestigious post.

Moment No. 5

Lapecka alerts Ray to how dangerous Knight is.

Bob Lepecka (Collin Christopher), Ashley’s (Ambyr Childers) stalker, is back. But his reason for stalking Ashley has more to do with her current lover, Stephen Knight (Eion Bailey), than her. Knight is one crazy mofo. For someone who preaches love and good will, he certainly seems to take a lot of pleasure out of kicking Lapecka when he’s down…literally. Good thing Ray is there to stop Knight, but when Lapecka tells Ray about Knight hurting Ashley, Ray’s whole demeanor changes. Knight would be smart to modify his abusive ways. With his psychopathic personality, I doubt he’ll give a first, let alone second, thought to altering his lifestyle. Something tells me Knight is not long for this world…especially if Ray has anything to say about it.

Moment No. 4

I’m going out on a limb here and say Cookie (Omar J. Dorsey) breaking into the Donovan house while Abby is sleeping, then going upstairs and firing a gunshot, is a dream sequence. It doesn’t really play that way but since Bridget and Conor (Devon Bagby) are still alive, and we never see Cookie leave the house, it’s what makes the most sense to me. What it does is set up how crazy Abby is about the whole ordeal. Crazy enough to ask Jim (Brian Geraghty) to either plant evidence and lock Cookie up, or simply kill him. But Jim’s a cop, remember? Abby certainly doesn’t. The question is whether Jim loves Abby enough to put her mind at ease.

Moment No. 3

Mickey is working on the details for the robbery when Kate pays him a visit.

Mickey (Jon Voight) goes ahead with his plan to rob the medical marijuana store with Shorty (Stephen Duvall) and Cherry (Jeryl Prescott Sales), although he realizes he needs more people if they’re to be successful. After all, Shorty certainly can’t do his job with the amount of coughing he’s doing. I’m sorry to say I don’t think Shorty is long for this world. Somehow, Terry (Eddie Marsan) agrees to join the group. I guess Terry will go to any means necessary to get the money he and Frances (Brooke Smith) need to move to Ireland. But his last words to her, “You know I love you,” sound rather ominous to me. As I see it, there’s only one problem—the damn ankle monitor Mickey’s wearing. We’ve known for a while now that his parole officer Ronald Keith (Wendell Pierce) is corrupt. But I never expected just how corrupt this guy is! To say nothing of what a fool he is. This isn’t going to end well for anyone. As an aside, I am particularly enjoying the way Pierce portrays Keith—it’s the exact opposite of his stern yet loving father character on USA Network’s Suits.

Moment No. 2

Poor Agent Volchek (Kip Pardue). All he wants is to congratulate Cochran on his promotion and put out a feeler about accompanying him to Washington as his right-hand man. I felt so sorry for him when Cochran acts like a giant prick during their conversation, totally misconstruing what Volchek says. Of course, it doesn’t help that Cochran seemingly is grooming Agent Travis (Scott Bailey) to move to Washington with him. I just never expected what Volchek does when he sees Cochran and his wife Donna (Sherilyn Fenn) out to dinner with Travis and his wife (Brooke Newton). Newton is a very pretty blonde so it appears Cochran might have Mrs. Travis in mind to replace Megan Volchek (Andrea Bogart) as his new swinging partner.

Moment No. 1

Does it surprise anyone that Cochran wants Kate dead—especially after he hears her conversation with her boss? Cochran doesn’t care who does it, although he’d prefer Ray handle it. But with Ray’s feelings for Kate, how can he possibly murder her? I had a big laugh out loud moment when Ray one-ups Cochran after he says, “This woman’s going to fuck up everything, Ray.” I loved the expression on Cochran’s face when Ray shows him the sex tape of the Cochrans and the Volcheks. With his career on the line, I’m a bit afraid of what Cochran will do now. Two things surprised me about Ray’s visit to Kate’s motel—him telling her the truth about his father, and what he does to Kate when she surmises Bunchy (Dash Mihok) might not be the only one who suffered abuse by a priest.

By the way, didn’t you enjoy Ray jumping into the ocean buck-naked at the end of the episode? I sure did! In case you’re wondering, the haunting tune playing during this scene is “I Heard” by Young Fathers.

Best Conversation – Cherry and Mick discussing her role in the robbery:

Cherry: “I got this, Mick. I can blow that security guard in two minutes or I can blow him in ten. “

Mickey: “Go as long as you can. Use your wiles.”

Cherry: “I won’t tickle his balls then…no finger up the ass.”

Mickey: “Oh, thank you for that.”

Conclusion

“Volchek” is an excellent episode with the usual stellar storytelling and acting we’ve come to love and expect from Ray Donovan. It also does a terrific job of furthering everyone’s story lines. I know Ray is under a lot of pressure but I don’t like the way he treats Avi (Steven Bauer). I also don’t understand why Mickey thinks Terry or Daryll (Pooch Hall) will give him the money he needs for Keith but Terry comes through anyway. It’s amazing what a man will do for the woman he loves. With only two episodes remaining in season two, I am anxious to find out what happens to Mickey’s gang and the job they’re planning; whether Kate will go forward with her story, thus ruining Cochran’s chance at the job of a lifetime, and putting her own life on the line; and, whether Jim does what he says he’ll do for Abby. What would you like to see in the final two episodes?

What did you think of “Volchek?” Do you agree with my Top Five Moments or did I leave something out? Leave me a comment below or tweet me @SeasideTV. I’d love to discuss the episode with you.

Tune in to Ray Donovan, Sundays at 9 pm ET/PT, only on Showtime.

LIKE Ray Donovan on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RayDonovanOnShowtime.

Follow the series on Twitter @SHO_RayDonovan. And follow cast mates Ray/Liev Schreiber @LievSchreiber, Daryll/Pooch Hall @iam_POOCHHALL, Bunchy/Dash Mihok @dizmihok, Conor/Devon Bagby @DevonBagby, Bridget/Kerris Dorsey @kerrisdorsey, Avi/Steven Bauer @thestevenbauer, Lena/Kate Moennig @katemoennig, and Terry/Eddie Marsan @eddiemarsan.

Stay up-to-date with the series on the official Ray Donovan website: http://www.sho.com/raydonovan.

Biography of the Author(Read Below)..
Latest Posts (view them )..

Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!