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In the penultimate episode of the season, two things you may not have ever expected to happen to Ray happen.
| Network | |
| FX | |
| Director(s) | Nash Edgerton |
| Writer(s) | Scott Ryan |
| Air Date | 11/14/2019 |
Recap
The Suffering Of Bruce: Bruce, Bill, Brittany, Ray
Increasingly, it seems like Bruce is living just for the sake of wanting to see his niece, his dad, and maybe get his dad and brother to get along. A task which may take more than the life he has left, but considering the suffering he is going through, it is doubtful Bruce is sticking around just because he likes living in Ray’s garage.
Retribution: Freddy, Ray, Kevin
With Ray terrorizing Nassir, who is Freddy’s family, he finds himself unable to keep defending and excusing Ray and is forced to fire him. This is an understandable decision from Freddy so Ray doesn’t fight it and just walks away. Thus leaving us to wonder, without Freddy as his agent, what will Ray do for money?
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Well, protection seems to be a bigger issue than money. For while Ray is just minding his business, walking his dog, he is attacked by Kevin and his men, and we see Ray harmed. Yes, for the first time in a long time, Ray is put on the ropes and while he takes out everyone, including Kevin, it is not without suffering injuries. The most notable one being his eye which he may not be blind in, but surely the damage isn’t going to heal quickly.
Cleaning Up All Traces: Ray, Alex, Dave
But, despite Ray being attacked, it seems Alex really wants the job done so he tries to plant the seed with Dave that Ray needs to be killed. That backfires, due to Dave and Ray’s relationship, and Alex nearly ends up dead. However, with the mention of $325,000, he gets to live just a bit longer. At least until the money is found.
Review
Highlights
Being Reminded How Vulnerable Ray Is
There is something that can’t be understated about moments when we’re reminded Ray is not Rambo and he isn’t a unstoppable force. Be it him getting kidnapped in season 1 and the shootout in the woods this episode. Both encounters, amongst a handful of others that have happened, remind you how vulnerable Ray actually is.
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Plus, now with Freddy no longer backing him and possibly smoothing things over, it means there is a good chance of people coming for him from all sides. Especially considering how long Ray’s career has been and it being clear that dying of old age is a rare gift. One that, for someone of Ray’s rank, is highly unlikely.
Bruce’s Suffering
Bruce has already made it clear he doesn’t know how much longer he has. As shown this episode, he can barely control his bowels, walking is of great difficulty, and it seems he is solely living to spend time with Brittany, Ray, and his dad. But how much longer he can live for others while he finds the overall concept of living hard? That’s hard to say and considering the next episode is the finale, and Ray dodged a bullet, him losing Bruce, due to natural causes or suicide, doesn’t seem farfetched.
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First kudos to Nicholas Cassim for his amazingly accurate depictiion of a person with multiple sclerosis. One of the things that sticks with me the most from when I was a kid was seeing an uncle (who bore an uncanny resemblance to Bruce) very slowly be killed by MS he too was a lovely fella. The other part of this episode that really stuck with me was Ray’s accusation to the slimebag wanna save a buck prez, that the guy had really offended him beyond the hope of any way out “because your assassins shot me dog”.
All professional standover men around the world ooze maco, it is an essential part of their schtick, but macho is expressed in a host of different ways by different cultures. A thug from say the US, might stress the fact that they had lost an eye and overcome it despite being outnumbered during the showdown, but for an Australian bloke any mention of an injury he may have sufferred is tantamount to being a wimp.
So rather than point out the bleeding obvious by referring to the eye, Ray ignores that to come across much ‘tougher’ and instead says the reason ‘prez’ (whose name escapes me) must die is because the prez destroyed that most sacred of all relationships, that between a bloke and his dog. Women can come and go ( could bore you with tales of chaps who I know that go out with their dog (which is almost always male) looking for ‘roots’ “A bitch each eh fella – you’re the lucky one cos yours doesn’t talk”). Now Ray doesn’t have quite that misogynistic streak in his other life and as we have seen from the counselling sessionis he is prolly a new macho man who regards someone who insults and treats women too badly as being a wimp at heart.
Just like everywhere else, in hitman world the goalposts are constantly shifting.
Somehow I don’t reckon there will be a season 3 of this excellent show – this is a character driven drama and we are now at the stage where Ray Shoesmith’s character has had nearly every facet exposed. Whatever does happen next week will be terminal in one way or another.