The Ray Donovan movie is finally here, concluding a story seven
seasons in the making. If you need a quick recap of everything that
happened in the seven seasons of Ray Donovan, this video has you covered.
Ray Donovan follows the titular character, who has relocated from South Boston to Los Angeles to work
as a fixer for the rich and famous. In his job as a fixer, Ray arranges payoffs, bribes, threats,
crime-scene cleanups and a whole assortment of other illegal activities to protect his clients.
Working alongside Ray are his boss and father figure, Ezra,
his right-hand man, Avi, and his assistant, Lena.
Ray has a strained relationship with his wife,
Abby, and the two share a daughter, Bridget, and son, Conor.
Also living in LA are Ray’s father and brothers. His father, Mickey,
is an ex-con fresh out of prison for a murder he didn’t commit. His relationship with Ray
is antagonistic, and Ray would love nothing more than to see his father back behind bars.
Upon Mickey’s release from prison, he begins ingratiating himself back into the lives of
the Donovan clan, including Ray’s children, much to his disapproval. Ray’s older brother is Terry,
who owns a boxing ring and suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Ray’s younger brother,
Bunchy, was molested by a priest as a child, leaving him to battle psychological
and addiction issues that result in him being more susceptible to his father Mickey’s charm.
And then there’s Daryll, the illegitimate son of Mickey who’s only now fully entering the
Donovan family and is thus unaware of the complications that entails.
Ray had a bit of a rough childhood growing up. He and his brother, Bunchy,
were molested by their priest, Father O’Connor,
his sister Bridget committed suicide, his mother died from cancer, and his father was constantly
committing crimes and having affairs, leaving Ray to look after his siblings.
Throughout the series, Ray’s relationship with his wife Abby has its ups and downs.
Eventually, Abby is diagnosed with cancer, and unfortunately it’s a terminal diagnosis.
After failing to be placed in an experimental surgery trial that would potentially cure her,
Abby resigns to her fate and has Terry help her secure the pills necessary to take her own life.
While Ray’s son Conor eventually heads off to join the military,
his daughter Bridget is constantly getting caught up in the Donovan family drama. Eventually,
she meets and falls in love with Smitty, who successfully undergoes the same cancer
treatment that would have cured Abby. Upon his recovery, Bridget and Smitty get married.
Mickey Donovan is constantly winning and losing the favor of his children throughout the series
due to his charming and manipulative ways. Ray is constantly trying to orchestrate his father’s
death or arrest, but Mickey has become a master of weaseling his way out of sticky situations,
even if it often puts his children in the crossfire.
Terry Donovan owns and operates a boxing gym and is suffering from Parkinson’s Disease.
He gets roped into helping his father Mickey on a heist that goes wrong,
resulting in Terry’s imprisonment. Ray makes a deal to have Terry released,
and as his Parkinson’s worsens, he briefly moves in with Ray and Abby. Although,
his relationship with Ray becomes a little fraught when he helps Abby commit suicide.
Bunchy Donovan still faces psychological trauma and addiction issues stemming from
his molestation as a child. Due to this, he’s the most easily persuaded by his father’s charm. After
a random encounter with Father O’Connor, Bunchy impulsively shoots him and asks Ray to help him
cover it up. Ray finishes off the priest and helps his brother dispose of the body.
Later, Bunchy falls in love with a Mexican wrestler named Teresa,
who suffers from her own mental health issues. The two get married and have a
daughter named Maria, but eventually Teresa leaves Bunchy and takes Maria with her.
And on the business side of things for Ray, his boss and mentor Ezra dies,
leading to Ray starting his own business with Avi and Lena by his
side. And when Avi later betrays Ray, he’s last seen on the run.
Season 6 of Ray Donovan relocates the titular character to New York as he continues to grieve
the death of Abby and his family slowly relocates across the country to join him.
Bunchy busts the newly incarcerated Mickey out of custody and kidnaps his daughter to
flee to Long Island. But that doesn’t last long, as Teresa shows up to take back Maria.
Daryll is in the city to produce a movie based on Mickey’s life, and Terry starts participating in
underground street fights. And so, it’s not long before Ray Donovan is pulled back into the action.
When Ray gets involved in the world of shady political players and corrupt cops,
Bridget is kidnapped. And nothing brings a broken family together more than a common enemy.
Ray works with Mickey and his brothers to save Bridget and cuts a deal with the corrupt
Mayor Ferrati to end the cycle of violence. But although that deal ensured the safety of most of
the Donovan clan, it did require Mickey Donovan to turn himself in for all of his past crimes.
Season 7 of Ray Donovan finds the titular fixer back at work in New York City. He’s actually
doing pretty decently, all things considered, as his business is thriving, he’s in therapy,
and his relationship with his daughter Bridget is on the mend. But things
quickly get complicated when the bodies of the corrupt cops killed by the Donovans in season 6
are discovered. Now Ray had to scramble to cover for himself and his family.
Luckily, the perfect scapegoat falls into his lap. Mickey Donovan’s prison
transport bus gets into an accident with an oil tank truck which causes a huge explosion,
somehow killing everyone but Mickey. With Mickey presumed dead by the world,
he’s the perfect patsey to take the complete fall for the deaths of the corrupt cops.
Although that doesn’t stop Detective Perry from continuing her own investigation.
Bridget Donovan begins having immediate regrets about getting married to Smitty and
has an affair with her boss. Smitty is dealing with a LOT throughout the season, as he’s not
only dealing with his wife’s infidelity, but also the trauma of being involved in several
murders after officially joining the Donovan family. When Detective Perry questions Smitty
about his involvement with the murders, he rats on the Donovan family to secure Bridget’s safety.
Bunchy Donovan is working at a convenience store when it’s robbed by a group of teenagers.
Bunchy steps in to stop the thieves and even kills one in the process, leading to him feeling a lot
of guilt. After getting fired from his job, Bunchy starts working for his brother, Ray.
Terry Donovan is dealing with his worsening Parkinson’s disease,
and briefly gets sucked into the world of holistic medicine. However, Terry quickly
realizes that it was all a giant scam and eventually starts talking with Ray’s therapist.
And as for Ray, Mayor Ferrati wants him to blackmail the wealthy Sullivan family so he
can secure a pivotal real estate deal. At first, Ray goes along with this plan
and stages incriminating photos to frame Kevin Sullivan. Things get complicated fast when Ray
is visited by Kevin’s sister, Molly. Molly has known Ray since she was a young girl,
and was even babysat by Ray’s deceased sister, Bridget. Molly asks Ray to back
out of the blackmail arrangement and the two enter into a relationship.
The patriarch of the Sullivan family is Jimmy Sullivan, who has a very long history with
Mickey Donovan. They were partners in crime in the 70s, but Jimmy had double-crossed Mickey
and sent him to prison. With news that Jimmy Sullivan had reentered his family’s life,
Mickey goes on a mission with Daryll and his sister-in-law Sandy to uncover the truth of
that ill-advised, decades-old heist. Mickey and his accomplices torture and kill his old
crew until they discover incriminating tapes they can blackmail Jimmy with.
And that’s not the end of the drama with the Sullivan family,
as Jimmy announces his plans to give all of his empire to Kevin and Molly,
spurning his third child, the volatile black sheep Declan Sullivan.
When Mickey blackmails Jimmy for 20% of his empire, which was worth billions,
Daryll finally learns a thing from his no-good father and steals the Sullivan stocks for himself.
But things go wrong for Daryll when Declan Sullivan shows up to try to steal back the stocks.
Daryll escapes, but his girlfriend Jasmine is killed in the crossfire.
A distraught Daryll gives up the stocks and they fall back into the hands of Mickey,
who tries anyway he can to flip those stocks for cash. Smitty reconciles with Bridget and the two
plan to move back to LA together, so Smitty teams up with Mickey to make some money. But when Mickey
tries to trade the stocks to Kevin Sullivan for cash, Declan shows up and opens fire on the deal.
Daryll also shows up at the deal and kills Declan, but not before Smitty is caught in the crossfire.
Everyone flees the scene, including a cashless Mickey, leaving Smitty in the street to bleed out.
And so, there was a LOT for Ray to clean up in the season finale. He teams up with Detective Perry to
take down Mayor Ferrati in exchange for clearing his family name, and although they’re ultimately
unsuccessful, Ray does earn Perry’s trust. Ray also discovers the truth about his sister
Bridget’s suicide. When they were teenagers, Ray worked for Jimmy Sullivan, and Bridget babysat his
daughter Molly. Or so Ray thought. It turns out, Jimmy had a history of raping Bridget and even got
her pregnant. After demanding she get an abortion, Bridget instead killed herself. Upon discovering
this horrific truth in the present, Ray confronts Jimmy Sullivan and shoots him in the head.
And that’s the last we saw of the Donovan clan. Mickey is once again on the run,
and his children have all finally had enough of his manipulative ways. And
Ray just killed the head of the Sullivan family, leaving a billion dollar empire on
uncertain ground. Will Ray and Molly reconcile? And will the Donovan children finally take down
their no-good father? Well, we’ve gotta watch the Ray Donovan movie to find out.