TV Show Review

TV Review: RAY DONOVAN: Season 1, Episode 6: Housewarming

Liev Schreiber Elliott Gould Ray Donovan

Ray Donovan Housewarming Review. Ray Donovan: Season 1, Episode 6: Housewarming continued the upward trend in writing for Showtime‘s freshman TV series. Many of the story-lines that began in the first episodes started bearing fruit in the last episode, The Golem, and in this episode as well.

The most fascinating scenes in Housewarming came towards the end of the episode, the best of which was the result of Ezra Goodman (Elliott Gould)’s brain surgery. I did not see his change in demeanor coming, which was very akin to Dr. Walter Bishop’s when his brain was temporarily restored. Since the moment his character first appeared on Ray Donovan, Ezra was all over the place behaviorally and emotionally. The viewer thought he was always like this: guilt-ridden and slightly unstable.

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It seems that condition was all in his head, literally, and like Dr. Walter Bishop, the old Ezra (new to the viewer) has reemerged.

It was a complete juxtaposition between Ray (Liev Schreiber) and Erza: Ray had always been the stable, clear thinker, the one whose logic cut straight through the ambient noise of any given situation. In this scene, it surprising was Ezra. I hope the trend continues.

The LSD scenes during Housewarming were entertaining. One question though: How much did the producers behind Ray Donovan spend on all that CGI? Whatever they spent, it was certainly more than SyFy spent on the effects for Sharknado.

Terry Donovan (Eddie Marsan) and Frances (Brooke Smith)’s relationship is perplexing but it has grown into one of the most entertaining relationships in the series, even more engaging than Ray Donovan’s to his wife (Paula Malcomson). Terry walks a fine, emotional line between wanting to scream at Frances and his desire to hold her in his arms. My guess is that he is just happy to be with someone again, even if that person is married and has lied to his face from day one.

Housewarming continued Deonte Frasier (Mo McRae)’s asinine behavior and premium TV network’s delectable trend of manufacturing sexually explicit scenes. Unlike many of the sex scenes in the last two seasons of HBO’s True Blood, the sex scene between Deonte and Sunny (Chasty Ballesteros) was purposeful and humorous (instead of pointless and gratuitous).

Ray almost did something by the end of Housewarming, in front of everyone, that he has wanted to do for a long time. He was almost pushed to that point but not quite. It would have been a great dramatic moment but it is far too soon for that. There are too many story-lines tied to this character for this person to be eliminated mid-stream in season 1.

One of the strengths of Ray Donovan is that it manages to surprise the viewer. It did so again with the last scene of Housewarming, the America’s Funniest Home Videos scene. Talk about a heavy-hitter. I can not wait to see what this character is about and what their role will be on the show.

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Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
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