Ray Donovan

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Season 3
  • Network: SHOWTIME
  • Series Premiere Date: Jun 30, 2013
Season #: 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Metascore
71

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 8
  3. Negative: 1 out of 8
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Critic Reviews

  1. The Wrap
    Reviewed by: Deborah Day
    Jul 13, 2015
    90
    The brilliance of Showtime’s Ray Donovan expresses itself not only through the impactful intelligence of star Liev Schreiber, but through nuanced moments in its literary-quality storytelling--written and visual.
  2. Boston Herald
    Reviewed by: Mark A. Perigard
    Jul 13, 2015
    83
    Holmes is obviously meant as a temptation for Ray, but the mismatch between her and star Liev Schreiber is not worth dwelling on. Ray Donovan remains a potent mix of pathos and dark comedy.
  3. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Verne Gay
    Jul 8, 2015
    83
    The pace has slowed, the ride less wild, the story refocused on Ray's "fixer" skills.... McShane and Holmes are welcome additions.
  5. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Jason Clark
    Jul 6, 2015
    83
    Uncompromising and funny stuff so far. [10/17 Jul 2015, p.102]
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  6. Yahoo TV
    Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    Jul 10, 2015
    80
    Donovan is managing to walk a fine line between hardboiled entertainment and over-cooked melodrama.... it’s sometimes as good as almost anything else out there.
  7. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    Jul 9, 2015
    80
    Ray Donovan has picked up a couple of new guest stars and in the process picked up its game.

Awards & Rankings

86
#86 Best TV Season of 2015

User Reviews

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User Score
7.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 65 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 53 out of 65
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 65
  3. Negative: 10 out of 65
  1. damman
    Jul 16, 2015
    10
    I love this show the actors are A+ also I love how you feel for each character and the mistakes they make as it was real life. Hopefully theyI love this show the actors are A+ also I love how you feel for each character and the mistakes they make as it was real life. Hopefully they will make season 4. Great start and great show. Great to watch this knowing the NFL is around the corner.… Full Review »
  2. Betsy
    Jul 15, 2015
    10
    Ray is off to a great start. It's refreshing to see some new blood...I mean characters. I'm absolutely hooked on this show. A few months ago IRay is off to a great start. It's refreshing to see some new blood...I mean characters. I'm absolutely hooked on this show. A few months ago I was so bored with formulaic network TV I thought I'd start watching RD on demand...watched all of season 2 in 2 months, had a couple of weeks to spare before season 3 started so I caught up with season 1...couldn't continue without knowing the full story of what happened with the priest and Sully.
    The acting is superb...Eddie Marsan's Terry Donovan is Emmy worthy. I've loved him ever since He played Pancks in Little Dorrit in '08. And Jon Voight as Mickey excels in depicting the ultimate scumbag dad...but without giving anything away, he takes care of his own...be it his own skin or the people he actually cares about. And that's the beauty of the show's characters is that they're all multidimensional. Theyre all flawed...just like real people. Ray Donovan does not insult my intelligence with virtuous do-gooders or evil nemesises (is that the plural?).    … Full Review »
  3. Noiseblock
    Jul 13, 2015
    9
    Great new material so far. Season 3 starts off showing the eponymous protagonist of the show at a new low point, despite being freed of theGreat new material so far. Season 3 starts off showing the eponymous protagonist of the show at a new low point, despite being freed of the precarious situations that occured in Season 2, taking jobs way under his normal niveau and getting wasted at shady bars. Being ridden by guilt for not picking up the phone in the final moments of his father-figure and thus being emotionally devastated surely doesn´t help a lot, too, even though a lucrative and successful job for medial mogul Mr. Finney at least ends the job-concerning misery. But what can be said of the quality of the episode besides the plot?
    I don´t see any indicator for saying Ray Donovan has declined in quality, the opposite seems to be the case. It relishes on the old strenghts with powerful and nuanced performances, artistically confident writing & camera-work, episodic yet focused storytelling and dealing with emotional traumata with appropriate sensitiveness.The season-premiere does all that in perfection. The only point of criticism I see can be directed at the usual over-the-top moments in Ray Donovan (I only say gloryhole), but these moments have always been part of the series and help enhance the grim discrepancy between the shiny world of hollywood and its seedy underbelly. Honestly speeking, blatantly negative reviews of the show seem to cohere with an already pre-set mindset of critics who didn´t like the show´s style and storytelling in the first place. This is a legitmate reason to dislike the show, however, throwing around 1-star-reviews condensed on one page without really pointing out what is bad but rather clinging to one criticised point and basing the whole review around it seems like a really shallow argumentation (looking at you, Chris Cabin). What else is there to say? Not much. Ray Donovan just stays what it has always been and improves on its formula to some extent, if you were fond of its episodic neo-noir-style from the beginning, you´ll love it. If you disliked it from the start, you will dislike it again this time around. Simple as that.
    Now we can only wait for the reviews published in the meantime to be uploaded to Metacritic, but I´m sure the overall consensus will be positive once again.    … Full Review »
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