S05.E01: Abby

[paigow]

Ray begins court-ordered anger management after a bar fight; Mickey, Bunchy and Daryll prepare for a wedding; Bridget looks up an acquaintance in New York; Conor adjusts to military school; a new employer comes into Ray's life.

[WaltersHair]

So kill me. I'm glad she's dead. Keep Bridget in New York and Connor in military school. Get Ray back to basics.

Mickey is still here though. Please, let the white dog maul him. Just a little.

[yourmomiseasy]

I thought I'd be more happy about Abby being dead and the kids gone.

[TexasGal]

18 minutes ago, yourmomiseasy said:

I thought I'd be more happy about Abby being dead and the kids gone.

Well, she's dead but she's still not gone.

Was the therapist C Thomas Howell?  He looked familiar but I couldn't place him, then saw the name in the credits.

[CynicalGirl]

Yes, that was him. I also couldn't figure out who the young girl was (Lily Simmons) then it dawned on me when I saw the previews, it's the Amish slut from Banshee!

[DeeciePlum]

Man, Susan Sarandon looked really. well. rested. (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).  Also I'm kind of sad that she's relegated to mixing drinks and talking about her dead husband's hunting conquests while caressing a taxidermied Lion.  Hopefully, her part will expand as the episodes go on.

[Gigi43]

I've wanted Abby gone though I think I  would  rather have Abby alive than if we're  headed into a season of this "mystery " of how it happened and her being canonized since. She grew on me in her story with Terry but I still, have no interest  in watching  Ray only remembering the good times and shit. Ray and Mickey got into a bar brawl? Okay I'm sure it was earned on both sides. Not much shock there. 

 

At this point I'll  be watching  to see wtf is going on with  Avi.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Gigi43

[Yakimaman]

Did I miss something last year?  The season ended with "no one can touch us" and now Abby is dead, how?  Who's the guy Bridget found in NY?  What surgery?  

[preeya]

20 minutes ago, Yakimaman said:

Did I miss something last year?  The season ended with "no one can touch us" and now Abby is dead, how?  Who's the guy Bridget found in NY?  What surgery?  

My take, and it is purely speculation. Abby had a cancer relapse, went to NY (Sloan Kettering) where Bridgit met the guy who was to have surgery, Abby died, Bridget stayed in NY, Con went off to school (military?), and Terry is getting married, while Bridgit is banging the cancer kid in NY. I can also do without the Abby "ghostly appearances."

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Promo:

 

Clips:

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Abby isn't really gone if I have to keep seeing flashbacks of how great Ray thought she was. I also find it difficult to feel very sorry for Ray mourning the loss of his wife when he was fucking random girls left and right the first few seasons. Wasn't it only last season that he finally stopped cheating on her?

[Carolina Girl]

A friend recommended this show to me so I went on a binge watch.  Can the regulars help me in case I missed something?  What was in the red box Terry gave back to Ray saying Abby was right and what was the reference to Nevada.?

Also it may just my binging but all I heard when Abby was onscreen was Carmella Soprano 2.0. 

[paigow]

1 hour ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Abby isn't really gone if I have to keep seeing flashbacks of how great Ray thought she was. I also find it difficult to feel very sorry for Ray mourning the loss of his wife when he was fucking random girls left and right the first few seasons. Wasn't it only last season that he finally stopped cheating on her?

Ray has no infidelity baggage this season...Terry is now unattached and cured...Mickey will get a bunch of hookers for everybody when he sells the script to Spielberg....

[Joimiaroxeu]

Wow, they finally killed off Abby. Poor Ray is really suffering. His perpetual stoicism is not going to work for grief.

Bunchy as a luchador. What could possibly go wrong, did.

So Mickey is writing a roman à clef of sorts? Wait until that becomes a bestseller and some studio wants to option it for a movie. Ray will flip out.

That was a nice version of Madman Across the Water playing at the end.

[scrb]

4 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Abby isn't really gone if I have to keep seeing flashbacks of how great Ray thought she was. I also find it difficult to feel very sorry for Ray mourning the loss of his wife when he was fucking random girls left and right the first few seasons. Wasn't it only last season that he finally stopped cheating on her?

He screwed the Russian chick who also had breast cancer last season.

They did go down memory lane a bit last season, about the love affair when they first met.  Then they were reminiscing about all the old songs and so on.

Seems a lot of it was retconned but you wouldn't imagine he'd have married her in the first place if she was a shrew back in the day.

12 hours ago, Yakimaman said:

Did I miss something last year?  The season ended with "no one can touch us" and now Abby is dead, how?  Who's the guy Bridget found in NY?  What surgery?  

I guess they wanted to show she shouldn't have tempted fate.

That very night, they get into an accident and barely walk away -- kind of cool how when the car was falling in the air, they looked at each other in slow mo, before it crashed.

Though I think the accident was meant to show the girl that Ray will have to deal with this season.

[TexasGal]

13 hours ago, DeeciePlum said:

Man, Susan Sarandon looked really. well. rested. (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).  

She also seems to still be channeling Bette Davis from her role in Bette and Joan.

[roughing it]

What the wha???  Took me a little bit to figure out what was going on at first.  I wonder how much time has passed since last season.

Poor Bunchy, we should just call him Eeyore.  He can't do anything right.

[Loandbehold]

I was so happy to learn Abby was dead. Then, she began appearing on the screen. Over and over. Again. I really don't want to see 8,273 flashbacks of her this season. I also wonder what the call b/w Ray and Bridge was about. Did Ray do something that got the kid kicked off the study? Was it to get Abby on it? I know he said it was meningitis, but maybe that was just a change made to his medical records.

I agree with the poster above that Dog should attack Mickey.

The bar's name is "Abby's." And the entire Donovan clan always hangs out there. I guess there's no better way to honor her memory than the weekly barroom brawl.

[Gigi43]

54 minutes ago, scrb said:

Seems a lot of it was retconned but you wouldn't imagine he'd have married her in the first place if she was a shrew back in the day.

 

I've been under the impression since the first season Abby was just the backup once Ray's girlfriend (Colleen?) was killed by that actor and Mickey. I can't remember if she and the girl were supposedly friends or not. Abby talking about their love last season seemed like retconns because of that to me, and now Ray's feeding into it too. But how long before he sleeps with that actress they showed? I'll say 2 to be generous.

 

Interesting too Paula Malcomson is still in the main credits and Alyssa Diaz (Theresa) is still recurring. I don't think Abby really is going anywhere all season even dead.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Gigi43

[Foghorn Leghorn]

I tuned in late and kept thinking damn I missed the first episode of the season where Abby dies....wtf??  Found it hard to follow and pick up where I left off last season, too much time passed for me I guess.  

[CynicalGirl]

3 hours ago, Gigi43 said:

Interesting too Paula Malcomson is still in the main credits and Alyssa Diaz (Theresa) is still recurring. I don't think Abby really is going anywhere all season even dead.

I noticed that too, that she still got second billing in the opening credits, but since this was the ep which revealed her death, maybe they didn't want to give that away.  (Or was it the closing credits? if so, nevermind) Also, since they just did the reveal, I wasn't surprised there were a lot of flashbacks with her.  I suspect those will continue since they still haven't explained the circumstances of her death. Just hints with Bridget and the kid from the hospital.  I assumed it was cancer, but then when they showed the car accident, I wondered if she died from injuries. But then she was up and walking after that. So who knows. Maybe at some point in the season she'll be downgraded to "special guest appearance by".

Edited August 7, 2017 by CynicalGirl

[Puddy]

I am glad Abby is gone.  She was a pain in my ass.

If they touch Avi or the dog, I will go medieval on their asses.

Keep the two loser kids away while the adults deal with adult shit.

Am I asking too much?

[jrlr]

What was with Bridget telling Ray "I saw the kid," or something like that?   I took it as kind of ominous and made it seem like Bridget was stalking him for some yet-to-be-revealed reason.

[paigow]

Is cancer boy managing the bar? The door is wide open, nobody else seems to be there and now he is taking the day off....

[BigDfromLA]

I think the kid who was with Bridget received some sort of organ transplant from Abby, that is why she was so interested in finding and knowing him, then telling Ray that she found him. It looked like he had a big surgical scar as well.

Something happened with Terry in Nevada...remember he had absolutely nothing to do with the Bill Primm mess, so it can't be that.

I read that it was a year in time between where the story ended in Season 4 to the start of it in Season 5. Apparently, a lot happened and this season will be spent in a lot of flashbacks and filling in the blanks. There are both good and bad aspects to that.

[howiveaddict]

Can someone tell me what happened right before Terry gave Ray the necklace?  Our satellite went out and a good chunk is missing. Didn't see a wreck either.

[scrb]

1 hour ago, BigDfromLA said:

I think the kid who was with Bridget received some sort of organ transplant from Abby, that is why she was so interested in finding and knowing him, then telling Ray that she found him. It looked like he had a big surgical scar as well.

Something happened with Terry in Nevada...remember he had absolutely nothing to do with the Bill Primm mess, so it can't be that.

I read that it was a year in time between where the story ended in Season 4 to the start of it in Season 5. Apparently, a lot happened and this season will be spent in a lot of flashbacks and filling in the blanks. There are both good and bad aspects to that.

Interesting theory.

In the previews for the season, they show the kid and Bridget in a tub so she starts sleeping with the kid who was saved by her mother?

[Johnny K.]

I read in a magazine where the writers decided to let her die between seasons from cancer. I want to know if she wanted to quit the show, or they just wrote her out of the show that way ??

[Gigi43]

My take is like what another  poster said, on the kid with Bridget is perhaps they interfered with his treatment  for Abby and that's why he's  now still waiting.  Though furthermore something has made Avi gone off from the previews. At  the end of season 4 he was beaten but came to the after fight party and was dancing. Avi has done bad shit but I think if they could be going in a direction  where he was involved with doing something that made a teenager with cancer lose their spot in a treatment line for Abbys sake and for Avi even with what he's  done in life the guilt over something like that, selfishly playing God at a kids expense would absolutely be a breaking point for him. 

[Andrew Wiggin]

From the Flashback at the End with Bridget sitting sobbing Outside the Bedroom Door,i think more of Suicide then dying from Cancer.

In the Flashback  Ray looked surprised not knowing that has happend ,if Abby was dying from Cancer she would be in a Hospital or at Home with her Family not alone in her Bedroom.

[BigDfromLA]

A correction from my earlier post after re-watching the episode....

He couldn't have been a organ donor recipient from Abby because he asked Bridget how her mother was doing and had no idea she died. Maybe it is something related to the cancer treatment and crossing paths with her. I also wondered if he was Ray's son, but that's unlikely if Bridget was in the bathtub with him.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

He was already enrolled in some sort of drug/treatment trial and he told Bridget that he got kicked out of the trial because he got sick. I'm assuming that he and Abby were receiving treatment for cancer at the same time or in the same drug trial and that's how Bridget met him. A lot of people who get chemo treatments make friends with the other people who are there because they spend hours at a time in the same room.

But there's no way he received one of Abby's organs because Abby would have to be dead in order to be a donor and he didn't know that Abby had died.

I don't necessarily think that Abby committed suicide. Some people don't want to die in a hospital so they go home. At the end of last season, she told Ray that her cancer was in remission and disappearing from her body so the scene in the car where she mentions it again must have taken place close to the S4 finale. But I don't know how she ended up meeting that kid in New York unless she admitted she still had cancer and agreed to treatment. I guess she could have lied to Ray and said she was going to visit her sister in Boston.

What good is having Bridget in New York if I still have to see her?

[roughing it]

Speaking of "Abby" (show topic), I can't believe how she uses the F word in almost every single sentence.  I've never heard a woman talk like that before, in real life or on the screen.  I mean, certainly swear words on occasion, but not in typical, ordinary conversation.  Maybe I'm naive...???

[CynicalGirl]

Yes, fucking naive!  :)

[Redcookie]

Could someone with cancer be an organ donor?

[scrb]

25 minutes ago, roughing it said:

Speaking of "Abby" (show topic), I can't believe how she uses the F word in almost every single sentence.  I've never heard a woman talk like that before, in real life or on the screen.  I mean, certainly swear words on occasion, but not in typical, ordinary conversation.  Maybe I'm naive...???

Maybe the Irish actress couldn't pull off the Southey accent so they covered it up with the F bombs.

[roughing it]

Ha!  They should name the bar "Fuckin' Abby's" instead of just "Abby's"!!

[grommit2]

Ahh...the real deep secret of this season:  Avi (of Ray Donovan) and Quinn (of Homeland) will team up to form the dynamic duo, eliminating the world of all the bad guys, bringing truth and justice to the universe, and distributing a really good cup of coffee.   
There, I have revealed the ultimate secret. 
 

[preeya]

18 hours ago, Johnny K. said:

I read in a magazine where the writers decided to let her die between seasons from cancer. I want to know if she wanted to quit the show, or they just wrote her out of the show that way ??

Doesn't look like she's written out of anything if she keeps appearing throughout. 

[preeya]

6 hours ago, Redcookie said:

Could someone with cancer be an organ donor?

Some people with cancer may not qualify to be living donors due to their medical conditions. (That is, they may not be able to donate a kidney or part of their liver.) But some may still have organs and body tissues that can be used after they die.   If the cancer has spread through the body, you will not be able to donate any organs. A history of certain kinds of cancer, particularly brain tumors, may allow for organ donation depending on the particular circumstances and how likely it is that a particular recipient may die if the organ is not used

Edited August 8, 2017 by preeya

[CynicalGirl]

ok, someone mentioned it upthread, but I've had this song in my head since Sunday night. Love the EJ original, but this is very nice too. (I haven't watched the other youtubes, so hope this isnt' a duplicate)

 

[preeya]

If anyone is interested here's a link to an interview with "Abby" 

Contains spoilers.

Paula Malcomson On Her Big Episode of Ray Donovan and Why She Wouldn’t Take a Role Like Abby Today

[atlantaloves]

WOW, I am so glad Abby is dead too and happy to see I am not alone. She is a horrible actress. I hate those kid actors as well, they just ruin the show for me. ...and yes, I think that the character Abby killed herself. Gone but never off the screen. Damn it. 

[meowmommy]

I was just glad Steven Bauer is still in the credits.  I thought Lena was giving Avi the one-sentence handwave goodbye.  OTOH, Bridget was supposed to go away to college and stay away.  Why, why, why bring her back and give her a storyline?

Such a flat, uninteresting way to present a death.  I FF'd through all of Abby's scenes as I figured they'd add nothing to the narrative, the plot, or my understanding.  If Ray didn't get in a fight because of her, it would have been something else.

All I heard was "wah wah wah" from SS.  No wonder Ray went to sleep at the end.  This was an episode to nap by.

[Dobian]

So this is going to be the Dead Abby season.  I guess it will be several episodes before they reveal the cause of death.  Cancer, murder, suicide?  The death looked sudden, so that mostly rules out cancer, though it might be revealed that she relapsed and went terminal and was in her last days.  But I'm still guessing it was something else, especially after the red herring with the car crash.  And exactly what was some chick in a bikini doing on a road in the hills late at night?  Susan Sarandon, meh.  And here we have yet another weird rich Beverly Hills family that this show seems to love.  Ray's life is now hell, he comes home to the dad he hates acting out scripts for the dog.  C. Thomas Howell gets the award for the oldest aging Brat Packer.  Bunchy doing Nacho Libre, just no.  Gidget taking her boring narcissism to New York, a lot of wasted show time (Showtime?) ahead.  We're off to a great start this year!

[atlantaloves]

Hey, cheer up, we do have Liev to look at in all his black suited hunkiness, and for me, THAT'S PRETTY DAMN GOOD. 

[grommit2]

A little perspective:  every contemporary drama series needs some whiny, annoying, self-entitled teenagers.  Writers have an automatic "insert" button that pops these characters into the script.  Saves the writer time and effort.  Just consider "The Affair" and Whitney (my all-time favorite whiny teen).  And now we have Bridget...a pretty good (read: annoying) whiny teen.  Clearly, there must be a SAG-AFTRA union contract clause that says something about the requirement to include whiny teens.  And that is probably for the better.  Because it lets parents see how annoying these TV characters can be, thus making the parents sigh in relief that their kids are not so annoying after all.
There...another brilliant nugget.  Geez I am so smart.  Oh yes I am.  HA.

[scrb]

Sopranos viewers hated Meadow and Jr. too.

Maybe that's part of the burden that these anti heroes have to bear, these kids causing problems with their own shit.

Have any teen or preteen characters ever been written to be sympathetic in "prestige TV" shows?

Even if they didn't have attitudes or personalities which annoyed or pissed off viewers, they'd still be generating some drama that parents would have to inevitably deal with.

You hear about these model kids that some people brag about, how they do great in school, are in perfect harmony with the parents and so on.  If they wrote teen characters and their family relationships that way, would it make for interesting TV?

[paigow]

21 hours ago, Dobian said:

So this is going to be the Dead Abby season.  

When Ray sees Bruce Willis or "Dead Denny", then jump the ghost shark....

[Happytobehere]

I too suspect that we will spend just about the entire season with Abby before getting the real scoop.  This worries me because you do something like this in you final season, not when you are planning on the show continuing.