Ray Donovan recap: Get Even Before Leavin'

The moment is finally here. Ever since coming back into Ray’s life, Mickey Donovan has wanted some sort of approval, or at least a chance to prove he’s not that bad of a guy. He’s been trying to connect with his family again, but his own selfishness and consistently boneheaded criminal activity have prevented him from really doing so. Finally, though, Ray needs Mickey to get the $4 million that was inside Bill Primm’s Golden Horseshoe — and Mickey couldn’t be more excited. (Cue my Jon Voight dance.)

The first part of Mickey and Ray’s plan involves a stakeout. They’re in Primm keeping an eye on the gas station/auto shop where Ed works. For Ray, that means casing the casino and getting information. For Mickey, that means getting donuts and coffee while also being way too attached to a piss jar. It almost has sentimental value for Mickey.

More than anything, Mickey is just excited to be working with his boy. Ray, of course, is less than enthused. Still, when Ed rolls up in his tow truck, the plan is underway. Ray approaches him, saying his van broke down outside of town and he could use a tow. Once he and Ed negotiate a price, they’re on their way to where Mickey is hiding out with the van.

Back in Los Angeles, C-Money is still being possibly the worst teenager of all time. Not only is he still kind of clueless about the realities of his dad’s business, he’s eager to get his hands on a gun. Let’s just be honest here: C-Money is really, really stupid, and he shouldn’t be in possession of a butter knife, never mind a gun.

But when Avi loses a bet to Conor and a Russian guy shows up at the Donovan house to deliver Abby flowers on behalf of Ms. Kovitsky, Avi decides maybe it’s not such a bad idea for C-Money to learn how to shoot. Avi doesn’t give much instruction, though. He shows him where the safety is before telling him to just point and squeeze. I’m sure there’s no way this could go wrong, especially after he gets into Ray’s safe and takes his gun.

Meanwhile, the Fite Club is turning into quite the hot spot. First, Damon shows up late for a training session, but when Terry tries to be strict and send him packing, the kid mentions not being able to come on time because he’d have missed breakfast at the mission. Terry has sympathy for the kid who’s living on the streets, so he tells him to get his gloves on.

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At the same time, two other unexpected people show up at the club. First, Bridget arrives and confides in Terry. She tells him how another young girl approached Craig while they were out, and it became clear to her that Craig had been preying on students for a while. Then, Hector comes to the club looking for Ray, but when he doesn’t find him he decides to stay and sweat out another night of booze and drugs. He ends up sparring with Darryl and ingratiating himself to the rest of the family. For at least a day, the Fite Club is hopping.

NEXT: Roasted Pinky

While most of the Donovans are getting by at the Fite Club, Bunchy is having some problems. Teresa won’t talk to him and he’s in over his head with their new baby, Maria. He packs up and goes to see Teresa, taking Maria with him. He manages to get in the door to talk to her, but signs of her mental health aren’t good. She says she’s imagined killing Bunchy and the baby, and that she never really wanted to be with him anyway. Somehow, after hearing all that, Bunchy still leaves Maria with her. I mean, c’mon Bunch!

Then there’s Abby. She has an appointment with Jeannie to get a second opinion about her breast cancer, but Jeannie only confirms what the first doctor said. The cancer hasn’t metastasized, but she recommends a double mastectomy. Abby is completely opposed to it, so she takes home some pamphlets on alternative treatments, including induced menopause. In case you hadn’t noticed, the Donovans are a stubborn bunch.

Back in Primm, Ray and Mickey kidnap Ed and get him to lead them to Pinky’s trailer, where he’s keeping the $4 million. When they get there, Pinky goes off the rails, dragging the bag of money out of his trailer and pouring gasoline on it, threatening to set it all on fire. Ray seems to have the situation under control — that is, until Mickey shoots at Pinky, causing him to drop the lighter, igniting the gasoline on the ground and lighting up the gas can Pinky’s holding. He bursts into flames and explodes as Ray snags the money. Just another job well done from Mickey Donovan… The dude just leaves a trail of body parts everywhere he goes.

As if that wasn’t big enough of a mess, Mickey decides to call Sylvie, once again ignoring Ray. Of course, at this point Primm and his men have figured out that Sylvie is partnered with Mickey, so they’re monitoring the call. They get his location and, when Ray and Mickey’s van is struck by a falling slot machine, show up with police in tow.

Bill Primm grabs the money from the back of the van, takes pictures of Ray and Mickey, and tells them they’re all going to pretend this never happened. And that’s it: Mickey’s lone “sure” job is a failure and Ray doesn’t have the money to get Belikov out of prison anymore, meaning the Russians and Ms. Kovitsky aren’t about to leave his family alone.

As the episode comes to an end (and with no other options left), Mickey offers to do one selfless thing. He tells Ray to drop him off at the police station so he can take the fall for the murders of the Armenians, which would get Belikov out of prison and take the heat off the Donovan family. Is Mickey really serious about sacrificing himself? We’ll have to wait until next week to find out.