I so want to love this series, as I did GoT, Weeds, and The Wire. The comparison to The Sopranos is apt, great writing, soundtrack, casting and acting. Completely spoiling the magic however is the character and the actor playing Ray's daughter. She's so absolutely dreadful, I stopped watching probably at season 4. I get that she's supposed to be a sniveling brat, but she makes every scene she's in unwatchable. Going back several times since Covid, Ive tried to binge watch, and just can't get thru without fastforwarding which is exhausting.
Everyone is odious in their own special way, even the good guys like Terry and Bunchie- its what makes it so fun to watch. Balancing the general psychopathic insanity by showing the characters' humanity without going saccharine makes it fine, though it teeters on the brink at times. I have never seen Jon Voight in a better role than Micky .Donovan since Midnight Cowboy. Steven Bauer is fabulous, so nice to see him. I ignored the more ignoble parts of his career in one dreadful 80's-90's straight to Dvd classic after another; he requently wore headbands. So many good roles for character actors and trrific cameo performances from Roseanne Arquette and Elliott Gould to Ian McShane. Before watching Ray, I really wasn't exposed to Lieb Shrieber, and what a marvelous performance he's had carrying the lead. Kudos to everyone on the team for a job well done. Ever story has its arc and if this lasted 7 seasons, I'm sure it's creatively past its use by date, though i might be sad if I ever get past Season 4.
