Ray Donovan: Season Three

This Showtime-aired series starring Liev Schreiber as a professional "fixer" in Los Angeles who covers up the scandals of the rich and famous presents an interesting collision of cultures. The son of a conniving small-time Boston crook (Jon Voight), Ray has lost his accent and suppressed his family's hot-headed nature beneath an unemotional front of cold reason and cool calculation. But the rest of the extended family still hangs on to their Boston-Irish identity, making Ray something of an outsider in his own home. As the third season begins, Ray has moved out of the house to live in a downtown apartment, and his brother Terry (Eddie Marsan) is in prison, a victim of their father's latest ill-conceived criminal scheme. To spring Terry (who suffers from Parkinson's), Ray makes a deal with a shady Los Angeles mogul (Ian McShane) and lands in the middle of a struggle over the family business with the latter's ambitious daughter (Katie Holmes). Meanwhile, Ray's father puts the whole family in the crosshairs of the Armenian mob. The heart of the show is built on family conflict and Ray's guilt, anger, and self-imposed emotional isolation—and Schreiber carries the drama with a strong, understated portrayal. Compiling all 12 episodes from the 2015 third season, this dark drama is recommended. (S. Axmaker)