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Suzanne Tenner/SHOWTIME
Denise Crosby as Deb and Paula Malcomson as Abby Donovan in “Ray Donovan.”

There’s tension between Ray and Abby as Ray prepares to take a trip to Boston. Since the family moved to the west coast, Abby hasn’t been allowed to go back to visit her family. She demands to know why he’s going and whom he is seeing. She asks if the trip is about his old girlfriend there, Colleen. The kids aren’t being friendly either, still bothered by what went down at Bunchy’s party.

As they are finishing their breakfast, Marvin busts into the house and expresses his anger about being kept in the dark about his mother’s death. Ray drags him out of the house, slams him onto the hood of the car and removes a gun from the back of his pants. He lets him go and when he’s back inside, he tells Bridget she’s not to see him anymore. He forbids it. Abby bothered by not knowing what her husband does and how he behaves says, “You’re scaring me Ray.”  Ray leaves without revealing anything and heads to the airport, where Avi and he debate if he’ll actually find Sully and if it’s smart to go back at all. Ray enters the airport.

Ricon gives Marvin a cake, declaring the day to be his new birthday.

At the FBI’s office, Van and Frank talk about the case Van is pursuing against Ray and Ezra.  Van says he has new evidence to do with Sean Walker and the murder of a girl shot back in Boston that Ray covered up. Frank agrees to help, but when he asks to see the evidence, Van balks and won’t give any details up. They get into it a little over the validity of the case and Van asks if Ray has something on Frank. Frank later makes clear he saw Van acting very weird earlier. Frank, realizing he won’t be able to necessarily help Ray from the inside, takes another tact, and reviews Van’s drug-induced arrest video.

Mickey’s at a movie screening and being obnoxious, talking out loud and pointing out that he was a consultant on the film decades earlier. After the movie ends, Sean takes the stage for a discussion. He starred in the movie decades early and later made it big. Mickey makes his presence known by standing up during Q&A and telling Sean he has a great idea for a movie: A story about an honest family guy who was framed in Boston for something he didn’t do. Mickey presses Sean hard to partner with him and won’t sit down until Sean agrees. Sean is frantic and briefly flees to stage to collect himself before returning and taking Mickey’s number.

Abby feels badly for Marvin and goes over to offer her condolences. He tells her his mother was an addict and probably bragged so much about the money from Ray that she got herself killed. Abby tells Marvin she’s available to talk if he needs a set of ears, but then reveals her real motive, which is her curiosity about Ray’s involvement.

We see Ray enter a shady bar in Boston and sit down with the guy he paid to ID Mickey. The guy briefly panics thinking Ray wants his $50,000 back, but Ray assures him he just wants a meeting with Sully. There are some other shady characters there, one of whom says, “Hey Ray, remember me?” Ray says, “No,” and leaves the bar.

Over at the gym, Mickey walks in while the guys are all watching a fight on TV. Bunchy is trying to sleep, but Mickey hassles him and drags him out of bed. He gets a call from Sean, who is sending a car for Mickey. He wants to talk about the movie. Mickey is all pumped up.

In Boston, Ray talks to Bridget on the phone about how he did his best to help Marvin. She’s unconvinced. He gets another call, summoning him to a bar to meet Sully. He shows up to find it’s a set-up and the guys he ran into early beat him up pretty badly. He returns to the hotel and is met by a visit from an old pal named Gary. “Surprised to get your call, Ray. I didn’t think you came back to Boston.” The two talk a bit about old times and Ray presses his friend to see if he knew anything about his dead sister’s relationship with Mickey and what kind of dad he was. Gary dated her before she died. “It was 25 years ago,” Gary says, seeming not to know. “We were all high all the time.” Ray lets down his guard for the first time in front of anybody but Ezra, just a little bit and says, “I’m so tired Gary,” then he quickly seals himself back up. He pulls out a wad of cash and tells Gary to take his sons to Fenway, because Ray will never get to take his own boy there.

The next day, Ray goes to the beauty salon where Sully’s mom gets her hair done. He lifts her dryer up off her head and says he wants to see Sully. She tells him off, but another woman, who we recognize from the previous week having sat with Sully watching TV, overhears. Ray goes to visit his sister’s snowy gravesite later. The woman from the salon approaches Ray. She tells him to follow her.

Back in California, Bridget defies her dad and heads over to Marvin’s house. They spend the day laying down tracks of music and having fun. Abby and Deb, meanwhile, have lunch and Abby presses Deb about what exactly Ray does and what goes on at the apartment. She looks at new floor plans, hoping to get out of Calabasas and they talk about how irritating their husbands are. They get drunk at lunch and go shopping for really expensive stuff on Rodeo Drive. Deb spends $5,000 and Abby, contemplating a hot pair of boots, decides she wants to shoplift them. She tells Deb to run for it and they do. A security guard chases them and they’re so drunk they fall down on the sidewalk while being chase, collapsing with laughter.

Ray walks into the chapel at the cemetery, and Sully is there. They catch up a little and we learn Mickey killed Ray’s girlfriend, Colleen. His feelings for Mickey are clear. “Heard you got your own family now. Thanks to your prick father, I don’t have no family. He ratted them all out. Brother died in prison, other brother got aids.” Ray apologizes and says, “That’s what Mickey does.” Ray sits down on the stairs beside Sully, clearly in pain from the earlier beating. He says, “I want you to kill my father.” Sully laughs. “I thought my family was screwed up.” He explains it will be impossible because he’s the FBI’s number one most wanted and that he hasn’t even been to a dentist in 20 years.

Ray tells Sully, if he comes to California to do the job, he’ll get him wherever he wants to go next. “Where I want to go is not going to be cheap,” Sully says. Ray is not bothered by the cost. “Why don’t you do it yourself?”

“I would if I could.”

“Why me Raymond?”

“I want the last person he sees to hate him as much as I do.”

Meanwhile, Mickey and Sean agree to work together on a movie. Ray calls Sean, having been tipped off that they met. He tells Sean, “You’re digging your own grave.”

Bridget and Marvin end up in his bedroom. She tells him she loves him and things start to heat up. But Bridget has second thoughts and apologizes. Marvin doesn’t like her hesitation and gets violent with her. She gets away and runs home.

Ray makes it back to California and bails Abby out of jail. She’s wearing the boots. He says, “So including the fine, those are going to cost me $6,000.” She nods and they both burst into laughter. He asks if she’s still drunk and when they get home they start to fool around, but then they realize something is wrong with Bridget. Abby figures out that Marvin attacked her daughter and tells Ray who flies out of the house.

We see a shot of Sully brushing his mother’s hair, telling her he’s leaving.

Then we see Ray bust into Marvin’s home, drag him out and throw him in his car. Bridget is watching out the window and says she’s worried her dad will kill Marvin. Abby, clearly no longer bothered or curious about the details of Ray’s thugginess, tells her daughter to step away from the window, obviously comfortable with whatever payback Marvin will receive for messing with her daughter. In the car, Marvin is pleading for his life with Ray. “I didn’t mean to hurt her. I swear. Today’s my birthday,” he says. “Please. It’s my new birthday.”

What do you think Ray will do to Marvin considering how much money the kid has the potential to bring in for Lee? Leave you comments. Follow Stephanie Krikorian on Twitter @StephieKrik