‘Ray Donovan’ fixes for a new client and fixates on his new nemesis

Season 2 | Episode 6 | “Viagra” | Aired Aug 17, 2014

Related

‘Ray Donovan’ learns the enemy of my enemy is my friend

‘Ray Donovan’ deals with a big Tiny problem

‘Ray Donovan’ makes Stu-ing up trouble work for his benefit

One night in a sleepy L.A. suburb, two couples enjoy a lovely dinner party together. There is food to be savored, wine to be drunk and Scrabble to be played. A typical upper-middle-class suburban scene.

This is not that scene—at least, it’s not all that is happening at the Volcheck house.

ASAC Volcheck, shirtless, sits on his living room man-chair and watches his boss, Cochran, have sex with Mrs. Volcheck on the couch. Holly, Cochran’s wife, clad in a JCPenney pink lingerie set caresses and kisses his cheek. With no response from Volcheck, she joins Cochran and Mrs. Volcheck on the couch. Volcheck, unmoved, keeps watching.

The next morning, in a less dysfunctional Calabasas home, the Donovans get ready for the day. It’s Friday, which means tomorrow is Conor’s birthday. Not like anyone remembers—Conor fits in his Sixteen Candles moment early. He’s set to turn 14.

Abbie is more preoccupied with texting and meeting up with Jim the cop as well as confronting Bridget on the diamond earring. Conor who? Conor follows in the TV tradition of forgotten sons with more interesting sisters including Homeland’s Chris Brody, Friends’ Ben Geller and of course, Mad Men’s Bobby Draper.

Since no one cares about Conor, all attention goes to Bridget as she counterattacks after her mother’s confrontation. She calls Abbie a victim, who she can hear cry herself to sleep every night. She also tells her about the cops planting marijuana on her as a retaliation against Ray. This sparks an argument between Ray and Abbie as Bridget and Conor storm out of the house. Abbie is right behind them out the door.

In a transformative deep-cover role, Lena pretends to be a flirty lady at Volcheck’s gym pool. Volcheck and Pool Lena already seem to know each other—something which is frustratingly not explained in the Behind the Fix webisode. They rendezvous to the sauna and make out. Pool Lena cuts it short, telling him to wait for her in the sauna. Pool Lena doesn’t return, but Resolute Ray appears in her stead.

With little more than a nudge, Tommy Volcheck spills on his arrangement with Cochran: When Cochran calls, they go. After being promoted to ASAC, Cochran owns him. Despite his fear in betraying his master boss, Volcheck ultimately agrees to help Ray take down Cochran.

Avi questions Ray on why he is still going after Cochran after they settled everything with Tenacious Female Reporter. Ray grunts something about revenge for the slaughter of Tiny and needing insurance, but this grudge is personal. Cochran had Ray cornered and as long as he’s still around, he’s a threat. Avi backs off and leaves to wire Volcheck’s house as instructed.

Harriet the “creative” accountant definitively tells Ray he can’t afford the Trousdale house, at least, not on paper. Because Ray’s life is the embodiment of “when it rains, it pours,” former teen star Ashley pops in again, asking Ray for his help for her friend. This may be the answer to his Trousdale problem.

Ashley’s friend turns out to be motivational speaker and author, Steve Knight (Eion Balley), proving once again that all famous people in Hollywood know each other. Not only his he a motivational speaker and Ashley’s new, uh, “paramour,” he’s a shrewd people-reader and epic sociopath. He has the mannerisms and air of a cult leader. His problem to be fixed? He beat up a delivery man and tied him up in his closet when his peak-state ritual was so rudely interrupted. Oh, First World problems…

Ray frees Manuel (Omar Leyva) the delivery man and negotiates the terms of his silence: $350,000 and the promise to stay in Guatemala with the rest of his family seals the deal. Ray seals the deal, too, booking a new client out of Steve Knight, outside of the purview of Goldman and Drexler, a.k.a. Ezra Tikkum Olam. It may be the pragmatic choice, but Steve’s very essence gets under Ray’s skin. I’m sure that won’t end up being a problem.

After fixing Steve Knight’s issue, Ray troubleshoots Volcheck. He wants to back out since Cochran rejected the idea of another meet-up. It turns out his wife, now inexplicably referred to as Donna rather than Holly, doesn’t feel like Volcheck wants her. Despite that being true, Ray convinces Volcheck to assure Donna/Holly that he wants to swing with her. This situation is awkward already without the confusion over Donna/Holly’s name. It’s a mystery!

Abbie and Jim hang out together in a bar, shooting darts. “Am I really that distracting?” Jim asks after Abbie blames him for missing the bull’s eye. With those dreamy/serial killer-y eyes, yes, you are. They make out in the bar like a hot, immature couple in the throes of young love.

When Abbie doesn’t show up to his impromptu dinner date, Ray returns to the office to watch the Volcheck surveillance video. It’s, uh, colorful footage. Harriet calls to tell him about Terry’s idea to sell the gym. Great, more family struggles for him to “fix.” Just then, there’s a knock on the door. It’s Ashley in a trench coat. You know what that means. I’m obviously no authority on the subject, but I don’t get the appeal of Ashley at all. Jim on the other hand…

Favorite Donovan brothers Terry and Bunchy have their fair share of romantic entanglements, too. In a doctor’s check-up on his Parkinson’s, Terry sees Francis. He convinces her to meet with him to explain what happened to the priest. In a change of heart since the last we saw her, she shows up at the Fite Club. They eventually talk after some much-needed “reconnecting.” He explains that both of his brothers, Ray and Bunchy, were raped by the priest they killed. She gets it, but she’s a fundamentally more moral person than the Donovans. But Terry is not letting Francis go, not again. He sets into motion his plans to move to Ireland and even formally proposes to her!

Bunchy and Patty’s romance starts to bloom as she invites him over for a dinner, just the two of them. With the help of the titular little blue pill, Bunchy is ready to break his sexual anorexia. Clifford’s sudden return home marks what is supposed to be a comedic moment, but plays out much more horrifyingly given Bunchy’s childhood trauma. It could have gone very dark, very quickly.

Back at the Donovan residence, Conor and Bridget ring in his birthday while watching TV. Happy sweet 14, C-money.

Stray Bullets

• Favorite line of the night goes to Bunchy’s take on the Irish Potato Famine: “Isn’t Ireland on an island? I don’t understand why they couldn’t just have gone fishin’.”
• Favorite edit of the night: After Steve Knight asks Ray, “Do you know what else I do?” the camera cuts to Ashley. Ha.
• I liked Steve Knight’s storyline better when he was played on Jonny Lee Miller on Dexter. Take it!
• If I’m being radically honest, I think I miss Tenacious Female Reporter especially over Creepy Motivational Speaker.
• Cherry the prostitute is little more than a walking stereotype used to characterize Shorty and the apartment complex, but at least she is cordial. Oh, I get it—cherry cordial. Ha.
• Shorty and Mickey are right. Screenwriting is hard. One look at my dystopian-virus-action-romance script will tell you that.
• Number of f-bombs dropped: 27.

Ray Donovan, rated TV-MA, airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on Showtime.

Share and Enjoy

Ex-employees detail sex for pay, police find cache of high-end lingerie as …

Madison police have completed their secret investigation into the Rising Sun, uncovering evidence of tax fraud and running a house of prostitution against the Downtown bathhouse’s owner, Charles Prindiville, according to recently unsealed court records.

The case now resides with the Dane County district attorney for possible charges.

Police claim that Prindiville and his now ex-wife, Catherine, under-reported income from the business, which operates almost entirely on cash and, police allege, is a front for prostitution. Prindiville couldn’t be reached for comment but in a past interview with the State Journal denied the prostitution allegations, saying his female staffers offer customers back rubs — and nothing more.

Search warrants unsealed last month include names of dozens of employees at the business in 2009 and 2010, taken from business records and tax returns, and interviews with some of them about the nature of their jobs.

One former employee told police she was fired after two days for refusing to provide clients “full service” and said a client complained to management after she refused to get into a hot tub naked with him.

Another ex-employee told police she worked at the business for eight years starting when she was 18. She was picked by Charles Prindiville to serve an older client who has been Prindiville’s accountant since 2003. The woman told police the accountant regularly paid her $300 for sexual intercourse over a two-year period and that she was made to accompany him on social outings away from the business.

“It felt like I had to do this,” she told police, noting that she felt pressure from both Charles Prindiville and his son Mario, who manages the business.

Police: Taxes don’t add up

Rising Sun, under its previous corporate name of Butterfly Tub Sauna, reported net losses on its 2007, 2008 and 2009 federal tax returns obtained by police. The reported losses ranged from $12,873 in 2009 to $32,784 in 2008.

The losses were countered by evidence of significant cash and assets uncovered in police raids. When the business was first raided in October 2010, police found $7,000 in cash and money orders on Charles Prindiville. A search that day of the Middleton home he shared with his then-wife found $10,000 more in cash and coins plus a surprising haul of clothing and accessories.

Police found an estimated $28,000 worth of new and gently used women’s wear, including more than 400 pairs of jeans, 378 pairs of underwear, 138 pairs of shoes, 92 purses, 68 pairs of socks, 63 bras, hundreds of shirts and several bottles of perfume. Many were new in boxes with price tags still attached, including brands such as Victoria’s Secret, Juicy Couture, Miss Me, Coach and Gucci.

“(I) noticed the discrepancy between the large amount of clothing items that Catherine Prindiville owns and the three years of net loss that the business in which Catherine Prindiville was listed as the sole owner shows,” wrote Det. Maya Krajcinovic, the lead investigator.

Krajcinovic also pointed to evidence that the Prindivilles made nearly $21,000 in deposits to a bank account over a 20-day period in September 2010 and paid cash for living expenses including utilities, health insurance premiums and post office money orders.

“Any cash derived from a business operation that is skimmed off and not reported as income to that business and further used for personal purposes would constitute taxable income,” she wrote. “Failure to report that income as taxable income on a personal income tax return could result in criminal charges for tax evasion.”

Butterfly Tub Sauna was incorporated with the state in 1999, with Catherine Prindiville as its registered agent, according to state records. The company was administratively dissolved by the state due to delinquency in December 2008, then restored in January 2009, according to state records. It again was dissolved in September 2011.

Catherine Prindiville, in previous interviews with police and the State Journal, has denied direct involvement with the business despite being its registered agent. She and Charles Prindiville were divorced last October, according to court records.

The company was re-registered with the state as MJCP, Inc. in August 2011, with Mario Prindiville, Charles’ son, listed as the registered agent. The new address for the corporation is the Far East Side home office of Christina Mandeville, Prindiville’s former accountant. The new company was administratively dissolved due to delinquency in July.

Last bathhouse Downtown

The testimony in the recently unsealed search warrants builds on previously released search warrant returns. The investigation has been going for nearly four years, with four special agents with the state Department of Revenue periodically assisting police.

It began with the twin raids of the business at 117 W. Main St. and the Prindivilles’ home in 2010.

In the years that followed, the business has remained open and others have brought new allegations of prostitution there.

Police have obtained many more search warrants that led to the collection of rooms full of documents, computers, cars and other evidence from a variety of places: the offices of two accountants who have helped Prindiville file his yearly returns, a storage locker rented by Catherine Prindiville, a company that hosted the Rising Sun website and others.

While dozens of employees of the business are named in the warrants, few of its customers have been named.

Dane County judges agreed to seal most records in the case throughout the investigation. Police have consistently declined to comment on the investigation. The prosecutor in charge of the case, Paul Barnett, also declined comment when reached Tuesday.

Mayor Paul Soglin said he was aware of the investigation but hadn’t heard it had been finished by police. When asked how the business has been allowed to operate for so long — it’s the only remaining bathhouse Downtown, a throwback to a time in the 1970s and 1980s when such establishments were numerous — he noted enforcement challenges.

“We can only close down an operation if it’s doing something illegal,” he said. “Just as we’ve found with (unlicensed taxicab companies) Uber and Lyft, sometimes detecting illegal activity by a business is not all that easy,” since proving the crimes requires catching people in the act.

Despite its conspicuous location on West Main Street just blocks from the courthouse, the police station, the state Capitol and City Hall, Rising Sun goes mostly unnoticed by its neighbors and draws very few complaints, said Ald. Mike Verveer, 4th District, who represents the area.

In part, Verveer said, that’s because it sits on the second floor on a block full of bars, which typically attract bigger crowds and more urgent problems, including fights, noise and public drunkenness.

A State Journal review of police records found comparatively few calls to the business since 1980. Police were called there for prostitution-related complaints just five times in 30 years.

Share and Enjoy