Throughout season 5, Ray Donovan struggled with the circumstances surrounding the death of his wife, Abby. The season 5 finale of "Ray Donovan" ended with Ray diving into the water while chasing after a hallucination of his dead wife, Abby. The show has been renewed for a 6th season, so we know that Ray is coming back, but is he getting ready to move on and start over?

Is Showtime shifting the show from LA to NYC?

The season 5 finale leaves us with Ray (Liev Schreiber), Terry (Eddie Marsan), and Bridget (Kerris Dorsey) in New York City and Mickey (Jon Voight) in prison for murder (planning his revenge).

Bunchy asks Teresa (Alyssa Diaz) to leave after the revelation that she slept with someone else on her road tour.

It appears that Ray is moving his operation to New York City from LA, but what remains to be seen is whether his business and reputation are too damaged to pick up where he left off in LA as a celebrity fixer.

Throughout Season 5, we saw a damaged and pained side of Ray as he grappled with the truth behind the death of his wife, Abby. We also saw his reputation tarnished by the death of a celebrity client, Hollywood actress, Natalie James (Lili Simmons). At the end of season 5, Ray finally came through for Bridget and her boyfriend, Smitty (Graham Rogers), by strong-arming a neurologist (Kim Raver) into giving Smitty the life-saving cancer surgery that could have saved Abby.

Moving to the East Coast

Terry (Eddie Marsan) chooses to stay in NYC to oversee Damon's (Dominque Columbus) boxing career, leaving his estranged wife back in LA. Ray sold his LA home, and we see a moving company finally packing up the house. Ray leaves Bunchy (Dash Mihok) in charge of Abby's Bar. With so many major characters in New York City, the show seems to be shifting away from LA and moving its focus to the East Coast.

Is Ray going to come back to his roots and stay on the East Coast?

Seems so, but can Ray Donovan re-brand himself after losing his career and damaging his reputation in Los Angeles?

Given his skill set and the damage done to his career and reputation on the west coast, New York City seems like a fitting place to start over for Ray after such a haunting 5th season.

But the question that remains is, what will happen to the character arch of Ray Donovan? Is there room in NYC for a former Los Angeles celebrity fixer with a less than legal resume and plenty of family baggage? The backdrop of New York City gives The Showtime writers and creators a lot to work with for the show as a whole and especially for the character of Ray Donovan. The end of season 5 leaves us anticipating exciting things to happen in the upcoming 2018 season.

The final scene in the season 5 finale shows Ray diving into the water after the ghost of his wife, Abby. This poses as a metaphor for Ray cleansing himself and looking to start over in New York City. How he will make his living in the Big Apple is still up for debate.
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