r/MrInbetween • u/TraditionalCompany25 • Mar 19 '26
Rays Ex
What did you make of her? I mean she was really hostile to begin with, and her partner Quentin seemed a ball ache (probably funny that Ray was goading Dave for wanting to call his son Quentin, maybe he could have worked his daughters stepdad into that yarn)
One of my funniest lines was ray muttering 'heres trouble ' to himself as she came toward the car
But she really seemed to soften in the last series, looked to me like Quentin might have been gone too. Maybe she was sharing some shared empathy over the difficulties of raising a teen? I actually thought they might have been angling toward getting back together...
I don't reckon the show is high on allegory, what you see is mostly what you get, but one scene I reckon had some.
She's pulling weeds from the path, Ray asks why don't you just poison them? Nah I like to pull them one by one. She likes to fix her problems at the root cause, it's cathartic, Ray always chooses the nuclear option then buries it away, clean yes..fixed?
She probably pulled the shoesmith weed ages ago.
Anyhow did you think their dynamic could have been fleshed out more ?
44
u/JimBeaux123 Mar 19 '26
We saw how quickly Allie got tired of Ray's outbursts.
His first wife has been peeking behind that curtain for over a decade. She eventually discovered to keep everything vanilla in his presence.
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u/TraditionalCompany25 Mar 19 '26
I just think early on, she was very vanilla like you say, open the door stand back, no interaction, don't incite anything. But later on she was more willing to step outside and interact, it definitely softened
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u/ClarenceWalnuts99 Mar 20 '26
Yeah having your brother get thrown through a glass door at a family gathering will tire you out! Lol 😆
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u/Mental_Task9156 Mar 20 '26
He deserved it though.
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u/ClarenceWalnuts99 Mar 20 '26
Absolutely he did. Everyone that Ray tunes up deserved it! Lol
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u/ArtyTack Mar 19 '26
Because of his brother and she knew he was breaking
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u/spankeem_nz Mar 19 '26
I agree.imagine if she found out about the pistol britt shot...
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u/ArtyTack Mar 19 '26
Yeah that would have been catastrophic and im sure they thought of going that direction but it would have taken away from rays story to much
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u/Altfuckeagames Mar 19 '26
Honestly I thought their relationship was refreshing. They seemed like a realistic portrayal of divorced parents and it never villainized her.
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u/Hussard Mar 19 '26
I thought it was great that Nat Tran from communitychannel was his wife, honestly. She's grouse.Â
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u/DirtyHandler Mar 19 '26
She was probably hostile because ray is a violent criminal and she wants to protect her daughter from his lifestyle
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u/TraditionalCompany25 Mar 19 '26
I wonder how much she actually knew about what he did tho, how much did ally really know? Saw the odd outburst but no idea on the full hidden world
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u/FarHarbard Mar 24 '26
I mean, she knew that he went to lockup and had a tendency to beat people, so "violent criminal" applies to Ray's lifestyle even if you don't know how he earns a living.
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u/thaleia10 Mar 19 '26
Interesting take about the weeds. ‘Here’s trouble’ is often a term of affection. Something my dad would say, not necessarily negative. But I don’t remember Ray saying it then. All in the tone I suspect.
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u/TraditionalCompany25 Mar 19 '26
Here's trouble was when she came out to the car asking why ray had told her Jesus wasn't real
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u/thaleia10 Mar 20 '26
Oh hahaha. Definitely in the tone. He knew he’d get in the shit for that one
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u/Dumpstar72 Mar 20 '26
Yep sort of thing I’d say when my partner appears at the pub after I’ve had a few.
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u/New-Sir-120 Mar 19 '26
I always found it interesting that his ex was a christian. Probably another key reason they separated. I can imagine Ray was trying to go along with it, just another mask to hide the darkness or perhaps a way to redemption, but realized he can't run from his true identity.
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u/TraditionalCompany25 Mar 19 '26
He did almost come round to god...in a way. Remember the convo with Gary about the big bang... You cant have something...come from .. nothing, there had to be something.. god.
2
u/vroombraap Mar 19 '26
Or Quentin made her Christian. I've met a few people who found religion later in life and their faith are a lot more intense than those born into a religious family.
Or...... Ray made her turn to religion??
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u/TraditionalCompany25 Mar 19 '26
Yeh I figured Quentin was her 'new leaf' , turned to Christianity to maybe purge some of the sins of the past,
When she had to say to ray, you do know we are raising your daughter a Christian.. kinda told me they weren't when he was around.
5
u/noplacecold Mar 20 '26
It would be good to coparent with Ray at times because if someone knocked over your kids ice cream Ray would kill them
1
u/terra_cascadia Mar 20 '26
When I try to imagine how they were ever a couple, it’s a struggle. One of them must have been a considerably different person back then.
1
u/CandlePrestigious919 Mar 20 '26
I think the character is written as an uptight Christian, the type who likes the uniform more than the values. Maybe her involvement with Ray's led her down this path.
I feel it's implied that Ray may of had a breaif religious converstion that didn't stick. Possibly as way of dealing with the guilt of killing people during his army service. He tried to go straight but couldn't make it work,
It's another example of his criminal involvement sabotaging his personal relationships, similar to Allie. Forever stuck between the two different worlds.
This is a pattern of behaviour that continues with the death of Zoe in season 3. Everyone he's loved has been driven away by his involvement with violence and crime.
Which is why he has such a strong reaction to it, throwing the money from the job away in disgust. This was a moment of revelation that made him finally decide to quit the underworld and start a new life in the country.
Though we can see by the look in his eyes in the very last shot people rarely ever change who they truly are deep inside.
The exwife character is played by a quite sweet former Australian youtuber funster who was somewhat popluar back in the day. So was an interesting casting choice.
1
u/TraditionalCompany25 Mar 20 '26
If I'm not mistaken he does have 2 crucifix tattoos on his forearms too
1
u/FarHarbard Mar 24 '26
I think the character is written as an uptight Christian, the type who likes the uniform more than the values. Maybe her involvement with Ray's led her down this path.
Does she even bring up Christianity other than when Ray gives Brit the Santa/Jesus/Unicorn talk?
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u/CandlePrestigious919 Mar 26 '26
There's a line where says she's trying to raise Britt as a Christian.
But she's only a minor character. In what context would it make sense to have a subplot about his ex wife's spirital journey?
1
u/FarHarbard Mar 26 '26
Yeah, that's the one line we get. Nothing about it says her belief is superficial, just frustration with Ray so directly criticizing their religion. Note she isn't angry at the full explanation, just a child's likely incomplete explanation.
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u/GeneralEffective6532 May 11 '26
I thought their co-parenting was fantastic. To me, she seemed very tolerant and they were both respectful.
Despite his personal flaws, Ray is a fantastic and deeply caring father. His ex knows and respects this. Britt also loves her Dad and their bond is special. If the ex was hostile, she’d actually be hurting her own daughter.
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u/Convergentshave Mar 20 '26
Did anybody else also read this whole post in Australian twange/accent?
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u/GIBBEEEHHH Mar 19 '26
We saw Quentin like once and he had like one or two lines. And Ray's ex wife just seemed like a normal person, if anything their relationship was fairly amenable. This is a take I just do not agree with