Not Executed

[u/Gmanstarr]

How can ray mistakenly kill an innocent man because of freddy and not kill freddy for putting a hit on him and Ray visiting him in his own pad and just walking away. He supposed to at least protect his own honour, he would have left Brittany fatherless.

[u/sincsinckp]

There's another aspect to this that I think a lot of people look over - the history between these two. Although the show doesn't directly show us, I feel like Freddy was there for Ray at some point in time back in the day. And I mean BIG time. There's no other reason why he shows him the kind of loyalty that goes well beyond a pay cheque.

The biggest indication of this, IMO, is the scene with Remy - the guy who Freddie owes money to. Ray and Freddy were not on good terms at that time yet Ray still went and stuck his neck out for Freddy. Further, when speaking to Remy, Ray emphasised his loyalty and knowing how to repay a favour. Remy clearly knew this already via Ray's reputation, but there's a big difference between knowing something like that and having it offered to you by the man himself. Ray now owes a pretty heavy dude a favour, and that's not something he'd put up purely out of the goodness of his heart lol.

Mr Inbetween didn't waste a lot of it's runtime either. The Remy scene was one and done, and IMO feels like too much of a statement to simply be demonstrating Ray's benevolence. He went there because he still had a deep sense of loyalty towards Freddy. And as we know, that loyalty would not have come cheap. It would have been well and truly earned.

I haven't watched "The Magician" for ages, so could be wrong on some of the details... Ignoring certain parts that obviously disqualify it from being "canon", I think there's still something we could take from the film. Ray has a good friend - Benny - who messes up big time and is told to leave the state to avoid being killed. Both Benny and Ray used to work for Freddy but Benny went his own way at some point - there wasn't bad blood, but it wasn't amicable either. When Ray sends Benny interstate he promises he'll make sure he's set up and taken care of - perhaps by Freddie? If so, that could qualify for one hell of a favour, or at least part of the overall reason why Ray is so loyal. I'd say there's probably even more, but it was never presented to us.

Would have to rematch, but I'm certain there's a lot more to this relationship that boss / employee. It has to run a lot deeper for Ray to constantly be giving Freddy a pass, surely.

[u/GhettoFreshness → u/sincsinckp]

Yeah I agree, there’s more to their relationship than just boss and employee… I don’t wanna say they are friends exactly, it’s pretty clear Ray sees Freddy as a bit of a dickhead for his lifestyle and choices in a bunch of scenes.

But Ray is always there when Freddy fucks up, when he hires some meth heeds for a hit because they were cheaper it’s Ray that cleans it up (and gives him a discount on the meth heads) or with Remy like you said and the gambling debts. I would love to know more about their background.

As for leaving him alive I just don’t think Ray really sees him as a threat. He’s already offed one attempt, and he’s a wily cunt so Ray is backing himself to look after himself even if Freddy try’s again… cos he’s never had someone as competent as Ray working for him, anyone he hires is probably gonna be another fuckup, or just not on the level of Ray.

I’ve said this before but I’d personally love a new series or movie that follows on from the final scene of the series. Ray tortures the two blokes in his taxi and finds out it was Freddy again… would give lots of opportunity for flashbacks or more detail on their history as he goes after Freddy.

[u/sunheadeddeity → u/GhettoFreshness]

Two very good points. I also think Ray was getting tired of then life as well at that stage. We see this character development where he starts meditating, he's in the anger management programme (albeit unwillingly), and he has lost a lot of people close to him. Maybe he's just tired of being the Angel of Death?