Jay Can’t or Won’t Tone It Down, Kingdom “Glass Eye” 

So, I’ve got a confession to make: Jonathan Tucker’s Jay is my favorite character because he’s such a mess. I mean, it’s been a long time since I’ve liked a character who is this dysfunctional. He’s all about living big. He has a lot of sex, does a lot of drugs and while he may have trouble showing it all the time, he loves hard. We saw his dedication to his junkie mother in the pilot. He knows exactly where to look to find her – on the corner, prostituting herself for her next fix. When he gives her some money so she’ll be off the street for one night, we see the depth of his devotion to her.

It’s only because of Nate that Jay is slowly making a reappearance back at the gym. There’s a lot of bad blood between Alvey and Jay, on both sides. Jay blames Alvey for Christina’s addiction. While Alvey is certainly guilty of exposing Christina to drugs, her addiction is on her. And in “Glass Eye,” we find out why Alvey’s holding some serious animosity towards his oldest son. When Jay was fighting he pissed off enough promoters that it’s still affecting Alvey’s business. He wasn’t showing up for fights and when he did, he was high. Jay doesn’t see the problem, since he was winning when he did fight. But that’s not the point, is it? Alvey wants Jay to show him that he still has the heart of a fighter. He wants to see some discipline.

I’m not sure Jay knows the meaning of that word to be honest. He steals some of Nate’s medication while he’s sleeping and gets himself arrested when he shoves the detective investigating Nate’s attack. I can’t imagine Alvey ever truly giving up on Jay, but he’s not going to be happy about this.

Other Developments
The gym is struggling, which isn’t new. Lisa is doing everything she can to keep money coming in, but Alvey seems to undercut her at every turn. There are fighters who need to honor their contracts before they’ll allowed to continue training. So when Lisa tells Taylor he needs stop training until he can pay the money he owes, that only goes so far when Alvey tells him he can come back. What will really help solve their money flow problem is if Ryan comes back. Alvey thinks Ryan is a once-in-a-lifetime fighter. Lisa’s understandably hesitant. She doesn’t want him back in her life, but Alvey thinks it’ll be good for the gym. Ryan, who isn’t sure he has what it takes to make a comeback, also seems on board.

Questions

It’s really only a matter of time before Ryan becomes between Lisa and Alvey, right? I mean, I love that Lisa participated in Ryan’s 12-step program. But he’s texting her and that can become a slippery slope. I believe Lisa when she says she doesn’t want Ryan in their lives, but she’s already opened that door. And where Ryan goes, there’s drama.

Does Nate truly not remember who attacked him? It did come out of nowhere – at least from his perspective. And the way those guys were wailing on him probably knocked him out cold pretty fast. It’s also interesting that he flushed his meds. Does he think he’ll go the way of Jay and Alvey if he starts with all that?

Why did Ryan hide his roommate’s bear? Did he want to be seen as some kind of friend or hero when he returned it? Is this a prison thing? I’m confused, but I’m sure he had a reason for doing it. I can’t wait to find out what it is.

Was anyone else surprised to see Alvey in therapy? I mean, he needs it and it seems to be helping him. And how else would we know he feels like a has-been? He puts on a good show, but I don’t think we have any clue what he went through as a fighter or with his family and Christina. I hope we get more on his backstory and I hope he keeps with it. If Lisa approves, I think it’s good for him.

Kingdom airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on DirecTV.