'Damages' is Strong on All Counts

By LillyKat
PTR Staff Writer

Extraordinary. Thrilling. Captivating. Engaging. Addicting. Clever. Unpredictable. Amazing. First rate.

You could pull up any recent review of FX’s new original series, Damages, starring Emmy Award® winner Glenn Close, and find any one of the above descriptors.

I prefer just one: brilliant.

It’s Patty Hewes’ world.

And we’re just watching it.

The show centers on Hewes, known as the “nation’s most revered and reviled high stakes litigator.” She is currently in the middle of a class action lawsuit targeting one of the country’s most wealthy and allegedly corrupt CEO’s.

Can we say Kenneth Lay and Enron?

And yet, nothing about this show is been there, done that.

Patty Hewes was made for Glenn Close. And vice versa.

There is no other actress on the face of this planet who does more with one piercing stare than Close. It’s like you want to confess even if you have done nothing wrong. Beautifully subtle, unwaveringly powerful, wickedly smart and unbelievably manipulative: Patty Hewes gets what she wants, when she wants it, no matter what the cost. And yet, she’s also a wife and a mother – more confident in the former than the latter as she struggles to figure out her rebellious teenage son. She is cleverly balanced between the obsessive nature of her work, and the responsibilities of her home. Close is flawless in bringing this sophisticatedly layered character to life.

But aside from Close, the rest of the cast is equally impressive:

Rose Byrne as Ellen Parsons – the young, just-out-of law school protégé hired for what she thinks is a once in a lifetime chance to work at Hewes and Associates only to find out her future sister-in-law might be a potential witness to the current case. So much for thinking she was hired on her merits alone.

Ted Danson as Arthur Frobisher – the villainous CEO of which Hewes and Associates is going after on behalf of the former employees, all of whom lost everything just as he gained another quadzillion dollars selling his stock before the company tanked. Danson is genius – cold blooded while simultaneously trying to maintain some sense of dignity to his family as they are raked over the coals as a result of the case.

Tate Donovan as Tom Shayes – a fit-like-a-glove role as Patty’s right hand man. He was made to look like he was fired in the pilot, but one learns quickly nothing is what it appears on this show. He’s still on the Hewes payroll as Patty’s personal informant conducting surveillance on Ellen’s “key witness” future sister-in-law. So much for that law degree.

Zeljko Ivanek as Ray Fiske – Frobisher’s Southern gentleman attorney who is slow on the drawl, quick on the wit and smooth on the handling of all of Frobisher’s get-me-out-of-this-now demands. Cold Case viewers will remember him as the very compelling John Doe from the third season episode "One Night." He is equally as good here.

Anastasia Griffith as Katie Connor – Ellen’s fiancé’s sister who is a little bit naughty, a little bit nice, and in the middle of a mess. She seems to have made a deal with the devil, with Frobisher as the investor in her restaurant. Oh, and don’t forget the confidentiality agreement she was forced to sign as to her dealings with Frobisher on a catering job down in Florida. What a tangled web we weave.

Noah Bean as David Connor – Ellen’s fiancé and young resident doctor who is just trying to figure out how his sister has ended up in the crosshairs of such a high stakes case.

As if the cast weren’t solid enough, the show’s flashback storytelling keeps you guessing almost by the minute. It’s impossible not to be gripped by what appears to be Ellen – bloodied, beaten, sitting in a police precinct exam room, being asked why she killed her fiancé while viewing flashes of her ransacked apartment, then cutting to six months ago, when she was the new up and comer alongside Patty, delving deep into the Frobisher case, trying to find the links between sister-in-law and smarmy CEO.

It’s an addicting slow burn.

You want to know what the heck happened to Ellen, and yet you only get these tiny little snippets spread across each episode. It’s like the flashbacks are the present, and the present is the flashback.

Brilliant.

This week’s episode found Patty receiving a grenade as a care package. Nice. Her husband received one, too. At first, you think it’s Frobisher; there is a devilish scene between him and Fiske that seems to reaffirm this. Then, come to find out, Patty’s son has been spending a little too much time muckraking on the Internet. Who knew you could buy grenades online?

In light of the death threat (when isn’t a grenade sent through mail a death threat?), we learn Patty was slashed a while back. She won a case; a man lost his power – always a dangerous thing, says Patty. “Someone always pays.”

So, she ends up getting her own former Secret Service Agent for protection, and sending her son to a military-like tough love camp to kick some sense into him. (This kid was actually kidnapped to prove the point ... thrown into the van ... the works ...)

Oh, lest we should forget she also had Ellen miss her engagement party just so that Ellen could hand deliver the case brief to the judge and of which would allow her to test Ellen’s “priorities.”

Not the first time Patty has gotten the better of Ellen.

Won’t be the last.

If you haven’t yet tuned into this show, do.

It holds its own not only for its originality but also for its never-know-what’s-coming-around-the-corner approach. You have no idea who is really responsible for what, and who is trying to get the best of whom.

Did we say brilliant, yet?

New episodes air Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX. You can also have fun visiting the Hewes and Associates Official Web Site.