Six Degrees of ‘Damages’

By LillyKat
PTR Staff Writer

We all know the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, right? (The idea that any one of us in the world knows somebody, who knows somebody, who knows somebody, who knows somebody, who knows somebody who ends up knowing Kevin).

For Damages, we’ll affectionately borrow the idea of this game and rename it Six Damaging Degrees of Lying.

Who is really telling the truth about what they know? Multiply it by six and you could possibly-maybe-almost-perhaps-hopefully figure it out.

This week, we find our very good liar, Katie, being prepared for her deposition as the most critical witness in Patty Hewes’ case against Arthur Frobisher. She is perceived as being the only one who could link Frobisher to having had shady dealings with a broker assistant whilst down in ol’ Florida, thus, proving he did dump his stock in his own company before it tanked while simultaneously leaving 5200 employees in Davy Jones’ Locker (so to speak).

But, as we know, Katie is not all that she says she is (remember Patty’s grilling of her? “How old were you … when you figured out you were a good liar?”). Worse, Katie is still involved with her one-night-Florida-fling Greg, who in turn, is covering his own rear and lying to Katie about not wanting to get involved whatsoever in the Frobisher case given he owned his own batch of Frobisher company stock and sold out, conveniently, right before it tanked, too.

Hmmm … coincidence?

Not.

In any event, Katie decides to go ahead with her deposition (even with Greg not offering up his side of the story and pleading with her to drop out of the case).

Probably should’ve taken his advice, though.

Turns out Katie does indeed break down under the pressure of Frobisher attorney Ray Fiske (brilliantly portrayed once again this week by Zeljko Ivanek – this guy is so smooth, so cool as ice, you don’t even know you’re getting put in the deep freeze). Fiske cuts Katie’s story into little tiny pieces - contradicting her testimony that the broker assistant was in Palm Beach, Florida in a parking lot with Frobisher even though there’s a picture on the table of the same guy at an ATM in Atlantic City, New Jersey on the same night. (“You agree, Ms. Connor, a man cannot be in two places at once?”)

So, Katie has basically perjured herself.

Bummer (though not surprising, I suppose, given she is a good liar).

And she was duped by her one-night-stand-man Greg, who turns out to have his own pseudo-mafia-something-or-other guy keeping tabs on him. Seems he’s a bit concerned Katie will remember his face (having popped in on hers and Greg’s little Florida romp accidentally). It’s not clear to me exactly who this guy is. He reminds me of Cigarette Smoking Man on The X-Files. Took several years for us to get to the bottom of that one.

But wait … did we mention that ol’ Patty set the whole two-places-at-once picture thing up – planting the photo to make Fiske think they have no case, and getting rid of unreliable lie-prone witness.

Should’ve known Patty was behind it all.

The best liar of all, perhaps.

But outside of the case, things got a wee bit interesting for young lawyer protégé Ellen’s doc fiancé. As in, flirtatious granddaughter of a patient he is treating does not seem to mind he is not available (“We can play this any way you want.”). This, of course, is complicated by the fact that he never wanted sister Katie involved in the Frobisher case in the first place, and reluctantly agreed to appease fiancé Ellen. So when Katie skips town as a result of her break down at the deposition, well … he’s not too happy.

Patty, meanwhile, can’t get a hold of her son at the secret get-your-act-together camp to which she had him kidnapped and taken away to. The scene where she is on the phone, trying to get through to talk to him yet denied by the administrative folk … priceless. In that moment, as manipulative and controlling as Patty is, she’s a mom. And she just wants to talk to her son. Close is so good, here. You forget for a moment her darker side. That is, of course, until she violently sweeps everything off her desk in frustration.

And, lest we should forget Patty’s ol’ pretend-to-be fired right hand, Tom. He’s getting more irritated by the second with his having to serve as Patty’s own personal private investigator as opposed to being an attorney. Looks like he might be jumping ship to another firm.

But is he telling Patty just yet? No, of course not.

Like we said, Six Degrees of … well, you know.

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