As I revealed last Monday, I'm not going to review Damages in the usual way for the rest of this season. Instead, here are some brief thoughts from me...- A lot happens in this fifth episode, although I'm finding it difficult to keep track of everything. Maybe that's because I just don't care about multi-billion dollar corporations polluting the environment in a fictional context, and the human face of the drama is less compelling this year. I'm not sure.
- The multitude of characters and subplots have just about embedded in my mind, but the twists, reveals and developments are often a bit bewildering -- particularly when you then factor in those obfuscating flashforwards/-backs. Speaking of which, it's becoming clear that having seen season 1 is a requirement 1.)
- Great to see Patty (Glenn Close) back to a more villainous performance -- well, when it comes to dealing with Ellen (Rose Byrne), whom she comes to suspect is working against her. Yet she's still got the hero role when it comes to standing up to Ultima National Resources, so it's a nice duality for Close to play. It was also great to see Patty and Ellen clash like they used to throughout season 1.
- Hmm, gun-fanatic Wes (Timothy Olyphant) appears to be working for Frobisher's hitman, Detective Rick Messer (David Costabile) -- the bearded guy who killed Ellen's fiance last season. Wes also kills someone in the future-set coda -- was it Messer? And I really hate that heavy metal stings that punctuates a scene with Wes. So silly. When it happened awhile back, I put it down to a misguided music cue, but they seem to like it.
- I think Uncle Pete (Tom Aldredge), Patty's elderly "cleaner", is perhaps keeping a few loose-ends secret from Patty about the thwarted attack on Ellen last season. An intriguing new development.
- Patty's husband Phil is having an affair with a younger woman in London. Cliched development for him, as I quite liked the idea Patty is married to a genuinely decent, honourable man. Now that Phil's been tainted in the eyes of the viewer... is it time to start speculating that he has a link to Ultima, too? Doesn't everyone?
- Tate Donovan directed this episode (hence the lack of Tom Shayes), but I don't think he did a very good job. True, it was a very messy script (with lots of flashforwards/-backs), but his direction certainly didn't help. Quite a few sequences were poorly delivered and left me with a furrowed brow.
- I still think Daniel Purcell (William Hurt) allowed Ultima to murder his wife (to keep her quiet), but I know some people think he topped her personally, then asked his Ultima bosses to clean up the crime scene.
- It was good to see actors John Doman and Clarke Peters share a scene together, as both previously starred in HBO's The Wire. Damages appears to be hoovering up talent from that defunct show, actually. Apparently David Costabile is also a Wire alumnus. Also fun to see that-guy-from-the-Orange-cinema-adverts in a small role as the comedian at Kendricks' party, who got his head slammed into a urinal for making close-to-the-knuckle jokes. A little amusement only Brits will get.
Season 2 will probably start making sense around episode 9, when the storyline's on an imminent collision course with the future snapshots. Still, while the continual questions and vague motivations were present, the opaque cloud parted slightly with episode 5. But, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Damages is a show best-suited to the DVD box-set method of viewing. If I could tear through its dozen episodes in a month, I would probably be much happier, and see this as a pivotal episode.
What did you make of it?
15 March 2009
BBC1, 10.15pm
Writer: Mark Fish
Director: Tate Donovan
Cast: Timothy Olyphant (Wes), Glenn Close (Patty), Rose Byrne (Ellen), Tate Donovan (Tom), William Hurt (Daniel), David Costabile (Detective Rick Messer), Michael Nouri (Phil Grey), Mario Van Peebles (Agent Harrison), Tom Aldredge (Uncle Pete), Zachary Booth (Michael Hewes), Glenn Kessler (Agent Werner), John Doman (Walter Kendrick), Jeff Binder (Patrick), Darrell Hammond (The Deacon), Ty Burrell (Douglas Schiff), Mili Avital (Anna Mercado), Brennan Brown (Kenny), Jennifer Roszell (Deb Shayes), Robert Stoeckle (Investment Banke), Jeff Binder (Patrick), Brennan Brown (Kenny), Jennifer Roszell (Deb Shayes), Robert Stoeckle (Investment Banke), Clarke Peters (Dave) & Paige Turco (Christine Purcell)
1. I can only imagine how bamboozled people must be if they haven't seen season 1. The flashbacks to pre-season 2 events can be helpful, but this episode was too overloaded with them.
