Recap: Whilst Ultima National Resources (UNR) continue to bury evidence that links the company to the water pollution of West Virginia, Patty uses a TV interview to accuse UNR's boss Walter Kendrick of the murder of Daniel Purcell’s wife. Claire Maddox uses this to end her affair with Daniel and encourages Kendrick to sue Patty for defamation to stop the growing damage to UNR’s stock price. In a chance meet, Kendrick ignores Frobisher's advice to avoid a confrontation with Patty and orders Claire to sue to the tune of $200m.Meanwhile, Katie comes across the rogue cop Eliot Tolken who tailed her during the Frobisher lawsuit. Whilst Katie is concerned, Ellen is hoping to use Tolken to tie Frobisher to her fiance's murder, but Tolken knows too much and is killed. Finally, Patty settles the defamation case against Kendrick and tells Ellen that she's found a new plaintiff in the case against UNR. What Patty doesn’t tell Ellen is that the plaintiff is none other than Frobisher...
My thoughts: This wasn't the most revealing episode, but all the twists and double-crosses are becoming overplayed, so it was nice to get some downtime and allow the story to unfold at a more leisurely pace. Here, we can finally savor some character moments.
- Claire Maddox got some much-needed screen-time1, although she's still little more than a fairly unconvincing femme fatale who believes she's the equal of Patty. A lot of that is down to the writing, so I really hope the claws come out soon.
- Kendricks is now positioned as the clear villain of the piece, which is good. One thing this season's been missing is a clear antagonist, and was instead content to treat UNR as a faceless corporation. Kendricks has been around for a while, but this was the first time I felt Patty found her nemesis.
- Frobisher has been brought into the main story very quickly and surprisingly, lined up as Patty's plaintiff against UNR because he's still a shareholder. I'm already imagining this is how Frobisher will regain some of his former wealth if he helps Patty win the case. That would be an interesting turn of events (Patty broke him, and will now rebuild him), and Ellen is oblivious to Frobisher's role in events right now.
- The season is clearly a direct sequel to season 1 now. I'm not sure this was a wise decision by the producers, given the fact a lot of viewers won't have seen season 1 but were persuaded to give Damages a whirl by those who did. There are now two regular characters brought back from season 1 (Frobisher and Katie Connor) and the flashbacks to season 1 (David's murder, Ellen's attack, bad-cop Messer) are becoming inexorably part of season 2's make-up.
- There hasn't been much William Hurt in recent weeks, but I hope Daniel won't fade into the background too much. He needs either redemption or punishment for what he's done. Considering he was the backbone of the first four episodes, I doubt his role is over.
- Love the "you've been served" moments -- first from Claire to Patty, suing her for defamation after she called Kendricks a murderer on national TV, and then by Patty after she settled out of court for $5m, stating they have a plaintiff against UNR. Damages wisely doesn't get bogged down in stuffy courtrooms, but I love the legal processes when they come.
Incidentally, click here to see a video of William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden and Timothy Olyphant talking about their roles. Or check out an exclusive with Glenn Close and Rose Byrne here for non-iTunes users, or here if you have iTunes.
22 March 2009
BBC1, 10.15pm
Writer: Adam Stein
Director: Greg Yaitanes
Cast: Anastasia Griffith (Katie Connor), Marcia Gay Harden (Claire), William Hurt (Daniel), Ted Danson (Frobisher), Tate Donovan (Tom), Rose Byrne (Ellen), Glenn Close (Patty), David Costabile (Detective Rick Messer), Glenn Kessler (Agent Werner), John Doman (Walter Kendrick), Mario Van Peebles (Agent Harrison), Ethan Herschenfeld (Eliot Tolken), Damian Young (Well Dressed Man), Josh Casaubon (Waiter) & Darrell Hammond (The Deacon)
1. As did Marcia Gay Harden's legs. Does her character strike that same pose after every bedroom conquest, 'cos it sure seems that way.
