It's March, so I'm watching...

It's impossible finding time to review everything I watch on a daily basis, so here are my broad thoughts on the TV shows I'm watching every week, started queueing on my TiVo, or have dropped from viewing, as of 3 March...

It's February, so I'm watching...

We're over a month into 2014, so the new and returning shows are mostly up and running for New Year. Therefore, partly because I don't have time to review everything episodically these days, below is a broad overview of what I'm watching (and enjoying), and what I'm tending to queue on my TiVo (and will probably delete soon)...

DAMAGES creators making the latest Netflix original drama series

Todd A. Kessler, Daniel Zelman and Glenn Kessler (co-creators of the FX/DirecTV legal drama Damages), have earned a 13-episode order for an original series to be produced by Sony Pictures TV and streamed exclusively on Netflix.

Autumn/Winter 2013: What to Watch

The start of the 2013/14 TV season is almost upon us, with UK and US channels ready to launch a slew of new shows together with their returning favourites. It promises to be a busy few months for telly addicts, but what will I be watching from now until Christmas? In chronological order, let's take a look...

Review: DAMAGES, 4.1 - "There's Only One Way To Try A Case"

Damages is a frustrating show for me, because I absolutely flipped for the stupendous first season, but everything since has failed to live up to that high benchmark. The third season was a definite improvement over the obtuse second year, but the show has now settled into a groove that means audiences know its tricks. Its unique storytelling format is still clever (episodes are bookended by a glimpse of the future, as the present-day narrative advances to that point), but we're now aware of how it's used to manipulate us. Events, locations, loyalties, and identities are never quite what they seem to be in the flashforwards, and after three seasons it's tougher for this show to pull the rug out from under us.

Having been cancelled by FX last year, Damages was given a rare and unexpected reprieve thanks to satellite broadcaster DIRECTV, who picked up the show and commissioned a fourth season for their Audience Network (formerly The 101 Network). The budget has been trimmed accordingly, particularly to ensure big stars like Glenn Close and Rose Byrne don't jump ship now they're in a satellite backwater, but I was pleased the production didn't seem too impaired. It's not quite as glossy or stylish now, and the location shooting's less fanciful, but there's nothing that screams cheapness. And to be positive, its new home means it can be more realistic with any profanity and violence. All this goes to show the disgraceful waste of money bigger networks spend on TV drama, if The Audience Channel can compete with FX to this standard.

This season's storyline, taking place nearly three years after season 3's finale, concerns multi-billion dollar private security firm High Star--the world's biggest private army and brainchild of charismatic CEO Howard T. Erickson (John Goodman). Ellen Parsons (Byrne) is now working at a prestigious law firm, but hungering to breakout on her own using a big case as a springboard. And after reuniting with her high school ex-boyfriend Christopher Sanchez (Chris Messina), a veteran of the Afghanistan War who's now suffering from PTSD following lucrative work he did for High Star, Ellen realizes she may have found a case worthy of her skills: the wrongful death of Sanchez's military team during an illegal mission.

Elsewhere, the redoubtable Patty Hewes (Close) is working on a case involving a French pharmaceutical company's drug trials, that resulted in dozens of deaths, while trying and failing to find time for the young granddaughter she had taken into her custody from her son and his pregnant girlfriend last season. In one brilliant scene we encounter Patty giving a woman a grilling during an interview, whom we assume is there to replace Ellen as a lawyer, but is actually just hoping to be employed as Patty's nanny.

"There's Only One Way To Try A Case" was a fairly generic edition of Damages, which was the troubling thing about this premiere. As I said before, it's now hard to feel invested in the events set three months into the future (where a hooded prisoner is being given a sandwich by an Afghan boy) because we're used to how the show unfolds. You can't trust anything you see, because the show is a essentially a series of traps the writers want you to wander into mentally. The things to lure you back are the guest stars, such as John Goodman (on fine form), or renowned character actor Dylan Baker as a shadowy associate called Jerry Boorman (who's always marvelous playing creeps and villains). The writing can also be rewarding if you invest time and patience into the series, and there are some brilliantly dark and cynical moments (like Patty forgetting her own granddaughter's birthday, so firing her sweet and understanding nanny just to make herself feel better), but it's also true that this year's war-themed story feels five years too late. I'm not sure I'm even in the mood for another season of Damages' usual games, trickery and cheats set against this backdrop—although I'm at least grateful DIRECTV's budget means season 4's had its hourly commitment shaved down from 13 to 10.

And throughout it all there's the Ellen Parsons problem; a character so central, sympathetic and involving in that first glorious season, but now someone who mostly drifts around the show as the writers try to find ways to give her some grounding. Byrne's dazzling eyes continue to imbue the character with sympathy, but she stopped being a compelling lead a long time ago. This season she has a personal connection to the traumatized soldier who wants to take High Star to court (who also happens to be an old flame, so a romantic undertone can blossom), and I suppose that's all very wise. It's just a pity Ellen's slipped so much in my estimation that I'd rather see Byrne on a different TV show now. Maybe a comedy, given she prowess she's shown in Get Him To The Greek and Bridesmaids just lately. Is there anything of interest left to see with Ellen? Every time the show involves her working class family, those scenes rank as some of the worst of a season, and yet without them she's just a ridiculously pretty and clever protégé-that-got-away.

Overall, season 4's premiere wasn't a particularly exciting or engrossing hour of drama, although it naturally picked up towards the end once a few strands came together. I'll be watching every week still, but I hope the writers find ways to inject some life and passion back into the show, which in many ways has since been eclipsed by The Good Wife on CBS (which has a serialized story focused on the regulars, and is able to tell episodic stories in tandem). That's a much more elastic format, whereas Damages has to stick to its one big storyline and try to keep that interesting by deceiving and fooling the audience. I like to be fooled, but it stops being fun if the same tricks are used time after time.

written by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman / directed by Todd A. Kessler / 13 July 2011 / The Audience Network

Teaser: DAMAGES, season 4

Legal drama Damages returns for a fourth season next month, rescued from oblivion when FX cancelled it by DIRECTV. A 30-second teaser has been released (above) that gives us a mild taste of what's in store. I'm not sure what the new storyline is, based on the teaser, but it looks to be connected to the US military's practices overseas, and it stars the always marvelous John Goodman. So I'm definitely interested to see what Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) will be up to this year.

I'm a fan of Damages, as long-time readers will be aware, but it's never been an easy show to review every week, as I've always given up a few episodes into each season. I consequently won't be covering season 4, beyond the premiere. It should be especially interesting this year—both because The Good Wife has stolen much of its thunder as the #1 legal drama around, and to see if the move to DIRECTV has affected it in any way.

How about you? Is Damages a show you watch? Do you agree that it peaked early with that wonderful first season? Is it possible for Rose Byrne to wake up with bed head?

Damages returns 13 July on DIRECTV. The BBC have previously aired every season of Damages, but in light of their recent decision to stop buying US imports to save money, that's not likely to be the case this year. Hopefully another British broadcaster will snap it up, though. We'll have to wait and see.

Competition: 'Damages' DVD winner!

Last week I gave my American readers the chance to win a copy of Damages: The Complete First Season on DVD. To win, you just had to answer the following question:

In which city does Damages take place?

(a) Washington D.C
(b) Chicago
(c) New York

The correct answer was, of course, New York. I was glad nobody got that wrong! The lucky winner, chosen at random from all the entries received, is...

Trevor Sprinkle, Pennsylvania

Congratulations, Trevor! The Damages DVD box-set will be sent to the address you specified. It should be with you shortly.

A big thank you to everyone who entered this competition. I'd be lying if I said it was as popular as my previous contests, targeting the UK/Ireland, but I'm hoping the muted response was because the prize was a DVD that's been out awhile, and not because Americans are blase about winning something for minimal effort. Or that the question was too hard!

Competition: 'Damages' Season 1 DVD

It's competition time on DMD again! And this time, it's my American readers who get to feel the benefit. That makes a change, doesn't it.

You may know that Golden Globe-winning drama Damages, following a prodigious lawyer called Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) working alongside fearsome litigator Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), was cancelled by FX last summer. But did you know that DIRECTV rescued the show from the scrapheap and are financing a fourth and fifth season?

Season 4 begins this summer, exclusively on DIRECTV's 101 Network, but in the meantime the channel is repeating the previous three years that aired on FX -- uncut and without commercials! You can currently catch season 1 every Tuesday night at 10pm.

To celebrate Damages' survival, I have a copy of Season 1 up for grabs on Region 1 DVD. In the show's first year, Ellen and Patty become embroiled in a class action lawsuit targeting billionaire Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), one of the country's wealthiest CEOs. It's a terrific season of television, and something well worth your time if you haven't seen it. I reviewed the Blu-ray box-set awhile ago here. And if you don't want this DVD, why not promote this competition via Facebook, Twitter, et al?

To be in with a chance of winning this box-set, simply answer the following question:

In which city does Damages take place?

(a) Washington D.C
(b) Chicago
(c) New York

Next, e-mail me your answer, remembering to include your full name and a delivery address. Please ensure the subject header is titled "Damages Competition", or it might get lost in my inbox.

This competition closes on Monday 10 January @5pm (GMT). That's 12PM EST, right? I will pick a winner at random and inform everyone on 11 January.

A gentle reminder: this competition is only open to residents of the United States of America. Entries from people living in other countries will be discounted. Sorry.

Good luck!

Damages execs on DirecTV pickup

Michael Ausiello has a brief but interesting interview with Damages co-creators Daniel Zelman and Todd A. Kessler, where they chat about the show's recent surprise pickup by DirecTV and what that means for the show.

"DirecTV wants us to do the show that we've been doing. If anything, they want us to push what we've been doing even further. They're encouraging us to be as bold as possible, which is something we strive for anyway. There have been no discussions about altering the show in any fundamental way." Continue reading...

One thing that amused me about the interview is hearing that Zelman and Kessler are excited by the fact The 101 Network don't have breaks for advertising. Here in the UK, Damages has always been shown on the advert-less BBC1, so it slipped my mind that US audiences have been putting up with commercial breaks.

Damages: fourth and fifth season!

It was cancelled by FX at the conclusion of its third season, but DirecTV have agreed a deal with Sony Pictures Television to finance a fourth and fifth season of Damages, each comprising 10 episodes. The legal drama, starring Glenn Close and Rose Byrne, will return on DirecTV's 101 network next year.


Patty Ishimoto, General Manager of The 101 Network & Vice President for DirecTV:

"We're excited to partner with Sony Pictures Television as we breathe new life into this outstanding drama. It’s a win for our customers because only they will be able to see these new episodes and another great step forward for DirecTV as we continue to build our growing portfolio of exclusive, award-winning programming."

DirecTV similarly saved Friday Night Lights in this manner, but while that show gets a quick repeat on NBC, Damages will air exclusively on DirecTV (denying the show to a lot of its US audience). DirecTV have also acquired the rights to broadcast Damages' existing three seasons.

John Langraf, President & General Manager of FX Networks:

"FX was very proud to have developed one of the best scripted series on television, but in order to have a future, the show needed DirecTV and we are thrilled they stepped in... Sony Pictures Television is a great production partner and we at FX Productions are excited for these next two seasons."

How will this change of channel affect the show? Will the budget be cut in any noticeable way? Will the show's stellar casting take a knock, given the smaller platform of DirecTV? Whatever happens, I'm glad Damages is coming back. If only because it's one of the few shows with strong women in the lead roles.

DAMAGES 3.4 - "Don't Throw That At The Chicken"

WRITER: Jeremy Doner
DIRECTOR: Matthew Penn
GUEST CAST: Len Cariou, Lily Tomlin, Glenn Fleshler, Zachary Booth, Sarah Wynter, Tom Noonan, Reiko Aylesworth, Ben Shenkman, Miriam Shor, Larry Keith, Wendy Moniz, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, Darren Goldstein & Curtis L. McClarin

[SPOILERS] This was an episode all about family dysfunction: Joe (Campbell Scott) is revealed to be an alcoholic who's fallen off the wagon in the wake of his father's insurance fraud scandal; Patty's (Glenn Close) son Michael (Zachary Booth) is pretending he's employed and has broken up with his older girlfriend Jill, who's actually pregnant with his baby; and Ellen (Rose Byrne) has stopped sending cheques to her sister Carrie (Miriam Shor), fearing she's using the money to fund a drug habit.

I thought this was a stronger episode than last week's runaround, mainly because the story took a few U-turns I didn't expect -- Louis (Len Cariou) had actually called his mistress Danielle on Thanksgiving evening because he'd left his medication at her house, so the only reason he wanted to get her out of the country was to spare him the embarrassment of having his affair exposed ontop of the fraud. I also didn't expect the series to kill off Louis at this early stage, as he drank poisoned tea provided by his loyal doctor, leaving behind a package addressed to Patty that Joe found...

There was also some decent emotional strings being pulled here, too, what with Joe having actually decided to give up the bottle and go see his dad on his last night of freedom, only to find him dead like that. The preceding scene of Joe being followed around town by his father's surveillance team, to keep an eye on his drinking, was one of the best sequences I've seen on Damages in awhile; very nicely filmed, slightly bizarre (Lenny making faces in a shop window's TV), and a completely visual piece with no spoken dialogue.

The flashforwards gave us a few neat clues and insights into why Tom's been killed, too: his body wasn't bloated enough to have been in the water very long (so who dragged him out and put him in a dumpster?); Patty remembers speaking to an agitated Tom shortly before his death (by whomever he answered the door to in one sequence?) ; and the final sting suggested that Patty who may have ordered a hit on Tom that she reneged on, but it appears to have gone ahead anyway! That always happens in TV-land, once you set the ball in motion... but what will Tom do that makes Patty angry enough to want to kill him?

Overall, there was lots of juicy stuff to enjoy in "Don't Throw That At The Chicken" (great title, too), as more elements came into play and the flashforwards took a few fun, unexpected twists. Damages still isn't quite the gripping delight I adored in season 1, but so far this year's story is a lot more human, credible and comprehensible than season 2.

Asides

-- I'm sorry, but are we expected to really believe Rose Byrne and Miriam Shor are sisters? No offence to Shor (everyone looks bad stood next to the porcelain doll that is Rose Byrne), but it's unconvincing they share a gene pool. It might have been better if Carrie was played by someone who's equally as attractive, or more attractive than Ellen, but has let clearly let themselves go.

-- This season appears to be all about family, doesn't it? Patty says she considered Tom part of her family, her ex-husband's trying to get back with her, Ellen's family are taking on a bigger role, the Tobin dynasty is obvious central to the year's legal case, and there are even some babies in the mix (Ellen's sister's, Patty's unborn grandchild.)

17/18 MARCH 2010: BBC1 / BBC HD, 10PM

DAMAGES 3.3 - "Flight's At 11:08"

WRITER: Mark Fish
DIRECTOR: Tony Goldwyn
GUEST CAST: Debra Monk, Ben Shenkman, Gordon Clapp, Mädchen Amick, Maddie Corman, Darren Goldstein, Larry Keith, George Morfogen, Michael Pemberton, Jennifer Roszell, Rebecca Schull & Miriam Shor

[SPOILERS] This wasn't bad, it just lacked enough bite. There was only one storyline that made an impression -- the Tobin family's attempt to fly Danielle Marchetti (Mädchen Amick) out of the country before she's implicated in their family's scandal, with the added complication she's suffered head trauma after being accidentally struck by Joe's (Campbell Scott) car, and could die if she boards a plane. Fortunately, most of the supporting plots leaned on that central dilemma -- with Tom (Tate Donovan) trying to find Danielle at her home, unaware she's being hidden inside by Joe and his family's lawyer Leonard (Martin Short), while Patty (Glenn Close) tried to convince the District Attorney to stop Danielle leaving the country, despite the fact he has no evidence to make such a move.

It was also interesting to see Ellen's (Rose Byrne) family, too. She returned home to spend some time with them, passing up the opportunity to help Patty trace Danielle, and it became clear that the Parsons aren't exactly highfliers. In fact, it's difficult to believe these are Ellen's relatives -- as their lives are crushingly normal and shot through with problems. Her father's a stubborn dolt whose temperament stains the atmosphere, her sister's just split from her husband and appears to be a junkie (Ellen discovers a crack pipe), and it's easy to see why Ellen wanted to leave them behind and make something of herself. When faced with an evening reminiscing over family home videos of a rose-tinted childhood that's a faded memory for her, she's soon on her phone wanting in on the Tobin case.

Overall, "Flight's At 11:08" was an enjoyable watch, and it was good to see Joe becoming more of a villain via his decision to put the delerious Danielle on a plane journey that would kill her, particularly in light of the understated reveal that Danielle was once Joe's lover before she started secretly seeing his father. Campbell Scott's particularly good at playing someone who believes himself to be a good man (and perhaps always has been), but is now being placed in situations that require him to act very selfishly, with bleak consequences for his soul.

This was also the first episode I can remember that didn't feature any of the show's signature time-jumps, which I heartily approve of. If there's no need to use them, don't use them.

Finally, I know I'm not covering this show in the greatest of detail, but these brief Damages reviews haven't inspired much comment. So, a question: are people watching? Is it a show you watch, but don't feel the need to discuss? Or is this season slipping by unloved on BBC1, its reputation sullied by the thorny second season?

Asides

-- Was I alone in knowing that glass of unmelted ice cubes would be the giveaway that Danielle was present in the house, way before Tom? It was so signposted it was more a surprise that he didn't twig until much later.

-- This episode was directed by actor Tony Goldwyn, recently seen in the Last House On The Left remake, but perhaps most famous as the villain from Ghost.

-- I was so relieved we got more Mädchen Amick because her character survived that collision last week. Hopefully she'll be around a bit longer.

-- Damages' great casting continues, with Sarah Wynter (best known as Jack Bauer's girlfriend in 24's second season) debuting as another of the Tobin family's aides. You may also remember her as the unforgettably brash Aussie girlfriend of Jemaine in season 2 of Flight Of The Conchords.

10/11 MARCH 2010: BBC1/BBC HD, 10PM

DAMAGES 3.2 - "The Dog Is Happier Without Her"

WRITER: Aaron Zelman
DIRECTOR: Matthew Penn
GUEST CAST: Len Cariou, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Michael Nouri, Michael Laurence, Glenn Fleshler, Tom Noonan, Reiko Aylesworth, Mädchen Amick, Souleymane Sy Savane, John Hillner, Joanna Rhinehart, Jennifer Roszell, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, Mili Avital, Michael Gaston & Mackenzie Connolly

[SPOILERS] To make it clear, my weekly reviews of Damages will follow a similar format to 24's this year (i.e brief responses, but added detail if an episode justifies it.) This is no reflection on the quality of the show, just the fact its serialized nature means it can be a pain to tackle in depth every single week. So, with that in mind, how was episode 2?

Well, "The Dog Is Happier Without Her" wasn't as great as the exciting opener, but then I never expected it to be. This was a confident follow-up that dangled more clues about the future murder of Tom Shayes (Tate Donovan), while ensuring the present storyline with the Tobin family's investment fraud bedded down nicely. Last year the show was so hell-bent on surprising you every episode that the plot soon became impenetrable and fell into a quagmire mid-season, but season 3's plot feels sprightlier and less daunting.

Patty (Glenn Close) and Tom discovered that Louis Tobin (Len Cariou) was seeing a younger woman called Daniele Marchetti (Mädchen Amick) behind his wife's back; Ellen's (Rose Byrne) fondness for Tom means she's gradually being drawn into Patty's case as a handy contact in the District Attorney's office; Patty's estranged husband Phil (Michael Nouri) returned to sort out their affairs, although he has an agenda to get her back; Joe (Campbell Scott) agreed to access his father's secret fortune, to ensure his family's comfort now their assets have been frozen; but the most interesting development was discovering Tom's family face financial ruin because he had them invest in a company involved in Tobin's fraudulence. This will assumedly have a big effect on his ultimate fate, as the Tobin case is now something personal.

Six months in the future, Detective Huntley's (Tom Noonan) interrogation of the homeless man provided a few stimulating pieces of information: Ellen hears about Tom's death and visit his wife to enquire about who knew they were dating (so Tom's death was to get at her?); and we learn that the cause of Tom's death was drowning. I was mainly intrigued by Ellen's lack of emotion upon hearing about Tom's murder -- is she inured to such things after her fiancé's murder in season 1? Did she recently stop seeing Tom? Did she expect this to happen to him? Or was Byrne going for a "numbed" reaction that came off as cold indifference?

Overall, I wasn't terribly interested in the Patty/Phil situation over their sickly dog, and I thought a moment when Joel accidentally ran over his dad's mistress was rather contrived, but I'm responding well to the pincer-grip of Tom's storyline and grateful this season appears to have boiled things down to a story that's easier to understand and get involved in.

Asides

-- As a Twin Peaks fan, it's always great to see Mädchen Amick in something, although I keep forgetting she's not a teenager anymore. It's a terrible shame if her character's dead already, though!

-- So far, it feels like a great idea to make this season more focused on Tom, with Ellen less prominent. I'm sure Ellen will take on a bigger role as things progress (Rose Byrne has second-billing, after all), but I'm glad Donovan's being given a chance to shine.

3/4 MARCH 2010: BBC1/BBC HD, 10PM

DAMAGES 3.1 - "Your Secrets Are Safe"

WRITERS: Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman
DIRECTOR: Todd A. Kessler
GUEST CAST: Lily Tomlin, Keith Carradine, Len Cariou, Ben Shenkman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Tom Noonan, Michael Gaston, Reiko Aylesworth, J. Tucker Smith, Michael Laurence, Robert Sedgwick, Darren Goldstein, Ana Reeder, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, Campbell Scott & Martin Short

[SPOILERS] After a bumpy sophomore season that didn't connect with me on an emotional level and became a slog, I'm relieved to see Damages hit back with a strong and nimble third season premiere, set nearly a year later. Over this hour, some of my concerns about last season were swiftly addressed: the multiple flashforwards/-backs that swamped season 2 have been downsized to just the one, and this year's legal battle is more personal and less corporate in nature...

Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) is now working on behalf of the government to recover billions of dollars lost during a Ponzi scheme[*] setup by corrupt Wall Street businessman Louis Tobin (Len Cariou) -- elderly patriarch of an apparently ignorant family that include proud wife Marilyn (Lily Tomlin) and crestfallen son Joe (Campbell Scott), who've been left destitute now the family's assets have been frozen. It's up to Patty to find the missing billions accrued by Louis' deception, to repay the investors what they're owed and perhaps clear the rest of the Tobin family in the process.

Across the city, Patty's former-protégé Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) is now working at the District Attorney's office on a drug case, apparently having moved on with her life and career. She's less solemn, at any rate, while her new job gives her the opportunity to go out into the field and mete out justice on the streets. Of course, she's destined to be drawn into Patty's contentious Wall Street case like an asteroid to a black hole -- likely via her boss Curtis Gates (Ben Shenkman), who's involved with the criminal side of the Tobin fallout.

Damages has always attracted an astonishing amount of famous faces and talented character actors, and that tradition continues in season 3 with Lily Tomlin, Campbell Scott, Keith Carradine and Martin Short already introduced in key supporting roles. The latter being another example of Damages giving typecast actors a chance to subvert audience expectations. Seeing the impish Short (known for '80s comedy roles in the likes of Three Amigos) play a devious lawyer is almost as surprising as "nice guy" Ted Danson was playing a crooked billionaire who had sex with prostitutes.

The signature flashforwards (set six months in the future) appear to only be tackling one storyline, which makes it a lot easier to follow than the miasma of season 2's multiple subplots. Here, Patty is involved in a car crash where the offending driver flees the scene, but the police discover the car was registered to Patty's trusted associate Tom Shayes (Tate Donovan), whose dead body is later found in a dumpster beside a creepy homeless man who has a luxury handbag given to Ellen as a gift from Patty in the present-day. And we also see a more contented Patty, who's seen regularly spurning the advances of an alluring man called Julian Decker (Carradine, again utilizing his innate easygoing charm.)

Overall, "Your Secrets Are Safe" offered plenty of fresh intrigue, and the adroit plot did a fantastic job outlining the stakes and introducing new characters, mostly avoiding the sense of information overload that Damages has been guilty of in the past. In simplifying their narrative and tackling a legal case with strong human ties (who cared about faceless stock market manipulations and dreary environmentalism last year?), I get the feeling the writers understood what went wrong last time and are now repairing things with an eye on what worked in the magnificent first season.

Of course, because we're into the third season, a certain amount of familiarity with Damages format occasionally undercut some surprises (who didn't think that homeless guy would have Ellen's handbag in the future?), but there were still some genuinely shocking moments -- not least the foreknowledge that genial Tom's days are numbered, just as he finally got his name on the door...

Asides

-- A note to directors of television; audiences are now too aware that a car crash is going to happen when you position the camera low, in the passenger seat, facing the driver as they nonchalantly drive along. That familiar angle has been used ad nauseum ever since Six Feet Under's pilot. It's no longer surprising, so please try and find another way.

-- The recap opening with split-screens being used to summarize the events of season 1 and 2 was like 24 on steroids! I'm not sure if it really helped any newcomers catch-up, though -- it probably just confused the hell out of them! I've seen those episodes and even I felt bewildered.

-- It was great to see Tom Noonan return as that detective; another example of a typecast actor (mostly fated to play creepy villains) getting to play the opposite.

-- Was I alone in failing to recognize Campbell Scott? The sign of a great actor.

-- One thing I particularly love about Damages is that it's a legal drama that's barely set foot inside a court room. I only recall one court scene back in season 1, and even that lasted less than two-minutes!

24 FEBRUARY 2010: BBC1, 10.45PM
25 FEBRUARY 2010: BBC HD, 10PM

[*] A Ponzi scheme is a type of investment fraud where investors are repaid using their own money, or that of the other investors, and not from any actual profit being made. Familiarize yourself here.

Assessing the Damages

As long-term readers will know, I find Damages an awkward show to review every week. Like 24, it's heavily serialized and that makes it tough to review because it feels like you're writing a book review one chapter at a time. So, I could watch Damages' third season from beginning to end and write about it in retrospect (as I plan to with The Good Wife), but I think I'll try and write capsule reviews every week (as I'm doing with 24.) That way I can be brief and prompt discussion, while occasionally tackling the more stimulating episodes in greater detail if required.

Damages returns to BBC1 tomorrow (24 February) @10.45pm, meaning we're five episodes behind FX in the US. Is anyone here already watching, or planning to?

DAMAGES 2.13 - "Trust Me"

[SPOILERS] I waited patiently for 12 weeks... for that? Sorry, not good enough. For me, it highlighted a problem with Damages' time-structure of sandwiching episodes between flashbacks/-forwards -- the fact that 60% of this finale had already been drip-fed to us since the premiere...

For that reason, "Trust Me" was like watching the previous twelve episode's flashforwards put into chronological order, at times. Now, thankfully some scenes continued to a twist resolution (like Messer arriving to shoot Ellen in the shower... but being prevented by Wes), but most weren't. And a few seemed like laughable cheats. The worst offender? Well, we'd already seen Patty stumble out of a hotel room smearing blood on the walls, assuming she gets shot by Ellen. But, no. The source of the blood turned out to be from an earlier attack in an elevator (where Patty was improbably stabbed by annoyed baddie Finn Garrity), meaning Patty sat being interrogated by Ellen with a near-fatal knife wound. Umm, no, didn't work for me.

Broadly, the finale wrapped things up competently enough. But it felt very anti-climactic to me. The entire season's machinations were overturned in a few minutes when Patty and Dave Pell agreed on a compromise -- Patty gets to prosecute Kendricks and UNR for poisoning people in West Virginia with Pell's evidence, if she promises not to pry into Pell's market manipulation and brownouts. Why didn't they have this chat, like, five episodes ago? It would have saved an awful lot of upset!

It felt like the writers didn't really have an effective way for Patty to win this case through legal means, so had to make its hero and villain compromise at the eleventh hour. And there wasn't much sense of fulfillment anyway, as we saw Kendricks get arrested in a scene lasting all of three seconds. Perhaps most depressingly, UNR got away with killing Daniel's wife because nobody discovered that UNR's "cleaner" had killed Christine after Daniel's attack.

We leave the season with Patty fully-recovered at her beach house, Tom back on the company payroll, and Ellen due to accept a new job having succeeded in forcing Patty to admit she tried to have her killed -- although Patty predicts she'll be back. Assumedly because Ellen's drawn to working with the absolute best, and at least working with Patty is never boring!

I really hope season 3 is a clean-break for Damages, but there are already some overspills to clear up. Ellen still doesn't know about Wes' role in events this season, Frobisher's still skirting the narrative (having started his new business venture at last), and Uncle Pete's murderer has yet to be brought to justice.

I suppose all those things need closure (and I'm certainly looking forward to seeing Patty go through a rocky divorce!), but hopefully the writers will take note of what didn't work about season 2 and give us a story we can get invested again. Murder and a billionaire losing his employees' savings and pensions last year? Yes, I'm all for that. Stock market manipulation and the poisoning of unseen people this year? No, I just didn't care.

Overall, "Trust Me" was watchable and didn't bore me, but it wasn't much of a thrill and it lacked the desired impact after twelve weeks of set-up. Still, it was nice to see Zeljko Ivanek back as Ray Fiske for a few dream sequences, even if his presence only served to remind me just how gripping and emotional season 1 was compared to this well-meaning but flawed follow-up.

Do you agree? Or did Damages season 2 ring your bell? Is it a show that demands to be watched as a box-set in a two-week marathon, to gloss over its cracks?

To end; here's an interview with Glenn Close and Ellen Page about their characters' evolution this year and where they might be headed next season (iTunes users, non-iTunes users). Also, pretty much the whole cast discuss the writing of season 2's plotlines here.


10 May 2009
BBC1, 10.20pm

Writers: Glenn Kessler & Todd A. Kessler
Director: Todd A. Kessler

DAMAGES 2.12 - "Look What He Dug Up This Time"

[SPOILERS] I'm incredibly late with this assessment of Damages' penultime episode of a rather laborious second season. To be honest, I don't have the enthusiasm for the show to write a lot. Suffice to say, "Look What He Dug Up This Time" delivered some overdue answers...

Recap: Wes decides not to kill Ellen. Whilst trying to cover up evidence linking him to the murder of his wife, Daniel offers to help Patty with her lawsuit against URN. Ellen suggests that the FBI go after Tom and thinks she might have been wrong about her boss all along. However, when Ellen convinces Tom to wear a recording device to trap Patty, he is fired before he has a chance to reveal Patty’s bribery plans. Finally, Daniel turns himself in for his wife's murder not realising that it was Kendrick’s men who killed her all along.

So, yeah, a few big events. I particularly liked Daniel's phone-call to Kendricks, where he gave a weird speech about spending eternity in Hell unless he repent for his sins, before owning up to his wife's murder. And, while making Daniel "guilty" of spousicide was a twist we'd suspected for a very long time, I was glad UNR weren't let off the hook... as the "cleaner" they sent Daniel noticed his wife was still breathing, but killed her anyway. Orders, eh? Cold, very cold...

It was also fun seeing Tom discover Ellen's been helping the FBI all along, before he's forced to dance to their tune, or else risk missing the birth of his son and a future with his family. You can't help but find Tom very sympathetic,, can you? He's possibly the most sympatheic character in the show!

Am I excited about the finale this Sunday? Well, no. But I'm sure we'll get good resolution and there may be a few more surprises in store. I don't want to drone on about this, but I still consider Damages' second season a big let-down. I just didn't find the year's case anywhere near as interesting or compelling as season 1's, ultimately. But, I didn't hate it enough to stop watching, and I'm sure the writers will approach season 3 knowing what worked, what didn't, what went wrong, and why the storyline just didn't click.


3 May 2009
BBC1, 10.20pm

Writers: Daniel Zelman & Glenn Kessler
Director: Matthew Penn

DAMAGES 2.11 - "London. Of Course"

||SPOILERS|| I'm no longer sure if Rose Byrne is a good actress, or not. She certainly has a stock collection of reactions to whatever twist or revelation is thrown up each week; usually involving little nods, pensive smiles and a slightly ajar jaw. There's probably a fun drinking game in there somewhere...

We're nearly at the finish, so at least now we're getting some actual answers -- even if they mostly serve to make you realize how season 2 clouded its story so everything looked a lot more complicated than it actually was. That happens when you throw a stack of new characters at the audience, all swimming around a prolepsis narrative, keeping secrets from each other...

The big developments, and my reactions:

• Okay, so... I totally missed the fact that Patty's husband Phil was being courted as Energy Secretary for the government, not UNR. This all makes sense to me now (as I couldn't understand why Patty was fine about her other half siding with the enemy in recent weeks!) Anyway, the real development here is that Patty discovers Phil's affair with a London-based businesswoman, thanks to Ellen secretly sending her photographic proof after chancing upon Phil and his new lover in a hotel lobby. Loved the fact all this coincided with Patty and Phil being interviewed about their perfect marriage to a magazine, and the quiet aftermath of Patty kicking Phil out -- as she sat alone in her bedroom, surrounded by clothes, Patty was only really upset that her husband was dumb enough to let her catch him out!
  

• Claire Maddox became an unexpected ally, after trying to oust Kendrick as CEO of UNR by getting his number two to supplant him at a board meeting vote. It doesn't work, and her own attempt to takeover UNR also crashes-and-burns, as Kendrick is too wily to be toppled by his conspiring lawyer. So, Claire meets with Patty and agrees to help her take Walter for every penny he has over UNR's pollution and market manipulation. And now she says Daniel Purcell's willing to be honest and won't be turned in the courtroom.
  

• We finally learn that the GPS inputting of coordinates in a stationery vehicle was a means to communicate to someone in secret. I guess I never realized sat-navs could talk to one another to make that connection.
  

• Ellen is told that one of her FBI handlers, Agent Harrison, "killed himself" (he musta had demons, is all Agent Werner can say), and flashforwards appear to confirm that Patty really was shot and Ellen is quickly arrested by Wener for the deed. I somehow doubt Patty won't survive (Damages revolves around Glenn Close, after all), but I think we can safely assume season 3 will feature a big shake-up -- which I'm all in favour of. The Ellen/Patty goings-on had too much baggage this year. I still find the inclusion of Frobisher and the interminable attempt to make someone pay for Ellen's fiancé's death a real bore. It feels so unrelated to the UNR stuff, as if they have no confidence in their new storyline, so have to keep elements of the old one alive.

Just two more episodes to go, and I'm certainly interested to see where this all ends. I have a suspicion season 2 will look incredibly convoluted in retrospect because, well, it already does... but I want to see who lives, who dies, why Tom gets fired, if Wes will shoot Ellen, etc. But, please, I hope the finale wraps up the whole season 1-2 story and we start afresh next year. For me, Damages dropped the ball this year.


26 April 2009
BBC1, 10.25pm

Writers: Todd A. Kessler & David Zelman
Director: Andy Wolk

DAMAGES 2.10 - "Uh Oh, Out Come The Skeletons"

||SPOILERS|| So, so close to the finishing line... and, while the story has gelled in my mind and I have a decent handle on most of the characters, I'm still finding this storyline pretty bland. It's just not exciting to see a legal drama tackle a conspiracy involving stocks and shares, even if they have decided to stir in some unfinished business from season 1. I'm still holding out for a strong finish, but I'm not convinced we'll get it...

As usual for my quickie Damages reviews, some thoughts on the big developments:

• Kendrick offers $50 million to settle the lawsuit, but Patty rejects it. I was also surprised to see that Patty knows her husband is being courted to become Energy Secretary! Maybe I missed something, but I thought her hubbie was being underhanded these past weeks, but maybe he wasn't? Why is Patty okay with her husband being employed by "the enemy"? There was also an amusing distraction with her son bringing a date to dinner -- a mature woman who owns an art gallery (although we were led to believe his girlfriend was a green-haired bohemian with piercings for awhile.)
  

• Ellen struggles to cope with her situation and turns to Wes, but he's been instructed to kill her. As I thought, Wes is more interested in finding a reason to assure Messer that Ellen doesn't pose a threat. The flashfoward to Ellen shooting Patty was also returned to, but now showing Agent Werner watching events from a surveillance van. Ellen's line "I lied" appears to be directed at Werner, before she shoots Patty, who somehow manages to make it to the corridor elevator with her gunshot wound. Did she incapacitate Ellen? I like the echo to season 1, too, where it was Ellen getting into an elevator covered in blood.
  

• Claire realises that Daniel doctored the UNR reports. I was also intrigued to see that Claire really isn't a villain, and will possibly have a hand in UNR's downfall now she realizes Kendrick has been lying to her. I also liked the scene between Claire and her father, who laments the fact his daughter hasn't provided him with grandchildren. A really nice, well-acted scene.
  

• Agent Harrison learns that Agent Werner is being paid to bring down Patty and, when Harrison asks to be cut in on the deal, he's given a fatal drug overdose. And his killer was none other than Dave; who appears to be the season's all-purpose villain who has been manipulating events in every corner of the storyline! Not sure I really buy into that, but... we'll see how much sense it makes by the finale.

This was actually a pretty strong episode, as it should be now we're close to the end. Things are coming together quite well, but I really hope Damages will learn some lessons from this season when planning season 3 -- primarily, audiences don't care about stocks and shares. There's no sense of victimization, so there's little to keep us engaged with the story. Compare and contrast with season 1 -- which was all about people losing their jobs, a fiance's murder, a young woman's corruption, etc. Oh, and Tate Donovan redeemed himself as director, after the awfulness of "I Agree, It Wasn't Funny."


19 April 2009
BBC1, 10.20pm

Writers: Glenn Kessler, Todd A. Kessler & Daniel Zelman
Director: Tate Donovan

DAMAGES 2.9 - "You Got Your Prom Date Pregnant"

||SPOILERS|| I'm still not feeling the hunger to devour episodes of Damages like I did during season 1, sorry to say. I have the remainder of season 2 ready to view, but prefer to wait for the BBC1 airings every Sunday. I just finding some of its mysteries too impenetrable until the show gets around to explaining them (the sat-nav coordinates oddity, for e.g), and don't have the heart or enthusiasm to try and work out what's going on now...

A few thoughts on the big developments:

• Patty's husband Phil is being courted by UNR to join their Energy Department, so he wants Patty to drop the lawsuit against them. Is he saving her a lot of heartache for good reasons, or does he want her out of the way to take advantage of a business opportunity? He seemed like such a rock in season 1, but I guess some rocks are poreous.
  

• Ellen tells the FBI that she doesn't suspect Patty of Uncle Pete's death (and they believe her), while Tom asks a favour of his plot-device sister (a Justice Department lawyer) to see what the FBI have on Patty, and she discovers they don't even have a case-file about the investigation. Only... well, they do really, it's just totally off-the-record.
  

• Wes makes a move on Katie Connor, after his grief counsellor tells him to avoid a relationship with Ellen, but Katie realizes during their first date that he's fallen for her best-friend. But has he? Wes is actually working for the marvellously dour and creepy Detective Messer, who tells him to kill Ellen as his final job. Will Wes go through with the hit? I somehow doubt it; Wes seems like a nice-guy beneath it all. He's just being manipulated.
  

• Patty turns her attention to Lonnie, the prostitute involved with the trader behind the market manipulation scheme to benefit UNR, and gets her help by paying for her nightclass tuition and putting a good word in with a judge involved in her child custody case.
  
  
• And, in a flashback set two months ahead, we see that Ellen gets her gun to threaten Patty from Tom Shayes -- who has been fired by Patty for some unspecified reason.
  

And where in the world has Daniel Purcell gone, eh? It almost feels like he was in the previous season now. I just don't think Damages has the ability to make a stock market conspiracy really fly on screen, as it's just not as relatable as season 1's storyline and feels quite victimless in many ways. It was better earlier in season 2 when UNR were drawn as a nasty corporation polluting water, giving people illnesses and killing livestock. It's all gone very opaque and meandering just recently, and while the revelations are now arriving as we approach episode 13's finale... well, I'm just hoping the last episode rescues the story.


12 April 2009
BBC1, 11.05pm

Writer: Mark Fish
Director: Edward Bianchi