Damages - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from the show's run.

[Petunia13]

Why did they always do time jumps? I am not sure it worked for this show for me.

I loved Tate Donovan's character.

[ethalfrida]

Why did they always do time jumps? I am not sure it worked for this show for me.

I loved Tate Donovan's character.

I was thinking of that also... time jumps and suicides. Not that I minded all that much but it caused me to replay some episodes.

[mansonlamps]

I just finished season one and I loved it and am starting season 2. Wish there was some discussion about the show, but I realize it's old.

[ethalfrida]

I just finished season one and I loved it and am starting season 2. Wish there was some discussion about the show, but I realize it's old.

You can discuss it with me. I just finished the entire series. Binged watched it last week...

[mansonlamps]

Ok, but remember I have just finished one season so do not want spoilers! Do we know for sure that Patty tried to kill Ellen? And why was her son home that night and why did he lie about it? These are two things that left me confused.

[ethalfrida]

No spoilers here. I mistakenly read one on my favorite show and it devastated me.

 

The answers to your questions involve too many episodes so I will refrain. 

[mansonlamps]

I guess there may not be discussion until many more episodes have been watched since the plotting is so intricate. About the storyline. How about that Cocoa, cutest dog ever!!

[joelene]

I LOVE this show. It had its ups and downs but I'm glad it ended on a high note. Season 5 was great. The best after the first season (which is hard to beat). I also really loved season 3 which seems somewhat unpopular.

[swtrgrl]

I never bought Ellen as a foil for Patty. Neither the character nor the actress could stand up against Patty or Close. It seriously made it not 100% enjoyable for me. I loved the show but it would'be been better if Ellen was written stronger and/or if a better actress played her. Close is a powerhouse. Byrne is very much...not.

[Petunia13]

Yea. I wanted to like her more than I did.

[Totale]

Ok, but remember I have just finished one season so do not want spoilers! Do we know for sure that Patty tried to kill Ellen? And why was her son home that night and why did he lie about it? These are two things that left me confused.

 

I watched all of the seasons when they were first on, and though I don't remember a lot of details I'm pretty sure "these are x things that left me confused" is something you will be saying a lot :)  I enjoyed every season of the show.

[TheRabbi]

I am through season 3 now. I will say that I found it infinitely better than season 2. I do think the show is a bit heavy-handed sometimes with the frequent time jump reminders, but I found the resolution of the various plot lines to be pretty satisfying.

I think I wish the time jumps didn't exist at all though. Tom's death in the finale would have been a truly shocking, raw moment if it had all played out in sequence. But since it had been played up all season, you're just kind of numb to it. I really liked Tom's character. I agree that Ellen is kind of the weak link.

I can't tell if I'm supposed to root for Party as a main character or not. Deliberately disobeying doctor's orders in order to kill your unborn child is a pretty terrible thing to get past. But I suppose it can't be all black and white.

Edited February 18, 2016 by TheRabbi

[slowpoked]

I just started rewatching and I remember the reason why I loved it so much. While Byrne is nowhere near the actress Glenn Close is, she and Glenn have insane chemistry. I've never seen a TV show that has such sexual tension and chemistry between two females who are not in a relationship, and who's played mentor-mentee for most of the time.

 

Their back-and-forth banter makes the series worth rewatching again and again.Lots of double entendre between the two. I think this may be the one I liked the most:

 

Patty: So you're not mad I replaced you?

Ellen: Patty, you hired someone. You didn't replace me.

 

My favorite is Season 1. Season 3 was great up until the finale, I was just mostly WTF with that. I think the series ended ok, but I wish it would have been better, if that makes sense. The less said about Season 2, the better. Ugh, all that momentum and goodwill from Season 1 washed away by the stink of that season.

[TheRabbi]

And that's a wrap.  5 seasons in the books.  Overall it was a very good show.  FAR from perfect, but greatly enjoyable.

 

I did not particularly care for season 4, until the last few episodes.  Way too many times that season of the bad guys about to go down until some magical twist in the last 2 minutes of the episode that saved them for another week.  Though I did like the resolution.

 

Season 5 was good.  I literally just finished the finale, so I think it may need time to sink in a little bit, but overall I'm not sure I liked it.  I was actually very excited for the McLaren trial to begin since we've spent the whole season building up to it, and all of a sudden it ends before it begins.  And I was thinking it was kind of amazing that for a legal show, I don't think we were ever actually in a trial until that brief cameo in the finale.

 

As for the rest of the episode, I understand they wanted a continuity factor of Patty and Ellen talking on the same dock they did at the end of prior seasons, but was that place unavailable or something?  The green screen effect was HORRIBLE and really took me out of the scene.  I didn't really think Michael's death was earned.  I understand that he abandoned his child for the first few years of her life, but I had kind of migrated over to his team as the show went on (I guess Patty being such a horrible person could be responsible for that).

 

The story of the show was very good, but I must admit that the format of how it was told really grated on me by the midpoint of the second season.  The flash forwards served no purpose other than to continually yell "gotcha!" to the viewers, and endlessly supply cliffhangers.  There were a lot of cheap editing tricks at work, which really annoyed me when the core show underneath it was really good.  There was also some really cringe-worthy dialogue from time to time, but I guess that's standard for any show.  Overall, the Patty and Ellen dynamic is what holds the show together, and although Byrne can't stand up to Close, it's fascinating to watch these two characters evolve over the course of the series.

 

This had always been on my Netflix bucket list, and I'm glad I finally got around to it.  Pretty good stuff.

[Primetimer]

Terrible clothes won't stop Patty Hewes, and Mark Blankenship is here for it.

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[Charlie Baker]

I don't believe this series got its due. Yes, Rose Byrne and Ted Danson are revelations in this season. Don't let the muddle of the second season get you down. It regains form for the rest of the run.

[dmc]

This show is sooo good. Both Rose and Glenn are amazing in it.

[txhorns79]

I don't believe this series got its due. Yes, Rose Byrne and Ted Danson are revelations in this season. Don't let the muddle of the second season get you down. It regains form for the rest of the run.

Yeah, the second season was a disjointed mess. I think Marcia Gay Harden had a contract clause which required the camera to pan over her legs in every scene.

[joelene]

I love season 1, 3 and 5. I thought the show ended GREAT. I don't think season 2 was as awful as people keep saying and feel it's an exaggeration. Compared to the rest of the show season 2 and 4 aren't up to snuff, but still better than many other shows. But, yeah, as a whole it's a bit uneven season to season but not WILDLY uneven like, i.e, a Ryan Murphy show. 

[Primetimer]

And our Marathon Diarist loves every tawdry second of it!

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[ApathyMonger]

I remember S2 annoying me a lot at the time, with too many twists and trying to replicate what made S1 work. I've been meaning to rewatch.

[Valny]

I remember S2 annoying me a lot at the time, with too many twists and trying to replicate what made S1 work. I've been meaning to rewatch.

S1 will always be he best for me. It's been a while but I think I remember S2 was good but not as good as S1 and maybe it was the third season that lost me. The one with the JG(I'll just use initials) Wasn't into that one at all. Then the finale season brought me back, that was good stuff.

[MarkBlankenship]

  23 hours ago, ApathyMonger said:

I remember S2 annoying me a lot at the time, with too many twists and trying to replicate what made S1 work. I've been meaning to rewatch.

S1 will always be he best for me. It's been a while but I think I remember S2 was good but not as good as S1 and maybe it was the third season that lost me. The one with the JG(I'll just use initials) Wasn't into that one at all. Then the finale season brought me back, that was good stuff.

I've just started the JG season. I'm glad to hear the final stretch is good. If S4 drags me down, that'll give me a reason to keep going.

[Valny]

11 hours ago, MarkBlankenship said:

I've just started the JG season. I'm glad to hear the final stretch is good. If S4 drags me down, that'll give me a reason to keep going.

Aaah...Pressure! It's all subjective right? But I hope you do like the final season. It wasn't perfect,I remember there was a storyline that I thought, well why did they do that, it didn't really go anywhere. But after not liking S4, S5 made it all better.

Now see what you've done, you made me go and do some scanning of the S5 eps on Netflix to jog my memory.  Just generally speaking,the Patty/Ellen dynamic was a highlight for me. Glenn Close is downright scary sometimes in that role. I remember all throughout the series, I always had the feeling that she'd snap at anytime.   She deserved any awards she's gotten for it too.

And of course there had to be a HOLY SHIT! moment or two thrown in there. Whoo boy,there was one right in the first ep, and like Damages does, it will draw out that WTF? moment until the end....and make you speculate the hell out of what you think happened. I liked that about the show....even though I'm awful at guessing.    Being as vague as possible here.

I tried to look back to see if I commented on the forum but don't see anything. I probably did post something at TWoP though. I'm curious what my initial reactions to S5 were, but I'm not going to look in the Wayback Machine to find it,takes too much digging around. Maybe one day though. 
But I will be curious to read your take on the rest of the seasons, especially S5. 

ENJOY Mark!   I hope!

BTW- do you watch Bloodline on Nextflix,since it's the same creators/writers of Damages?  It has a similar feel to it, with flashback/flashforward usage and such. It's really good.

Edited July 9, 2016 by Valny

[joelene]

On 8 juli 2016 at 6:09 PM, MarkBlankenship said:

I've just started the JG season. I'm glad to hear the final stretch is good. If S4 drags me down, that'll give me a reason to keep going.

Season 4 lost me a bit, but season 5 is goddamn great. 

[Primetimer]

Our Marathon Diarist feels battered and bruised, yet mostly amused.

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[Charlie Baker]

Logic? In a legal thriller? :-) With the strength of the principals' acting, this season was a big improvement over S2 for me. I would still rank D'Onofrio as quirkier than Noonan.

[Primetimer]

Our Marathon Diarist enthuses about a season that surprised him by being fantastic.

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[Charlie Baker]

Yes! S4 WAS that good. Chris Messina and John Goodman were excellent, but Dylan Baker and the writers simply created one of the all time best TV antagonists that people don't know about.

[cpcathy]

Was every actor in Hollywood a guest on this show???

[MarkBlankenship]

Was every actor in Hollywood a guest on this show???

Pretty much! I'm on Season 5 now, and I've already seen Janet McTeer, Victor Garber and Alicia "Roseanne's original Becky" Goranson

[Primetimer]

And our Marathon Diarist will always love these morally bankrupt women.

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[Charlie Baker]

OK--yes, the Patty/Ellen conflict and resolution dominated this season. But Ryan Phillippe was looking pretty and acting pretty well as a Julian Assange type. Jenna Elfman of all people was good as a whistleblower. Janet McTeer proved what a great actor can make of not much of a part. And it's always nice to see John Hannah, excellent here in a fairly substantial role as Phillippe's second.

[Aria Mohtadi H.]

Thanks for a great review.
I too enjoyed season 4, despite kind of reaching the point of being done with the show after too many red herrings and unfulfilled flashforwards in past seasons (e.g. Ellen asking Tom's wife in a season 3 flashforward, something in the lines of: "Did anyone else knew about us?" meaning her relationship with Tom, or at least what the show apparently was aiming at early on that season).

Absolutely agree about the dreams this season. Apart from the one in which Michael hugs Patty, the one that stood with me particularly with its use of symbolic imagery was Erickson's dream of 'crucifying' Sanchez in his compound, in front of his kids. As if Sanchez was symbolically being sacrificed for the sins of his "father", which in this case would be the head of High Star, Erickson himsef. Knowing how religious Erickson was, the dream made perfect sense imo. .

[atlantaloves]

I am having a season 1 marathon, and am totally sucked in AGAIN....this show was so f--king good.  Hey, don't make fun of Glenn's butch blouses, it's part of her being a power "top".  And, don't forget she always wears dainty little drop earrings that would be a year's salary for the rest of us.  She is so wonderfully evil evil evil.......I was just in the mood for something that I knew was going to be great, and it is just as nasty as I remember, ahhhhhhhh.   

[atlantaloves]

I love her clothes, but honey that girl needs to eat a hamburger and some french fries, she has an eating disorder. 

[atlantaloves]

I am doing a marathon as well...have seen them all before, but enjoying again...I'll tell you they drink more on this show than the actors did in Mad Men.  There should be a drinking game for this show. Drink every time Patty just stares at another character and doesn't answer, drink every time every time Patty just gives a knowing look without saying anything, drink every time anybody just stares into space.  Oh, and drink every time Patty fires an attorney.  Drink every time Patty shows up in a butch button down shirt. Snort.

Martin Short is knocking it out of the park, comics really make the best dramatic actors don't ya think? 

[cleo]

I am just watching this now, I'm not spoiled so far. I'm on ep 1.6. Took me a while to really get a sense of Frobisher and whether he was guilty or not. I guess he is.

The chick stalking David too much. I mean I assume Patty is paying her to break up David and Ellen, but I feel like the plot is convoluted.

The structure of the show with the flashbacks is identical to the Affair, which came after. Doean't surprise me if Treem ripped it off. I don't like Treem lol.

[KnotsLanding]

I've been devastated since I finished binging How To Get Away With Murder and for years I've heard how good this is so I decided to start this. I'm also happy to see the Bloodline recommendation by the same creators. I was considering that for Kyle Chandler and Sissy Spacek and will watch that after this! I will echo everybody and say SEASON ONE WAS BRILLIANT! The way the show drew me in was completely unexpected. I'd heard it was good, but I didn't expect to become so invested in the story and the characters. I almost feel like in retrospect it would've worked as a mini series. I think that's why I feel so cold about season two. The ensemble was just flawless in season one so anything would be a downer after that. I try to tell myself this isn't bad and it's just my expectations letting me down. 

I had no idea who Zeljko Ivanek was before this, but this man has my heart and soul after this. I absolutely fell in love with him! I want to see more of his work. I hated that his character had to die because he was *such* an interesting and tortured character that could've fit in well in future seasons. Couldn't we have found a reason to kill Tate Donovan's character instead? I would've traded him for Ivanek in a heartbeat. In the end though I am so happy they went for broke with season one. Even if season 2 suffered from it, it was worth it just to have a 13 episode masterpiece. Even if this show does have periods where the quality ebbs and flows, I will give them a pass just for giving me that brilliant first season.

[cleo]

I just finished season 2 for the first time. Haven't seen the other seasons yet. I enjoyed it but lots of things don't make sense. I mostly ignore that.

But Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt's characters were confusing. Indont know what their motivation was really. Claire- I feel like she would have figured out long before this that Kendrick was an asshole. Purcell- the flipflopping got tiring.

I still enjoyed it, mainly the actors. I read a few people saying that Rose Byrne wasn't very good. I think she held her own against Glenn Close. I read an interview with her though where she said she preferred comedy after this and I think she has largely done comedy. It seems like it took a lot out of her.

Will take a break before season 3 but still interested to see what's next.

[cleo]

Almost finished season 3. I enjoyed at a lot more than s.2 even though part if the plot seemed similar to s.1 but less good.

Was really drawn in to the whole Tobin family and their lawyer. Enjoyed Patti and Ellen's relationship.

The bad- Patti's dreams add nothing. It just seems like filler. The stuff with Jill- I simply do not believe Patti would write a cheque for this woman and be duped like that. 

Stuff with Ellen's family- meh. But for a while I thought they were hinting that her sister was sexually abused. Glad that was not the case. 

Just the finale to go. Don't really want to see Tom's demise, he has really grown on me. I do want to see someone tell Joe he killed his daughter.

Martin Short did a fantastic job.

[Dancingjaneway]

Just did a re-watch this week & finally watched the final season. I thought the final season sucked. It also doesn't help that I can't stand Jenna Elfman. The way they ended it was predictable but fine. I find that even on my 2nd viewing the show goes downhill after Tom dies. I didn't care for the Judd Hirsch character & I felt like the situation with Patty & Ellen was not interesting anymore. I mean how many times can you do the whole "Ellen goes back to Patty" story? You can tell in season 3 that Mario Van Peebles was no longer a part of the show/ directing it. There is a different vibe and feel. Season 3 had a few plotlines that were a waste. Frobisher making his story into a movie was dull & Ellen's family has a secret was also super weak. The acting though was superb. Martin short & Lily Tomlin did a great job. I had forgotten how much I liked Frobisher's southern lawyer. I had a soft spot for him. Glen Close carried this show especially season 4 & 5. Because I think the shows are kind of alike (htgawm & Damages) I would love to see her and Viola Davis team up. The song used at the end shot of season one still gives me chills. Out of all the guys Ellen ended up with I liked Wes the best. I wish they had kept up the friendship between her and Katie(davids sister). I also wish that she & Phil hadn't divorced. I liked them together. Didn't give a shit about her son or what happened to him but I forgot how much of a crush I had on his girlfriend(played by Wendy Moniz). I was also not thrilled by the one weird detective that came back(the tall guy who investigated Toms death). He was so damn odd & I hated the way he was played. 

[cleo]

Just started season 4. First watch. Really don't enjoy torture and war stories so it will be a slog for me. But enjoying Patti and Ellen's dysfunctional relationship.

Ellen's haircut is so awful it's distracting.

Is the little girl supposed to be autistic or have some kind of disability? Or are they trying to suggest Patti has oppressed her?

Don't know why the excop would agree to take Patti's case. I hope at the end of the series he figures it all out.

Patti in therapy could be entertaining but no more dreams please.

John Goodman is great.

Edited August 25, 2020 by cleo

[cleo]

Finished season 4. I didn't really enjoy it though I suppose it was better than s.2

Goodman was a good character.

Found the guy playing Boorman physically repulsive. 

I did enjoy the finale. I was waiting all season for Patti to turn on Ellen. Scorpion and the frog and all that.

I think the character playing AC and Ellen's boyfriend were both on Buffy season 4. Have to check the names to be sure.

Will take a break before 5.

 

Edited September 11, 2020 by cleo

[lidarose9]

Just in case anybody's still watching this forum, I'll toss this out there. I just finished Season 1, for the first time. I have generally lost interest in corrupt lawyer shows, but someone said this was good and the pandemic just keeps going on and on... so I decided to give it a try. These are my thoughts: 

1. I love Glenn Close. 

2. So much of a show's success depends on whether you give a shit about the people, and I don't. I had not one iota of sympathy for any of them, with the exception maybe of Ellen's parents. Everybody is lying, cheating, and manipulating everyone else. I no longer want to watch things that glamorize shitty people.

The show made me think about our TV villains, all the way back to J.R. Ewing, up to and including Kevin Spacey in House of Cards. The amoral scoundrel who'll stop at nothing, but you can't help pulling for him in spite of yourself -- I guess Patty is supposed to be one of those? Was anybody not shitty? Ultimately everybody was willing to sell out everybody else over something or other. 

3. I agree with those of you who did not like the time jumps. Hated it. 

4. The show did not succeed in making it believable that anybody would see Ellen as America's Next Top Lawyer. 

5. I googled "Damages horrible clothes" and found bunches of articles complimenting the costuming. They must have improved in later seasons cuz Season 1's were awful! Men and women both! Everybody in stripes! Striped suits! Striped blouses! There literally was one outfit Patty wore that looked cool; the rest looked straight-up JC Penney.

6. I was confused at the end, so I need someone to fill me in. Were we supposed to understand that Patty had decided to kill Ellen when Ellen said she regretted what they'd done? And that's why she went to the beach house and bawled her head off and visited the grave of her dead baby? And had displaced motherly feelings onto Ellen whom she believed she had just killed? I kept wondering if I was supposed to sympathize with Patty or feel sorry for her. She was a fucking psychopath! So she just happened to have someone handy who could do a murder on short notice, as well as someone who could clean up all signs of struggle, bloodstains, replace broken glass, etc. well enough that a CSI team would find nothing -- all of this in the space of a few hours? Doesn't the fact that a dead guy had disappeared and someone had deep-cleaned the house make it obvious that Patty set it up? What other possible explanation could explain that?  Either Ellen had non-David blood on her clothes or she did not.