Damages, Season Two (2009)

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Rated: TVMA

Reviewer: Charity Bishop

Legal cases intrigue me, so much so that for a short time I considered a career in litigation. I still think about it from time to time, but then a series like Damages comes along to remind me just why I chose another profession...

Months have passed since the successful conclusion of the Frobisher case, and Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) is attempting to silence her conscience over the death of an associate by opening a charitable foundation to focus on assisting the impoverished families of New York. But when her partner and largest financial donor to the foundation threatens to pull out due to his intention to run for governor under the Republican banner, Patty must discern a means of motivating him to rejoin her -- even if it involves setting his daughter up to be caught in a drug scandal. Her tactics fool most of her coworkers, but not the intrepid Ellen (Rose Byrne), an ambitious young attorney whose insights assisted them in settling their last lawsuit. But Ellen is far from a content employee of the firm... infuriated over the murder of her fiancé, she wants to bring down the man responsible as well as prove that Patty was involved in an attempt on her own life.

Working in conjunction with the FBI and trying not to miss too many of her grief counseling group sessions, Ellen starts down a dark path that may take her in unexpected directions. In the meantime, her ploy to trap Patty into taking a bogus caseload is thwarted when an old enemy of Patty's resurfaces needing her help. Daniel Purcell (William Hurt) has discovered some shocking things about his place of employment, things that should they get out would cost the corporation billions of dollars -- things that just may get him killed. Patty is reluctant to take the case due to their prior relationship but when his wife turns up dead, she has no choice. In the meantime, Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) attempts to make amends for his mistakes and struggles to escape public humiliation and hatred in the wake of his lost court trial, never realizing that Ellen is out to get him at all costs.

Damages is one of those shows I am torn over, because on one hand this is a terrific drama with memorable characters and believable situations, but on the other it occasionally intrudes with problematic content. The best thing it has going for it is the writing, because it constantly challenges us to question our conclusions. We simply do not know everything and that can be maddening as well as marvelous. We do not know if Patty ordered a hit man to kill Ellen early on, although we suspect it. We do not know if she arranged the arrest of the governor's daughter in order to blackmail him into financially supporting her foundation... but we know she was aware of the girl's drug problems and she had motive. One moment we hate her (or for that matter, anyone else) and the next we feel sorry for her. Because of this, I am in awe of the writing team but my respect is somewhat diminished through foul language and other content issues. Since this is a cable show, it can get away with tossing around harsh abuses of deity (including GD, abuses of Jesus' name) and stronger vulgarities like s**t -- and does so on a regular basis. Other profanities and harsh insults intrude, as well as at times a hint of controversial politics (the stereotype of evil corporations, usually run by "conservatives" intent on "raping the earth" for profit), drug addiction, and drinking.

One man involved in the fraud has a coke problem and we see him snorting it on many occasion through rolled hundred dollar bills. It comes before everything else in his life -- even his paid mistress, who appears half-undressed regularly in his hotel room. Another man is set up to look as if he died from a drug overdose. Sexual content is mild this season but does include one graphic, brief encounter between Frobisher and a prostitute in the back of a van, and some passionate kissing between Ellen and a new boyfriend that leads directly into bed (off screen). They continue to live with one another and are shown in a few "after" situations, entangled in the sheets talking. The powerhouse female attorney that works for the corporation that Patty is after is involved in an affair with a married man; we see her rearranging clothing, putting on shoes, and kissing her lover after implied trysts. Patty (and Ellen) discovers that her husband is cheating on her, but the incriminating photos are in good taste. She is also angry to discover that her eighteen year old son is dating a woman much older than he is; he spends the night out of the house quite a few times.

Violence includes flashbacks to earlier crimes -- Ellen being attacked and almost killed by a knife-wielding assailant, discovering her fiancé's bloodied body in the tub, a coworker committing suicide, etc. She fantasizes about shooting Frobisher, blood spurting as he goes falling to the ground. Various episodes contain scene hints toward the finale, where a woman stumbles down a corridor and smears blood on the wall behind her. A woman is strangled; it is partially shown; another person is stabbed with a knife, and another shot in the head. Most of the plot aspects come to a conclusion in the final hour, when at long last we get to figure out what leads up to the images we saw at the start of the season in which it appears that Ellen has shot someone in cold blood. The payoff is worth it, as are the numerous twists and turns that the series takes along the way. It's a shame content intrudes now and again, usually in the form of harsh abuses of deity, because otherwise it's a great example of tight writing and a truly marvelous cast. Glenn Close has been nominated for Emmy awards with each consecutive season and it's not hard to see why, since her empathetic but fierce Patty Hewes is one of the finest characters on television. Just don't get in her way, if you value your life.