Summer TV Wrapup: The Show I Should Have Watched Sooner – “Damages”

While it doesn’t seem like it should be the case, there was actually so much new TV this summer that I didn’t actually get around to watching it all when it premiered. One of such shows is the Glenn Close vehicle, Damages, which debuted on FX just a few weeks back. After Jane over at Jericho Monster reminded me that I hadn’t actually gotten around to watching the pilot, I decided to give it a try. After watching the first two episodes (Last night’s will have to wait), I’m ready to deem it the show I should have started watching sooner.

The show deals with Patty Hewes, a high-powered New York Attorney (Portrayed by Close), and her new associate Ellen (Rose Byrne). More specifically, however, it deals with a specific time frame. Over the span of six months, Ellen goes from a fresh-faced newcomer to a blood-stained and traumatized woman. We know her fate, and that of her loved ones, but we don’t know how she got there. And therein lies the appeal of Damages.

However, the show leaves nothing to the imagine about who is likely responsible: Close’s Hewes couldn’t be much more two-faced. I love that the show isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to showing her character’s duplicitous side. Everything she does is purely manipulative, and I almost wonder how anyone would be willing to work with her.

And that’s the beauty of it: we know she’s evil, but Ellen and those around her seem willing to accept Hewes as a helpful force. We, of course, are aware of the tragedy that will beset them in just six months, but that’s the joy of it I guess. It, to an extent, reminds me of watching the first season of Alias where Sydney is blissfully unaware she’s working for the bad guys instead of the good guys.

I don’t think the show is perfect: I think Hewes is almost a little bit too evil, and the attempts to humanize her with a husband (Michael Nouri, known to most as Dr. Roberts on The O.C. these days) and a son seem tacked on. I also wonder how much more they can really surprise us with her character: how much more evil and manipulative can she get before turning into a caricature?

But, for now, I’m compelled to continue watching quite easily. Ted Danson is great as Arthur Frobisher, a tycoon at the center of Hewes’ civil lawsuit that Ellen and her fiance’s sister (Anastasia Griffith, Sister of Battlestar Galactica’s Jamie Bamber [Thanks, IMDB!]) are entangled in thanks to one weekend in Florida. Combine this with a nice supporting turn from Tate Donovan (Also late of The O.C., like Nouri), and you have a cast that’s easy to keep watching.

I worry about the show’s longevity: can it stretch out the six month period forever, or can it continue into future seasons with a character that, outside of her duplicity, has yet to show much in the way of dynamism? I don’t really know the answers to these questions, but let’s be honest: I don’t care.

I just want to know why Ellen is bloody six months in the future, and the events that went down in that apartment. And until I get those answers, I think I’ll be paying close attention to Damages. I only wish I had been hooked two weeks earlier, as this is definitely the summer show I should have watched sooner.