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« Roush Dispatch
Finale Watch: Damages Delivers
Tate Donovan and Rose Byrne by Barbara Nitke/FX
Before we get to the reasons why Tuesday night’s finale of Damages should be a model for how a serialized show on the ropes should end a season — in high style, resolving many major plot points while cunningly setting up a second season (if there is a second season) — here are a few observations on some other positive TV news.
The full-season pickup for Pushing Daisies. Best news of the week. Ever since the pilot began to circulate last spring, the reaction has been a mix of delight and unease: first, amazement that something this fabulous was coming to TV; second, skepticism that the TV audience would embrace it; and lastly, whether it could sustain the same quality after the knockout first hour. The answer so far has been affirmative, especially (and to me, most critically) in the quality arena. Each episode has been a gas, a treat, a knockout. With great buzz and solid if not spectacular numbers, ABC did the right thing in giving Daisies even more room to grow.
The ouster of Mark Cuban from Dancing with the Stars. It’s about time. Pleasant contestant, hard worker, but an awkward, hard-to-watch dancer (although I enjoyed the premise of this week’s I Dream of Jeannie-meets-Revenge of the Nerds dance with Kym Johnson). This show is now getting to the point where each elimination is painful, because this is easily the best and most appealing group of dancing “stars” the show has yet assembled. Though I believe a woman is destined to win this season, I’m rooting for the charming Helio Castroneves to get his mojo back. Give the guy another fast dance. He’s all about the speed, and the smile.
Now, on to Damages. This is how you wrap up a mystery series. Anyone who thought the final hour would be anticlimactic, given that we learned “whodunit” (the murder of David, anyway) the week before, should have been pleasantly surprised at the number of shocks and surprises still to come in this jam-packed hour. And it smartly, sharply introduced the premise to a second season (if FX so decrees) in which Damages will become a mouse-vs.-cat game, with Ellen (Rose Byrne) returning to work for Patty (Glenn Close), but secretly working for the FBI to take down the woman who we now know tried to have her killed. Turns out the thug who broke into Patty’s apartment to attack Ellen (but was instead killed) wasn’t one of Frobisher’s goons, but someone hired by Patty and brought to the apartment by devious Uncle Pete. This revelation was just one of several juicy ones in the finale, which bounced around in time so often I nearly got whiplash.
Among other nifty reveals:
Hollis Nye (Philip Bosco), the lawyer Ellen should have listened to from the start, isn’t a bad guy, as last week’s finale suggested, but a collaborator with the FBI in taking down Patty Hewes. Good to know there’s at least one decent soul in this show’s dark universe.
Frobisher’s ubiquitous hit man is a police detective. Didn’t see that coming at all. Brilliant way to introduce the twist, with him poking his head into Ellen’s apartment while a police search is on, pocketing a key piece of evidence.
The murder weapon that killed David, a bloody Statue of Liberty bookend, was the hiding place where David stored Gregory’s fateful videotape that ultimately forced Frobisher (the brilliant Ted Danson) to settle the lawsuit. Patty betrayed her nemesis anyway, giving the tape to the DA to use later, in trade for dropping the murder charges against Ellen. What a master manipulator Patty is.
Not that it mattered, because the devilish writers had an even more shocking fate in store for the defeated Frobisher: a just-deserts shooting at the hands of down-and-out snitch Larry, who was cut out of his share of the settlement pie when Patty revealed his duplicity.
In the final scene between a smug Patty and a jaded Ellen, the sadder-but-wiser novice declares, “I don’t believe in the law anymore, but I believe in justice.” Ellen says she’s coming back to Hewes & Associates to use the firm’s resources to prove that Frobisher was behind David’s murder. Old news, Ellen. Her real motivation is revenge against Patty, and just knowing that Patty the barracuda has a protégé-turned-predator on her tail gives me both closure and a reason to keep watching.
If FX decides to give us a second season of this absorbing, suspenseful legal thriller, I’m expecting great fireworks. But even if FX decides the ratings are too low or the production costs too high, among other complicated factors in determining Damages' fate, I am more than satisfied at how this show has played out. Job well done, time well spent.
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Oct 24, 2007 1:04 PM
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Hi Matt,
I watched Damages and loved it! I am just curious what Patty's intentions were in killing Ellen? What did she stand to gain from it?
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Oct 24, 2007 3:19 PM
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My take on it was that it was in the moment where Ellen showed a conscience that she felt the need to have her killed. I'm sure we'll see more as time goes by (if time goes by for Damages).
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Oct 24, 2007 3:53 PM
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The sign that Patty was behind the killing of Ellen came through when Patty asked Ellen, after the suicide of Ray, if they had done anything that she regretted, and Ellen said yes. At this point Patty knew that Ellen could not be fully trusted in keeping the secrets of blackmailing Ray to get to Frobisher which ultimately led to Ray's suicide. Does this make any sense?
Anyway I loved the finale but still have questions:
What was the stalker lady who was after David have to do with anything? Was she just a red-herring to throw the viewers off?
What does Patty's son know? He was in or around Patty's house during the attack of Ellen and Patty and her husband know it. Does Patty's husband know the implications of Patty's son being a possible witness?
We may never have these answers, but I am hoping for a season two!
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Oct 24, 2007 4:49 PM
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I completely agree ... I haven't been this absorbed by a series since West Wing ... even though the subject matter is much different. But the writing is brilliant and the acting is top drawer. It's such a shame to see these kinds of intriguing stories passed over for more mundane offerings. The late hour is difficult for me ... so I have to set my alarm and pop in a tape. However, the occasional marathon offerings give one a chance to reprise the episodes. And reprise really helps ... because the first time through there are so many twists and turns it takes a review sometimes to catch it all. I enjoy it so much and hope to see a season 2.
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Oct 24, 2007 4:58 PM
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Awesome dispatch, Matt. I waited all day to see if you'd write one about the outstanding finale -- and you did! I haven't been this impressed by an hour of television since the gripping Lost finale last May.
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Oct 24, 2007 6:44 PM
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Loved the finale and totally agree, if this is the only season it wrapped up perfectly..
if we get more it has already gotten off on a good foot.
I hope FX runs the season again like TNT does with the Closer and is now trying with Saving Grace... now that people know the pay off is worth the price of admission they might be more willing to give it a shot.
It took me years to recover from Twin Peaks's promise of a one season with an answer at the end.. only to belly up and deliver an awful 2nd season that left me not caring who did it.. come to think of it maybe I am not so over it.
Great Job to Damages and FX.. so glad I stuck with it.
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Oct 24, 2007 7:24 PM
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Ah....great TV at last. Come on FX, keep it coming.
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Oct 25, 2007 6:05 AM
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Liked both shows, but week after week they got boring. I see that Pushing Daisies got a full season. Damages needs to go, it's hard to follow and it getting as tiresome as Heroes.
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Oct 25, 2007 8:37 AM
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Interesting that you thought Hollis wasn't as bad as thought since he is working with the FBI
I felt it made him doubly duplicitous. He worked with Frobisher, giving him info. AND he's working with the FBI - setting Ellen up to spy on someone who already tried to have her killed.
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Oct 25, 2007 8:42 AM
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Enjoyed the finale of damages a lot.. FX please give us season 2
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Oct 25, 2007 9:06 AM
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How was Nye working with Frobisher?
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Oct 25, 2007 9:46 AM
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I also don't see the connection between Nye and Frobisher.
I wonder if Patty ratted on Larry to his peers on the chance he would kill Frobisher? She's so devious, I wouldn't be surprised.
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Oct 25, 2007 12:09 PM
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You shouldn't blame Patty totally for what happened with Larry. The short blonde guy who was one of the plaintiff reps (and was in the room when Patty told Larry he wasn't getting any of the settlement) was the first to figure out that Larry was leaking information to Frobisher. Blonde guy told Patty who then set up the sting with Larry about the $175,000,000 settlement offer.
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Oct 25, 2007 12:24 PM
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LOVED,LOVED THIS SHOW. I DON'T KNOW WHY NOBODY IS WATCHING. THIS SHOULD PRECEDE OR FOLLOW NIP/TUCK TO DRAW VIEWERS IN. INTELLIGENT, SAVVY, GREAT YET MOSTLY UNKNOWN YOUNG CAST. ROSE BYRNE IS ASTOUNDING. TOTALLY ADDICTIVE ESPECIALLY IF YOU LOVE LAW SHOWS, EVEN THOUGH VERY DIFFERENT FORMAT, BEST LAW SHOW SINCE LA LAW!!!!! PLEASE DO MORE SEASONS!!!
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Oct 25, 2007 12:47 PM
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