Over the past week I've spent just over nine hours catching up with the third season of the Glenn Close tour de force that is Damages. As I mentioned previously I have a great deal of respect and enjoyment for the first season, but I felt that the second season - despite some excellent performances from the cast - wobbled more than a few times and came dangerously close to falling over thanks to weak plotting and poor editing choices.

It wasn't a deal breaker, but I was concerned that the third season would also suffer from similar issues.

Spoilers, it doesn't. In fact it's everything the second season wanted to be and more. Damages continues with it's own indomitable style; strong female leads, non-linear plotting, twist revelations, shocks and high stakes in the world surrounding the law courts.

This time the show focuses on the Tobin family, who are involved in a ponzi scheme that has bankrupted everyone who was involved in it. Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and Tom Shays (Tate Donovan) are given the task of recovering the money for the various victims while Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), now working for the DA's office, is involved in the criminal side of the investigation.

Sadly the adorable Anastasia Griffith does not return as Katie Conners, but Ted Danson does as Arthur Frobisher, and he's not the only familiar face who graces our screens as the plot moves along by touching on events from the past. There's also a host of superb guest stars, including Campbell Scott, Martin Short, Len Cariou and my all time favourite actress Tara Summers - who I can unashamedly say is utterly brilliant in every moment she is on screen.

Performances are throughout, superb, in particular I have to praise Rose Byrne - who previously has struggled to bring any real emotion or rounded characterisation to her performance as Ellen Parsons, something I've often felt was caused by her need to maintain a US accent (she's from Australia). She's more comfortable with the new, slightly evolved, Ellen - and she's able to play someone who's learnt about the manipulation game from the best. Yes, that's right - Ellen is becoming a schemer of epic proportions in her own right, a much warranted and superb development for the character. In fact, every core character gets some deserved character development, we delve further into Patty's past while also gaining a broader perspective on both Ellen and Tom's lives.

The third season of Damages is everything you've come to expect from the show; it's dark, exciting and clever with strong characterisation layered on top of a plot so twisted you might as well call it a pretzel. It's one of the current cream of the crop drama shows out there and it's one of the few running a genuinely serialised plot over it's thirteen episodes. In fact the serialised nature of the show makes it a better experience on DVD than when it's shown weekly, you can dive into the murky depths of Patty's world and only come up for air when you choose to. As such I can highly recommend picking up a copy of the boxed set and settling down to enjoy a dark tale of deception, embezzlement, lies, fraud and more than a few murders. It's Damages and it's great.


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For a review of the first season go here. Be warned there will be spoilers about events from the first season in this review.

Damages had a first season with an exceptionally unique style of show, I personally appreciated the ambiguity in characters, their goals and personalities not being a clear cut case of Good/Evil but having instead greyer shades. Yes, by the end of the season we had clearly defined villains and a heroine but the journey there was far from straightforward and the last episode of the season is one of my favourite episodes of all time.

The second season then needed to build on the original season's style by evolving its use of non-linear narrative and ambiguous characterisation without straying too far from the format. It's a tall order, because if the season just re-treads old ground you'd end up with something that doesn't engage and if you deviate from the established format you risk losing established viewers. Not an easy line to walk.

So, Damages brings in more big names capable of fantastic performances - joining the returning cast of Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Tate Donovan, Anastasia Griffith and Ted Danson we get the fantastic selection of William Hurt (A History of Violence, Dark City and so much more), Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood), Marcia Gay Harden (Royal Pains), John Doman (The Wire) and Clarke Peters (The Wire, Treme). A huge wadge of quality talent descending onto our screens and promising great performances.

Following on from the fantastic season finale the second season sees Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) now cooperating with the FBI in an investigation into Patty Hewes (Glenn Close). Ellen naturally has good reason to be involved in this after Patty attempted to have Ellen murdered. Ellen is not only using her position to investigate Patty, she's also maneuvering to expose Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) as the man behind the murder of David Conner, Ellen's fiancé. Ellen has plenty of reasons to remain close to Patty at this time.

Just like the previous season the show is divided into a past storyline that builds up towards the shocking present 'teaser' storyline. The 'teaser' storyline in this case initially opens with Ellen pointing a gun at an unknown person or persons and talking before pulling the trigger twice. It's a marked change from the Ellen of the first season and the film noir undertones of the scene are nicely played. As before, the past storyline pushes forward towards the teaser while the teaser expands on events and gradually reveals more of the situation to raise more questions for the viewer. It was an exeptionally effective ploy in the first season, but if I'm honest it's not as well done here - the performances from the actors are superb, but the editing is very ham-fisted, in particular the music used for certain moments is completely mood breaking.

In all, despite the superb cast, the second season is not as strong as the first one - watching it on DVD was a superior experience to watching it 'live' (one episode per week), just like the first season Damages is a show better watched in bursts rather than one part at a time, but the second season shows a poor choice of direction by the editing and directing staff. It's rare that a superb cast cannot overcome technical and plotting issues, but in the case of the second season of Damages it has happened. Fortunately I'm now watching the third season on DVD and I can say that many of the problems and issues the second season has are resolved.

So Damages Season Two is something that needs to be taken at value, yes it has flaws, yes it is not as good as the first season, but it is an enjoyable experience and it is most certainly worth watching.
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Damages was one of those shows that crept up on my radar after I discovered that Glenn Close and Ted Danson were appearing in it. Both actors who have exceptional pedigres on screen, I had most recently enjoyed Glenn Close's performance in the fourth season of "The Shield" and Ted Danson was, of course, fan-flipping-tastic in "Cheers" back in the day, so I was keen to see how he'd perform in a serious drama.

The show focuses around the dynamic between titanic lawyer Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), a young associate named Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) and their class action lawsuit against the wealthy Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). Frobisher is accused of lying to his employees and attempting to profit from insider trading.

The series is most notable for it's unusual use of time, the vast majority of the show's scenes are set in the past - with only a few key scenes being set in the present time. These present day scenes are used as 'shocking' teasers designed to raise questions for the viewer while also teasing unthinkable events and placing characters in bizarre situations. It's an interesting concept that demonstrates just how important the journey can be when you're understanding how someone got there, not entirely original in the media of film (Memento being the classic example for playing with time and the perception of it).

Patty Hewes is a sharp, dangerous litgator at the top of her game, she's aided by her right hand man - Tom Shayes (Tate Donovan) and her Uncle Pete. As time passes Patty comes to allow the young Ellen Parsons further and further into her business and her life, with events that suggest (given the unusual timeline in the show) a bad end for Ellen and her fiance David Conner (Noah Bean).

Damages is an intense, fun ride of a show through a twisty plot that barely enters the courtroom at all. It's somewhat surprising at first, but despite being a legal drama very little of the action takes place in the courts. The show instead looks at the surrounding work involved in building a case, especially when dealing with someone as powerful, clever and duplicitous as someone like Patty Hewes. The show racks up the tension with every passing moment and thanks to clever dialog and brilliant characterisation it works beautifully. Cumulating in a stunning season finale that brings everything to a head, answering the questions you will have had along the way and then leaving you wanting more while wondering 'what's next for these characters?'

Particular praise must be lumped onto Glenn Close, her performance is key to the show and she really excels in the role. Damages came into being after her appearance in The Shield's 4th season and I think it is fair to say her observations and experiences near Michael Chiklis's blistering (and career defining) portrayal of Detective Vic Mackey have had some influence on Patty Hewes. At times she manages to display the same duality of purpose and even on occasion she holds similar facial expressions to Vic's. This is not to take anything away from Glenn herself, she's an accomplished and quite brilliant bunny boiler - but like any great actor she's capable of cribbing from others and improving on her game.

Ted Danson is likewise fantastic, his performance as Arthur Frobisher is a long leap from the bartender Sam but he handles it with aplomb and poise. He walks a fine line between being a detestable cartoon villain and being a reasonable (if unpleasant) human being with understandable objectives and believable motives. I know Frobisher is one of the outright bad guys of the piece (being the target of the class action suit etc etc), but I still can't help but appreciate the guy.

One of my favourite cast members is Anastasia Griffith whom I think is just wonderful as Katie Conner, but the powerhouse performances come from Glenn Close, Ted Danson and the brilliant Zeljko Ivanek (as Ray Fisk). Zeljko in particular is a favourite of mine from the superb 1990s show Homicide: Life on the Street and I'm thrilled to say he's as good in Damages as he was in that show, but it's hardly surprising as Zeljko tends to be superb whenever he's on screen.

In fact the only cast member I'd say feels a little out of her depth is Rose Byrne, she's adequate as Ellen - but at times her performance is a little wooden. As she's often in a reactive role this isn't too bad to deal with, but occasionally I do find myself feeling unengaged with her character because of it. I'm not sure if this is an intentional performance or just caused by a lack of experience as a leading character in a TV series, but it is a shame at times.

This minor grip aside, the first season of Damages is a whistle stop tour of a story told through time, space and the world of lawyers. It's an awesome experience that will get the blood rising and leave you wanting more.

It also has one of the best (and most appropriate) TV Themes of all time. So what are you waiting for? Hurry up and check out the first season of Damages, otherwise - by the time I'm through with you, there won't be anything left!



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I recently renewed my aquantience with the wonderful drama/suspense/twisty experience that is Damages by rewatching the first season of the show and finally catching up with the entire of the second season. With the third season coming out in the UK on the 18th of October I've decided to spend several posts this week looking at the show and why it's a great piece of television that any consumer of great drama should be watching.

The schedule is to look at the show as a whole and what makes it great, then look at the first two season boxed sets in turn. Hopefully by the end of it there is at least one person who decides the show is worth a spin, because it's a brilliant creation.
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In the latest episode of Damages Patty finally gets her Plantif for the Ultima case while Katie accidentally sees someone from the past and as such Ellen gets closer to proving Frobisher had David killed. We learn a little more about William Kendrick and in the present day timeline things look exceptionally bad for Ellen.

Read about credits, buying a new car and a surprising development beyond the link...

Have I lately mentioned how much I love the opening credits for Damages? Even if I have I think it's something worth reiterating before I move onto writing about the latest episode; 'A Pretty Girl In A Leotard'. The opening sequence along with it's seriously funky score is possibly one of the best opening sequences ever used on a TV show.


If you're curious it's called 'When I Am Through With You' and it's by the VLA. Here's the full version on youtube.

Onto the episode.

By all accounts this was a pretty good episode, for the most part Damages is a show which likes to plod along being confusing for a while and then suddenly shout 'BIG TWIST' at it's viewers then cackle as everything becomes even more murky and obfuscated. But it does have stretches where things are brought to head in a more sedate and suited fashion. Last week's episode was one of these and this week, while having a few twisty moments, was very good at puting them forward without leaning on them too hard.

Everything just felt more natural, though I must admit I've pretty much given up trying to understand exactly what's happening, instead I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. As such I doubt I have any real insights into what's happening or why, just a few observations and comments about random things that caught my attention.

I'm now utterly confused as to what exactly Clarke Peter's character has to do with any thing in the show, while it's often impossible to label a character in Damages as a good or bad guy there are normally defined sides. He appears to be floating above this and playing his own game. Which -- if this is the case -- is fine, but the previous episode lead me to believe he was more 'on Patty's side'. But he doesn't have to make that much sense, he's brilliant to watch and sounds like chocolate on silk.

Speaking of sides, I do seriously appreciate the way Frobisher has now been brought firmly into the plot. His role as Patty's plantif is just a superb piece of irony and provides the potential for some great moments later on. Ellen is really going to struggle to stay calm when she finds out about this development. I wouldn't be surprised if Patty has engineered it to try and provoke Ellen, or am I subscribing a little too much devious to her character at this moment? We'll see, and until then we can just wonder what exactly Frobisher plans to get out of this move.

Katie's return to the show is fully cemented in this episode as well, and while Anastasia Griffith's acting is a tad ropey at times I'm actually pleased to see the character back. Especially as it's brought more of David Costabile back as well, his murder of David in the previous season is something which was left hanging. I'd also quickly like to nod my head in appreciation of the way Detective Rick Messer's execution of the second officer involved with Katie and David was handled. In paritcular the realistic manner of the man's reaction, after being shot in the back he pretty much kept to his feet and was able to turn around before being shot again. Contrary to popular media being shot in the torso does not often knock someone off their feet. Admittedly he was propped up by the car. But it was good to see him turn around with that look of disbelief on his face before Rick finished him off with a second shot.

We also get a few snips of him in the current timeline, clearly planning to kill Ellen in her hotel room and as such wrap up the final lose ends tying David's murder to himself (and Frobisher). He's definately one of the more exciting elements in this episode.

Marcia Gay Harden and John Doman feature heavily in this episode and both of them prove to be more than capable of carrying the weight of the episode on their shoulders. Marcia is of course an exceptionally accomplished actress, but John I've only seen previously in the role of Rawls on The Wire, a role which is described as supporting at best. Here he manages to show himself as the talent he really is, holding his own in a great scene with an on fire Ted Danson and also proving to be as much of a presence on screen as Glenn Close, though he doesn't quite get close to her level of 'predator in a suit'.

The first season now seems to have involved little fish in comparison -- if you could call Frobisher small -- but Ultima and Kendrick are bigger and seem to present more risks and danger, especially now we realise that Frobisher isn't out of the picture.

It was a great episode, full of solid performances, good writing and some great moments. All in all it seems that Damages has mostly moved past the set up for this season and is now looking to move towards the conclusion.
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I've been almost unintentionally ragging on Damages for the past four reviews despite trying not to, but honestly this has been because the show hasn't delivered an episode which didn't contain some cheap writing trick or the like which detracted from the brilliant performances of the cast. With the latest episode I'm very happy to say was really good. I have virtually no complaints what so ever about it.

Read about burgers, Clarke Peters and guns, lots of guns beyond the link...

So the short and important things to note in this episode are easily summarised into a single paragraph. Ellen returns to Patty's apartment - cue flashbacks of her attack, we learn that Wes is working for Frobisher (called it!), Clarke Peters arrives on the scene and gets to work with John Doman (Kendrick) again, Phil - Patty's husband - is having an affair, Ellen is almost outed as working with the FBI to Patty but manages to avoid this, Wes on the other hand realises that she is meeting with the Feds and we're still not sure if Purcell killed his wife or not - but signs point to yes right now.

That's the important plot related stuff out of the way, now I can gush about various things I liked about this episode and the things I felt made it work, especially when compared to the previous episodes which tried too hard. For a start the twists which were included in this episode weren't overplayed like last week, I'd already figured Wes was working for someone to keep an eye on Ellen and I wasn't surprised to discover it was Frobisher. I'd already begun to link those two in my mind anyway, it just felt like a better fit than Wes working for Patty. So that wasn't really a shock.

It was also great to see Detective Rick Messer/Bearded Man (David Costabile another Wire alumni) back into the thread as he's the one directly responsible for the murder of David. With him back in we have another potential target for Ellen's shooting at the end of the season. Possibly the most likely target considering Wes's
position of influence on her. -- Speaking of which, this week's reveal on Wes means that Frobisher likely knows Ellen went to his hospital room but didn't kill him. -- In fact, right now I'm going on record saying that if Ellen is shooting someone in the present day timeline (and it's not misdirection) then it'll be Messer being shot.

Tate Donovan remains my favourite throughout this with his wonderful performance as Tom, he's not given as much to do this week but it's OK, that's part of his brilliance. When needed he's able to take front and center, but the rest of the time he's more than capable of being an unassuming support character.

The other thing I'm beginning to enjoy is the interaction between Patty and Ellen, as shown in the very first scene. Ellen's conversation with Patty is almost always loaded, she's clearly simmering about the attempt on her life, it says a lot about Ellen that she seems more driven over Patty trying to kill her than Frobisher actually having David killed.

Clarke Peters, ah... Clarke. What a star. I was thrilled when I heard he'd be on the show and I had great expectations. He's only present in three scenes this episode but he's every bit as good as I'd hoped. The scene where he walks into the bathroom after Kendrick has laid into the man who was roasting him was just perfectly delivered and hilarious. Also it appears he's on Patty's side, or at least friends with Phil - which means he could be coming back time and time again. That's a good thing indeed.

Really all I can say about this episode is it was exactly what I wanted to see when I started watching this season of Damages. There have been a few rough episodes leading up to this one, but if the show continues with the same form as "I Agree, It Wasn't Funny" then I will forgive the earlier missteps and embrace the season with gusto.

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Sometimes watching Damages is like being on the worlds greatest roller coaster at the same moment the construction team have decided to add additional loops and drops to onto it. As such the experience -- which should be incredible and the highlight of your gravity defying lifetime -- turns into something which is just trying too hard and might even make you feel a little queasy. The core ride is just fantastic, but you're left feeling that they need to stop tinkering and stick with the original blueprints laid out. This week was one of those episodes.

Read about bluegrass, golf and burning livestock beyond the link...

Damages has this amazing cast and quite, quite gripping storyline, but it still feels the need to keep bolting on more plot twists and shocking moments. This is the same thing 24 ended up doing and we know where that went -- Season Six *shudder* -- when there the show leans so heavily on plot shocks as a device you just know something has gone horribly wrong.

The show just shouldn't need to be like this, it's got an insanely good cast all round, one of the best opening sequences ever (so good I suspect The Beast deliberately ripped it off) and Glenn Close. It doesn't need to try and deliver twist after twist each episode while trying to undermine what the viewer previously understood about the situation. It just feels, gimmicky and honestly takes the edge out of most twists, if you want a shocking moment to remain shocking it needs to be sudden and rare.

Now if this is beginning to sound like another round of ragging on Damages, you'd be half right. There's still plenty I liked about this episode, the moment where Ellen and Tom are talking about the difference between Old Country and Bluegrass music was a great piece of characterisation for them both. It's good to see the two together and interacting in a personal position, not just because Ellen was willing to sell Tom to the FBI and is now basically lying about her friendship with Tom but because Tate Donovan's performance as Tom is pitch perfect for his character. Likewise the golfing scene following was just breathtaking to see, funny and provided great exposition.

The episode's best moments are all like this, character driven 'little moments' that keep things grounded and it's these moments which I come to the show for. The 'big twist' moments like Purcell recanting his previous promises and disposing of the water on the other hand felt artificial and forced. I honestly wasn't shocked or even particularly moved by it because I've been pretty much conditioned to expect moments like that one.

The episode had great shots, great dialog, great cast, great performances but was let down by a pretty shoddy plot. Instead of being left excited and hooked, I felt like I'd just seen the umpteenth episode of 24 where several characters have switched sides and Jack's life is in "danger" again.

Left disinterested and tired...

Other Thoughts:
-- This episode marks one of the few times the show has entered a courtroom for a scene. I do appreciate the way this show is able to deploy all of the legal without leaning heavily on courtroom drama.

-- Why on Earth would Patty hinge everything on Daniel? Handing him both the water and positioning her entire case around him just really wasn't in character for her. This is a woman who has access to other experts and as such could get anyone else to analyse that water. Yes she's had a child with Daniel, but this is Patty we're talking about, she's supposed to be the best at her job. Unless a different bottle of water turns up later on which Patty held back I'm going to be permanently annoyed by that.

-- Just repeating myself here, Tom's explanation of the difference between Bluegrass and Old Country was a fantastic moment. Tom is fast becoming my favourite character in Damages.

-- No Ted, No Timothy. I wonder how and when they're going to make their returns to the show, neither feel particularly relevant right now.

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There's nary a snifter of future teaser scenes in this week's Damages, but the plot continues to develop and twist throughout "I Knew Your Pig", some revelations have the potential to be surprising, others are to be expected. On the whole the episode is a slow paced one, but remains interesting enough to keep up with the superb performances provided by the cast. I'm going to keep things brief because I'm still suffering from the effects of paint fumes (the flat below mine was painted and not properly aired, additionally I was not warned about this so I was caught off guard and I'm still feeling pretty sick).

Read about a dead sow, bottled water and impatience beyond the link...

"I Knew Your Pig" was a very slow paced episode overall, it's clear the episode was designed to lay foundations for later episodes. The main new elements introduced is the reporter and his experiences 'lost in the woods' as he wanders around farming/mining country checking out dying animals and contamination from a mine of some sort. Those scenes felt rather strange, almost as if they didn't fit into the rest of Damages at all, I'm not sure what it was which made them so jarring but they had the style of some disaster movie before a deadly contaminant begins to wipe out all living life (and maybe the dead rise up for good measure). It's possible I felt this way not just because of the scenes themselves but because of the forced introduction of the reporter character. We had him inserted into the episode long before there was any indication of his relevance, yes the episode eventually revealed that he was involved with Daniel in some way, but I do wish they'd linked the involvement first and then allowed us to follow him around afterwards.

The big moments this week are all centered around Patty and Daniel and I think it's fair to say these two characters are almost as ambiguous as each other. Daniel seems to get sketchier and sketchier every moment he's around and it's hard to tell if he's either a bad person or just a complete idiot. I'm sure the story is attempting to shed doubt on him to keep us interested and William Hurt is managing a great job at doing this. But I found quite a bit of the later sections in the episode a tad frustrating. This is in part a problem on my end caused by the aforementioned paint fumes and I think in part because of the rather circular nature of the episode, by the end of it we've not actually learnt that much -- despite the episode's slow pacing and appearance.

One of the other big development is the appearance of The Wire's Major Rawls -- John Doman as Walter the CEO of Ultima National Resources. It's great to once again see another Wire alumni arrive in another quality show. I'm sure he'll play a larger role as things progress. Likewise Marcia Gay Harden is great as Claire Maddox, her involvement with Daniel is just going to make things more interesting as the plot develops.

And the last big moment is the revelation that Mike is Daniel's son, as I suspected last week Patty and Daniel indeed had a history between them. I didn't realise it was this large a history, but that's because I sort of thought Patty's husband was Mike's father. Still Daniel has known about this for around ten years and not done anything, it's curious why that's the case, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.

Ellen felt rather sidelined this episode, but I was actually very happy we didn't have any more present scenes involving her this week. The ones from the previous episodes have left me feeling a bit ambivalent about her, there's no doubt her character is a hundred percent more interesting than last season. But the present scenes involving her this season have just not been as good or as teasing as the ones used last season. I'm just not sold on Ellen with a gun.

The main points of the episode and the plot boil down to just a few facts:
‣ UNR are certainly up to something involving contamination and have been for a long time

‣ Patty was the only person to manage a successful lawsuit against UNR (I think I'm extrapolating here from events as they were portrayed, was it explicitly mentioned that she managed this?)

‣ Daniels has a conscience -- he threw his case against Patty not for money but because he felt it was the right thing to do

‣ Patty & Daniel have a son together -- Mike, who is unaware of the connection between him and Daniel

‣ The reporter (no idea what his name is yet) still has the bottle of water despite losing his camera and phone

‣ Daniels was cheating on his wife and she did know, they either argued before or after the dinner on the night she was murdered

‣ It appears Daniel did not kill his wife, and I'd be surprised if he did. Because even if he does have an unstable temper strangulation is not the kind of method of killing I'd expect to see from someone in a domestic situation.

‣ Ellen seems unwilling to take her time over getting Patty, she's a lot more vengeful than I thought she would be

‣ Claire convinced Daniel to flee, but it was Patty who shopped him to the police. Is this because Patty had him watched (like Ellen is watched) or is there some deeper link?

Overall I think 'I Knew Your Pig' was a decent episode, it certainly provided plenty of food for thought and a couple of moments which were quite interesting. Hurt's interview scene with the detective near the beginning of the show was probably the stand out moment, but I was on the whole a lot more satisfied with this episode when compared to the previous one. It's shaping up to show some promise.

Short Thoughts:
• I do like Tom's role as exposition man and Patty's number without much character beyond. It's good that the show has a character like this, not everyone has to be complicated and mysterious.

• Very happy to see Katie again even if it was for just a moment, a show shouldn't abandon it's past characters just because it has no immediate use for them.

• Speaking of Katie, it's likely her boyfriend will turn out to be important because we were denied a clear look at him. We only got to see him distorted in the mirror.

• I think I actually preferred watching the first season in one big batch, I'm finding it difficult to keep all the facts and character names in my head when watching this on a weekly basis. As I watched the previous season over an entire week I was better able to follow everything. As such I suspect Damages is a show best watched on DVD (like The Wire).
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Damages continues this week with a deepening of it's plot and the trademark twist-revelations which both make the show entertaining to watch and sometimes frustrating to follow. Ellen and the FBI continue to try and hook Patty with the infant mortality case while Patty's interest in the circumstances around Daniel's life and his wife's murder grows.

Read about pay offs, sinister cupboards and marital problems beyond the link...

I sometimes feel like Damages resides in the 'uncanny valley' of television, I'm sure you're familiar with the concept; which applies to realism in human like objects, robots and computer game graphics for example. The closer you get to human in appearance the more attractive the object is to the human eye, but as you get very close to human there's this dip in attractiveness where the thing looks too human without being human enough.

Well I judge shows on a similar scale. Here's an approximation of it and where Damages resides:


I've put a few sample shows on here so you can judge roughly where it stands, now just because Damages is down in the uncanny valley doesn't mean it's a bad show, far from it indeed. It just means I'm comparing and holding it up to a standard which is much higher than the one I judge shows like My Name is Earl or Sledge Hammer with. I find myself judging this show on a expected deliverance around the level of The Wire and The Shield. Everything seems to add up to an amazing show, the cast are superb and the new Ellen is at least two hundred percent more exciting than first season Ellen. But then it pulls some daft stunt and annoys me by breaking my immersion in show's storylines.

Like the moment which occurred when Wes (unsurprisingly) turns out to have this cupboard filled with clippings about last season's Frobisher case and then the camera peels back to reveal that he has guns, lots of guns in it. At this point I'm not feeling surprised because I've already realised there's always going to be some 'big' twists and turns, but this scene isn't the thing which annoyed me, it's the music played over the top. There's some big distorted guitar chords that herald "DUN DUN DAAA. EPIC TWIST!" But I found myself thinking both, "Ugh there's no need to hammer this point home, understated would be best. " and "I'm not really convinced I need to worry about Wes yet because the story is going to twist and turn another four or five times over him before it finally settles on who he is and what he's up to."

Even in the episode itself twisted around on his character by having him getting it on with Ellen in a rather dysfunctional manner. Showing that whatever he did up until then wasn't huge enough to warrant the "super-evil" music he got and it seems to jar with Ellen's personality as well. So either he's deceiving her in the future still (in which case we have some confrontation between them in the final episode), she's flown off the rails and become a cartoon villain (which I just cannot see happening) or the writers haven't made their mind up yet and they're going to make it up later or just use it as a red herring.

If it sounds like I'm being harsh and that I disliked the episode, I am, but I didn't. I did enjoy watching 'Burn It, Shred It, I Don't Care' a lot. A LOT. There were so many great moments, but there are also things like this closet moment which just feel engineered to add more mystery for no reason other than this.

OK, OK. Enough negative Nancy now, let's be positive about things. We've found out who Marcia Gay Harden will be playing, she's Claire Maddox and as such part of the company/conspiracy thing which caused Christine's demise (if she knows about that connection or not remains to be seen) and she's also having an affair with Daniel. That is an interesting development and we're now left wondering if Christine's death is related to Daniel's work or to his personal life. Additionally we're shown Daniel burning something after digging a hole in the present timeline, I'm not sure what it is at this point.

Ellen is still obsessed with going after Frobisher, given Wes's still undetermined interest in Frobisher as well it seems like his crossing paths with her is not something which happened by accident. But it's also not looking likely that he's the person who she fires at.

Patty's involvement with Daniel has allowed her to dodge the FBI bullet case which was aimed at her through the infant mortality, first she palms it off to Tom but then she manages to pull him out of the fire as well just before he handed over the pay off and brought future charges over his head. You have to wonder if she's already aware that the infant mortality case is a Trojan horse or not because that's a double whammy escape she's engineered there. Either she has her suspicions (remember she is having Ellen followed) or she's the luckiest woman alive.

Overall, once I got past my annoyance with the music sting I found the episode quite enjoyable. I have to keep reminding myself that despite the amazing cast and brilliant performances this show isn't being written by George P. Pelecanos, David Simon, Shawn Ryan, Ed Burns or Adam Fierro. It feels like it should be in the biggest league, but actually it's one step behind them.

Close to greatness, but not there yet.

Short Thoughts:
• I assume Daniel meeting Michael Hewes is a moment which will pay off later.

• Likewise I expect the moment with the FBI agent and his marital problems will come to have bearing.

• No sign of Frobisher this week, but with the revelation about Wes it seems we have another tie which links him to Ellen's life.

• I do like Tom Aldredge as Patty's "enforcer" Uncle Pete. It's great the way he seems to float around the problems dealing with things without anyone really commenting on the amount of time he seems to spend with Patty.

• No Katie Conner yet, how is she going to get sucked back into this?
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I caught up with the first season of Damages over Christmas after Dan's review brought it to my attention, the short version of my thought could be summed up as 'I really, really enjoyed it'. The longer version will be left for a later review of the rather excellent DVD set.

The first episode of the second season Premiered on Wednesday, unfortunately due to other commitments I'm not able to find the time to watch it until Friday. So this is when my Damages review will be out each week. Before we push into the episode itself I'd just like to mention that I've found myself being followed on Twitter by both Patty and Ellen, which is rather intimidating, but I'll try not to let the fear cloud my judgement.

To avoid major spoilers for those who've not watched the first season or this episode everything else will be kept behind the break.

Read about beards, guns and revenge beyond the link...

The end of the first season handed us the revelation that Patty had arranged an attempt on Ellen's life but failed, Ellen had realised this and was now working with the FBI to bring down Patty from the inside. Arthur was shot out on his land by Larry and Art's attorney Ray Fiske killed himself in Patty's office.

Naturally the second season picks up from this and moves the story forward; at the start of the season Ellen has agreed to work with the FBI by staying on at Hewes & Associates while Patty has decided to take a break from law in order to concentrate on some charitable work.

Now I have to get my one gripe out of the way before we move on. I was secretly hoping that the twin storyline past/present format of the first season was going to be a one off thing and then we'd move into a more present based storyline for the later seasons. Damages is sticking with the split time lines, that's fine, it's not what I wanted to see but I can accept that this is the medium they're using to tell the story with. This is the only time I'm going to complain about it, I'm moving on.

The episode opens with the teaser of a rather femme fatal looking Ellen talking directly to an off camera person. She chats a little to this person and then reveals a gun. The dialog seems to indicate that this person has told a lot of lies and seems to suggest it might be Patty, which of course I don't buy for a second. Unless Damages is going for a two season story (which feels unlikely, the show genuinely feels like it'll finish on an odd numbered season) it's not going to be Patty at the end. Still, I'm intrigued enough already and it's a good hook.

We push onto the past storyline, which is the one we'll spend most episodes following. As I mentioned above, Patty is now looking to start a charitable foundation while Ellen is working with the FBI to expose the truth about Patty. Glenn Close really gives a great performance in this show, my previous experience with Glenn's work is from the fourth season of The Shield, where she's very warm and human. But in Damages time and time again she manages to look completely dead behind her eyes, it's a fantastic performance.

Rose Bryne is also excellent as Ellen, she's already turned her character away from a quiet confused victim type into someone who's developed an edge and a taste for revenge. I did appreciate her not doing anything with Frobisher when she had the chance, it's better for her to not sink to murder. But this act of mercy or forgiveness was hard to accept in full because by the end of the episode we already know she gets herself a gun and starts monologuing at someone before shooting them.

The other big -- well I can't call it a surprise because it was talked about before the show returned -- moment is of course Arthur Frobisher's survival after being shot by Larry. Even when he was shot I wondered if they planned to keep him in the show because the shot was low and in an often non-fatal area. True enough Ted Danson does return, he spends the first episode stuck in bed after multiple surgeries. I can't help but wonder where they're going to go with Frobisher now, are we getting a montage of his gradual recovery? Will 'Eye of the Tiger' play as he learns to walk again?

Joking aside Danson is an exceptional actor and I'm happy he's remaining in some form, even if I'm not sure what he's there for right now. Same applies to Zeljko's guilt 'haunting' of Patty, it's very much in the frame of Six Feet Under and Rescue Me (...still typoing that as Rescume...) but it also fits in with the slightly dream driven nature of the show as well. The first season had quite a few dream sequences and I've liked Zeljko since I started watching Homicide.

In all I found it a gripping and exciting premiere, I'm interested to see where it leads. We have William Hunt's character Daniel and his work related problems leading to tragedy, we've got the superb Timothy Olyphant as Wes. Will he be a red herring, is he the man set to keep an eye on Ellen or is it something else? At this point I don't know where things will go and I'm very interested to find out.

Short Thoughts:
• Ted Danson looks great with a beard, when is he going to do a Santa Claus type movie?

• I enjoyed the little hint at the end of the episode which suggested that Patty set Lily up in order to bring Arsenault back to support her charity. Not only did she stitch up the daughter of a friend without a second thought but she also milked him for more cash and got the name order on the charity flipped from Arsenault/Hewes to Hewes/Arsenault.

• Speaking of which, Arsenault? Oh boy that's going to keep me laughing for ages. I have no idea if it's intentional or not but here in the Queen's Isle that name is pretty hilarious.

• I wonder if Glenn took something away from her time spent with Michael Chiklis on The Shield, because she can really pull a full "Vic" when she wants to.

• Clarke Peters is apparently in episodes ahead. Chalk Damages up as another show who's taken on one of The Wire's allumni. I adore Clarke Peters as cool cat Lester Freamon, he's one of my favourite characters.

• I still love the opening sequence and title track, it's fast becoming one of my favourite opening sequences alongside Mad Men, Dexter and The Wire (season 1 and 5 ftr).

• I'll probably get more detailed in these reviews as time passes with this show, I always struggle to get the names of characters early on in a series. Especially newer ones introduced in with an existing cast, so if things seem a little light on detail here it's because I'm still trying to get a position on everything and organise who's who in my head.

• For an additional take from yours truly check here at Crimespree Cinema.

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With 2008 bringing the end of some of my favourite shows - especially my two favourites - I've spent most of the Christmas period sitting about thinking "Are they really over?", but once I got over this I knew it was time to look forward and see what could possibly replace the huge gap in my TV watching. Now right now there's little out there with the same singular vision that Shawn Ryan and David Simon brought to their own respective shows. These two are prime candidates from the rarest breed of show runner, the ones with a singular vision for their show and a determination to see their stories to their natural conclusion and then end them. They don't stretch the show out beyond it's natural length of existence and milk it till it goes sour and likewise they don't wander of to do other major projects and leave their babies in less capable hands. They knew what the stories were they wanted to tell and they were committed to telling them in full

In short the greatest things about The Wire, The Shield, Six Feet Under and The Sopranos were the show runners and their commitment to their production. They are all dedicated and true storytellers in their medium. So finding shows to fill this vacuum left by their respective passing is not easy. Especially when you look at how weak the new shows which arrived in 2008 were. But it's not a total a total disaster, there are still quality shows out there that can fill this gap at least partially and I'm going to propose a few of them over the next week or so.

Damages:
(Second season starts Jan 7th)
Damages is a show creatively descended from The Sopranos. It stars Glenn Close (The Shield) as Patty Hewes, the smart and determined head of a litigation firm. Her number two is Tom Shayes (Tate Donovan - The O.C., Friends) and they both hire Ellen Parsons(Rose Byrne - 28 Weeks Later) to assist them in a class action lawsuit against Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson - Cheers, Curb Your Enthusiasm) on behalf of his ex-employees who were all heavily affected when some accounting irregularities brought down his company amidst some shady stock sales. Art is defended by Ray Fiske (Zeljko Ivanek - Homicide, 24) a competent defense attorney who's been working for him a long time.

The show uses a complex and intelligent narrative that mixes two story lines, one set in the present and the other which starts six months previously. The two narrative threads are differentiated by a yellow filter placed across the present day scenes while the vast majority of the story is told in the past narrative, gradually bringing the story lines closer together while revealing information and enticing the viewer all the time.

Damages is a smart show, it's filled with realistic people who are genuine and multi-faceted. It's also not afraid to let the viewer make up their own minds about events, it tends to avoid over explaining and spoon feeding exposition to the viewer. It's also constructed in the same way that The Wire is, with a season long narrative which is surprisingly light on court scenes and packs quite a body count to boot. This is a clever, pacey show which will keep you watching from the first moment to the last. Teasing you with tidbits of information until the entire picture comes into focus.

For a second opinion on this you can also look at the review which originally convinced me to give the show a try. It's from Dan at Dan's Media Digest and the direct link is here. I will be reviewing the second season as each episode airs and I will also be reviewing the first season DVD as well.

Mad Men:
(Third Season airs later this year)
I've written about Mad Men previously in a Why You Should Watch... feature located here. At this point I'm not sure I have much more to write without repeating myself, but I can say that the second season is every bit as good as the first one was. Mad Men is another show creatively descended from The Sopranos, this time it's Matthew Weiner's project. Now there has been some hoo-ha over Matthew signing to show run the third season - apparently there is a five season storyline plan - and he's been holding out for more money. A ridiculous amount more considering the current economic and TV climate. But the show is genuine quality. It's not as accessible as Damages in my opinion, but for those people who enjoyed the pacing of The Wire or adore the stylistic beauty of the 1950s it's a rare treat indeed.

These are not the only recommendations I will be putting forward over the next week or two. So there's plenty more to come.
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