Damages Makes Lying Fun

If you don't yet watch Damages, you might not want to jump in with season 2. The Frobisher case may be over, but its effects are still very much present, as are the characters who died last season. With a show this twisty, missing even a moment can leave you behind. So go out and find season 1 on dvd. It's so addictive you'll be caught up in no time.

Now on to the season 2 premiere, which had me hopelessly addicted again within minutes. There was a ton going on in the premiere, but it somehow set up the season well without feeling overcrowded. The episode starts with a flashforward 6 months in the future. Was anybody else thinking Kill Bill as Ellen coolly talked to someone offscreen while twirling around a gun? Just like last season, this future subplot makes a great mystery. We get to spend all season guessing who Ellen shot in that final scene. Obvious guesses would be Patty or Frobisher, but there's no way the show is killing off Patty, and I'm not liking Frobisher for it either. My money's on Wes (Timothy Olyphant), her new counseling friend, but more on him later.

6 months earlier, Regis and Kelly make for fun cameos when Patty goes on their show to plug her charity group. The charity plot allowed for a classic Patty Hewes manipulation. When Sam Arsenault (James Naughton) withdrew his funding for Patty's venture, you knew she would strike back. And when his Yale-bound daughter popped in with a mention of Patty's sociopathic son Michael, it was easy enough to see where this was going. But best was Patty making Arsenault double his funding to get his name on, even though the project was DOA without him. Way to go, Patty. Speaking of Michael, I still think he was up to something sketchy the night Ellen was attacked. He's hiding something.

Meanwhile, Ellen tries to get over fiancee David's death and the attempt on her own life by alternating between forgiveness and revenge, per Wes' suggestion. Counseling may not have helped her too much, but it did introduce her to Wes, who knows how to get a gun without a permit. Might that phone number be used against him, say, 6 months in the future? After Wes brings up the exact date the man who killed his girlfriend gets out of prison, Ellen takes a trip down to Frobisher's hospital, posing as his wife. Seeing him all beardy and sad, she leaves him in peace.

No forgiveness for Patty, who Ellen wants to "destroy" with the FBI. By feeding Patty a set-up case and wearing a (phone) wire, Ellen gets to play like Sydney from early Alias, double agenting at SD-6. But I'm always wary of plots that go against the premise of a show. There is no Damages without Ellen working for Patty, so how is this supposed to end? Investigations last years, so maybe this will just become a permanent part of the show? Will Ellen decide to stick with Patty and stop cooperating? Or (my guess) will the FBI drop the investigation (leading Ellen to get her own revenge 6 months later?) Whatever the outcome, all of the season 1 baggage gives Ellen a lot more to work with then her naive young lawyer act from season 1, letting actress Rose Byrne hold her own among the movie and TV heavyweights around her.

Speaking of movie stars, William Hurt's Danny Purcell made his debut as the man to bring Patty this season's big case. We don't really know what his evil company was doing wrong, but the presence of Goodwin from Lost is enough to insure it's really bad. Guess it's just a small jump from bedding Juliet to killing people's wives. According to IMDB, Purcell's wife also played April in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, so it's all the sadder to see her strangled at home, a la Katie Connor's dog in the pilot. Playing against type, Hurt looks like he could make as big a splash this year as Ted Danson as Frobisher did last season. And it will be fun to see exactly what relationship Purcell and Patty had that makes her unhappy to share a car with him (definitely exes of some sort). Consider me intrigued.

I expected all the new characters, but I was surprised how many old ones are back. Obviously Ellen, Patty, and Tom are here to stay (and Uncle Pete, of course), but it's interesting that Frobisher is still a full-fledged regular. Keeping a popular character around too long can sometimes hurt a show when he doesn't connect to the rest. But as long as Ellen's seeking revenge for David, it seems he has a place. The bigger surprise was seeing Anastasia Griffith (who plays Katie Connor) listed as a regular. With brother David and ex-lover Gregory Molina both dead, I don't know what role she has to play (maybe she's who Ellen kills in the future?). Even dead Ray Fiske got to come back from the dead to haunt Patty.

With evil company lawyer Marcia Gay Harden not even introduced yet, there's clearly a lot going on in Damages this year. Damages has always been more of a thriller than a legal show, like 24 with JDs. If the season can hold up the quality of this commercial-free premiere, it may be the most suspenseful show to air in 2009.