Strangest Casting of the Week

This week, Damages introduced a new character, a shady fellow behind the death of Daniel Purcell's wife. This in itself is not news; Damages is filled with shady people who plan hits for corporate types. What is news is that this character is played by Darrell Hammond.

For those that don't recognize the name, you know his face. Hammond has been on Saturday Night Live for, wow, nearly 15 years. In that time, he's done a ton of classic impersonations, including Sean Connery, Al Gore, John McCain, and Bill Clinton (as seen above). Yet beyond the odd Law and Order episode (a requirement of all New Yorkers. I suspect I may inadvertently have played the neighbor of a pedophile at some point), this seems to be his first shot at drama.

So how's he doing? His character kind of seems like a gay version of his Donald Trump impression. Now, that type of oddball character would have fit in perfectly on Twin Peaks, but for Damages it's a bit strange. His presence is more distracting than anything else, since I keep expecting him to go, "Shuck it Purcell. Shuck it long and shuck it hard." But the character's not going anywhere for now, so I'm sure he'll end up making the season more interesting.

As for the rest of the episode (SPOILERS):

Big episode overall, what with Purcell's wife's killer being caught and killed and Purcell getting cleared. But it really all comes down to the ending. Just as he did ten years before, Purcell threw his testimony, leaving Patty with bupkis. I knew the man who fathered Michael "Planting Fake Bombs in My Stepdad's Car Is Fun" Hewes had to be a weasel. Dumping out the water sample Ellen smuggled out of a town not unlike the one from My Cousin Vinny is a real setback. At least Tom got some Mr. Pibb for the trouble.

Still, committing perjury and destroying evidence for a big pay-out is one thing. The reveal that Purcell was in on his wife's murder after all? Craziness. That creepy cop was right - we shouldn't believe a word that comes out of Purcell's mouth. He's definitely hiding more, and as soon as Patty finds out, he's going down.