Catching Up With Damages

Yes, I know the Damages season finale aired almost a month ago, but I just got around to watching it. Since it's been so long, I won't go into a full recap, but I did want to write about Damages' second season, because if I don't, who will? It doesn't get regular recaps on TVGuide or Entertainment Weekly, and its finale didn't get nearly the media attention far lesser shows get.

Now, part of how I got behind was because while Damages' second season was still awesome, it suffered a fairly typical sophomore season curse: overambition. When I heard they managed to get names like William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden in the regular cast, I already worried there wouldn't be room for everyone. Then they added Darrell Hammond and The Wire's Clarke Peters and John Doman as well.

It only gets more complicated when you look at the multiple major plotlines this season. While season 1 was completely centered around the Frobisher case, this season the UNR case was almost an afterthought, with little progress made going into the finale. After all, there was little room for UNR when the FBI investigation and the aftermath of the Frobisher case were taking equal time. This season was quite the juggling act.

But despite all of that, I've gotta say that Damages pulled it all together in this crazy, twist-filled, and pretty fantastic finale. I can't say I understand exactly how each step of Patty's plan fit together, or why everyone did what they did, but the way the finale pieced together all the disparate flashforwards to bring all three plots together was something beautiful. And it even ended in a way that a season 3 seems possible, which I never would have believed an hour beforehand.

I still think the Frobisher and Detective Messer stuff was probably too much for this season to handle. And it would have been nice if UNR had ended up being more central (Kendrick's arrest was hardly the biggest triumph, and Maddox wasn't even in the episode). But while these flaws may keep season 2 from topping season 1, the show still has some of the best storytelling on TV, and it will be high on my top 10 list this year. So for the vast majority of the country not yet watching: time to start. You don't want to be behind come season 3.