TV Review: 'Damages'

FX reinvigorates the legal thriller

Rick Porter
Zap2It.com

July 24 2007

The serialized thriller has taken a beating on television over the past year. The 2006-07 season is littered with the corpses of a number of new plot-driven serials, and even the granddaddy of all pulse-pounders, "24," went off its game.

A show like "Damages," then, arrives in our living rooms trailing all that baggage, equipped as it is with multiple plot threads and shady motives at every turn.

Within just a few minutes, though, "Damages" makes you forget about all the "Vanisheds" and "Kidnappeds" and "Smiths" of last year. Propelled by an icy, fierce performance from Glenn Close as a powerful and morally questionable attorney, the first two episodes set up a complex and seriously compelling mystery -- more than one, actually -- and a world where seemingly everyone has an agenda.

And, because "Damages" airs on FX (it premieres at 10 p.m. ET Tuesday), which doesn't feel the same ratings pressure that helped kill the broadcast serials, viewers needn't worry that the show will get cut short before unraveling at least most of its twists and turns.

The series opens with frantic images of a young woman running down the New York streets, wild-eyed and smeared with blood. We learn soon enough that she's Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne of "28 Weeks Later") and that she's just left a murder scene.

The bulk of "Damages," though, takes place six months in the past, with Ellen turning down a plum job at a law firm to work for top litigator Patty Hewes (Close). Hearing this, a partner in the other firm hands her a business card, then asks her to write her name and the words "I've been warned" on the back.

Hewes is involved in a high-stakes civil case against billionaire Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), seeking damages for thousands of his employees who lost their pensions. Frobisher has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing and has offered the employees a $100 million settlement, but Hewes is pressing for a much bigger verdict at trial.

It soon becomes clear that Hewes has hired Ellen for more than just her potential: Her fiance's sister has a possible connection to the case. Ellen starts to wonder about her hiring and to question her boss' tactics, but after seeking counsel with one of Hewes' close associates, Tom Shayes (Tate Donovan, "The O.C."), she goes along.

Of course, she doesn't know everything. It's standard operating procedure in a show like this that the audience will have more information than the lead character, but creators Todd Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman do a smart thing by having Ellen figure some things out for herself. She may be a little naive, but she's far from dumb, which helps us buy the fact that Patty Hewes might want her in her firm as something more than just a pawn.

Close, no surprise, is fantastic as Patty Hewes. She commands any room she's in, possessing an almost fearsome intelligence and a cutting sarcasm. There are hints at humanity too -- she laments her lack of parenting skills, and in one small scene is transfixed by a home-shopping show on TV.

As her adversary, Danson is painted in rather appealing shades of gray as well. At times the character even comes across as a little sympathetic, although by the end of episode two it's clear that he's capable of some pretty bad things. Byrne capably holds her own as Ellen, and Donovan and Zeljko Ivanek, as Frobisher's lawyer, are solid in smaller roles.

Framing the legal case with the present-day murder investigation keeps the pace from slackening, reminding viewers that things are not destined to end well. The two timelines will, presumably, collide before season's end, and there's just about no question that I'll be there when they do.