‘Damages’: Is this picture getting clearer?
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In tonight’s episode-ending shocker, we find out that Wes is in cahoots with the Frobisher-employed corrupt cop who killed Ellen’s fiance. That doesn’t yet make sense to me -- like so much else in this season -- because it doesn’t jive with Wes’ Frobisher hate shrine/gun storage closet. (Is it a hate shrine? Those newspaper clippings weren’t positive.) Maybe Wes is just duping the corrupt cop into thinking he’s duping Ellen so he can get closer to Frobisher. Why? Not sure yet.
In the final scene, a bullet is fired in a car, leaving a shattered and bloody back windshield. Then, Wes gets out of the car. Could Ted Danson be inside?
Was I this turned around last season? Probably. But it really feels like everyone this season is living a double -- nay, a triple -- life, from Claire Maddox to Patty’s own husband. Next thing you know, those two feds Ellen has been dealing with will show up for a secret rendezvous with Uncle Pete, too. (Because even he’s got secrets he’s keeping from Patty.)
At least the bad guys are still just bad. In the first season, Frobisher was a pretty straightforward bad man. He’d done a bad thing, tried to cover it up, and sent out his heavies to silence and/or murder the people who made him sweat. This year, that’s UNR and this Kendrick fellow who dresses like a woman for his buds but can’t take a joke.
There are two things I’m now clear on ... I think.
Daniel Purcell is, inadvertently or not, responsible for his wife’s death. (Someone give William Hurt an Emmy for playing this guy, who’s been alternately cocky, broken, fake-broken, anxious and all manner of evil while still managing to be sympathetic; he’s just protecting his daughter!) Still, succumbing to the demands of UNR to protect his family, but not his wife, doesn’t exactly make sense yet, but I’m waiting. He seems to have something of a conscience, turning down a position at UNR, and making Kendrick assure him that the contaminated water in West Virginia would be cleaned up. Yeah, like Kendrick’s going to keep up that end of the bargain.
Patty really can’t trust anyone. Except for maybe Tom, who still looks devout in his devotion to Patty after a bat with doubt last season. Patty’s working real hard to gather her chips this season, isn’t she? The FBI’s investigating her, the keys to her case are being silenced by Kendrick, Purcell betrayed her (and seems like he’s ready to skip town), her husband’s cheating, Uncle Pete is stowing away a liability, and of course, Ellen wants to nail her. (The reason Ellen’s last? The least of it? Ellen’s kind of dull so far. Bent on revenge and nothing else?) What’s a relentless lawyer who tried to bump off her protege do? Squirming is out.
We haven’t even heard from Katie yet. How does she still fit in with all this? Send in your theories.
-- Denise Martin