‘Damages’: Whom can you trust?

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After watching Monday’s “Damages,” I’m fairly certain the only thing we know for sure is that no one is who they say they are.

For those of us who thought this season took a horrible dip in the drama department and pace, this week and last week’s episodes should have put a smile on our faces. The season’s speed has apparently picked up, and now it’s careening toward its gory end.

In this episode, we saw the mask fall on several characters, which set us up for a very intriguing finale as Patty sets out to destroy the Tobins’ inner circle.

Leonard ‘Wiggins’ out
Isn’t it peculiar to find that Leonard, the strangest one of the Tobin team, may actually be the one with a moral center? I wrote that and instantly I knew I’d probably be taking it back next week. For now, humor me.

Joe has gone off the deep end, inadvertently had his own daughter killed and showed his most major feat of stupidity in telling Mr. Zedeck that he was no longer calling the shots. Marilyn allowed Joe to kill her granddaughter. Carol killed Danielle Marchetti and then went off the deep end. And Louis, well, he created this entire mess. So, a couple weeks ago when I was sure Leonard would get rid of his extorting father, he decided to pay him off.
He probably regretted not just having him killed, though, when he had to bail his father out of jail. Word got back to Ellen’s reporter friend with benefits. That, of course, made Tom’s plan possible.

Tom redeems himself
It’s not clear to me how far back Tom has been plotting. I venture to say that he saw the error of his ways after realizing Ellen took the fall for his mistake in approaching Tessa against Patty’s orders. Nevertheless, he made up for it this week.

After leaking his connection to the Tobin Ponzi scheme himself, Tom publicly resigned from the firm. That allowed him to contact Leonard when he too was cast out from the Tobins after Ellen informed Joe of Leonard’s carpet-bagging past. With no one else to turn to, Leonard strikes a deal for immunity with Tom (via Ellen’s district attorney connections), a deal which I’m not sure is really happening, and agrees to get him back some of his money.

Tom, cast out by his wife as well, takes up residence in one of Leonard’s apartments where the homeless man finds him. By the way, how did he get into the apartment? Will he have something to do with killing Tom? Like I said, no one is what he or she seems right now.

Patty is fooled
It doesn’t happen much, but Patty hasn’t been as astute as we’re used to. She’s borderline schizophrenic with that crazy horse showing up outside her dreams now. She seems indecisive, such as in the firing of the new associate Alex in the last episode. We also see her on the verge of giving up on the case before Ellen gives her a rousing pep talk. She’s not exactly at the top of her game right now. In fact, she was totally clueless about Tom’s plan and her son’s girlfriend’s deception after Patty paid her off to leave. I do have faith that Patty will pull it all together in the finale, but we already know she’ll lose another person from her inner circle before this is all over. How will that affect her already unstable being?

So, it’s that time now: What are your predictions for the finale? How does Tom die? How will Patty recover the Tobin cash? And, why has the show returned to the conspiracy surrounding Ellen’s fiancé’s death?

-- Jethro Nededog (Follow me on Twitter @TheRealJethro)

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