'Damages': Ellen against the world

In this episode of “Damages,” Ellen Parsons, who has been a bit in the background this season at her new job at the district attorney’s office, steps out to the forefront as she makes some calculated moves.

Ellen vs. the future
In the flash-forward, we see Ellen being questioned by the police about her bloody Chanel bag being found at Tom Shayes’ crime scene. She claims it was stolen, which seems credible because police discover Lester Wiggins' -- a.k.a. Tobin family lawyer Leonard Winstone’s -- prints on it. That’s just one of the many striking developments in Ellen’s story line in this episode.

Ellen vs. the D.A.
It’s clear in the first few episodes that Ellen was being used as a tool to decipher Patty Hewes for the D.A.’s office. Although she was working on a totally unrelated (well, so far) case involving drug dealers, she was constantly pulled into meetings with Patty. In turn, she gave the office her insight on what Patty would probably do next. Up until now, it seemed she was on the same page with her bosses.

'Damages': Dominic Chianese, 'Watch out who you hang around with'

In the last episode of “Damages,” we finally met Stuart Zedeck, and while the viewers instantly saw the gravity of this new character, once again Joe Tobin was clueless as to what this man is capable of and didn’t pick up on the cues even when Zedeck sent pretty clear messages.

As viewers, we understood Zedeck could unlock the key to the mystery of Louis Tobin’s stashed Ponzi scheme money. Yet, Joe continues to show his naiveté when it comes to matters that call for an even hand.

“[Zedeck] is definitely a loyal person -- he’s a friend,” says Dominic Chianese, who you'll remember from "The Sopranos" and now plays Stuart Zedeck. “My father always said, ‘Watch out who you hang around with.’”

After last week's episode, we bounced some questions off executive producer Todd A. Kessler in a press call about the mysterious Mr. Zedeck and the newest twists from last week’s episode:

Warning: Spoliers!

'Damages': Follow the money

After weeks of searching for Louis Tobin’s hidden Ponzi scheme money, we’re finally seeing some cash in this week’s episode of “Damages.”

And that’s really all we’re going to get. This was a frustrating episode, because the pieces just aren’t forming any pictures. As fans, we know that if we stick through this confusing quarter-season period, though, the pieces begin to fit. As I mentioned earlier, we did learn something about Tobin’s hidden cash.

Joe Tobin has decided to meet with Mr. Zedeck (played by “The Sopranos’” Dominic Chianese), the man who knows where his father’s money has been stashed. On a stalled train, Zedeck and an associate arrive to meet Joe. It’s clear that despite his overzealous friend, Zedeck works on an old-school system of trust. We saw it last week when he insisted (via another associate) that the police’s knowledge of Danielle Marchetti broke his contract with Louis Tobin and we see it tonight as Zedeck treats Joe with the respect he would have afforded his father.

'Damages': Lily Tomlin on being a lioness

In the last episode of “Damages,” Lily Tomlin’s character definitely stepped up to the role of the lioness protecting her cubs. Louis Tobin may be gone, but he left behind a minefield for her and the family to cross as the season continues.

“The question for Marilyn ultimately will be how far will she be willing to go to protect her family,” says “Damages” executive producer Daniel Zelman. “And in that sense, there are definitely parallels with Patty, because one of the central questions to Patty’s behavior has always been how far will Patty go. Except in Patty’s case, it’s not to protect her family; it’s to win the case.”

In our last press call, Lily Tomlin, formerly a “Damages” super fan, gives us a better understanding of what it’s like to play the lioness, Marilyn Tobin.

Warning: semi-spoilerish

How challenging is it to play a character when you don’t know where her story is ultimately going?
Well, I mean it’s sort of divine for an actor. I think any actor would just be on the show because the writing is so good and the actors are so good, and the show is just fun and exciting. So playing Marilyn on top of it all, the mother and the wife — you’re excited to go to work and do it. Because I'm thinking, how can I do this scene so that it’s ambiguous and interesting enough, and I leave myself open to those sort of developments too.

'Damages': No one likes the other woman

If you haven’t watched this week’s “Damages,” I suggest you stop reading now, watch it, then return here. I’m going to be focusing on a major plot point from the episode.

This week, we learned much more about Danielle Marchetti’s role in the Tobin Family, but not much about what she may know. Regardless, she won’t be the one to tell us, because she’s now dead. I was shocked the series disposed of her so quickly, aren’t you?

To recap, Danielle was Louis Tobin’s mistress. Formerly, she was romantically involved with his son, Joe, which obviously complicates that relationship. When the Tobin Ponzi scheme came to light, Louis hid Danielle in one of their houses. When Joe found out, he tracked her down, hit her with his car (while basically drunk), held her hostage and almost killed her by forcing her to board a plane out of the country when he knew she would die from her injuries on the flight.

Luckily for Danielle, Patty and Tom tracked Joe down before he made it to the airport. Since then she has been lying in a hospital while the vultures circle above her.

'Damages' EP Todd Kessler: Louis Tobin lives on

In last week’s press talk with “Damages” executive producer Todd Kessler, he said that they would be dropping a bomb. By now, we all know what that bomb was. Louis Tobin committed suicide.

In the world of “Damages,” it’s hard to predict what an event like that will have on the story and its characters. It isn’t hard, though, to imagine the emotions that go into such an event.

“The whole family doesn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore,” explains Len Cariou, who plays Louis Tobin. “And he’s just heartbroken and very ashamed of what he’s done and what he’s done to the family’s name. So he thinks [suicide] will bring some kind of peace.”

Wow, if that’s what Louis thought his death would bring, he was dead wrong (sorry for the bad pun).

In our last press call, Kessler discussed some of the fallout from Louis' death.

Warning: Spoilers!

'Damages': Truth is relative

At this point in the game, how could we know anything for sure?

After last week’s episode of “Damages,” I believed that Joe Tobin had had an affair with Danielle Marchetti before she moved on to his father. Now, we know that’s not true. I also believed that if Danielle were to live, Patty Hewes could get her to sing like a canary after all that she had been through. I had no idea, then, that the show would kill off a major player in this season’s Ponzi-scheme mystery: Louis Tobin. That’s a complication that changes the game for Patty, Danielle and Joe.

Louis was also guilty of simplifying the game of “Damages” when he pieced together a plan to take his own life (quite elegantly with a cup of tea, I might add), apparently kill his unpredictable alcoholic son and presumably surrender the whereabouts of his fortune to Patty in a manila envelope. With senior Tobin out of the picture, we’re left to watch what happens with the remaining standing pieces in the show. How will they fall?

'Damages' Campbell Scott: 'Bad is good and good is bad'

Last week on "Damages," we saw Joe Tobin, played by Campbell Scott, turn a frightening corner and it sounds like he’ll continue to shock us going forward.

“This is going to be our fourth episode, and as is typical with 'Damages,' things really start heating up at this point,” says executive producer Todd A. Kessler. “And so we really follow-up on Joe and I think there is a big bomb dropped in this fourth episode.”

If last week’s Joe Tobin bombs were any indication of what we’ll learn in tonight’s episode, then we’re in for an incredible fallout.

In the third episode, we learned that the guy who once shakily handed Patty information that could help her track down his father’s hidden cash and lead to Tom's murderer isn’t as innocent and guilt-ridden as he seemed.

Recently, Campbell Scott spoke with the press about why he took the part, the changes in Louis Tobin’s personality and what the future holds for his character.

Warning: Semi-spoilerish!

'Damages': Sins of the father

“Damages” executive producer Todd Kessler has said that “family” is one of the big themes for this season of the FX show.

 

So far, we’ve seen glimpses of the theme with the Tobin mystery, Patty’s divorce and Tom’s discovery that he has led his immediate and extended family right into Louis Tobin’s Ponzi scheme.

 

This week’s episode, though, really drove the “family” theme home.

Tom loves the chase

After discovering that Tobin’s mistress, Danielle, may be on the run and leaving the country, Tom spent most of the episode trying to track her down. Meanwhile, his wife and in-laws were waiting at a restaurant for him. Though it was obvious that Tom wanted to make sure the job was done right, it was also obvious to me that he was taking any opportunity he could not to actually tell his in-laws that he led them right into Tobin’s clutches and lost all their money. I don’t blame him, do you?

Ellen is back on

Meanwhile, Ellen went home to Jersey to see her parents and her visiting sister. It soon became clear that something was going on when Ellen’s sister explained why her husband couldn’t come for the visit. Her story about him staying home for a bowling league tournament didn’t exactly mesh with Ellen’s mother saying that he had to stay home for work. After she caught her sister and mother crying in the living room, Ellen had to find out what was up. Turns out her sister’s husband left her. Ellen decided to stay, especially because it seemed that she was a good buffer between her sister and their verbally abusive dad. Later that night, though, Ellen discovered a pipe and, I’m thinking, crack cocaine in her sister’s bag. Her reaction after that was very similar to Tom’s: escaping into work. She excused herself to call Patty about whether they had been able to track down Danielle.

Joe's true colors

The biggest surprise of the episode was just how clearly the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to the Tobins. Last episode, we discovered Joe Tobin is an alcoholic. Though I didn’t consider that a sign of faulty character last week, I believe the writers planted that detail to prepare us for the character flaws we’d discover in Joe this week. They’re major. The good guy we’ve known thus far was effectively erased from my mind when his reaction to hitting Danielle with his car resulted in Joe effectively making Danielle a hostage. She obviously needed medical attention, but the first person he contacted was his lawyer, Leonard (played to the hilt by Martin Short).

'Damages' Tate Donovan: 'Always chemistry when I work with a beautiful female'

On the last episode of “Damages,” we found out some new information on relationships. The most startling, of course, came from the homeless man referring to Ellen Parsons as “Tommy’s girl.”

(By the way, Michael Laurence is indeed credited in the show as "Homeless Man" — just in case you're thinking I'm being insensitive by referring to him that way in my posts.)

I theorized the hints at a romantic relationship were a misdirect meant to throw us off a bit, but it was clear from your comments that some of you disagreed with my conclusion.

In the last “Damages” news conference call, I tried to pin Tate Donovan, who plays Tom Shayes, and executive producer Todd Kessler down on the nature of Tom and Ellen’s relationship.

“There’s always a lot of chemistry when I work with a beautiful female,” joked Donovan. “Sorry. Basically what happens is they get involved in something that gets involved in a lot. That’s basically what — I honestly, yeah. That’s about as succinctly as I can put it.”

OK, Tate, noncommittal much? So, I pressed on with Kessler.

'Damages': Ellen is Tommy's girl?

Wow, so this week’s episode of "Damages" was not for  casual watching. If you turned away, you missed some important detail.

This week, I’m going to focus on relationships, because this episode opened up a can of worms in the relationship department that affected all the other mysteries.

Ellen and Tom. Really? This was the most striking bombshell of them all. I feel we’ve all been asking the wrong question. All this time, we wondered what kind of relationship the homeless man had with Tom. Now, we find out that we should have been asking what kind of relationship did Tom and Ellen have? After all, her bag and his dead body were found at the same place. I think there’s still room for this to be a misdirect, because other than the homeless man calling Ellen “Tommy’s girl,” no other character has really said in concrete terms that they were fooling around. Even in the flash-forward scene in which we see Ellen ask his wife if anyone else knew about her and Tom, it wasn’t that specific. Am I being naive here?

By the way, was I the only one who didn’t see the new plot twist with Tom losing his and his family’s money to Tobin? Maybe, I didn’t expect it, because it felt a little too convoluted in my opinion. I understand it’s supposed to add a new dimension to his quest against Tobin, but I just thought it was jarring story-wise.

'Damages': Rose Byrne on the evolution of Ellen

When we join Ellen Parsons in the third-season premiere of "Damages," she has a very different feel about her. In the time since Season 2’s bloody end, Ellen has somehow pieced her life together.

“Ellen was really a child in the first season,” says Rose Byrne, the actress behind Ellen Parsons. “A teenager in the second, and I think she’s really a woman now when we meet her in the third season. It has been a real evolution.”

In Season 3, Ellen is working at the district attorney’s office and hasn’t spoken to Patty Hewes in about a year. Working on a low-level case on drug dealers, it seemed as if there would be no reason to cross paths with Hewes and Associates again. Of course, this is “Damages,” and what we thought to be true one moment changed when a bloody bag appeared at the same time as Tom’s dead body.

Byrne recently spoke to the press about the evolution of Ellen and what we can expect from her in Season 3. (Beware: Semi-spoilerish)