‘Damages’: If Patty offers you a carrot

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

In this week’s “Damages,” everyone is on the lookout for Carol Tobin, who has disappeared for several days. Patty Hewes’ ability to sniff out a lie from miles away doesn’t work on her own son. And Tom Shayes and Ellen Parsons continue to strengthen their bond as they work to solve the Tobin case together.

On the hunt for Danielle’s killer
Everyone is pretty much in the know that Carol killed Danielle Marchetti. This week, though, we find out what happened. Joe orchestrated the whole thing, playing on Carol’s hatred of Danielle. His motive, of course, was to keep Danielle from spilling what she knew.

I was surprised that the Tobins found her before Tom and Ellen. They were definitely hot on the trail. Yet even though they didn’t find Carol first, they came across another discovery that’s just as good.

The homeless man tipped Tom off that the person who threw Tobin’s boots and the phone in the dumpster has just reappeared. It’s Leonard Winstone. Tom doesn’t know it yet, but that clue allowed us (and the show’s producers) to open the door further into Tom’s death.

We now know that three months into the future, and right before his death, Tom and Leonard were working together. It was Leonard who gave Tom the bag of money (which is later found in Tom’s car after his death). The exchange didn’t seem friendly and Leonard was clearly unhappy about doing it. Has Tom figured out that Leonard Winstone was covering up whatever went down on Thanksgiving and blackmailed him?
Thanksgiving is becoming increasingly important, as well. Patty asked Danielle’s daughter whether she spent the holiday at home and she said no. We know that’s the night Louis Tobin called Danielle and his affair came to light. What else went down on Thanksgiving that we don’t know about?

Liberation from Patty
Michael and his pregnant cougar girlfriend ran into Ellen and she, of course, told Patty. Patty then went on the warpath, offering his girlfriend hundreds of thousands of dollars to walk away and threatening to tell Michael that a court ruled her an unfit mother to two previous children. To her credit, she left without taking the money. The meeting, though, had reverberations when she told Michael that he could walk away from her and his baby if he wanted. Right away, he understood that his mother was behind his girlfriend’s doubts.

Flash forward a few months to Ellen being questioned after Tom’s death. We now can see why the homeless man believed that Ellen was “Tommy’s girl.” He may have been referring to this week’s scene when Tom took Ellen to meet him, so that they can ask if he had seen Carol Tobin. When the detective asks Ellen point blank if she and Tom were having a romantic affair, she told him that they were starting a law firm together. Could that be the reason behind Patty’s anxious phone call to Tom right before Leonard appeared? Could the situation have gotten so bad that he would have tried to send her a message by hitting her car with his? Something tells me there’s more to that accident than just Tom going postal on Patty. Of course, we’ve seen Patty drive perfectly sane people to perform insane acts before.

Other thoughts:
- Ted Danson as Arthur Frobisher is back, and while I’m unsure how he will be hardwired into the Tobin mystery, I trust the writers will figure out something good. Either way, he was an interesting mirror on all the themes of redemption, re-creation and manipulation that characterize the series.

- “She has terrible taste in men. Where did she get that?” – Marilyn Tobin’s ironic statement about Carol when she thought Carol disappeared with some new guy.
- “Racetrack. No killing.” – Joe Tobin telling his son which video game he can play. This, of course, from the guy who tried to kill Danielle by throwing her on a plane and then accomplished the act by using his sister.

- What’s up with the Statue of Liberty bobble head that keeps appearing at the future car crash with Patty? Another symbol of freedom from Patty?

- Patty’s son Michael’s art show was called “Emancipation.” Hee-hee.– Jethro Nededog (Follow me on Twitter @TheRealJethro)

RELATED:

‘Damages’: Ellen against the world

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

All ‘Damages’ coverage on Show Tracker