Damages on FX (1 Viewer)

[ScottH]

I just caught up on the first three episodes and am totally hooked. Fantastic show.

One question - when Katie signed that confidentiality agreement, Frobisher called off the hounds and even came to thank her in person, but apparently that confidentiality agreement means nothing as far as her being a witness in the case goes. So why did it even matter to him (for the case) that she signed those papers? Did I miss something?

 

[Parker Clack]

This is a show that you can't figure out ahead of time for sure. I personally think that Katie was a hooker in Miami and Frobisher was one of her clients. Interesting to say the least.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Possible, only when he came in the restaurant, they didn't act like they had previously had that kind of encounter. She really seemed to act as if she did recognize him from seeing him the few times she mentioned, and surprised he would come in her restaurant.

There have been so many times I can't believe Ellen hasn't just quit and taken the $150K job with Nye.

 

[Kevin Grey]

Patty seems like the type who wouldn't hesitate to burn someone hard for something like that. It seems like a lot of people respect Patty even if they don't necessarily like her.

 

[ScottH]

Is Patty the Vic Mackey of lawyers? Then again, Vic is probably a bit nicer.

 

[todbnla]

Is Fx turning into the new HBO??!??!
I love this show too, Close and Danson seem to be terrific in this show.
Close plays a mean bitch very well, IMHO.

 

[Abby_B]

I love that during an episode where they are showing me a more human side to Patty, and making me sympathize with her a little bit, that's also the episode where you find out her son's a bit psychotic and she's having him shipped off to wilderness survival camp or something. Whoa.

It feels weird to say it, but poor Patty - I felt some genuine sympathy for her - the only "real" relationship she seems to have his with her husband (who I am very relieved did not in fact blow up like I was totally convinced he was going to), and she's still haunted by nightmares and a paralyzing fear of dying, and her son is some sort of sociopath who apparently hates her and wants to ruin her life. Imagine if that were the kind of kid you raised (though I suppose the flipside of that is equally true, imagine if Patty Hewes were your mother. Scary.)

I like that they made a point of showing that she's not always the indomitable iron woman. Glenn Close rocks.

Katie is a big fat liar somehow, I just can't guess how. Obviously she did have a one night stand (multiple night stand?) with Greg from Florida but how else does he fit in? This has to go further than that!

I cannot wait for the new episode tonight. Been a while since I've had a show that makes me feel like a week is entirely too long to wait for new stuff!

 

[Patrick Sun]

Now this show is really cooking. Patty let her guard down as well after Molina was killed by shuffling Ellen off on pro bono work.

I almost felt bad for Frobisher. Almost. His blowup at the deposition was funny as Patty just kept on twisting her verbal dagger into Frobisher about his impending divorce.

 

[ScottH]

The thing that bothered me about that (a lot) is why would Fiske tell Frobisher about the divorce right before the deposition? That was completely unnecessary and as his lawyer he should have known that. Then Patty could have done her thing and Frobisher would have been clueless to her allegory and everything would have been Kool and the Gang.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Another interesting episode leading up to the final 2 for this season(?). Lots of pieces falling into place as the past is catching up to the present storyline.

Who was the female in Ellen's apartment at the end of the episode (was it Lila)?

 

[Patrick Sun]

Wasn't much feeling it for the first 2/3 of the finale, but loved the last 1/3 which sets up season 2 very well. Overall, a really good season, and quite a ride.

 

[ScottH]

I agree for the most part...at least the first half seemed ho-hum and I was a bit disappointed after such a great season. But the last third was great. Although I have no idea why Patty would want to have Ellen killed. Did I miss something? And what was the deal with her stillborn baby? Seemed out there and pointless to even bring up, unless it strings to next season.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Er, "allusion", not allegory. Re: Fiske telling Frobisher about the divorce:

1) Frobisher is not the kind of guy you hold out on. He would have wanted to know the minute Fiske found out and Fiske knew that. Telling him later would have just pissed Frobisher off more.

2) Fiske probably thought that once he hit Frobisher with that bombshell he could get Frobisher to agree to postpone the deposition, which Fiske wanted to do anyway, for various reasons.

3) Fiske had no way to anticipate what Patty did, because he had no reason to believe that she knew anything about the divorce filing. The information wasn't publc yet. In fact, Patty only knew because Frobisher's wife's attorney broke (or at least bent) the rules by telling her.

I loved the whole season, all the way through. Of course the first part was comparatively "slow". It is simply in the nature of such shows to start off slowly as they set up the mystery, introduce the characters and begin to tell the story. For that matter the first part of most novels are "slow" when compared to the endings - ditto the first three acts of a TV drama or the first two acts of a movie. That's just how the arc of any story runs - the last part is always the fastest because it takes advantage of all the momentum that was slowly built up earlier in the story.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Qui-Gon John]

They need to air a marathon but splice it altogether in chronological order, all the various scenes.

 

[ScottH]

Not sure if this was directed at me, but I merely said the beginning of the FINALE was kind of slow. I'd actually disagree in this case about the setup in the beginning being slow. In fact, I'd say the first 4-5 episodes of this show were by far the most exciting. It hit it's slow period somewhere in the middle, and then picked up again.

 

[Kevin Grey]

Because Ellen regretted blackmailing Fiske. If her conscience got to her, she might go to the police and admit what she and Patty did which could have ended up with Patty arrested.

 

[ScottH]

I don't buy that at all.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I don't buy it, either. Ellen had no proof of any of it (Patty had the file on Fiske, Ellen didn't.) It would be the word of a newly-minted law school graduate against one of the most successful attorneys in the city (and one of the most politically connected.) No way Patty gets arrested based on that, and even if she did the D.A. would never try to prosecute such a sure loser.

Also Ellen would have had to admit both to participating in the blackmail herself and to tampering with evidence and probably obstruction of justice in stealing the information off the SEC guy's dead body and wiping down his car to obliterate her fingerprints. Even if she got a plea deal on the criminal charges, she might be facing jail time and she could certainly kiss her legal career good-bye.

I think it might have been something else entirely - I think Patty may have been expecting an attempt on her own life. She somehow knew a hired hitman had orders to break into her home on that weekend and kill the woman he found there. So she arranged for Ellen to be that woman while she was somewhere else, thinking that this would buy her a few days before the mistake was discovered. That would also tie in to Patty's visit to her daughter's grave for the first time in 30-odd years. If Patty were somehow responsible for her daughter's death (drugs, drinking, maybe they were in a car accident and tried and failed to save the baby) it would make emotional sense for her to go to the grave after arranging for her surrogate daughter to be sacrificed.

It is even possible that the whole attack on Ellen/Patty had nothing at all to do with the Frobisher case, and is connected to yet-unrevealed events we'll be dealing with in season two.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Kevin Grey]

The pertinent question isn't what actually happened, it's why Ellen would think Patty might have had her killed. Ellen isn't necessarily rational about it, nor is she aware of anything else that might be going on with Patty that might have spurred the attack.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Patty was the only one who knew that Ellen would be staying at her apartment - and she seems to have carefully arranged for all the usual occupants of the apartment to be absent. At this point Ellen is probably convinced that Patty is perfectly capable of murder - and she may not be convinced the David's death was necessarily the work of Frobisher rather than Patty. The whole thing is very murky.

But Ellen could consider this scenario: Ellen turns up dead after supposedly receiving a damning piece of evidence that proves Frobisher is guilty. In the PR war that's got to be devastating to Frobisher, and one more reason for him to throw in the towel. From Patty's point of view such a thing would both tie off a loose end and eliminate a potetial liability and weaken Frobisher's already shaky resolve. A win-win. Not sayiing this is how Patty would see things, but it might be how Ellen imagines Patty's calculations might turn out.

Regards,

Joe