I know what you’re thinking. It’s a chick show. And what’s worse, it’s with lawyers. You’re having bad Ally McBeal flashbacks. And then there’s Glenn Close - not everyone is a fan. Personally, Dangerous Liasons is probably in my top five favorite movies of all time. And I will always watch Fatal Attraction, anytime, any channel. In fact, there was a good five-year period where you couldn’t cycle through the dial without running into Alex Forest and her giant, blonde, 80’s psycho-hair. I’d be like “not again” and then “wait, did they get to the part where she shows up at his apartment?!” And inevitably, I’d give over another two hours of my life to watching Fatal Attraction for the upteenth time. Now I’d have to say the title of “movie most likely to be on TV at any given moment” goes to Road House, which I’ll also watch over and over and over again as if my brain has been outfitted with some sort of chip that makes me put down the remote everytime I hear Patrick Swayze say “You are the bouncers, I am the cooler,” but I digress...back to Damages.
It’s awesome. And the fact that Glenn Close and the great Željko Ivanek nabbed Emmys for the first season was certainly not enough to convince me that I’d wanna watch a bunch of chick lawyers run around New York City. But I decided to get over the fact that this show doesn’t feature any spaceships, explosions, terrorists, islands, Jack Bauer, cheerleaders with super powers, Bret Michaels or serial killers. Because really, good TV is just that - good. It’s not all about cool space guns, donkey wheels that move islands, time traveling, shooting lightning out of your hands, and robots that like to wear red dresses. Look how much we all love Mad Men and they didn’t even have the Internet back then!!
The general premise of Damages is this: Ellen Parsons (Rose Bryne) is a nice, fresh-faced young lawyer just out of school looking for a gig. Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) is an evil, mean lawyer looking to take down Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) - an arrogant, self-involved billionaire with very white hair. Ellen goes to work for Patty (who has alterior motives for hiring her), despite being warned against it by the head of a rival firm, and all kinds of messed up s$#t ensues. Seriously though, watching the first season, I was expecting the usual twists and turns but the pacing of Damages keeps the plot, and the plot-ing of Patty Hewes, moving at just the right speed. Ellen is like a mouse placed in a maze of Patty Hewes’ design, or so she’d like to think, but as the season comes to a crescendo, we see Ellen stop running and start tearing down the walls Patty has built to keep her where she wants her.
Ted Danson is fantastic in the role of Arthur Frobisher. An actor whose known for playing likeable guys, Danson makes you want to like Frobisher, but ultimately he’s a self-centered jerk. Honestly, I think TD was way more deserving of an Emmy than Željko Ivanek (you’ve seen him in everything, was great as Gov. Devlin on Oz, the assh*le French teacher in School Ties...). The whole sleazy southern lawyer thing is straight out of a Grisham novel, but aside from the terrible accent, Ivanek brings his usual brand of nasty to the role of Frobisher’s right hand legal man, Ray Fiske.
Unfortunately, I’m not as thrilled with the second season of Damages so far. Danson’s character is all but off the show, though they’ll have to revisit Ellen’s unfinished business with him at some point, William Hurt just isn’t doing it for me as Patty’s latest client (I don’t know if it’s method acting or alcohol or what but the way he delivers his lines is just off...) and the idea of taking down an evil corporation that’s poisoning the water is a bit cliche. But as we’re only four eps in, I still have hope that this season will return to the fine form of the first. And desipite the sophmore slump, the first is one of the best seasons of television I’ve ever seen. Glenn Close gets to do what she perhaps does best - play an evil, psychotic bitch to perfection and we get to watch one whip smart, fast paced, kickass hour of TV.
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