Thursday, August 16, 2007

Damages....who's in charge?

I waited a few weeks to comment on the new FX show Damages because I couldn't figure out if I liked it, hated it or didn't care. Glenn Close stars as a high-powered lawyer hiring a new associate played by Rose Byrne who seems to have been in a dozen things this year. However, the episode jumps back and forth between "today" and "6 months ago". In "today," Rose is covered in blood and sits in an interview room at the police station nearly catatonic. "6 month ago" she's being hired to work for Glenn's firm and begins working on a prosecuting a case that bears similarity to Ken Lay and the Enron thing, with Ted Danson playing the role of Ken Lay. Over the first few episodes, we find out there are tons of sinister things afoot, and perhaps our dear sweet innocent Rose was nearly destroyed, but we aren't told who destroys her (Danson or Close) or why her fiancee is dead. Basically there's a serious mystery going on that will be resolved, hopefully by the end of the season - why Rose is covered in blood and who killed her fiancee. But the better mystery is in whether Glenn is bad or just pretending to be bad. We see that she seems to like her son a lot - though when he sends her a grenade in the mail, she ships him off to boot camp. There are all kinds of misdirection, lies, deceit and thiller-esque plot twists, and after the first few episodes, I know I will eagerly watch all the rest. It's on Tuesdays at 10 on FX.

6 comments:

Cat said...

Sounds Alias-esque! Including the dead fiancé ;-) (Glenn Close as Ron Rifkin?)

Jess said...

She's a very nice version of Rifkin, and not skeezy and very obviously smart and on top of things - but even more evil at heart. She's terrific.

Cat said...

I can so see myself addictively watching this on DVD in a year or so. (however soon they produce them! Maybe sooner in an attempt to get new viewers)

Jess said...

Yeah - though they don't know if there will be more than the 13 episodes already produced...no word on a second season. It's such a story that must be resolved, it's hard to know where they'd go. But if Prison Break can do it - anyone can...

Loodle said...

I have to say though, there are some cheese-tastic lines in this series. Glenn Close is fantastic, but I don't know if a cable network has he money/viewers to keep the show going long term.

I haven't watched lately; have they shown Glenn Close in 'today'? Or do you think it's her blood on Rose Byrne?

Jess said...

Oh, the dialogue is ridiculous, but it's still a fun mystery. I don't know how they'll do another season - unless they just keep focusing on new associates at Close's firm. There's a marathon today (9/3) and new episodes start tomorrow.