“Damages” — A Regular Earl Anthony
Let’s rob Aurthur Frobisher!
Damages continues to be a pleasant summer distraction. This is especially true this week with the the addition of a fairly thin Donal Logue as Tom’s exercise/lawyer friend. His energy provided a needed bit of juice to a story that has way too many hot and cold moments. More after the jump…
Half of this show show is glue-you-to-your-television good. The way the pros handle the Arthur Frobisher case is unexpectedly fascinating given the fact that there is so little action — it’s all mind games. Glenn Close and Tate Donovan work wonderfully together, and Ted Danson is utterly convincing as a scum-bag corporate criminal in his every moment on screen. He works because you can tell Aurthur Frobisher honestly believes he’s innocent. His sly, lizard/James Carvile-looking lawyer is as adept in making what should be a two-dimensional character pop with life.
If only things were as rosy in the show’s other half. The entire storyline involving Rose Byrne’s Ellen, while maybe important structurally for wherever the series is going, is unquestionably boring and acted poorly. It’s no coincidence that this is the side that has all of the young people in it. Compared to Close and Danson and Donovan this other batch of actors (which features the guy who played the jock in “Can’t Hardly Wait”) is barely treading water.
That these characters, specifically Ellen, are all involved in what we have to assume is the season’s climax, is a tad disappointing. After this week’s episode I realized that I honestly don’t care what happens four months down the road because I don’t care about Ellen, her husband, his sister, or her manipulative boyfriend. Honestly, would you choose to watch community theater when Broadway is right in front of you? This division is what is keeping Damages from being something really special.
The big plot points that were hit this week involved Tom being courted by another firm, debating whether he should go out on his own, but ultimately realizing that he’s not a number one but instead a second in command. He ends up back with Patty Hewes as a silent partner. In a way, that’s really the only story that mattered this week. The secretive wheelings and dealings with the Frobisher case seemed to have little impact on anything aside from reminding us that this has not yet gone away. Actually, the episode could have easily served as a stand-alone — something that is nice to have in the middle of a long and sometimes complicated season.
Of course we were left with another massive cliffhanger suggesting, logically, that it is Tom who ultimately tries to kill Ellen (maybe). It is these moments I find frustrating, not that I don’t think Tom would go that far (of course he’d go that far) but because it further solidifies Ellen as the key to this whole big puzzle — and Ellen and company are boring to watch. This is, after all, television. and not a Choose Your Own Adventure. We’ll just have to ride it out.
August 23rd, 2007 at 1:02 pm
I dont think it was Tom because she probably just would have said that…