Customer Reviews

Damages: The Complete First Season

5 star:		(103)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

One of the biggest treats of the 2007 television season was "Damages," a wicked and wonderful legal thriller from FX. Headlined by Glenn Close, I expected to enjoy this show--but I wasn't prepared for the level of sophistication, complexity, and intelligence it offered up from its first twisty, and twisted, moments. Made for adults, this drama demands attention and may not be for the casual viewer. With its intricate plotting and structure, the story is told from different time periods interwoven throughout each episode. Essentially, snippets of the story are presented in each time frame, so the audience is left to speculate about the full truth in any given instance. However, as the season progresses, the pieces start to connect in unexpected ways that can both surprise and frustrate. I'd compare the narrative flow of "Damages" to that of a fine novel--telling you just enough so that you are tantalized to stick around for the next chapter.

The plot of "Damages" is a knotty web that is difficult to describe briefly. Ostensibly, the show revolves around a naive young lawyer played by Rose Byrne. The opening scenes show a bedraggled and bloodied Byrne stumbling down the streets of New York--apparently the victim (or perhaps the perpetrator) of an act of violence. Cut to six months earlier and a proper introduction is made. Byrne is seduced and recruited by a major law firm run by Glenn Close. Close seems to have a hidden agenda, but Byrne is quickly overcome by the trappings of success and acceptance. The firm is handling an enormous class action lawsuit against one of the town's most prominent businessmen, played by Ted Danson, and Byrne ends up squarely in the midst of much legal intrigue. What follows includes lying, blackmail, corruption, and even murder--no one in this story remains an innocent.

While I actually think the plot is the real star of "Damages" (I don't think I've ever said that about a TV show before)--it certainly doesn't hurt that the cast is uniformly excellent. Don't be surprised if you see Close front and center come awards time. Her thinly veiled menace and cutting remarks make for classic villainy, but Close pulls it off in a way that you can't help but love! Byrne and all the key supporting players are solid and believable. I particularly liked Zeljko Ivanek and Peter Facinelli, but the real revelation to me was Ted Danson. Honestly, I've followed Danson since he was a bit player in "Body Heat" and I think this is by far his best role. Mixing equal parts charm and bile, this is a great actor in a beautifully written role.

Again, I don't recommend "Damages" to everyone--I only wish I could! If, however, you love sophisticated drama--give this a shot. The DVD format is the perfect way to watch this show at your own pace and enjoy all its subtleties, surprises, and delights. But, be reminded, if you sit down to watch this show--WATCH IT! Otherwise, you might not appreciate how intricately put together "Damages" really is. KGHarris, 12/07.

There aren't any eccentric characters that make you laugh like Denny Crane on "Boston Legal" nor are there any cases neatly tied up at the conclusion of each episode with a bow on them. "Damages" follows a single case and the follow out from that case from its beginning until its bitter end. "Damages" begins with Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne from "28 Weeks Later" and "Sunshine") bloodied and battered walking the streets of New York until she is discovered by the police. From there the series takes a trip back in time six months earlier a case that Ellen worked on as a new attorney at Patricia Hewes (Glenn Close) & Associates. It's a civil case where Hewes is suing multi-billionaire Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) for hollowing out his company and robbing 5000 employees of his company of their pension plans in the process. Having escaped the prosecution of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Frosbisher now must defend himself from claims that he benefited by selling his stocks before his company collapsing and getting away scot-free. Frobisher of course insists that he is innocent and was as much a victim losing the company he cared for as the employees. We see the entire case unfold before our eyes, the double dealings, double crosses and underhanded attempts by both the Hewes and Frobisher's attorney to gain the upper hand in this litigation.

"Damages" is compelling, fascinating and well written featuring a wide variety of characters with their own agendas. No one truly is an angel here although the naïve Ellen comes mighty close as she finds herself dragged into Hewes' world and manipulated as much by her boss as she is by the opposition in the case. A personal connection between Ellen and the case is uncovered which also makes Ellen suspect that the only reason she got the job was so that she could be used to gain the upper hand in the case. In the process Ellen sees her ambitions and dreams pull further and further away from her reach just as she thinks she is climbing the corporate ladder of success. Hewes tells Ellen at one point, "trust no one" and the same could be applied to everyone involved in the case.

Academy Award nominee/Emmy winner Close, Emmy Award winner Danson, Bryne, Tate Donovan, Peter Riegert, Michael Nouri and a host of film/TV/Broadway veterans bring these characters to life with a vibrancy rare in series television. If the story sounds like it was ripped from the headlines, the Enron, Worldcom and other scandals where corporate CEO's betrayed the public trust and manipulated the market inspired the series but it's the compelling characters and drama that will make you stick around to the conclusion of this 13 episode FX series.

The opening had me scratching my head in puzzlement--it looked like crappy low-rez video. It's a façade like everything else here as it is simply a sequence showing us the raw reality that Ellen finds himself trapped in. As the show jumps back six months in time to the beginning of the case, we get a beautifully rendered video image. There are a couple of problems with video noise that occur.

Audio sounds marvelous with a 5.1 mix that uses the format quite well. The 5.1 format is nicely used given that this is primarily a dialogue driven show with nice ambient effects captured in the surround channels.

I was surprised that we only get two audio commentaries on this set as I had hoped for more but both are effective and insightful. Glenn Close, writers/producers Todd Kessler & Glenn Kessler, Daniel Zelman and director Allen Coulter appear on the pilot episode discussing issues they ran into shooting on location in New York during a nasty winter, issues they ran into with trying to bring the series in on budget but short shrift the quality of the show. I would have loved to hear close and her co-stars on a separate audio commentary track discuss the craft of acting, their approach to the material and some of their thoughts during their performances but what we do get is quite good.

The second audio commentary features actor Zeljko Ivanek front and center dominating the discussion with the Kesslers and Zelman joining in with technical tidbits from time-to-time. Ivanek has long been one of my favorite character actors and he has largely been underused in many TV shows and movies so its nice to see him get a character as juicy as defense attorney Ray Fiske to sink his teeth into southern drawl and all.

"Willful Acts" is a half hour behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the series. "Trust No One" clocks in under fifteen minutes and focuses more on the characters in the series. We also get a variety of deleted scenes. The really cool feature of this set is that the disc is enabled so that the player can remember which episodes you've watched and jump right back to the one you had next in rotation if you choose the "play all" feature.

"Damages" is a terrific, compelling legal drama. All 13 episodes of the series plus the extras are on three Blu-ray discs and you also get an insert that gives you the title of each episode, a brief synopsis and credits for each one as well.

There aren't any eccentric characters that make you laugh like Denny Crane on "Boston Legal" nor are there any cases neatly tied up at the conclusion of each episode with a bow on them. "Damages" follows a single case and the follow out from that case from its beginning until its bitter end. "Damages" begins with Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne from "28 Weeks Later" and "Sunshine") bloodied and battered walking the streets of New York until she is discovered by the police. From there the series takes a trip back in time six months earlier a case that Ellen worked on as a new attorney at Patricia Hewes (Glenn Close) & Associates. It's a civil case where Hewes is suing multi-billionaire Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) for hollowing out his company and robbing 5000 employees of his company of their pension plans in the process. Having escaped the prosecution of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Frosbisher now must defend himself from claims that he benefited by selling his stocks before his company collapsing and getting away scot-free. Frobisher of course insists that he is innocent and was as much a victim losing the company he cared for as the employees. We see the entire case unfold before our eyes, the double dealings, double crosses and underhanded attempts by both the Hewes and Frobisher's attorney to gain the upper hand in this litigation.

"Damages" is compelling, fascinating and well written featuring a wide variety of characters with their own agendas. No one truly is an angel here although the naïve Ellen comes mighty close as she finds herself dragged into Hewes' world and manipulated as much by her boss as she is by the opposition in the case. A personal connection between Ellen and the case is uncovered which also makes Ellen suspect that the only reason she got the job was so that she could be used to gain the upper hand in the case. In the process Ellen sees her ambitions and dreams pull further and further away from her reach just as she thinks she is climbing the corporate ladder of success. Hewes tells Ellen at one point, "trust no one" and the same could be applied to everyone involved in the case.

Academy Award nominee/Emmy winner Close, Emmy Award winner Danson, Bryne, Tate Donovan, Peter Riegert, Michael Nouri and a host of film/TV/Broadway veterans bring these characters to life with a vibrancy rare in series television. If the story sounds like it was ripped from the headlines, the Enron, Worldcom and other scandals where corporate CEO's betrayed the public trust and manipulated the market inspired the series but it's the compelling characters and drama that will make you stick around to the conclusion of this 13 episode FX series.

The opening had me scratching my head in puzzlement--it looked like crappy low-rez video. It's a façade like everything else here as it is simply a sequence showing us the raw reality that Ellen finds himself trapped in. As the show jumps back six months in time to the beginning of the case, we get a beautifully rendered high definition video image. There are a couple of problems with video noise that occur. It isn't a perfect presentation on Blu-ray but it looks extremely good.

Audio sounds marvelous with a TrueHD 5.1 mix that uses the format quite well. It isn't compressed and has terrific dynamic range. The 5.1 format is nicely used given that this is primarily a dialogue driven show with nice ambient effects captured in the surround channels.

I was surprised that we only get two audio commentaries on this set as I had hoped for more but both are effective and insightful. Glenn Close, writers/producers Todd Kessler & Glenn Kessler, Daniel Zelman and director Allen Coulter appear on the pilot episode discussing issues they ran into shooting on location in New York during a nasty winter, issues they ran into with trying to bring the series in on budget but without messing with the quality of the show. Close is a bit quiet during the commentary it would be fun to hear her let loose on one by herself or with a moderator. I would have loved to hear Close and her co-stars on a separate audio commentary track discuss the craft of acting, their approach to the material and some of their thoughts during their performances but what we do get is quite good.

The second audio commentary features actor Zeljko Ivanek front and center dominating the discussion with the Kesslers and Zelman joining in with technical tidbits from time-to-time. Ivanek has long been one of my favorite character actors and he has largely been underused in many TV shows and movies so its nice to see him get a character as juicy as defense attorney Ray Fiske to sink his teeth into southern drawl and all.

"Willful Acts" is a half hour behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the series. "Understanding Class Action" is designed with an interfact that gives viewers a background on how class action lawsuits work and a definition of the various phrases thrown around in the series. "Trust No One" clocks in under fifteen minutes and focuses more on the characters in the series. We also get a variety of deleted scenes. The really cool feature of this set is that the disc is enabled so that the player can remember which episodes you've watched and jump right back to the one you had next in rotation if you choose the "play all" feature.

"Damages" is a terrific, compelling legal drama. All 13 episodes of the series plus the extras are on three Blu-ray discs and you also get an insert that gives you the title of each episode, a brief synopsis and credits for each one as well.

This series burst onto TV screens amid a blaze of hype and critical acclaim. Down Under (where I live) , this series was at first proclaimed as nothing short of the next coming of Christ by the critics. The local network screened it twice a week in its first three weeks, in addition to many (and I mean MANY! Late night.. mid-day) "encore presentations" . Then, when it failed to sustain the ratings, the network switched it to a late night slot (and only once a week!). And, coincidentally enough, the critics all began to sing a new tune. "Convoluted" , "dour" and "confusing" became the new key words by which it was measured.
Sure, it can be a little confusing, what with all the switches in time, but that is also what sets the show apart. Hence my title for this review. I personally find it a welcome bonus to engage in a show/film/book, etc that demands a lot from my attention, imagination and time. A show like "Damages" is definitely more worthwhile and satisfying than something like, say, "Friends". Anyone who fails to understand this simply doesn't operate on the same wavelength. And that's not to pass judgment on anyone. It's simply stating a fact.
Glenn Close is definitely the best part of this show. She commands one's attention in every single scene that she is in. A couple of episodes where her involvement was downplayed, the show actually dragged. Such is the quality of her performance!
I definitely look forward to watching this when it hits DVD. A show like "Damages" is truly diminished by the interruption of commercials.

You think the mysteries of LOST are intriguing? Wait until you see the first season of Damages. No mysterious clouds or polar bears attacking people on a tropical island... just people and their secrets. The show jumps around in the timeline, giving you a sense of what's coming, but as soon as you think you're starting to piece it together, they throw in a new twist. In addition to great writing, this series also relies on great acting to create complex characters who you can never really trust. Get the DVD, and catch up before the second season starts.

Simply put, Damages is must-see television. Way more than a courtroom drama, it's one of the most suspenseful thrillers I've seen in television or film. I hate to even try to explain it to people who haven't seen the show, because the words that come to mind sound so cliched: "plot twists", "no one can be trusted", "an ending you won't see coming". Yes, this kind of thing has been done before (though in film more so than television), but here it's done SO WELL that it transcends the label "legal thriller". The story escalates to a terrific conclusion, where things aren't what they seem, despite the flash-forward scenes in every episode. Those glimpses of the future are one of the things that make the show so great, drawing us in and making us anxious to see how the two timelines connect.

The final moments of the finale are brilliant, as they perfectly set the show up for its second season. I can't wait to see the story continue.

Don't listen to anyone who claims they couldn't follow this show, they must have been too busy doing something else. This is not your typical show that spoon feeds you everything and you need to see all the episodes to keep up, but oh is it a delicious ride. The acting is superb, the writing is outstanding, and even though they've been given two more seasons, there is a very satisfying conclusion to this first season. It is definitely full of twists and turns and red herrings, but that's sort of the point of the show. If it were cookie cutter and easy to follow, it'd be Law and Order.

I highly recommend this show. Maybe it's not for everyone, but if you like a meaty show with substance, maybe it's for you.

One of the great things that the explosion in DVDs has given us is a chance to revisit television shows that we might not have had a chance to watch. It also gives us the chance to watch TV shows that are serial like and that we abandoned when we missed that all important episode. Such is the case with DAMAGES.

This FX series follows a young beginning attorney named Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) who has just been hired by the most notable attorney around, Patty Hewes (Glenn Close). Patty is a no nonsense player who lives to win and will do nearly anything to make that happen. When Patty takes a case, more than likely her client will be the winner.

At the moment, Hewes & Associates are involved in their biggest case yet, a class action suit against an unscrupulous CEO named Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) who sold out his stocks and left the employees of the company with nothing. While the government was unable to prove any wrongdoing, Patty and company are dead set on recouping the losses these people incurred for them.

But all is not fair in love and war and this case is nothing less than a war between giants. While Patty uses everything at her disposal to try and bring Frobisher to justice, he and his lawyer do everything they can to block her or to make sure that no one talks, even possibly resorting to murder.

But that's the thing about this show. As it progresses the fine line between who is wearing the white hat and who is wearing the black becomes clouded. Attacks on witnesses, payoffs, dog killings all seem like the work of the defendant. But then again, could they be the tactics of the plaintiff trying to make someone uncomfortable enough to make a wrong move? Add to that the fact that young Ellen has connections to the case that may have resulted in her being employed to begin with and we end up with a subplot that ties into the main.

The twists and turns of the legal world, in and out of the courtroom (more often out) make for dynamic viewing that holds you in its grip from the opening scenes of Ellen leaving an apartment covered in blood until the last episode. The acting is better than can be expected on most TV shows and the direction shows a storytelling technique that moves the plot along while holding your interest from week to week or in this case from disc to disc.

Keep in mind while this is a solid piece of drama for viewers, it is not a piece that is recommended for children as it is filled with adult content. But for adults who are looking for drama, this is one that I would recommend.

I don't think this show has enough of a soul to win five stars. The acting is very good, but the characters are wildly overdrawn. A world this corrupt would not be like this. It would be armed militias of young men, riding around in trucks with torches. I guess this is a vision of America if it were as corrupt as parts of Africa, if it could maintain 4% GDP growth.

I think the standout role is Zeljko Ivanek. This is the most tortured lawyer I have run across. He is working for the bad guy, for starters, not that there are any good guys in this litigation. Ted Danson plays a man who is in the Enron mold. The company was all accounting tricks, and Frobisher, the baddy, cashed his stock moments before the collapse. The other employees had money in the stock, lost it all, and Glenn Close as Karen Hewes is trying to get it back.

On the surface the Close character is the knight in shining armor. Well, that lasts about 20 minutes into the first episode. From this first revelation the question becomes "how bad is she". Even at the end it is not crystal clear.

There are two many layers of corruption in the scripts. The Ivanek character, southern lawyer Ray Fiske, sort of shines for his glimmers of humanity. But this is layered on top of buried sexual issues, a culture of murder, and twists that aren't entirely plausible. Watch what happens to the main hit man. Really, is that plausible.

There were great noir actors like Robert Ryan, Mitchum. Even Bogart. They all had a grim quality. Mitchum used to get paid to let people beat him up in boxing matches. The Fiske character comes off as apart, unable to share in the corruption. Beyond that, Ivanek can create a character who is deeply troubled, sad, or, relating to the title, damaged. And, in the end, he is not able to cope.

There's no redemption, in this series. The semi-heroic character is, in the end, left with what? Grudges? The Close character is interesting, even if it suggests that gender equality is a race to the bottom of morality.

I guess it's a little sad that the story underneath this, of corporate corruption, is lost in the mix.

So, it's interesting, but a little light on credibility. Don't take it too seriously, it's fine, if dark, television.

Don't listen to those that can't keep up with the mixing of flashbacks and the now. My wife and I loved this show...there is something new and you are surprised(some good, some bad) on each and every episode. I'm not much on lawyer shows, but "Damages" is intense, unpredicatable...I think it is one of the best shows ever. Great writing, acting..it has it all. My wife and I usually don't agree on shows totally..we do on "Damages"..Most will love this show..