Customer Reviews

Damages: The Complete Seasons 1-2

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I stumbled across Damages in season 1 while looking through the FX web site. Out of boredom I watched Season 1, episode 1 (in teh good 'ol days when all episodes were online). I WAS BLOWN AWAY! My wife was out of town on a business trip and when she got back, I "forced" her to watch S1,E1. She rolled her eyes and agreed. SHE WAS BLOWN AWAY! It instantly became our favorite TV show, edging out Dexter! We plowed through 8 or so episodes online, catching up to real time, then anxiously awaited the next episode. It was smart, well-acted, quick paced TV. The way the story is told from the inside out only increases your anxiousness to see more. In every episode you get glimpses into the future that keep you on the edge of your seat.

I'm not a huge fan of Glenn Close, but this is her Citizen Kane! She is AWESOME as the evil Patty Hewes. She is completely believable and completely evil! BUT, her legal battles are against some really bad guys so you find yourself wanting her to win, evil as she is! It's brilliant.

I have told several friends, "buy the DVD set, if you aren't instantly sucked in, if the first episode doesn't capture your attention, I'll buy the DVD set from you so you aren't out any money." I have yet to shell out a single penny! Not a penny!

The sad news is that after season 3, FX cancelled this awesome show. It's now the property of DirecTV and they have plans to keep it alive. But for now, the only way to see it, is on DVD. As far as TV goes, it's a breath of fresh air.

Following the bright recent law school graduate Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) as she works for litigation attorney Patricia Hewes (Glenn Close in her Emmy Award performance), "Damages" focuses on a case that seems to unravel by the hour as she goes after Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson)who may or may not have defrauded his employees at his company. With as many twist and turns as "Hamlet", "Damages" is tremendously entertaining and demanding as much of the story is told in flashback and there are a lot of moving pieces. We see much of the show in flashback as the first scenes show Ellen with police in bloody clothes suggesting she may have killed or witnessed the killing of someone. This is probably why it received positive critical reaction, great ratings for its first year but petered out by year two with some viewers.

The second season continues as Ellen continues to work for Patti undercover to try destroy her in partnership with the FBI.

The image quality for both shows is quite good although keep in mind the grainy, washed out look of the flashback sequences are intended to distinguish from what we are seeing that led up to Ellen being held for murder.

The first season features a two commentary tracks by producer/writer/creator Todd and Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman. We also get deleted scenes and two featurettes that provide some insight into the show, the characters and the creators of the show.

The second season features four audio commentary tracks including the creators as well as the actors from the show (including some interesting observations by actors such as Ted Danson on his character, his motivations and WHY he seems to see himself as the victim of the world). We also get deleted scenes as well as character profiles featuring the various actors playing them and "Post Mortem" with the producers/writers/creators discussing their goal with season two and musing on its relationship to season one.

There is also a brief recap of the first season that will provide a nice reminder of what went down if, for some reason, you take a long break between watching the first season and/or bought this set but had previously seeen the first season and jumped right into season two.

Recommended.

I cannot believe I didn't hear about Damages sooner. This show is amazing. Once I started watching I couldn't stop myself. I finished BOTH seasons in about a week. Its a very smart show, and at times seriously messes with your mind. Once you get to the end though, you start putting things together and I ended up screaming at the television at 2am. If you get a chance to start watching, make sure you have enough time to get sucked in and forget everything else you have to do in your life.

I had heard this was a good series so I bought it. They were wrong...it isn't a good series, it is a fantastic series. My husband and I are hooked. The story line keeps you on the edge of your seat and the acting is superb. Glenn Close has always been a great actress but in Damages she is Oscar material. We love the series and we will buy them all as they are released.

Right after ordering this, I found it in Target for $16.99 - the price is set by the publisher, not by Target.

Was able to cancel the order, so all is well; but still, even at $33.98 ($16.99 x 2) someone was over-charging for this wset.

Always buy from Amazon, not from a third party THROUGH Amazon.

I don't like the way the saler put Season 1-2 is trying to confuse the buyer. Actually The price you pay is only One Season Danages, not both of season 1 & 2. Be careful !

I recently just started watching Damages so I wanted to be able to catch up from the begining. I couldn't find the dvd's in the stores anywhere. Needless to say I was very happy when I saw Damages on Amazon.Thank you.

I purchased this set because of Glenn Close, whose work I admire. I do not believe this was a good vehicle for her; it was a waste of her talents and her commanding presence on the screen. She is together with Ted Danson, whom I have nothing against, and Rose Byrne, likewise, but let's face it -- neither of them are of the acting caliber of Ms. Close. Mr. Danson tries too hard, but he can't quite pull off the gazillionaire captain of industry; Ms. Byrne has only one frozen expression on her face at all times, signifying alternatively lust, fear, caution, suspicion, boredom, you name it -- one size fits all. There is almost nothing in this series that garners either my interest or respect, outside of the opening credits, which are terrific. I realize I am in a minority, but here are my thoughts:

The episodes are poorly written, as if to a cookie-cutter template. After a few episodes, one knows that any person poor Ellen trusts is going to turn out not to be trustworthy and will betray her. Since this eventually encompasses almost everyone in the show, the suspense level is significantly reduced.

The plots are implausible, with everyone in a conspiracy against everyone else. After a while, it becomes humdrum; the only question when a new character is introduced, is when or how they will be seen to be involved in one or another of the conspiracies.

The characters are shallow, largely two-dimensional and stereotyped, and poorly deployed. The exception here could have been Ms. Close's character; she does the best with what she's got, but even she can't save this dismal show. There is not one character with whom I can either identify or empathize, although I tried hard with Ms. Close and a few times she almost had me.

Aristotle said long ago that plots may be impossible, but they must be plausible. Characters need to garner fellow-feeling from the audience, and the whole kaboodle should inspire "pity and fear", in his words -- or empathetic identification and suspense, in ours. We should care about what happens, to whom and why. Standards against which I measure a dramatic TV series include such shows as The Wire, Battlestar Galactica redux, The Good Wife, Mad Men, even most episodes of Law & Order. Writing does not have to be brilliant, but it does have to be competent. I stopped watching about halfway through Season 2, when I realized that I could accurately predict who was going to do what to whom before the end of the episode, and furthermore, that I didn't care. I'm sorry that I spent the money.

I was very disappointed to discover, after I received the 3 sets of "Damages" DVDs...that there were ONLY Spanish subtitles!

I need to have English subtitles.

Do you have any suggestion?

Can I mail back all 3 sets of "Damages" DVDs...and could you provide me with the same sets of DVDs BUT with English subtitles?

Regards

Frederic Chapus

Sent message to Carlos asking him if he could mail my product asap because it was a gift for a birthday in four days. Carlos respionded right away and I had my order within 3 days. Thanks Carlos!