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STUDIO: Sony Pictures
MSRP: $49.95
RATED: NR
RUNNING TIME: 581 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Cast & Crew commentaries
• Willful Acts: The Making of Damages
• Trust no one: Insight from the creators
• Understanding Class Action: Interactive guide
• Deleted scenes

The Pitch

"Sam Malone vs. Cruella de Vil"

The Humans

Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Zeljko Ivanek, Noah Bean, Tate Donovan,  Ted Danson 
 
The Nutshell

Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) is the most powerful litigator in the United States and is currently working on a class action lawsuit representing over 400 former employees of a company that went under, and was owned by Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), one of the wealthiest CEO's in the country. Patty hires Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), a young and aspiring attorney, who Patty takes under her wing. Ellen quickly finds out that in order to succeed, and most importantly, remain on Patty's team, you have to sacrifice everything.

The Lowdown

I was glad to read that Damages was picked up for another two seasons as this series has quickly became a must see in my household. The series starts off with Ellen running out into the streets wearing nothing but a nightgown and blood stained overcoat. She eventually gets arrested and charged with the murder of her fiance. As she sits in jail the series goes back 8 months before her arrest, and from that moment on throughout the rest of the season viewers find out what led up to Ellen's arrest.

The series did a terrific job at giving out just enough information to keep you interested in what was transpiring and doing so without giving away too much to spoil it all before the season ended. The series works best when it plays cat and mouse with the audience. For example, there will be a scene of an attorney on the phone and the way the scene is set up you are led to believe they are back stabbing Patty or Ellen. You find out in later episodes that initial thought was further from the truth. Now here is what makes the series effective playing these sort of tricks with the audience, if the attorney was back stabbing it would have still worked and taken nothing away from the effectiveness of the scene or characters involved. Yes, there are plenty of moments where several people are not who they initially appear to be (for better or worse) and the very one you think you've figured out (Patty) you begin to see her in a different light later in the series and by the final episode, even with all she has done, yet you are still on her side. Patty is just as ruthless as Frobisher and yet she manages to survive practically unscathed.

Wish I could say other characters had the same fate as Patty but it was not meant to be. Several careers are ruined, some are reduced to doing things that go completely against their morals, while others are murdered and one even gives Patty the pleasure of his company in her office by killing himself. While Patty is the strength of the company she works for it is Ellen who is the unsung hero of the case. It is through her that Patty is able to get to the bottom of the Frobisher case but it is also Ellen who pays for the damage that has been done to so many people. Ellen had to grow up fast in a world where winning at all costs where she seems to be the only one on Patty's team that is paying the price.

While Patty is wheeling and dealing the series also spends ample time on Frobisher and his world. Too rich and powerful for his own good, Frobisher believes he is the victim in the investigation and takes full advantage of his attorney, Ray Fiske (Zeljko Ivanek), who has a well earned reputation as someone who can take on any case involving his client and will succeed at all costs. Ray has battled with Patty before and both have the upmost respect for each other and watching those two do battle in the courtroom and in meetings was one of the highlights of the first season.

One could not ask for a better line-up of talent involved with this series beginning with Glenn Close. This is her series and she does not disappoint. Glenn holds the series together and is about as convincing as you are ever going to see on television of a strong and powerful woman who on occasion does show some vulnerability which quickly disappears just when you think she is going to lose it all. Ted Danson also turns in a solid performance and his scenes are one of highlights of the season. Something worth mentioning is even though Glenn and Ted are the main characters they do not appear together in a scene until the end of the season. Looking back on the first season I found this to be an effective way of moving the series along by allowing the two main stars establish their characters without each other.

My favorite character of the series was Ray Fiske and Ivanek deserves all the credit for making his character stand out throughout the entire season. He was crooked and yet his vulnerability (and weakness - you'd have to see the series to understand what I'm talking about here) made some of his decisions understandable although sad. One of the other major characters, Ellen, I felt did not fit in as well as the other characters and this has to do with my disappointment with how Rose Byrne handled the intense moments of the series. She was fine in the low-key scenes but when it came to heated exchanges with Glenn I felt Rose was out of her league. It will be interesting to see how Rose handles the second season as it appears her character will be having more confrontations with Glenn's.

Damages has become one of my favorite new dramatic series and if you are the type that enjoys a series that keeps you guessing throughout an entire season, this one will not disappoint.

The Package

The extras are fairly decent with nothing really standing out. Of course, when you have a strong series debut it is difficult to add anything more with extras. The deleted scenes are good but I can see why they were taken out of the series as they did not further any stories or characters, still worthwhile though. The cast/crew commentaries were decent at best and it was nice to hear different views on specific scenes. The interactive guide to litigation was informative enough but all one has to do is Google for a quick rundown on what that part of the legal system is about. The remaining extras are your standard behind the scenes episodes where the cast and crew discuss various filming scenarios.

8.0 out of 10