Earlier this month, DAMAGES came to an end. The show about
the rivalry and twisted relationship between two very compelling characters
signed off on the best possible note. Here’s why I thought so…
Ellen, of course, had a lot of baggage to take care
of. Her desire for revenge against Patty consumed her in a way that did wonders
for her. Patty may have been responsible for her becoming McClaren’s lawyer,
but Ellen took it from there, showing us just how shrewd and ruthless she could
be, just as Patty had always been. Her character’s emotional strength, which
had been building up and was evident for quite some time, may have reached a
point where the thirst for revenge might have become a major weakness for her,
but it also showed us how a woman who was fiercely protective of her her mother, from her abusive father--a very powerful sub-plot of the season. It was good to see that a relationship with Chris was also developing, just as it was nice to see Chris Messina becoming a fixture on the
show, instead of his character fading away after the drama of the previous season.
The epilogue reminded me a little of how The Devil Wears Prada ended, but of
course, this was way more twisted and darker than that. It saddened me to see
Patty and Ellen finally going their separate ways, but I was also glad to see
Ellen finally at peace with herself after having left her past behind her. Despite
all her ruthless and conniving ways, I was happy to see Patty get a (somewhat)
happy ending, with Katherine in her life. The two lead actresses did a
phenomenal job. Rose Byrne outdid herself as she portrayed the wronged, but
stronger-than-ever Ellen, and Glenn Close can obviously do no wrong. Close was
exceptionally outstanding when Patty has a final confrontation with her father
on his death bed. She made the lifelong pain and anger towards him for his
unforgivable betrayal ever so real. The series truly ended in the best way
possible. References to the past, drawing out the strong relevance of
some of the most insignificant moments from seasons ago, and pulling out all the skeletons
out of the season-one closet made it an apt farewell to one of the best dramas I’ve
seen in the last decade. DAMAGES will be missed.
When the final season of DAMAGES began, there was
excitement over everything that I was looking forward to. The promos had
revealed that it would revolve around the final showdown between Patty Hewes
and Ellen Parsons, two of the strongest female leads that I’ve seen on TV. And
as the season progressed, I realized just how much the swan song of the show
had lived up to the hype created by the trailers as well as my own expectations. Ryan Phillippe made a good addition to the cast, and even though he’s
been known to play the arrogant, angry, young man with the right attitude, his
performance was still impressive. Jenna Elfman’s role turned out to be less
than I’d imagined, but she made quite an impact as well. However, unlike the
previous seasons of the show, in which the main ‘villains’ were always known,
this season kept us guessing as to what the truth behind this final case would
be.
Let’s start at the beginning. The custody [of
Katherine] battle between Patty and her son Michael, a storyline that began
last season, had kept me wondering where it would lead. And I was thoroughly
impressed that they carried that forward as such an integral part of the final
season. While the McClaren-Walling case kept my attention away from the custody
case, the sudden emergence of Patty’s father drew me right back into it, in a
rather unexpected way. Speaking of which, the introduction of Kate Franklin’s
character added a lot of value to all the important parts of the season. I
guessed in the beginning itself that she was probably Patty’s sister, but
besides that, even as Ellen’s employee, she made an impact, becoming a strong
contributor to the big case of the season as well.
Ellen, of course, had a lot of baggage to take care
of. Her desire for revenge against Patty consumed her in a way that did wonders
for her. Patty may have been responsible for her becoming McClaren’s lawyer,
but Ellen took it from there, showing us just how shrewd and ruthless she could
be, just as Patty had always been. Her character’s emotional strength, which
had been building up and was evident for quite some time, may have reached a
point where the thirst for revenge might have become a major weakness for her,
but it also showed us how a woman who was fiercely protective of her her mother, from her abusive father--a very powerful sub-plot of the season. It was good to see that a relationship with Chris was also developing, just as it was nice to see Chris Messina becoming a fixture on the
show, instead of his character fading away after the drama of the previous season.
Coming back to the case, which was more ‘Hewes vs
Parsons’ than ‘McClaren vs Walling’, it was intriguing throughout, more than
living up to all the twists and unexpected turns that the show has shown us so
much of. The ways in which Patty and Ellen crossed each other, yet coming together when they had a common goal, was nothing if not poetic. There were
moments, like the time when they both ended up paying $500,000 for some
information on the case, when I was rolling my eyes, but the overall brilliance
in the writing this season more than made up for it. The clips from the future
(the timeframe of the finale) that they kept flashing to us during the season came off as a
little too gimmicky, simply because of the number of times that they were flashed at
us. However, it all wound up perfectly together in the finale, with the most
unexpected end to not just the McClaren-Walling case, but also to the custody
battle.
The epilogue reminded me a little of how The Devil Wears Prada ended, but of
course, this was way more twisted and darker than that. It saddened me to see
Patty and Ellen finally going their separate ways, but I was also glad to see
Ellen finally at peace with herself after having left her past behind her. Despite
all her ruthless and conniving ways, I was happy to see Patty get a (somewhat)
happy ending, with Katherine in her life. The two lead actresses did a
phenomenal job. Rose Byrne outdid herself as she portrayed the wronged, but
stronger-than-ever Ellen, and Glenn Close can obviously do no wrong. Close was
exceptionally outstanding when Patty has a final confrontation with her father
on his death bed. She made the lifelong pain and anger towards him for his
unforgivable betrayal ever so real. The series truly ended in the best way
possible. References to the past, drawing out the strong relevance of
some of the most insignificant moments from seasons ago, and pulling out all the skeletons
out of the season-one closet made it an apt farewell to one of the best dramas I’ve
seen in the last decade. DAMAGES will be missed.
I know there aren’t that many DAMAGES fans out there,
but those of you who are, please let me know what you thought of how the show
ended.
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