What I’m Watching: Damages

Damages: Season 3, Episode 9 “Drive It Through Hardcore” (B+)

There are two scenes here which showcase intense, tremendous, unfiltered cruel passion, and it’s hard to decide which is more powerful. The first comes from a surprising source, Ellen’s boss, who doesn’t just tell her not to get involved within seconds of being informed that her sister has been arrested, but actually suggests that she try to seek the most severe punishment possible to distance herself as much as possible from affiliation with the situation. It was pretty shocking coming from him, especially because it made Ellen choose to go to Patty to ask her help. The other harsh scene featured Patty scathingly taking down a clueless Arthur Frobisher, who seemed to think that she might think kindly of him just like he does of her, but that’s the furthest thing from the truth. I thought last week that I recognized the actor who wants to play Frobisher, and I realized this time around that it is in fact a toned-down Craig Bierko, who should be a great fit. I’m very curious to see who will be cast as Patty Hewes in the movie. That was a pretty shrewd but not unexpected move on her part to get Carol to come in by tricking her into thinking that she was meeting with her therapist. It seems that no one is quite telling the truth, but that only makes things more interesting. I would of course like to see more of Keith Carradine’s architect in future episodes, and less sporadically if possible. That final shot seems to indicate that Tom may have jumped off the bridge, but it’s unclear, especially since he wasn’t really featured in the episode at all. We’ll have to see; we’re most of the way through the season at this point.