What I’m Watching: Damages

Damages: Season 4, Episode 3 “I’d Prefer My Old Office” (B+)

We have a number of interesting developments in this episode, and they actually serve to move the storyline along rather quickly in some cases. Howard managed to find out a remarkable amount of information about the case very fast, learning that Ellen was the one bringing the case against him and planned to solicit testimony from Chris. Him going to talk to Ellen was a bit of a surprise, but not as much as Ellen sending Ellen in her place. I was impressed with Ellen because of that, and even more so with her successful trickery of opposing counsel into revealing that they can in fact easily get in touch with Chris. It didn’t take long for Chris to figure out that the intel they got was bogus, but AC was even quicker to reveal his hand and force Chris to provide false testimony to Ellen to ruin her case. What was commendable about Chris’ secret message to Ellen is that it was subtle enough that she hasn’t even been able to figure it out yet. Now Ellen has officially asked for Patty’s help in the case, so that should help intensify things in the coming weeks. It was somewhat peculiar to have Michael play such a prominent role in the flashbacks amid all this Afghanistan and High Star business, but his limo appearance at the end indicates that maybe he’ll play a bigger role in this season than he ever has before, one which will hopefully enhance rather than distract from the other storylines, like a foreign Muslin with a target marked on a map for Hewes & Associates.