What I’m Watching: Damages

Damages: Season 5, Episode 4 “I Love You, Mommy” (B)

I’m not sure which is more annoying - Patty constantly manipulating events to her advantage, or Ellen falling for her tricks every time and only later realizing that she’s been played. It’s hard to imagine that Patty would be able to get her way every time, but it’s equally difficult to feel bad for Ellen when she keeps making the same mistakes every time and then whining to a judge after the fact. Taking out a huge loan against her accountant’s advice wasn’t a smart idea, especially considering she didn’t even get the information, and she’s steadily losing allies, like Michael, in the process of focusing so much on her case. After Katherine’s continued mentions of a man with a sword, Patty finally wised up to the fact that Samurai was trying to get in touch with her, and it sure looks like she had him killed to ensure that she would be the only one to buy the information. She did not react well to Jake mentioning Ellen, and she’s likely to start unraveling soon since the legal community is well aware that her whole case is just an attempt to punish Ellen. Her repeated dreams of a disobedient Katherine and a bloodied Ellen are getting freakier, and this show doesn’t even need flash-forwards (omitted for the second week in a row, for anyone who’s keeping track) any more since a peek into Patty’s mind is frightening enough. On a more positive note, it's great to see Channing in action, and he clearly excels at what he does, lawsuits notwithstanding.