Damages – Season three is in full swing

I really love Damages and need to gush for just a little bit. It’s hard to find shows that excel in everything. Obviously, Damages does well with the mysteries and plot twists. With actors of the caliber of Glenn Close, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the acting is top notch. Even the small moments between characters are great. There was more real and genuine drama and emotion during the scenes with Phil and Patty tonight than in the entire run of some series (Heroes and FlashForward come to mind).

I’m just so happy to have the show back on.

The second installment of the year was just as thrilling as the first, if you ask me. Certainly there weren’t any revelations as big as Tom winding up dead in a dumpster, but there was a lot of good momentum. I don’t know if I’m just caught up in the new season already, but it seems to be moving faster than either of the previous two. I certainly won’t complain about that. There were some interesting things happening tonight, including the discovery that Tom lost his life’s savings with Tobin, and that he and Ellen were having an affair before his death. This season is looking juicier by the minute.

I may have greatly misjudged Joe after the first episode. I still think at the heart of things he is a good guy, but he’s clearly willing to do what it takes to take care of himself and his family. He’s hard to read though. I can’t tell if working with his father to get some of the fraud money is a selfish act, or if he is throwing himself on the grenade for the benefit of his family. At the same time, I’m not sure of his motives when it comes to not wanting to know anything about the case. Is he disgusted with what his father did, or is he just interested in protecting himself? Perhaps it’s a little bit of both.

It looks like all of the stress is getting to Joe. He lapsed back into drinking, with dire consequences. Being a complete worshiper of all things Twin Peaks, it was great to see Madchen Amick in this episode. I never understood why her career hasn’t taken off like it should have. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like her stint on Damages is going to last very long either. I’m hoping, for Joe’s sake and my own, that he didn’t kill Danielle after backing up his car into her accidentally. It certainly didn’t seem like a fatal impact, but things didn’t really look good at the end of the episode, either.

How are you enjoying season three so far?

Clacked by Bob Degon
on Feb 01, 2010 @ 23:00 EST5EDT