Damages

Great television is truly coming to an end. In just a few weeks Lost, the greatest drama of all time, will air its last episode, and word came out recently that Mad Men could be over in 2012. Last night saw one of the decade's best shows conclude as Damages signed off for the last time.



The episode wrapped up a lot of things the viewer had been wondering since 2007. Frobisher finally paid for his crimes, not by writing a check, but by going to prison (most likely.) And Patty finally realized that her super aggressive and illegal tactics to get victories may not be worth it after all.



It was a fitting end to the series, but it was not as good as this show deserved. Everything felt rushed and out of the blue and while I did like how everything finally came together at the end, I was a bit let down with what transpired. Michael as the driver, really? After all that buildup?



Good episode tonight, but this was not exactly the MASH finale.

I only recently decided to get in to this intense show, The series on FX continue to be awesome. I mean this is the channel that brought us The Shield, Nip Tuck, and Sons of Anarchy, im a fan of all 3 so i figured I would like Damages as well. Oh an yes the show was canceled but I read that Directv decided to step in and picked the show for not one but two seasons! The only thing is that both seasons will be reduced from 13 to 10 episodes, well small price to pay to have the show come back I say. Anyway while this episode wrapped up most of the storylines there was still alot left unresolved. Spoilers:

Ok so Michael is an even bigger d bag then I thought, I didn't think he was the driver the whole season until this episode. Yeah so he was angry that Patty Put his twice his age woman to jail. After what Jill did with Patty's money I knew her days were numbered. Personally I think she deserved it. Alas poor Tom, we knew all season he was gonna die but man when they kill a character on this show they don't hold any punches. First getting stabbed a few times, that had to hurt, then to survive that only to be drowned in his own toilet! Tate Donovan was great and Im gonna miss him next season, but the dead do seem to find a way to come back in this show, if only in someones mind maybe. I mean look at Ray Fisk he's come back in a couple of episodes, and David was in the last episode so I have a feeling Tom will be around haunting Patty and maybe Ellen too.



Joe Tobin was actually a good man in the beginning. He seemed genuinely only wanting to do good and protect his family unlike his father. I think when the father died that was the beginning of Joe's descent into alcoholism and madness. I wish they ha shown us the conversation between him and Patty I wanted to hear the bastard confess, well at least w know he did and Justice was served.



Then just when you think that everything on the show is black and white good and evil, we get Patty who lies in the shades of grey. Wow we knew since season 1 that Patty lost a baby when she was younger, but until now we thought it was by chance but let's not forget we are talking about Patty Hewes, super ambitious lawyer! the doctor told her to rest, but a promotion came along and now it seems Patty deliberately went out walking and that is most likely why lost the baby,we already knew how ruthless Patty can be but man if she was willing to sacrifice something that huge, I would definitly not want to be on her bad side.



Frobisher finally got what was coming to him. Forced into confessing by the the always great Timothy Olyphant. Anybody else catch Ray's ghost call him a cowboy? that has to be a refrence to his also FX show that I forgot about "Justified" in which he is a modern day cowboy. And let's not forget the classic Deadwood in which he was an old time cowboy. Anyway I almost felt bad for Art because he also seemed to have changed. Redemption was absolutely this season's theme. Art tried to get it by giving money to charity, but when you pay someone to kill for you there is just no amount of money that can undo that. so I was also glad that Ellen got justice for Davis's murder. Let's see even Wes, that's Tim who was only in this episode decided to turn himself in for killing the bad cop who was actually the one who killed David and tried to kill Ellen. Tom felt guilty for losing all of his money that was invested in the Tobin Ponzy scheme, still don't know what that means. So all season he did what he could for his family and it got him killed, but not before scoring the evidence to bring down Tobin, Go Tom! Joe at first seemed like he wanted to redeem his family because of what his father did, but ended up being worse then his father ever was. And then there's Patty, talk about skeletons in the closet, but she really needed to be forgiven for was ordering Ellen's death, and it seems that Ellen is actually trying to move past it, talk about forgiving, I don't think I would be that forgiving if a friend of mine tried to have me killed. And from the final scene Ellen is most likely to even come back and work for Patty! With Tom gone Patty needs a number 2 and Ellen will step right up.



And last there is Ellen, the one person on this show who is still really trying to hold on to her morales. But that is not the way the show is going Pretty soon we can call her Patty junior, in fact I predict that when the show does conclude Ellen will have taken over the law firm and gotten rid of Patty in some way, but not murder. I kind of compare her a little bit to Walter White on the show Breaking Bad, another awesome show. for those of you who don't know it it's about a normal guy who slowly but surely is changing into a criminal mastermind, but not an evil one, so that is Ellen. Im gonna call her Mrs White



Thank you for reading my review. I hope I helped in some way by making it known that Damages is coming back. So tell you're friends to check out this awesome show and look for it in July

For some reason I was not aware until shortly before this episode aired that this was the final season. It could go on but all was wrapped up quite patly, if rather unsatisfactorily in some instances.



As was with all the other seasons, this one did make some sense when the two timelines finally converged. Even so, the episode was rather grand quignol with the ghosts, bridge plunging suicides, murders explained and attempted murders unfulfilled.



Tom's murder by the increasingly despicable Joe Tobin was rather depressing considering that he did nearly make it out alive. Leonard Winstone's multiple near deaths got to be rather comical in a way. Marilyn Tobin's bridge jump was also rather comical and it would have been darker to have her survive. I'm thinking that Arthur's story should have ended on a darker note as well rather than being forced to confess by the confusing Wes.



This season did seem to me to be rather a lot less about Ellen and her conflict with Patty. I would like to have seen Ellen destroy Patty's career because that is what she really deserved and we all know that Ellen probably is the stronger and darker character; a worthy successor.



What really did bug me in all of this was Patty's war against her son's partner. Those two did seem quite happy and content to be together. I thought it was great when she used Patty's money to better their lives. That Patty used the statutory rape gambit against her was very much disturbing and annoying to me.



So with all that ... I'd like to have seen the season start with Patty dead in the accident and having the timelines follow that as well. It would have been very suspenseful and much more interesting trying to figure out who did that.



It would have been quite appropriate for her own son to have ended Patty's confused, controlling and interfering life.



That was Damages, it is now over and as Ellen asked ... "was it worth it"?

"The next one's gonna go in your throat" was exactly the reason why we watched Damages. Smartly written, beautifully acted, and monre than one twist leaving us on the edge of our seats.



Not only was this the season finale, it was also the Series finally, as FX were having problems funding the show; it was criminally underwatched. At risk that the show wouldn't get extra funding from other networks (Direct TV) the writers decided to try and tie up alot of loose ends if they weren't renewed for further seasons. Like the last reviewer said, not everything was tied up completely incase it were to be picked up for a longer run. Although I would have loved to have seen this show continue for years, i'm glad they managed to give it some conclusion. This all helped make it a brilliant epiosode and a high note for the finale. I am going to miss this show, it remains one of the best shows of the decade, if only more people watched it and understood it, it wouldn't had to have ended. 10/10 - As always, Damages, fantastic.