Damages

Posted by Maggie October 22nd, 2007 at 11:59am In Damages

This weekend I took F/X up on its offer of a day full of Damages, and I don’t regret it. Damages has a few little quirks that become even more obvious when an entire season is viewed over a two-day period, but overall it’s an intense, engrossing show, and I can’t wait to see the final resolution tomorrow.

One of the reasons I think it works so well (and I’m sure I’m not the only one saying this) is because it’s essentially a show about two women. It would have been different — and probably really bad — if the Glenn Close character and the young lawyer she corrupts were both men. This way the show can be about women and power and ambition and balancing relationships and work, in addition to a murder mystery involving a corrupt businessman.

The set-up seems at first like the drama version of The Devil Wears Prada: ruthless and successful boss tortures/mentors/uses young, innocent subordinate. And in a lot of ways I think that’s a good comparison. Glenn Close’s character, Patty Hewes, doesn’t care about you, her insignificant employee. It’s a mistake to think that she would care about you just because she’s a woman. The young lawyer makes that mistake over and over again, treating Patty like a friend rather than a terrifying boss, which she never would do if Patty was a man. This allows Patty to do her job even better than she did before: Her subordinates are practically asking to be manipulated and used. She can do whatever she likes, and it usually works.

Of course, now that the season is wrapping up, Patty’s having to face some consequences for her winner-takes-all philosophy. And frankly, that makes me a little sad, and a little scared. I don’t like a powerless Patty; she’s supposed to be the one who gets things done, not has things done to her. And I’m scared because I think Patty likes being in this position even less — and that does not bode well for Young Blackmailing Associate. (BTW, shouldn’t Y. B. A. have learned that blackmailing is totally not awesome by now?) In a show where we’ve come to expect major reversals, I don’t think Patty has been beaten down — not by a long shot.

Overall, the acting is superb (in addition to Glenn Close, Ted Danson and his lawyer are particularly great), the writing is high above average, and the twists are fun to predict. And there are great, dramatic, original female characters — proof it can be done.