“Damages” is as convoluted as ever in its second season, which premieres at 10 p.m. Wednesday on FX.
The action picks up a month after the events of the first season, when high stakes litigator Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) employed a few of her trademark dirty tricks to win a case against billionaire mogul Arthur Frobisher (a scary Ted Danson).
She hasn’t tried a case since and is still haunted by her actions: trying to have her newest associate, Ellen, killed and driving opposing counsel Ray Fiske to shoot himself in front of her.
Patty is haunted, yes. But it surely hasn’t softened her. In the first two episodes, she’s as manipulative as ever, eavesdropping on her employees and — surprise! — using some shady tactics to secure funding for her new charitable foundation.
The one person she seems to actually trust, but shouldn’t, is Ellen (Rose Byrne). The young lawyer knows Patty was behind her attempted murder and is seeking revenge by informing on her boss to the FBI.
I have one issue with this storyline: Ellen’s meetings with the FBI agents frequently occur in broad day-light and are hardly covert. I worried that her subterfuge would be found out at any second.
When she’s not meeting with the authorities, Ellen is also dealing with the aftermath of her fiancée’s death (he was killed by Frobisher’s henchmen, a murder for which Ellen was initially the prime suspect).
She’s joined a support group for people who have lost loved ones, and there she meets Wes, played by new cast member Timothy Olyphant, who is always great. And, as is often the case with this show, there is much more to Wes than originally meets the eye.
Also joining the cast are William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden.
Hurt is Daniel Purcell, an energy consultant from Patty’s past and the man who will soon become her latest client, and Harden is Patty’s newest courtroom nemesis, a corporate attorney.
To give away much more would ruin the show, which delights in its many twists and turns and continues to play with time. The action takes place in the present day and flashes back to six months earlier, right when Patty and Daniel run into each other again.
Once again, Ellen is at the center of the present day flashes. But instead of the vulnerable woman we saw last season, she’s hardened and cynical. And holding someone at gunpoint.
This is gonna be good.
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