Radio Times

• Episode 1/13 Pilot

  Brilliant young attorney Ellen Parsons is hired by fearsome litigator Patty Hewes - and thrown straight in at the deep end. She joins her new boss on a high-profile class action against corporate head Arthur Frobisher, who is accused of costing 5,000 former employees their life savings. Meanwhile, Ellen's boyfriend David proposes, and David's sister Katie prepares to open her new restaurant, backed by a mysterious silent partner.

  RT Choice (David Butcher, 6 January 2008)

  This dark, beautifully written US legal drama is somewhere between Murder One and The Devil Wears Prada. The former because it's the story of one high-stakes court case and its machinations, told over 13 episodes; the latter because it centres on a truly scary boss and her acolyte.
  
  Glenn Close is mesmerising as lawyer Patty Hewes, a purring, gimlet-eyed figure[…] whose ruthlessness, we soon learn, is biblical.

• Episode 2/13 Jesus, Mary and Joe Cocker

  Katie is set to testify against Arthur Frobisher but Patty is unconvinced by some of the details of her story. Frobisher is rather more worried about the damage Katie might cause and considers a permanent solution to the problem. Meanwhile, Patty has faked the firing of right-hand man Tom Shayes so that he can get closer to Ellen, who is beginning not to trust her boss.

  RT Choice (David Butcher, 13 January 2008)

  There's a wonderful sense of the knuckle-duster just under the silken glove of Manhattan life. Plus there's a recurring pigeon character who's a nasty little touch of genius.

• Episode 3/13 And My Paralyzing Fear of Death

  Patty's resolve is tested after a package containing a grenade arrives at her office, and another is found in the glove compartment of Phil's car, causing him to crash. Could Arthur Frobisher be resorting to such despicable tactics? Patty has her wayward son Michael on her mind too, while Katie continues to hide things from Ellen, who is struggling with the demands of her new job.

  RT Choice (David Butcher, 21 January 2008)

  It's that difficult third episode. The writers have thrown their best punches and sent us reeling a few times, but now we're clearing our heads and starting to wonder if there's as much to this dark legal thriller as we thought.
  
  [The sub-plot] ought to crank up the tension, but it doesn't. Instead we have what feels like a detour from the main story, the one we care about[…But] it's still good stuff, well acted and with an edge of menace to it.

• Episode 4/13 Tastes Like a Ho Ho

  With her connection to Frobisher out in the open, Katie finds herself at the centre of Patty's case. As the lawyers prepare her to give a deposition, Katie has other things to worry about. Gregory Malina appears to be withholding information vital to the trial - and Katie's wellbeing. Meanwhile, Ellen and David's relationship is put to the test as they struggle to make time for one another.

• Episode 5/13 A Regular Earl Anthony

  Tom is offered a lucrative partnership at a rival firm - but breaking away from Patty Hewes is easier said than done. Frobisher pushes Fiske to take a more aggressive approach with Patty, who finds herself on shaky ground with her clients, many of whom are still keen to accept an out-of-court settlement. Meanwhile, Ellen and David's relationship becomes increasingly strained.

• Episode 6/13 She Spat at Me

  Patty is keen to understand Gregory Malina's involvement with Frobisher. But as Ellen increases the pressure on Malina to testify, an attempt is made on his life. Worried about his legacy, Frobisher decides to ignore Fiske's advice and write his memoirs. David and Ellen's strained relationship is not improved by a visit to Patty's house for dinner.

  RT Choice (David Butcher, 11 February 2008)

  A little less conversation, a little more action please. While this legal thriller's talky scenes are always nicely done, you can have too much of a good thing. The least interesting strand of the spider's web of a story is the strained relationship between legal pawn Ellen and her medic boyfriend. So when you have an episode that dwells on their whiny fallings out, it's in danger of becoming ho-hum.
  
  Luckily, we also get to learn more about some of the other people suffering the human fallout from the Frobisher case, including Frobisher's lawyer, Ray, whose inner life (yes, he has one) turns out to be far from pretty. Dream scenes can be a sign of writers' desperation, but these are memorably nasty.

• Episode 7/13 We Are Not Animals

  With vital witness Gregory Malina about to be subpoenaed, Patty has her work cut out keeping him safe from Frobisher and Fiske. Meanwhile, afraid that Patty is attempting to manipulate them, Tom and Ellen form an alliance against her, withholding valuable information. Away from the case, Patty continues to agonise over her wayward son.

  RT Choice (David Butcher, 18 February 2008)

  Damages is still a great watch, with the delicious tingle of real wickedness at work and with acting out of the top drawer.

• Episode 8/13 Blame the Victim

  With her key witness missing, Patty must come up with a new strategy. Tom and Ellen meet with George Moore, an SEC official who testified for the government at Frobisher's criminal trial - but how exactly does he fit into the case? After receiving a tip-off that one of the claimants, Larry Popler, has been leaking information to Frobisher, Patty sets a trap. Meanwhile, Ellen receives an unexpected visit from her parents at work.

  RT Choice (David Butcher, 18 February 2008)

  I'm starting to think Damages may be one of those series that's best watched as a DVD boxed set. It's a mesmerising, intricate cat-and-mouse story but when you consume it in weekly episodes, you end up grinding your teeth as each strand of legal plotting is stretched almost to snapping point.
  
  You could write on the back of a stamp what we know for certain about the key characters, but it would take a roll of wallpaper to summarise all the hints and feints in the story. If this ends up being a big bluff, then a million and a half faithful viewers will be fuming.
  
  Let's hope not. And in the meantime, it's impossible to look away[…]

• Episode 9/13 Do You Regret What We Did?

  Gregory Malina emerges from hiding with an apology for Katie. Tom and Ellen press George Moore for help with the case against Frobisher and are pointed towards a 25-year-old car accident which resulted in a death. But they remain unaware of Moore's true motives for sharing the information. Lila Demeo continues to pursue David, but after he rejects her advances, she pays a visit to Hewes and Associates to see Ellen.

  RT Choice (Alison Graham, 3 March 2008)

  Despite a few longueurs, this corking thriller just keeps on delivering the goods and tonight there's an audacious humdinger of a plot twist.
  
  Typical Damages. Just when you think you've worked it out, the scriptwriters throw in the storyline equivalent of a punch to the solar plexus that you jus didn't see coming.
  
  This killer blow to audience perceptions is presented as little more than a brief tease, but it's a biggie, and looks set to shake the foundations of the series so far. The fun will be in seeing just how it's played out.
  
  So, after a couple of water-treading episodes, thing s are ratcheted up considerably in an episode that's packed with incident and a dizzying number of double crosses[…]
  
  Oh, and see if you can spot a cheeky little nod to Close's infamous Fatal Attraction role.

• Episode 10/13 Sort of Like a Family

  Following the death of key witness Gregory Malina, Patty turns to Frobisher's upcoming deposition. But as she prepares to make the most of his alleged payment of hush money following a fatal car accident, Frobisher trumps her with a public appearance alongside the father of the victim. Meanwhile, Ellen is outraged when Patty takes her off the case, and decides to continue her investigation of George Moore.

  RT Choice (David Butcher, 17 March 2008)

  At times, watching Damages is like being trapped in slowly closing jaws. The story runs in two time frames - the present, where Ellen and co are fighting the Frobisher case, and the future, where she has become a dead-eyed murder suspect[…]
  
  […]as the series goes on, the earlier time frame is catching up with the later one[…] It's a brilliantly tense structural device…

• Episode 11/13 I Hate These People

  Ellen refuses when Patty offers to take her back, but she can't let the Frobisher case go and asks is she can work on it unpaid. Ellen isn't the only one to feel the pressure from Patty, who also tries to blackmail Ray - with unexpectedly tragic consequences. Meanwhile, Lila seems unstoppable in her crazed campaign to wreck David and Ellen's relationship.

  RT Choice (David Butcher, 24 March 2008)

  As the gap between the main action and the flashforwards narrows to a couple of days, much of the action focuses on Ray Fiske, the small attorney who is Patty's opposite number on the Frobisher lawsuit.

  With his lost-looking eyes and cheese-grater voice Ray, as played by Zelijko Ivanek, is one of the unsettling joys of the series: in any other drama he'd be an out-and-out villain, but in Damages you never can be sure, and tonight we burrow a little deeper into his soul.

• Episode 12/13 There's No 'We' Anymore

  As past and present collide and the last minutes of David's life are revealed, the truth about who killed him finally emerges. But unless Ellen can persuade Patty to defend her, the chances are she will go down for his murder. Luckily Ellen has an incriminating tape and she's only going to hand it over if Patty agrees to help.

• Episode 13/13 Because I Know Patty

  Spurred on by the prospect of getting her hands on the damning video evidence that would put Frobisher away, Patty gets the DA's go-ahead to return to the scene of David's murder with the police. They find no new evidence, but they do shed some light on the identity of the shady operatives working for Frobisher. Left with no alternative, Patty makes the DA an offer he can't refuse.

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