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After shunting Daniel Purcell aside and basically ignoring his part of the story for several episodes, "Damages" brought this key player back front and center in a big way this week, dropping several pieces of the puzzle into place along the way.
First I burned the spoilers, then I buried them, but the dog still found them.
This week's episode, the penultimate one of season two, featured some of the most effective flashbacks of the season, as well as some Hewes family drama and a pretty effective (and downright heartless) improvisation on Ellen's part to keep the FBI case going. One by one:
Daniel's back: After a brief appearance last week, William Hurt comes back to the center of the action after his dog digs up the charred remains of ... a universal remote? It's the thing he burned and buried in his yard early on in the season, and whatever its significance, it -- along with Kendrick showing up at his house for some unannounced menacing -- spurs him to go back to Patty and offer whatever help he can with the UNR case.
He's useless as a witness, what with the perjury and all, but he knows about Kendrick manipulating the energy market and figures out how to crack the GPS code, giving Patty a possible leg up in the case.
And then -- oh yeah -- he goes to the cops and turns himself in for his wife's murder. The show finally circled back to the event that set so much of this season in motion, giving us a full picture of what happened the night Christine Purcell died: Disgusted by both her knowledge of Daniel's affair with Claire Maddox and the fact that he sold out to UNR, she threatens to call the EPA and blow the whistle herself. No you won't, he says.
Yes I will, Christine replies, and she punctuates her words by beaning Daniel -- with the aforementioned remote. An enraged Daniel chokes her to the floor, then realizes what he's done and panics, calling Kendrick's middleman Wayne for help. Kendrick then sends in Creepy Darrell Hammond (or, OK, the Deacon, if you must) to make the scene look like a robbery -- only unbeknownst to anyone but CDH and Kendrick, Christine is still alive. So Daniel is turning himself in for a crime he didn't actually commit.
Patty vs. men: "You're a man, you cheat. I get it," Patty tells Phil at the start of what turns out to be a pretty epic blow-up that ends with both of them yelling and talking about divorce lawyers. Because not only did Phil cheat, but he also "bet against" her by buying UNR. But even in the midst of their fight, Patty gets hold of something she can use -- namely, that Dave Pell fed Phil the information about UNR.
The moment she brings his name up Kendrick, he asks her for a settlement number. No sale, she says -- you're going to clean up the aracite, pay the victims and leave UNR. And, by the way, I have some GPS coordinates that will help seal your fate in court. Like hell, Kendrick replies -- that evidence was stolen, and you know you can't use it. Yet Patty says she's feeling pretty confident, because ...
She's playing dirty: Patty dispatches Ellen to sound out a judge ("He didn't try to grope you, did he?" Patty asks. A real prince, this jurist) who might be amenable to being bribed to admit shaky evidence. It's a perfect setup for Ellen and the FBI -- except that Patty (whose son has just noted that everyone close to her "either leaves you or dies"), out of either guilt or suspicion, tells Ellen she can't be the one to do the actual bribing.
Ellen correctly figures that she'll have Tom make the offer, and convinces Werner to pinch Tom for his almost-illegal act in the fake infant mortality case and get him to flip. It all goes down as Tom is on the way to the hospital to be with his wife, who's delivering their baby -- as if Ellen selling out Tom, who's generally tried to do right by her, weren't bad enough on its own.
Ellen's plan also involves Tom telling Patty he can't make this particular bribe, which she hopes will then make Patty come back to her. It might, but given everything Patty's just been through with the other men in her life, Tom's reluctance also leads her to fire him (which would explain the scene from a few episodes back where Tom is barred from the Hewes offices).
"Damages" has 90 more minutes this season (next week's finale runs long) to tie up a lot of plot threads -- Patty's pursuit of UNR, Ellen's pursuit of Patty, Detective Messer's pursuit of Ellen (via Wes) and the question of whether Daniel will discover that he didn't actually kill his wife are the biggest ones. After watching tonight's episode, it at least feels like the show will get to everything. Will it all make sense in the end? We'll find out in seven days.
What do you most want to see resolved in the season finale of "Damages"? And do you think anyone will ever discover that Daniel's not his wife's killer?
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
I think the most interesting story of them all is what is going to go down between Ellen and Patty. They've been leading up to it the whole season. I just hope it lives up to the hype. This episode was okay, though not as good as I expected. However, I'm glad to hear that we have 90 minutes in the finale.
I must give Glenn Close props for her outstanding acting this episode though. I think they should submit this episode for the Emmies consideration.
Personally it does not matter if Danielactually "murdered" his wife, he still killed and was willing to cover it up. A good DA would get his *** life in prison.
Sorry, Lucy, but Daniel would not get life in prison. He didn't commit murder, and he didn't commit attemptd murder. Just because he thinks he killed her, it doesn't mean he ever had the intent to kill her.
That aside, I thought this was a very good episode. It filled in a lot of holes. The fact that Christine wasn't dead yet was a shock. We see why Tom got fired. There was a reenactment of Fatal Attraction. Kendrick is starting to sweat. All good going into next week.
So does Messer go into Ellen's place while Wes is there? It's got to be Messer that Wes takes out. And then he'll have to disappear.
Michael creeps me out. I'm not sure why.
Finally, what's with the furry patch on Daniel's coat? Stylish or not...it's goofy as hell.
Why did both Daniel and Tom have quilted coats on in this episode? It happened about the midpoint of the hour with Tom headed to the hospital and Daniel headed to the police station. Didn't know those were in, especially for men and professionals in New York. Wardrobe missed the mark entirely...
I only wish we could have had another hour last night. It was getting so good.
So is Dave Pell in Kendrick's pocket or the other way around? I'm thinking Kendrick is in Pell's pocket. Does Kendrick know about the FBI's case against Patty?
I agree, Daniel could never be a witness for Patty because he is in too deep with Kendrick and that UNR mess.
Shocked to see that Christine was still alive. Kendrick's orders in that instance made him worse than Frobisher.
And speaking of Frobisher, is Wes going to get his revenge on him or has he just decided he will have to get rid of Messer? I believe Wes is in Ellen's suite when Messer breaks in. Either Ellen is in the shower, or it is just made to look that way. Either way, I can't wait. However, we know Wes still blows someone's brains out in the car, so who is that if Messer gets it in Ellen's suite?
I really hope that Wes survives to come back next season because I would love to watch Timothy Olyphant some more. I don't know if he will come out of this unscathed (or who will). I can't wait for next week's finale, though I still wish this wasn't such a short series.
I must give Glenn Close props for her outstanding acting this episode though. I think they should submit this episode for the Emmies consideration.
Christy....
I agree completely. Close was wonderful and this entire series is perfect because of Glenn Close. I so am rooting for Patty and I hope Ellen goes to jail for her dirty deeds.
As you can tell I am a Patty fan and I so want her to destroy Ellen. This is my favorite drama series currently on TV.
Next week 90 minutes.
I am guessing that Wes gets shot next week (and maybe the unkempt detective as well), not Patty, and that what we've seen in flashbacks is Patty realizing what she's turned Ellen into.
Remember that at the end of last season Ellen had the upper hand in a sense, with Patty practically begging her to come back. Seems like we're headed to something similar again.
Have they forgotten about Frobisher altogether? He doesn't seem to fit in the storyline any more.
@Mark,
I'm with you on the Wes thing...there's a reason they haven't showed the whole room in a 2 shot. Wes is in there as well, tied & gagged. That's Wes's blood on Patty as she stumbles out of the apartment.
And Frobisher? I think they really really wanted Ted Danson to come back in some sort of capacity this season, and you saw how they crowbarred him into the story, quite unsuccessfully. Anyway I'm pretty sure he's finished as a character in Damages.
Sorry BM but the man conspired to cover up what he thought was a murder. He is at minimum an acessory before the fact. Any skilled Da would get him life.
I think that the whole Patty firing Tom thing was a set up between them. When Tom told Patty he couldn't do it anymore, there was a long look between them and then suddenly Patty fired him. Remember is season 1, when Patty fired Tom, but really he was still working for her, I think that something similar is happening here, and Tom was warning Patty that something was wrong.
As for the shooting, if Ellen does shoot Patty (I'm not sure this is the case at all) then why would she let her leave? It doesn't make sense, especially if she knows she is being filmed.