4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Possibly the most paranoid program ever - brilliant, but you need a guide book, December 20, 2009
This review is from: Damages Season 2 (Amazon Instant Video)
There have been two years of Damages, and the third season is about to begin. If you haven't watched the first two seasons, I imagine that it is going to be quite hard to understand many of the references and some of the plotlines and characters of the third. Yet, on a certain level, it doesn't matter. My wife and I have watched the first two seasons - some of the episodes twice - and I doubt that either of us could give a good plot/character summary. Everything is convoluted, nothing is quite what it seems, and no one can be trusted - no one.
More or less, the story is about a young lawyer (a stunningly good actress - Rose Byrne) who joins a law firm completely dominated by Patty (Glenn Close - absolutely brilliant) and quickly finds her finance murdered and must kill a man who tries to kill her (but the body and all evidence of a killing disappear.) Actually, the series begins with her fleeing from the body of the dead fiance, half naked and covered in blood. There are a great number of various forms of flashback devices throughout the series. It would appear that a billionaire, Arthur Frobisher (played by Ted Danson, who like Ms. Byrne and Ms. Close, delivers a layered performance of great subtlety and depth) is behind the crimes. Patty is trying to destroy him in court because he cheated his employees out of great sums of money. A noble cause to punish him, but Patty will do anything - anything - to win. And everyone who appears to be one thing is actually another. The central oiece of advice given in the program is, "Trust no one."
Thus, the viewer must watch and listen very carefully to keep things straight, yet, as said above, on some level one does not need to understand the story in depth to enjoy the outstanding acting, powerful direction, visual and aural subtleties, and plotlines that force the viewer to make some real effort to keep up with just the basics of what has/hasn't/has/hasn't happened.
Can a viewer just jump into the 3rd season? I am going to bet s/he can. So far, the on-going program has been so compelling that, like a great meal, it's a shame but it doesn't really matter if you miss the appetizer.
One final note. Given the show's intensity, it is a real pain to have it interrupted by ads. Either watch it on Tivo so you can fast-forward through the ads or just buy the series from Amazon.
Very highly recommended.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely Love Damages!, April 1, 2010
This review is from: Damages Season 2 (Amazon Instant Video)
I can't say enough good things about this show. Season one was awesome, and I didn't know if season two could compete, but it did! And it added to all of the characters, while telling a compelling story line. Plus, this is one show I enjoy watching over and over, to get all the small clues. Season three is panning out to be pretty d-mn good too.
