"Damages" (2007) TV series 2007-????

Creators:

Glenn Kessler
Todd A. Kessler
Daniel Zelman

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Win at all costs.

Plot:

Bright and sharp law school graduate Ellen Parsons becomes the protégée of the successful and hard-hitting high stakes litigator Patricia Hewes. But nothing is what it seems.

Plot Keywords:

Law | Female Lead | Trial | Murder | Female Lawyer

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 6 wins & 29 nominations

Cast

Glenn Close	...	Patty Hewes (27 episodes, 2007-2010)
Rose Byrne	...	Ellen Parsons (27 episodes, 2007-2010)
Tate Donovan	...	Tom Shayes (27 episodes, 2007-2010)
Anastasia Griffith	...	Katie Connor (22 episodes, 2007-2009)
Ted Danson	...	Arthur Frobisher (19 episodes, 2007-2009)
Michael Nouri	...	Phil Grey (17 episodes, 2007-2009)
Zachary Booth	...	Michael Hewes (16 episodes, 2007-2009)
Zeljko Ivanek	...	Ray Fiske (15 episodes, 2007-2009)
Noah Bean	...	David Connor (14 episodes, 2007-2009)
Glenn Kessler	...	Agent L.J. Werner / ... (14 episodes, 2007-2009)
David Costabile	...	Detective Rick Messer / ... (14 episodes, 2007-2009)
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Claire Maddox (13 episodes, 2009)
Timothy Olyphant	...	Wes Krulik (13 episodes, 2009)
William Hurt	...	Daniel Purcell (13 episodes, 2009)
Tom Aldredge	...	Uncle Pete / ... (11 episodes, 2007-2009)
Philip Bosco	...	Hollis Nye (11 episodes, 2007-2009)
Mario Van Peebles	...	Agent Randall Harrison / ... (11 episodes, 2007-2009)

Also Known As:

Glenn Close TV Project (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:TV-MA | Australia:M | Singapore:M18 (season 1) | South Korea:18 | Hungary:16 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

FX Productions

Trivia:

Uncle Pete refers to every day above ground being a "Pyyrhic victory". Ancient Greek king Pyrrhus of Epirus defeated the Romans at Heralcea in 280 b.c., but at the cost of a great number of his own troops. Afterward, he is said to have remarked, "Another such victory would be the end of me", hence the expression ascribed to any victory or benefit gained at great personal expense.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#26.5)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

When I Am Through With You

You have to see it to believe how perfect it is.

I expected it to be great, but not this perfect. It takes 'riveting' to a whole new level. The show manages to have so much going on but always kept me involved and wondering what these people were hiding, how they are connected, what twist was coming my way and most importantly, how the events we were seeing happen in the present were going to lead to the ominous and frightening glimpses we get to see of the not so distant future. There's a lot happening and a lot of mystery around every corner, but it never feels like it's wandering too far into an unknown direction or getting too far ahead of the viewer. It's clear that every scene has a purpose and the writers now exactly where they're going and how they're getting there. So whenever something happens that's a little bit over the viewer's head at that moment, you know that it's going to be explained all the way soon. Everything that happens comes together in the final picture. And the journey to that final picture is one of the most compelling I've ever taken. Each of the thirteen episodes brings a remarkable amount of believable character development that looking back to the first episode after finishing the finale, it seems like I began by watching completely different people. There is so much information, so much mystery, so many twists and turns that are so comfortably displayed with such raw intensity throughout. My eyes were glued to the screen the entire time, and every episode just had me aching for the next one. Genius stuff.

The acting more than deserved all of the immense praise that it received. Glenn Close gives a shatteringly intense performance that is frighteningly commanding. Rose Byrne is perfect as the one character who makes a huge change throughout the first season. She plays this transition from the gullible, naive new attorney to a hardened, revenge-driven women as if she were born to do it. I've loved her as an actress since I first laid eyes on her, but she still managed to impress me in a way I couldn't have imagined. She's never had a role this dark, this adult...gone through so many different levels of maturity and emotion without hesitating for a second. She holds her own against Close, and that is no easy task. We see her go from being a tool in Patty Hewes (Close's character) end game to being an almost mirror image of Hewes herself. Zeljko Ivanek is the cast member who surprised me the most, though. I've seen him in shows before (24, Oz) but he was never given the room to really display his immense talent like he was given in this one. He has a quiet intelligence to him that always drew my attention towards him on screen, and his character probably faces the most tragic journey throughout the first season. And he makes the southern drawl his character has seem as if it's been his voice since the day he came out of the womb. He deserved that Emmy and then some. Ted Danson, Noah Bean and Tate Donovan round out the main cast of this perfectly acted thriller.