"There is No 'We' Anymore": Ellen Learns the Final Lesson on "Damages"

Hmmm, so maybe Patty isn't evil incarnate after all.

I rushed home last night to savor every minute of the penultimate episode of FX's deliriously twisted legal drama Damages. After all, I've been obsessed with the series since I first saw the pilot back in May and we're nearing the finish line now, where all of the disparate plot lines (not to mention timelines) seem to be coming together neatly.

I take special joy in the fact that I was absolutely right about the circumstances of David's murder, theorized last week on this very site. Which isn't to say that there weren't a few surprises last night, because there most definitely were, but we'll get to those in a minute. What I do want to say is how shockingly mundane David's murder was... in a good way, though. It wasn't a psycho stalker with romantic notions for the good doctor nor was it a clean hit from a trained killer. No, it was messy, brutal, and chillingly sadistic. It was the elimination of a human life over something as small and sordid as a taped confession. RIP, David; at least you didn't spill the location of that tape.

Patty. I've actually grown to like Patty (the astonishing Glenn Close, who I interviewed here) more over the last few episodes as she's revealed her very human weaknesses. I had become inured to Patty's scornful tantrums and her all-consuming ruthlessness and, like Ellen, had begun to question if she were the one pulling all of the strings. I'm happy that she wasn't involved with David's demise or the attempt on Ellen's life. In the end, Patty is a less-than-innocent not-quite-bystander who got herself further complicated in this mess by blackmailing Ray Fiske and then involving Ellen in a cover-up of her crime. And in the end, it's that crime--which caused Fiske to top himself in Patty's office--that has nearly sent Patty herself off her rocker... or at least rocking herself while sobbing at her impressive beach house.

I loved the scene with Patty, Phil, and the cops in which she calmly told the police what had happened and omitted any mention or knowledge of why Fiske would want to kill himself; her ability to lie is almost as impressive as her ability to spot fabrication from fifty paces. Also too the fact that she was played by her former protege, who never really thought Patty was trying to kill her but needed to lure her out of hiding with an impressive accusation.

Plus, I love that the writers have included the use of those sunglasses--the round, shiny black ones that make Patty's eyes rather like Nietzsche's abyss--in these scenes; they're effectively Patty's armor against the world. I also loved that she admitted that she preferred to be alone than have her family cancel their trips; it was a little touch that was totally in keeping with the character they've established thus far for Patty and who would naturally view herself as a lone warrior against the world. Still, interesting that she made a trip to the cemetery, where I imagine she visited the grave of her bullying father, who was the real reason why she went into law in the first place.

Ellen. The really has learned the most brutal lesson from Patty: trust no one. And, it's good to see that she's taken this lesson to heart as she's learnt to not trust Patty Hewes above everyone else. I loved the fact that she finally confronted Patty about what she'd done to her: hired her only to get to Katie, then denounced Katie, then casually fired Ellen once she'd outlived her usefulness. Ellen has become a powerful woman in her own right and the tape in her possession means that this is her game and she can make demands. I thought it was absolutely brilliant that she withheld the tape and its location from Patty and would only give it to her if she got her exonerated for David's murder. We now know that Ellen was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time: Frobisher's men didn't go there specifically to kill her but to search the apartment for that damned tape. Still, now that she is out on bail and the tape hasn't been recovered by Frobisher, I am a little concerned for her safety and, well, continued health. It's clear that Frobisher isn't backing down now and, without Fiske as a moral compass, he's willing to cross all sorts of lines to get that evidence.

Hollis Nye. Which brings me to the saintly Hollis Nye. I've never thought he was involved with any of this or anything except the kindly attorney he seemed, warning Ellen about getting mixed up in Patty's world and coming to her aid when she's arrested for David's murder. And yet, what was with that phone call he placed at the end of the episode, telling an unknown person that Ellen was out on bail and where they could find her? Was that call in any way connected to those two shifty guys following Ellen down the street. Is Hollis tied up with Frobisher and his goons? Or are those guys tailing her merely there for Ellen's protection? Have we, as an audience, listened too well to Patty's advice and now trust no one?

My favorite scene last night had to be the simplest: that stunning shot of her walking out of prison through the tunnel; one Ellen reaches the other side, the color changes from that washed-out tinted effect to full on color. It was a subtle, understated, and beautiful way of transitioning from the flash-forwards of Future Time to the present tense as the two timelines finally merged. A tip of my hat to director Mario van Peebles for that one.

The Realtor. He's still creeping me out despite the fact that he now definitely appears to be a red herring. Why was he lurking around David and Ellen's apartment the night of the murder? He claims that one of the neighbors called him about their argument and he came by to make sure everything was okay. Was he removing bugs from the flat last week or is he really just an obsessively attentive realtor fixing a leak, as he claimed? We'll find out next week, but there's something still niggling me there, just under the surface. Still, it seems like we can now remove him from our line of suspects.

Random thought: why haven't we seen the face of the man Ellen killed? Even last night, during David's murder, the director was very careful to obscure the second man's face in every shot. Is it because we'll recognize the killer, even if Ellen didn't? Curious... But I am still puzzling out the doorman's involvement. It's clear that he's involved, either on Frobisher's payroll or as a one-time pay-off, but he's messed up in the actual crime or its cover-up, allowing the killers to use the service elevator to gain entry to Patty's apartment.

David. I'm glad that Cassavetes-averse Soda Skank Lila wasn't David's killer, but her stupidity and obsession did lead to David's death as she left the door unlocked for his killers. (How creepy was it that she made herself look like Ellen and sat on the side of the bed wearing her engagement ring?) While I knew that David was obviously going to get killed, I didn't expect it to happen in quite that fashion: after throwing Lila out (but not taking her key), David turns to see Beardy Weirdy and the Mystery Man standing inside the flat; Beardy takes the Statue of Liberty bookend and whacks David over the head with it. I'm still not sure how they managed to find the dossier with the incriminating photos and evidence about Fiske but not Gregory Malina's taped confession, which manages despite everything else to end up in Ellen's hands.

(Interesting side note: in the original pilot episode, David is stabbed to death in a shower, which lends credence to the fact that the writers did supposed alter the killer's identity as they continued to write the scripts.)

Michael. One dangling plot thread from last night that I cannot quite get my head around is the fact that Patty's son Michael appears in the flat the night of David's murder, even though he is meant to be upstate with a friend. Hmmm. Why is it so important that Ellen not tell anyone that she's seen him in the apartment and how does this connect with next week's finale? I'm not entirely sure but I don't think that Michael has really rehabilitated himself and is planning some sort of final salvo in his ongoing battle with Patty. I shudder to think, after the grenade incident, what it could be...

Best line of the episode: "Ellen, can I trust you?"

Next week on the season finale of Damages, Phil angrily confronts Michael about what he was doing in their apartment that night, Tom confronts Ellen about what she and Patty did, Patty pays Katie a visit in order to get her hands on that tape, and Beardy Weirdy (is he a cop?!?) says how sorry he is for Ellen's loss. I cannot wait!