Ballet Shoes and Pressure Points: Patty Gears Up for a Fight on "Damages"

And then there was Frobisher.

I absolutely loved this week's episode of Damages ("A Pretty Girl in a Leotard"), which picked up some of the dangling storylines left over from Season One and connected them in a meaningful and sensational way with Season Two's ongoing Ultima storyline.

The initial scene at the ballet that had Frobisher talking to Walter Kendrick seemed a little odd and out of place (would he really go up to him and talk to him like that?) but it payed off magnificently at the end of the episode... and went a long way to proving that Patty doesn't care about Ellen (hell, she tried to have her killed once) and her main ambition is winning at any cost. Even if it means getting in bed with an old enemy.

Frobisher. The episode's biggest surprise was that it was Frobisher who was Patty's ace in the hole and that he would be filing a lawsuit against Ultima, following Patty's defamation case. (Loved, BTW, that she managed to get off with a $5 million charitable donation and then served Claire Maddox with papers moments later.) After everything Patty did to Frobisher, it's pretty mad that he would work with her but the case is a high-profile case and, well, Frobisher lost a pretty penny on his employees' class-action lawsuit against him. Perhaps that old adage--the enemy of my enemy is my friend--applies here as well. Patty lacks the leverage to bring down Kendrick and Ultima and Frobisher is the ideal candidate to do so... even if it brings him back into Patty's circle of influence. But, still, he has men keeping an eye on Ellen Parsons... even if he doesn't yet realize how close she got to snuffing out his life.

Katie. I'm glad to see that Katie Connor is back in the mix and that she recognized her potential assailant as a police officer after her mugging... and went so far as to file a complaint with the citizen review board of Internal Affairs. She's playing a very dangerous game but once again she could be the means of bringing down Frobisher, if Ellen is able to connect Katie's crooked cop to Messer... and then to Frobisher himself. All of which is now made much more difficult by the fact that Messer has silenced his former partner-in-crime in order to insulate Frobisher from any fallout. It definitely worries me that Messer's next target will be Katie herself but one supposes her case against the department will go away now that her man is dead.

The Deacon. Just what coordinates did Kendrick and Dave Pell place into the car for The Deacon (a.k.a. ChapStick-Craving Man)? I assume it's his next target perhaps but it seems like a lot of work for Dave to purchase a vehicle in cash, stash it at a pre-determined location, then give the keys to Kendrick, who then programs in some GPS coordinates into the car and gives the keys to The Deacon. Just who do they want silenced? And does it point to the fact that perhaps Daniel Purcell didn't kill Christine... but stood by and let The Deacon kill her in order to silence her objections to the merger?

Messer. I'm very curious to see just how Ellen gets out of her predicament at the hotel in the future... as Messer, gun-drawn, circles his way around her hotel room as Ellen takes a shower. Will he sneak out as Ellen knows someone is in the room? Will he attempt to kill her? Or was he there not to kill Ellen... but to kill Wes? After all, he killed one accomplice in order to silence him and, as shown in last week's episode, Wes was supposed to get on board a plane and leave town but changed his mind and moved in with Ellen. So is Messer there to silence Wes now that he's gone off the plan? And is it Messer than Wes shoots in the car?

Claire Maddox. So was she involved romantically with Kendrick? Hmmm. He wants to set her up with his wealthy and well-intentioned widower friend who doesn't just want a roll in the hay... but that seems to be just what Claire wants. Dumping Daniel Purcell, when their secret relationship suddenly has too many strings and complications attached, she seduces a young waiter at the restaurant and then smokes a solitary cigarette out on the sidewalk. I can't help but think that, under different circumstances, she and Patty Hewes might find that they are more similar than they realize.

Ellen. Loved just how prickly Ellen was with Katie and how aggressively condescending she was to Katie about her "life choices." How heartbreaking was David's card to Ellen, which she's only now received? And that intended wedding present, which Ellen can't bear to open? It's sitting there like the Tell-Tale Heart ticking away. I wonder what it is. Can't wait for Ellen to learn that Patty is working with Frobisher now, as it's bound to send her right back to the Feds. What's the matter, Ellen? Can't handle that Patty doesn't give a fig about you?

All in all, a very interesting and complex episode that shed some light on Kendrick, Maddox, and the conspiracy as well as continued to remind Ellen that the real reason she is back at work is to find David's killer... who is now a favored client of Hewes & Associates. Ouch.

Next week on Damages ("New York Sucks"), tension mounts between Ellen and Patty about how best to proceed in the case against Ultima National Resources; Ellen gives the FBI a new lead to bring Patty down; Messer warns Frobisher about having contact with Patty.