Oh my, my, MY! The season two finale of Damages brought a lot of surprises, but I’m not surprised, because that’s the way it went down in season one, as well. Things didn’t end up at all like I thought they would.
The scene we’ve been wondering about all season — with Patty sitting across the table from Ellen and her gun — involved a lot of twists and turns. And a bunch of characters emerged to help wrap things up, including Uncle Pete’s widow, who managed to fuel Ellen’s quest for revenge with damaging photos of the guy who attacked her, orchestrated by Uncle Pete at Patty’s request.
It’s something I’ve been wondering about all season — whether Uncle Pete acted on his own, or whether the attack was instigated by Patty. Now we know. The phone call Uncle Pete made to Patty at her beach house, saying “It’s done,” was indeed regarding the attack on Ellen.
And with Ellen knowing all that, her mission in this finale was not only to see justice served in the UNR case, but also to bring Patty down and make her pay for her crimes.
I can’t help but replay the finale awesome scenes in my head: Patty being stabbed in the elevator by Finn Garrity, before she even went to Ellen’s room. That’s where all the blood was coming from! It was Patty’s blood from the stabbing, not from a gunshot fired by Ellen.
Indeed, that shot went over Patty’s head and into the surveillance camera behind her, so that Ellen could get the truth out of Patty about the attack on her. And Patty finally admitted that yes, she was the one who instigated it. “I was afraid,” said Patty. “I didn’t trust you. You knew too much about me, so I told Pete to have you killed.”
The jury was always out on Wes, too, but he showed his true colors today when he killed the bearded cop (whom I can’t help but think of as the dad in the “super delicious” commercial) because he couldn’t kill Ellen and he knew the cop would.
And as usual, Patty was playing everyone. She had Tom Shayes in her pocket all along, working with his sister in the U.S. Marshall’s office to bring down Walter Kendrick and his gang. Is Tom the new Uncle Pete? Will he stand by Patty no matter what?
And unless Ellen found a new guy in the month after the shake-up, it sounds like she’s still with Wes. She’s found a new job, she tells David at his graveside. Meanwhile, Patty, holed up at her beach house, tells Tom that Ellen will be back. I wonder why she’s so sure about that. After all, there’s still the bad blood between her and Ellen regarding that pesky murder attempt on Ellen.
The final scenes were great, with Ellen getting carted off for bribing the judge, and then being stopped by the U.S. Marshall, who then took Agent Werner in. What a thrill to see Tom there, and hear his story about how Patty set the whole thing up. And what an elaborate setup it was! And how fun to see Zeljko Ivanek pop up in the dream sequence. It’s got me yearning for True Blood, which will come back with season two in May.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about this episode and the season, in general. It was a great season, and I’m already looking forward to the next one.
Any thoughts about next season? I’m guessing the main players will be Patty, Ellen, Wes, Tom, Michael, maybe Daniel Purcell and Patty’s husband Phil. They’re in the midst of a nasty divorce, after all.
Clacked by Jane Boursaw 
on Apr 02, 2009 @ 13:30 EST5EDT
I’m pretty sure Frobisher will have a big part in the next season. I can’t think of any other reason for his scene in the finale.
The first few episodes of this season drove me nuts. They seemed so incredibly boring. The last half really revved it up and I enjoyed the ending very much. I love how easily they prove that all is not as it seems.
I’m so glad the bad 70s porn cop was killed. He drove me crazy. And, if we don’t see another iota of Darrell Hammond I will be very pleased. He cannot act and every scene I expected some SNLish business from him.
As bothersome as I found William Hurt, and how little his part actually meant in the long run, I am happy with how well he was actually cast…he could easily be the child of Glenn and William.
In spite of my earlier season reservations, I have to give Season 2 a thumbs up!
oh Jane, I’m yearning for some true blood as well…
Damages was my favorite new show of 2007, and after a year of waiting, season 2 was quiet disappointing. Sure, they wrapped things up nicely, but the slow, very slow build-up didn’t exactly lead up to a satisfying finale.
I still cannot get over the fact that they spent the entire season advertising that damn Cadillac just for that GPS note taking…oh please, is there any worse product placement than this!? be more creative if you have to jammed that ad down my throat.
I actually hope Daniel Purcell’s plot is done though, William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden weren’t that good, either they were miscast or their plots were boring.
Also, did they address anything about the grave Patty visited at the end of last season at all? or did i miss something…i thought there was something more to that plot.
Hopefully, they do a kickass comeback next season because Glenn Close and Rose Byrne are too good in this show to be ignored.
Just a quick thought…….could Ellen’s new job offer be from Patty? Maybe as a partner in the firm. I feel Ellen is similar to Patty in a lot of ways. Does anyone else feel that way?
I think it would be great to see Ellen partner up with Claire Maddox and be on the opposite side of a case from Patty.
The first few episodes were slow, but I think overall this season had better payoffs than S1.
The question is…did Ellen forgive Patty? It seemed so in a way at the end, but I don’t know how she could.
I don’t understand why Tom came back to yell about having information for Patty (and then wrongful dismissal), if he was already in league with Patty with the US Marshall’s office.
Also I wished they gave a bit more of a teaser for Season 3.
does anyone know what next season could possibly be about?
After season 1 we knew that Ellen would be coming back to work with Patty in hopes of finding out who killed David but they left nothing open to be discovered in season 3. I’ll still be anxiously anticipating it’s arrival though.