DJariya

Synopsis:



I'm going to miss Damages. It had a really good 1st season 3 years ago in the summer (I believe the ratings were good too), then got screwed by the writer's strike and was postponed almost 1 year and people obviously forgot about it in season 2 and now 3. I hope it goes out with a bang tonight.

Ravenous

Is it official that it wont be back? I heard they were trying to do some deal like Friday Night Lights has.

I havent seen an episode this season. Been recording waiting for all of them so I can have a marathon!!

stingermck

Here we go! I loved season 1, felt they missed the boat at the end of season 2, and Ive just been casually watching 3.

meritocracy

Nothing official, but taking the ratings into consideration, I'm not all that optimistic it'll be back. I'd absolutely love to be proven wrong and sincerely hope a deal is struck.

While the consensus is season 2 fell a bit short, I've thoroughly enjoyed this season and feel it's been a strong return to form.

Can't wait!

stingermck

What the hell is Raylan doing here?!

MrX

Well that could definitely serve as a series finale.

The only story I didn't really care for was the stuff with her and her son. You knew she was going to own Jill this episode, but she's usually smart enough to see that Michael will just hate her even more.

Glad to see the Tobin family got what was coming to them.

slop101

I suppose things wrapped up as they should have, but it was strangely unsatisfying.

dino88

I agree. I thought the episode's preview was stronger than the actual episode. I remember getting chills during the short clip of Patty yelling into the phone, but when it played out in the actual episode I felt nothing. I also felt a disconnect with Ellen, like she was just some secondary character. Everything just seemed to happen around her with no real active involvement.

Thos19

Kinda left me with some nagging unanswered questions -- some logic based, some not (I guess, I'll spoiler):



Thos.

slop101

The answer to all your question is that all those things taken out of context look really cool and intriguing in the flash-forward segments, but when taken within context are just a bunch of contrived nonsense.

MrSmearkase

I don't watch this show, but this episode title has now surpassed CSI's 'The Panty Sniffer' as my favorite episode title of the year!

mraw

The finale was somewhat underwhleming, but only because the writers did such a great job setting everything up all season, so I'm not mad about it.

I think Patty wanted to back off of the Tobins momentarily because the story that Lily told her mimicked what was going on with her and Michael at the time.

I knew last week that Jill was going to get screwed for taking Patty's money and spending it. She was stupid for thinking she could get one over on Patty.

I also have no idea why Tom decided to walk all around town sightseeing with three stab wounds. This was beyond stupid. Had he called 911, he wouldn't have to call and tell anyone goodbye.

Earlier in the season the writers made it seem like Ellen and Tom were having an affair, but this issue was never addressed again. In a flash forward Ellen mentioned something to Tom's wife along the lines of 'did he tell you about us?'. I was interested in seeing that story develop.

The flashbacks to 1972 were completely useless IMO, but overall it was a very good season.

It might have been better to reveal all of the Tobin drama two episodes ago and tie up the loose ends with Zedeck and even show a trial with Tobin, because I really wanted to see him get it after he killed Tom.

Gunde

Purposely misleading. All this was about was Tom and Ellen talking about starting a law firm together. I'm glad they didn't have a affair.

mraw

This is what I posted in last week's thread but no one posted afterwards:

The law firm idea picked up no more steam than the affair, so why mention either if they weren't going to be explored more? Besides, knowing that Tom had to leave Patty's firm in order to save the case, I don't understand why it was supposed to be such a secret. I'm sure Patty didn't expect Tom to stop practicing law.

I'm thinking it was a casualty in the writing process when trying to wrap everything up.

sleepyhead55

I guess the entire point of the episode and Patty's past and the present was that in essence Ellen and Tom are her "children". Going by that, the episode made a lot more sense and with the parallels of the Tobin family falling apart.

Agreed on the Tom stupidity. If he had gone to a hospital, he's probably still alive.

The Frobisher angle finally payed off. The scene in the car where he lists how he's been helping people is truly hilarious. Ted Danson plays that charcter so well.

I'm not exactly sure why Jill chose to escalate her feud with Patty. It would have made more sense to lay low for a while.

I'm going to miss this show if it goes off the air. Very good 3rd season.

golden_rod

It was more of a revelation for her character, especially after what we learned about Julia at the very end. Walking to meet them, and with the events of 1972 on her mind, she realized that Ellen & Tom were essentially her family and she wanted to stop anything from happening to them because, in the words of her son, everyone who gets close to her either leaves her or ends up dead. The case was no longer as important to her as protecting Ellen & Tom. She even offered to support Tom and his family if they stopped with the Winstone deal.

I don't think they were useless at all, I think it tied in perfectly with the story they started telling in the first season & the family problems Ellen experienced over the course of the show. Patty was hellbent on ruining & controlling her own son's life because he was another unwanted pregnancy that she used for her own gain, and her connection to Ellen reminded her of what she could have had with her own daughter had she not intentionally miscarried. Ellen felt the same pull toward Patty because she was somewhat devoid of a maternal figure in her own life, admitting that she always felt adopted, not very close to her mother, and even hoping that a stranger from her past was actually her real mother.

They're bad for each other, but they need each other. I absolutely loved how Patty refused to answer Ellen's question about whether it was all worth it & as she walked away, Patty turned back to look at her. The point being that as twisted as that relationship is, they need it to continue for their own personal reasons.

mraw

I guess it's better for fleshing out the story, but the flashbacks weren't needed IMO to show that Tom and Ellen were 'family' to Patty. It's obvious because no one else wants to deal with her on a professional level, let alone on a personal one - except those two. I liked seeing Patty break down in her message to Ellen because it showed how much she loved Tom.

Michael's comment about everyone who gets close to her either leaves or dies made me pause. Isn't that how it happens for everyone? Isn't that life? Even someone who loves you stays with you until they leave or die. Preferably not by the same means, but it happens that way.

And I certainly agree that they need each other. For them to not have a long history together, they have an unnatural, almost creepy dependence upon each other.

mraw

I take part of my comment back because the 1972 flashbacks explain the horse and blood dreams, etc., but I'm also saying that the dreams and anything relating to Carradine and the horse could've been cut from the story.

Red Dog

Count me in as Tom's however-many-blocks bloody walk and using the phone to call home yet not call for aid.

Jill was a fucking idiot for trying to screw over Patty.

wd65733

I like how Martin Short got away with everything in the end.

Sucks that Tom died. Season 4 won't be as interesting without him(if it happens)

Nth Power

I really liked this season. The ending was decent and could make for a good series finale if it doesn't get renewed, but I hope it does.

I was laughing at Jill during that scene. No way would she be able to one up Patty in that department. Although I was expecting a more lethal ending for her...maybe if Malcolm was still around.

Coral

I enjoyed this season a lot more than Season 2. But like others, there's some things that really didnt make sense.

Tom stumbling home stabbed. huh?

The whole Ellen/Tom law firm thing being mistaken as an affair - nothing came of it.

Wes only came back because Ellen contacted him. Then he turns himself in (along with Frobisher)? So if Ellen didn't call, Wes would still be a free man. Don't get it.

Joe kills Tom, wraps him up in big towel or something... and how did he get the body out of there without anyone noticing? He didn't even have a car.

How can Jill even think Patty won't get her back? She takes her money, renages on the deal with her - so that'll piss her off. She had sex with an underage kid and her baby is proof - she didn't think Patty would use that against her? Is she retarded?

I liked that Patty didn't answer the question at the end. I suspect that she DOESN'T think it was worth it.

Bobby Shalom

Even with the contrivances and plot holes, Damages does such a great job with all of its: twists, mistrusts, lies, truths and week to week reveals.

I think if it gets renewed we'll get answers to the remaining mysteries surrounding: keith Carradine, Frobisher's trial, Tobin's trial, etc.

skatefan20

Jill getting her comeuppance and Lenny's dad breaking into Joe Tobin's hotel room wearing a "Jorge" nametag were hilarious!

I kinda wish they used "The Fish Got to Her" as the title for this finale (just found it funny when Patty uttered this line to Joe Tobin towards the end.)


The finale could have used some better editing. The entire sequence with Marilyn Tobin watching home movies [cut] getting in a taxi [cut] jumping into the river in broad daylight seemed awkward and rushed. To provide more time for the current main case/storyline and the aftermath of Tom's death, I would have preferred the Frobisher stuff end with Ellen asking cop-killer not to turn himself in (Frobisher's book was titled "My Long and Windy Road", so I would have been satisfied that all of Frobisher's appearances this season were just to lead up to one Ellen/Wes reunion. )

And maybe I'm just too nitpicky, but not only did I notice some dubbing from Tate Donovan during the pay phone scene, but the scene where Patty breaksdown and leaves a message on Ellen's cell appeared to be a different take. Didn't the 'flash-forward' scene earlier in the season begin with her storming thru the door saying "NO!, I don't understand..." (as if there was someone on the other line)?

Anyways I still give this "edge of your seat" finale an A-/B+ as I didn't really think about the above quibbles until subsequent viewings.

dino88

What ever happened to Joe Tobin's sister? Did she just get away with the murder?