[DMG] They Had To Tweeze That Out Of My Kidney

TV Programme: Damages
Season: 2
Episode: 8
Date I watched this episode: 27/02/2009
Time since I last watched this programme: 7 days.

I was glad after the last episode's ending that they decided to continue Pete's backstory through this episode. The character development arc for Pete can now span 2 episodes; which in itself is a breakthrough as there have been so many episode-long storylines this season. I think Pete is well and truly dead now though, it will be unlikely that he'll be brought back a second time: so in a way this entire episode was a bit pointless. The interesting thing is, what Patty's involvement was in this? It is not inconceivable that she could be complicit in another murder (as I'm skeptical about her being genuine during the scene at the pier). However, although the perpetrator called Patty just as he left the hospital, he also said to his friend "let's go before his boss finds out" which doesn't quite seem to add up.

The intertwined storyline about Patty's childhood was a good idea - this was teased at during last season when Patty and Tom were talking about him creating his own firm. However it was extremely repetitive: the same clip was shown several times with no added value. This method has been used before in last season's "Do You Regret What We Did?" but to added effect there due to the fact that each time the clip plays you get a little bit more and understand it better. Here the device didn't quite work.

Arthur Frobisher is once again messing about, and has become almost comical in his attempts at redemption. When he tells Rick Messer in this episode "Today, I walk without fear" Rick is absolutely speechless. I feel that it's necessary for Arthur's character to go around this journey so that he can end up more powerful and unscrupulous than he has ever been. It'll be interesting to see just how far Arthur will go, whether he will turn himself in as an escape to certain death at the hands of Messer's people.

It was good to see Noah Bean back in this episode. I like the idea of David's ghost guiding Ellen, and I hope we will see him return in future episodes. I don't think the thing about the wedding gift was well done though, I always guessed that Ellen didn't want to open it because she was clinging onto one last moment; I can imagine myself doing the same thing. They have built up this gift storyline over so many episodes that it will surely be an anticlimax.

Obviously a major revelation in this episode was the identity of the person in room 1910 - finally - it is Patty Hewes. This again is something of an anticlimax as it was the most likely person (though the idea that it was Frobisher was teased a bit). Quite a lot has to happen before Tom Shayes is going to help Ellen obtain a gun to shoot Patty though. It is still a pretty complex storyline that is slowly unravelling.

A bit more was revealed this week about Garrity and the energy trades. This is pretty complex and a lot of information was given on it all at once. Basically it seems that Garrity is going to release some dud formula which will manipulate the stock market in favour of UNR. But although this loses the lawsuit, I can't see quite how it ties in with the UNR merger.

The season is really picking up the pace now and there is a lot to explore. I wonder if Ellen recognised the man who tried to kill her? What is Lani (aka Suzy)'s agenda and what does she want from Hewes & Associates? What is Dave's agenda, why is he keen to create a conflict of interest and why does he want to help Phil Hewes so much anyway? And finally does Patty know about the FBI situation? It seems quite unusual for someone so on the ball as her to not have detected what is really going on.

Now onto our weekly title discussion, and finally I was actually right!! This line was spoken by Frobisher, admittedly to his spirtualist, but it's the closest I've got so far. Next week's is "You got your prom date pregnant". Wow they don't tend to make these easy do they? I'm going to guess Patty talking to Michael...but that doesn't really fit with the storyline, so I'm a bit stumped.

This season is doing well in its second half and has restored some hope in me; I just wish they could have got to this point sooner, as all that stuff with Danny Purcell seems so irrelevant now.