February 4th, 2010 4:11 pm

Damages Season 3

Impeccably acted, incredibly written and intricately plotted – if only everything on television was this good. The multiple Emmy-winning ‘Damages’ is back for its third – and possibly final – season, and things couldn’t be better.

If you’ve never watched an episode of ”Damages” before, well Season 3 could officially be your jumping in point. As far as legal dramas on television go, there is nothing like it. Impeccably acted, incredibly written and intricately plotted, its easily one of the most confounding, head-unscrewing dramas around. This is not television to be taken lightly by any means.

Perhaps a jumping-in point is perhaps a little much. There is a long history between civil law great Patty Hewes and her once-protégée Ellen Parsons that the summing up over the pre credits montage glosses over way too easily. Deception, underhanded dealings, lies and betrayal – all the really juicy stuff in law are just regular occurrences in the past two seasons. And while Season 3 starts with Ellen now out of Patty’s firm and working for the District At tourney’s office, you can bet your bottom dollar that she’ll be pulled back in soon enough.

Certainly something that’s noticeably missing is the head-to-head grudge match between Patty and Ellen. What made the early seasons great is Ellen slowly realising the lengths to which Patty would go to get what she wants, and then the trajectory of her going back at Patty. Not so much a full blow war, but the subtleties in the dialogue and their characters is what made their relationship must see viewing every week.

The fact that time and space now separate the two means, again hopefully only for the moment, its about coming to grips with the case of the season. Again, its another CEO who has frauded his company’s investors and lost them all their money. Including a ‘Damages’ regular as the second episode drops into the plot. So Patty is firmly ready to bring the money-cheating bastard down; except that she is doing so through the seemingly innocent son who claims to know very little about the situation and simply wants to help the unflappable Patty in an effort to reclaim his family’s name, if for no other reason than to protect his wife and son.

As is always the case with ‘Damages’, there is waaay more to the plot here than meets the eye, especially in a single episode; or in the case of this review, two episodes. By the end of the second instalment you’ll find yourself wondering what the hell is going on; no more or less so than any other season at this stage. But for those that love being confused and tested by their television shows rather than the passive experience most shows usually afford, ‘Damages’ is a series like no other.

The enigmatic unfolding of a seasons mystery is one that certainly requires dedication to the series; thankfully each run has a brisk 13 episode commitment. But its that tight episode order that maintains the highest level of writing a television show can muster these days; not only in the brilliantly written and defined characters, but also in delivering only the most important details in each episode to make it wholly compelling viewing. Don’t be fooled, you can be certain that everything, even the seemingly minor drug bust that Ellen’s involved in in the first two episodes, has something to do with what is happening six months later.

Perhaps a little contrived, but hey, its TV. This is what makes it compelling, slightly hyper-real, but always amazingly taut viewing each and every episode.

Other than the skilfully written episodes and characters, ‘Damages’ is also known for its brilliant (but also expensive) casting coups; Martin Short, Lily Tomlin, Campbell Scott have all featured brilliantly so far, as well as 24 alum Reiko Aylesworth, the mysterious architect hitting on Patty in Keith Carradine and even another Aussie Sarah Wynter is still to turn up.

So far, Martin Short will be robbed not to get an Emmy nod come September as a guest star. And no doubt completing the trifecta will be Close after two Best Actress in a Drama series wins in a row. She is that good.

This show is that good. Season 3, only two episodes in, is that good. Its certainly an acquired taste with its fractured plotting methods, which has shown in its continual lacklustre ratings – even cable networks take that into account now, so nothing is safe. It requires dedication, intelligence and patience, but every season has been worth it, and Season 3 so far looks like its lost none of its ability to draw you in and keep you guessing until the very end. If only all television was this good.