Damages “Look What He Dug Up Now”
Original Air Date: Mar 25, 2008
Tom R. - Sr. Staff Writer
tom@thetwocentscorp.com
“People either leave you or they die. Those are the only two endings possible with you.”
Michael’s assessment of his mother’s relationships is one of the episode’s shining moments. The threads weave closer and closer together as Patty approaches a settlement, the Cadillac codes are cracked, and Ellen puts Tom in the line of fire.
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[photo: FX]
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Damages
ReplyDelete“Look What He Dug Up Now”
Original Air Date: Mar 25, 2008
Tom R. - Sr. Staff Writer
tom@thetwocentscorp.com
“People either leave you or they die. Those are the only two endings possible with you.”
Michael’s assessment of his mother’s relationships is one of the episode’s shining moments. The threads weave closer and closer together as Patty approaches a settlement, the Cadillac codes are cracked, and Ellen puts Tom in the line of fire.
Last season, we saw two clear mysteries unveiling themselves as the timeframes came together in the last episode. This season, we’ve seen more secrets and more skips in the individual timelines. Getting this all to pay off in a single season is a neat trick, and it looks like they’re going to pull it off in next week’s extended finale.
The title refers to Purcell’s dog, who digs up a melted remote control. We saw Purcell burn and bury something, but we weren’t sure what it was. This episode lays out Christine Purcell’s murder. We’ve seen bits and pieces of their argument, particularly her threat to blow the whistle on UNR. But now we see that she also threw a couple more things at Purcell, including his relationship with Claire and the remote. When that beaned him, it drew blood and had to be destroyed after he strangled Christine.
But the next twist in that storyline hits almost immediately…Purcell did not finish the job. He called UNR for a cleanup, but the agent noticed Christine was still alive. He called Kendrick, who authorized the kill. Nice moment here as they delay Purcell’s confession until after this piece is revealed. There is another shining moment just before the confession, as Purcell calls Kendrick and talks about his vision of hell. Kendrick sells himself as all about business, but it’s clear that Purcell gets him rattled.
As Patty and Phil head for divorce, she confronts him about his UNR stock holdings. In the course of her questioning, Phil realizes how Pell took him for a ride, advising him to buy UNR stock, using his nomination as Energy Secretary and leveraging him against Patty. All of this shows Patty as being so much smarter that Phil, which doesn’t bode well for his side of the divorce proceedings.
Purcell also volunteers his services to Patty, who asks him to crack the code for the GPS info. Purcell finally proves the connections, determining that the six digit code refers to a plant number, time of day and day of the week. He ties the info to both Kendrick’s brownouts and Garrity’s stock transactions. Armed with this info and Pell’s name, she meets with Kendrick to discuss a settlement. He is unfazed by the GPS factor, but Pell’s name stops him in his tracks. Patty pushes for a cleanup of the aracite damage, compensation for those affected, and Kendrick’s resignation. Another nice little staring contest brings the scene home.
Kendrick is confident that the GPS evidence will not be admissible, but Patty has Ellen working on bribing the judge. Ellen knows that Patty will ask Tom to do it. She persuades the FBI to bring up the bribery charge again, thinking that Patty will have no choice but to ask Ellen to do it. They arrest Tom just as his wife goes into labor. When he asks for a lawyer, they send in Ellen. When Tom returns to the office and tells Patty he can’t go through with it, she fires him in her second blow-up of the episode. This fills in part of the storyline where we saw that Tom was fired.
The timeline is also completed to put Wes at Ellen’s apartment. He takes her out into the woods, but can’t bring himself to shoot her. He returns home, grabs his guns and heads over to protect her from Messer.
So there’s my two cents…I’d love to hear where your thoughts. Drop in your comments or send me a note at: tom@thetwocentscorp.com .