DAMAGES 3.2 - "The Dog Is Happier Without Her"

WRITER: Aaron Zelman
DIRECTOR: Matthew Penn
GUEST CAST: Len Cariou, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Michael Nouri, Michael Laurence, Glenn Fleshler, Tom Noonan, Reiko Aylesworth, Mädchen Amick, Souleymane Sy Savane, John Hillner, Joanna Rhinehart, Jennifer Roszell, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, Mili Avital, Michael Gaston & Mackenzie Connolly

[SPOILERS] To make it clear, my weekly reviews of Damages will follow a similar format to 24's this year (i.e brief responses, but added detail if an episode justifies it.) This is no reflection on the quality of the show, just the fact its serialized nature means it can be a pain to tackle in depth every single week. So, with that in mind, how was episode 2?

Well, "The Dog Is Happier Without Her" wasn't as great as the exciting opener, but then I never expected it to be. This was a confident follow-up that dangled more clues about the future murder of Tom Shayes (Tate Donovan), while ensuring the present storyline with the Tobin family's investment fraud bedded down nicely. Last year the show was so hell-bent on surprising you every episode that the plot soon became impenetrable and fell into a quagmire mid-season, but season 3's plot feels sprightlier and less daunting.

Patty (Glenn Close) and Tom discovered that Louis Tobin (Len Cariou) was seeing a younger woman called Daniele Marchetti (Mädchen Amick) behind his wife's back; Ellen's (Rose Byrne) fondness for Tom means she's gradually being drawn into Patty's case as a handy contact in the District Attorney's office; Patty's estranged husband Phil (Michael Nouri) returned to sort out their affairs, although he has an agenda to get her back; Joe (Campbell Scott) agreed to access his father's secret fortune, to ensure his family's comfort now their assets have been frozen; but the most interesting development was discovering Tom's family face financial ruin because he had them invest in a company involved in Tobin's fraudulence. This will assumedly have a big effect on his ultimate fate, as the Tobin case is now something personal.

Six months in the future, Detective Huntley's (Tom Noonan) interrogation of the homeless man provided a few stimulating pieces of information: Ellen hears about Tom's death and visit his wife to enquire about who knew they were dating (so Tom's death was to get at her?); and we learn that the cause of Tom's death was drowning. I was mainly intrigued by Ellen's lack of emotion upon hearing about Tom's murder -- is she inured to such things after her fiancé's murder in season 1? Did she recently stop seeing Tom? Did she expect this to happen to him? Or was Byrne going for a "numbed" reaction that came off as cold indifference?

Overall, I wasn't terribly interested in the Patty/Phil situation over their sickly dog, and I thought a moment when Joel accidentally ran over his dad's mistress was rather contrived, but I'm responding well to the pincer-grip of Tom's storyline and grateful this season appears to have boiled things down to a story that's easier to understand and get involved in.

Asides

-- As a Twin Peaks fan, it's always great to see Mädchen Amick in something, although I keep forgetting she's not a teenager anymore. It's a terrible shame if her character's dead already, though!

-- So far, it feels like a great idea to make this season more focused on Tom, with Ellen less prominent. I'm sure Ellen will take on a bigger role as things progress (Rose Byrne has second-billing, after all), but I'm glad Donovan's being given a chance to shine.

3/4 MARCH 2010: BBC1/BBC HD, 10PM