Customer Reviews
Damages Season 1 - By: Mr. Dw Hope, 14 Nov 2008 
One of the best drama's i've seen for a while, I have currently been hooked on "THE WIRE" which is probably the best show ever made. Damages starts slowly & the character "Ellen" played by Rose Byrne seems an unlikely heroin. But as time passes she becomes all you want from a heroin a series. Glen Close definitly steels the show with a outstanding on screen display, you can't decide wheather you love or hate her.
I can't wait for Season 2 which is currently being filmed. Ted "cheers" Danson also plays a blinder as a Big Bussiness Fat Cat who although shows us how far he will go to cement his legacy he still has a concience.
If you watch it you will love it,If you choose not to watch it you will miss out on what Modern T.V shows can bring us. FANTASTIC VIEWING!!!!
Get some Damages - By: Louis Ackerman, 04 Nov 2008 Anything I write here will never be able to do justice to this show. Damages is the best television series out there today. End of. Now I'll admit I wasn't expecting anything like what I got. I thought maybe it would be similar to the brilliant `Murder One,' possibly a watered down version of `The Practice,' or one of the many other lawyer dramas on American tv. I was wrong, & I was surprised, & now I'm addicted to Damages.
Damages takes the law drama & turns it into the kind of mystery thriller that would put any recent generic cousin to shame. Glenn Close plays Paddy Hewes, the toughest, most uncompromising, & dangerous attorneyin New York state. She's heading up a huge lawsuit against Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) a billionaire businessman who bailed out on five thousand employees now left penniless. Hewes has just recruited Ellen (Rose Byrne) to her hotshot prosecuting team, but her motives remain suspect & the dirty tactics are used on both sides of the courtroom to win at all costs. Such a synopsis barely scratches the surface to what can best be described as `The Sopranos' relocated to a law firm & given law degrees instead of guns. The storytelling here is masterful. The creators employ a flashback narrative to build the suspense of what is to come - a murder, a suspect & a conspiracy that runs deeper than you first imagine.
Glenn Close is phenomenal, relishing every second she gets to play the ruthless, cunning Paddy Hewes. She has been reborn on the small screen allowing people to remember how great she really is. Relative newcomer Rose Byrne more than holds her own against the legendary titan, & invests Ellen with a naivety that gradually develops into hardnosed professionalism as the series continues. Her combination of sex appeal & intelligence makes her one to watchin the next few years - I expect big things from her to come. Meanwhile on the opposition; Ted Danson turnsin the most unexpectedly fierce, frightening, devious & desperate character of his whole career. He is a revelation. Who knew he could play such a great, multi-faceted villain, & be so believablein the part? This is the guy who was once one third of Three Men & a Baby. His council comesin the form of slippery defence attorney Ray Fiske, played marvellously by Zeljko Ivanek who recently won an Emmy for his excellent performance. The acting is as good as small screen acting gets. The cast is faultless, right down to the smaller roles. Ivanekin particular takes an initially unsympathetic character & finds a humanity that makes him all the more tragic.
Damages is a whirlwind mystery drama/thriller that is about the manoeuvring on both sides of the defence & the prosecution. No one is clean. No one is completely innocent. Everybody lies & deceives. Paddy tells her new recruit that the most important lesson to be learnedin this business is "Trust no one." It should have been the tagline for the show. The twists are so well engineered you would think it was written as a novel before it was a TV series. The episodes seem like chapters that slowly unravel the long, winding plot with all the gusto of a Class A movie production - the show looks a million bucks & is accompanied by an epic, operatic score that plays the tension, works the drama, finds the tragedy & underscores the passion perfectly.
There are few shows I say are near perfect - 'The Wire' is one, `The Shield' another, but Damages takes the mantle as the most riveting new series to arrive on British screensin a long, long while. It avoids the cliches, surpasses expectations, overturns preconceptions & sustains a complex, intelligent plot that is peopled by interesting, diverse & multi-layered characters all played by a winning ensemble. The direction is stylish, the music & editing accomplished & everything reaches that right pitch between satisfying entertainment & thought provoking drama. And for a show all about the law there ain't a courtroomin sight. This is about what goes on outside the walls of justice, & shows us how power can be used to manipulate, cheat, deceive & destroy at any cost. Get addicted today & go get some Damages on DVD.
Great show but nog classic - By: T. Francois, 10 Oct 2008 
Although i agree with of the 5 star reviews (gripping story, superbly acted, nice pace,...) i'll stick with a 4 out of 5 for one main reason: at certain pointsin the series it annoyed that i could see through the concept & feel that it was it built according to a "formula". This could bein little details like choice of shots of the director, the presentation of plot changes,...
Just like blockbuster formats, Damages sometimes feels just a little too much like it was created with just too much marketingin mind.
It is because of this that i have to rate it below shows that could overcome this issue & just feel just more 'real', like -for me- The Sopranos, Shield,...
Show is great though, just not a new Sopranos
TV At It's Best - By: Mr. Daniel J. Offer, 06 Oct 2008 At first glance you might read this as a typical boring lawyer, police & 'killer' drama...in some respects it is. However, its top of its class. It's a clever, witty, & thought provoking drama -and it comes highly recommended.
Compulsive viewing - By: P. F. Yardley, 30 Sep 2008 I watched all thirteen episodes of this drama within four days. The perfomances of the main actors, Glenn Close (as the hard as nails Lawyer), Rose Byrne (the new recruit to her firm) & Ted Danson (the wealthy chief exective they are chasing with a damages claim) are all excellent. The suspense level is maintained throughout, helped by using a flashback stylein reverse to tell the story. The bulk of the viewing is done showing the months leading up to the catastrophic finale. This is interspersed with later events leaving you following both the build up & the 'last chapter' at the same time until they meet near the end.
The story line follows a legal battle lead by Glenn Close's character Katey Hewes representing over 5000 former employees cheated out of their savings & pensions by former boss Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake both sides will do anything it takes to gain or protect the fortune. The twists & turns continually make you unsure of who's the 'goodie' & whose the 'baddie', whose telling the truth, lying etc.
Watching on DVD allows you the obvious advantage of watching this drama at your own pace, essential as you won't be wanting to wait a week between episodes.
