Damages Season 1: Episodes 12 and 13

And so we come to the end. There have been some major surprises up to this point, but the big ones are yet to come. Who attacked Ellen? Who killed David?

But to me, the most interesting question is this: Did Arthur do it?

We know Arthur isn’t a great guy. He pulled out a golf club and destroyed his ex-wife’s windshield. And he took way too much joy in Patty getting a grenade sent to her. Plus, there was that whole thing where he broke his biographer’s nose.

Oh, and he put that hit on Katie for a while. That was less than good.

However, we don’t have a smoking gun on him for insider trading. We’ve got one for Ray. And we don’t have anything in the murder arena either – Moore put the hit on Gregory.

I’m sure that’s the big question: Did Arthur commit the actual crime for which he is being tried for a second time?

Episode 12

Damages Episode 12 on Hulu

Then! (Although Then was a couple of days ago at this point.) David and Ellen talk about wearing their wedding rings for the rest of their lives. And also, what the rest of their lives will entail.

Ellen gets a phone call from “her sister.” She goes to her sister…

… who is actually Patty, at Patty’s office. Where Ray is lying on the floor, quite dead.

Patty hands the blackmail evidence to Ellen, and tells her that Ellen can never tell anyone what Ray was doing there. She asks if she can trust Ellen. Ellen says Patty can.

Now! Ellen is in jail, and now she’s got a roomie. She tells the roomie that the lower bunk is hers, and that she killed her fiancé.

A Week Earlier: Ellen goes into the apartment and hides the file, just as David heads off to work.

Patty talks to the authorities. She tells them that Ray offered her a settlement, she didn’t take it, and then Ray shot himself. Another officer confirms that it was a suicide.

Arthur, at his hotel room, is awakened by a phone call. He lets Marshall and two detectives into his place. They talk to Arthur. Arthur remembers their last conversation, wherein Ray told Arthur that Moore was dead, and that it was “over.”

At the dog park, Patty tells Tom to shut down the office for a few days, and to handle a hearing for her. She’s going to be gone for a few days.

Patty’s husband is headed to a conference, and her son is headed elsewhere as well. Patty is going to go to the beach house.

Now! Patty just keeps on driving until she gets to a cemetery. She goes to a grave.

Then! The judge talks to Tom and Marshall. Marshall’s firm wants a six-month extension to get the attorneys up the speed. Tom asks that it only be a month. The judge agrees to the month.

Marshall takes Arthur to Ray’s office and says that Ray left something for Arthur on his desk. Arthur finds and opens an envelope. Inside is the letter that Gregory sent to Arthur.

And now here we are, at The Big Argument. David knows Ray is dead. He also knows that Ellen didn’t go to see her sister. Ellen confesses that she met with Moore again, and shows David the file that proves Ray guilty of insider trading.

David doesn’t like it. He asks if that’s the reason Ray killed himself. Ellen says he doesn’t know. Then he tells Ellen she has to choose between him and the job with Patty. Ellen can’t, so he says they’re done. Ellen leaves.

David packs, the phone rings. It’s Lila. David tells her to stop calling.

There’s a knock at the door. It’s the freaky building supervisor guy. The neighbors heard a commotion. David and the Super talk, and the Super leaves.

Ellen goes to Patty’s place, and Katie’s outside with the videotape. (I’m sorry, I think I got that wrong, due to the timeline. Ellen is leaving Ellen’s apartment building. Katie goes in there.)

Arthur calls… someone, and says do anything “you” have to do, but get me that tape.

There’s a knock at David’s door. It’s Katie. Katie gives Gregory the videotape, and tells David to give it to Ellen. Then Katie leaves.

Ellen goes to the office to get some stuff. She runs into Tom. Tom says Patty is pretty shaken. He asks if Ellen and Patty have talked since Ellen got let go. Then he says he and Ellen should get some coffee.

At his place, Arthur does some drugs. Ray’s wife shows up to talk to Arthur. Ray, it seems, was medicated for depression. She also tells Arthur about the whole, “Pack the bags, we’re leaving the country,” thing.

Arthur gets a call. Ray’s wife leaves. Ah, the call was from a couple of ladies of the evening.

Ellen goes to Patty’s apartment. They talk. Ellen asks if Patty regrets what they did. Ellen says she does – she thinks they crossed a line. Patty says they’ll deal with the folder with the evidence against Ray on Monday.

Patty thinks Ellen and David are going to be back together soon.

David watches Gregory’s videotape.

Patty tells Ellen everything is going to be all right.

David leaves a message for Ellen – basically saying, “The Tape Is In Our Hiding Place.”

Patty leaves. Ellen takes Patty’s dog for a walk. She heads up the stairs. Someone lets themselves in downstairs. Ellen comes down and makes herself a drink.

The person who came in was Michael. He’s just grabbing a few things. Michael tells Ellen that not to tell Patty that Ellen saw Michael. And that he “wasn’t here.”

At Ellen and David’s apartment, Lila lets herself in, and tries on Ellen’s ring. Then she tries to slip into bed with David. David tells Lila he’s calling the police.

Lila is thrown out. David goes to call the cops. Bearded guy says, “You really should lock your door,” and hits David.

Now! Patty, still in the graveyard, gets a call. It’s Tom. Patty tells Tom she’s been visiting family. Tom tells Patty that Ellen thinks Patty tried to kill her.

Ellen’s bail gets posted by Patty. Nye picks her up from jail.

Ellen has Nye drop her off at her apartment. It’s still a bit of a wreck.

Then! Bearded guy and an accomplice search for the videotape. David gets up and slips away from Bearded Guy, and Bearded Guy finds David and hits him again. The two men take David into the bathroom, and Bearded Guy tries to interrogate David.

David is left in the bathtub. David is dead.

Bearded Guy and his accomplice find the Ray file, but not the tape. They take the file to Arthur, and say they went to Patty’s apartment next. Things got “a little fouled up” there.

Now! Ellen hunts through her apartment, looking for clues about what happened. Patty arrives, and tells Ellen that she didn’t have anything to do with any of this. Ellen tells Patty about the videotape.

Then! Bearded Guy’s helper goes to Patty’s apartment and attacks Ellen.

Now! Ellen tells Patty what she’s figured out. First, there’s no “We.” Second, she’s figured out everything. Getting hired because of Katie, trashing Katie as a witness, breaking up her and David. Ellen tells Patty that she doesn’t trust anyone any more.

Ellen says she’ll give Patty the tape, but Patty is going to do something for her. She needs to defend Ellen in court, and then help Ellen find who killed David.

Nye makes a call, and says, “Ellen is out on bail. You know where to find her.”

And as the episode draws to a close, two men close in on Ellen, who is walking down the sidewalk.

Episode 13

Damages Episode 13 on Hulu

Endgame!

We now know who killed who, and when, and how.

And with that in mind, the episode starts with all the footage that was running backwards in the first episode. Only this time, it’s running forwards.

Then! Ellen hears the dog bark, goes downstairs, fights and kills the guy looking for the videotape. Only here’s a surprise – it’s not Beard Guy’s friend who attacked Ellen.

He saw her running out the door, and they stayed outside instead of going into Patty’s apartment.

Ellen goes home, sees David and:

Ten Days Later (Now-ish): Ellen’s mom has made cookies for Ellen and her friends. Ellen can’t go to David’s funeral. Also, she’s being watched by the guys who were following her at the end of the last episode.

Then! Patty goes to the graveyard, and looks at a gravestone.

3 Days Later: Patty talks to her husband. The clock on the wall says it’s 2:15 in the AM.

Later, Patty meets with the clients and says there hasn’t been a new offer since they turned down the 500 million.

Uncle Pete takes Patty into her cleaned-up office and swears it’s good as new. It’s still creeping her out.

Patty talks to the DA about how he ignored evidence to put Ellen away. Nye is also there.

Patty talks to Ellen – the deal is the same. Get the charges dropped and Patty can have the videotape.

Patty and a few other lawyers and cops, including Tom, all head to Ellen’s to look for anything that isn’t supposed to be there. There is one flashlight that Beard Guy’s associate left there, but no one has noticed it. Yet.

Nye confers with his Ellen-stalkers, and they try to plan their next move. Arthur talks to Beard Guy, who says maybe the videotape is gone. Arthur doesn’t like this idea.

Beard Guy goes to Ellen’s building, where everyone is still looking around for anything unusual. He walks into Ellen’s apartment, and grabs the errant flashlight.

A cop comes in, and says, “Hey!” Then greets beard guy be name. His name is Ray, and he’s a detective who wanted to “help out.”

Wow. Here’s to you, “Damages.” At this point, I think the only surprise I wouldn’t see coming is if Patty and Ellen were the same person. Very well played.

Ray tells Ellen he’s sorry for Ellen’s loss, and that he hopes they find the guy.

May 24, 1972: A doctor tells Patty he’s “sorry.”

Then! Patty sits at a grave.

Now! Arthur asks Larry what’s going on – Patty turned down 500 million dollars. Arthur asks about the videotape. Larry has no idea what Arthur is talking about. Arthur gets mad, and tells Larry that Larry won’t get anything.

Arthur talks to Marshall. He shows Marshall the Ray/Gregory pictures. Marshall asks Arthur what happened in Florida.

Palm Beach 2002! Arthur is in the limo. So is Ray. So is Moore. Moore says that Katie saw him. Ray says that Katie was high and didn’t see anything. Arthur says they’ll take care of the girl.

Moore shows Arthur the paperwork they have on him. Arthur says he doesn’t understand it – and Moore says that isn’t true.

Now! Marshall says they’ll file for summary judgement, forcing Patty to show everything she’s got. Including the videotape, if it’s there.

Marshall goes to Patty and says they’re going to file for summary judgement. Patty says they’re going to trial.

Patty goes to Ellen and says they need the tape. Right now. And that she’s doing everything she can to help Ellen. Ellen says to push the DA harder.

Arthur talks to his son. His ex-wife and their daughter will be moving away, and his son is going to be living with his mother. Arthur says he made the mistake of trusting too many people.

Patty goes to the DA. She wants to know what it’s going to take to get the charges dropped.

Patty talks to Ellen a little later. Ellen is a free woman. The DA dropped the charges, the investigation has been re-opened, and Ellen can go to David’s funeral.

Patty asks where the tape is. Ellen says she doesn’t have it.

She isn’t lying. It’s hidden in the evidence box. Inside the Statue of Liberty bookend that killed David. Tom gets the tape out.

Outstanding. Out. Standing.

Patty goes to Arthur’s place, and plays a DVD copy of the videotape for him. Patty gives Arthur two options:

1) She turns the tape over to the authorities, and Arthur loses a lot of money and years of his life.

2) Arthur makes a deal, at Patty’s price, and the tape goes away forever.

She gives him one day to think about it.

Later, Patty and her husband talk to Michael about the fact that, yes, he was in the house the night Ellen was attacked.

Marshall and Arthur talk about liquidating everything. He just wants to keep the new land he’s developing. Then he tells Marshall to pay Patty.

Marshall gives Patty a number. The only catch is, all evidence gets buried. Patty accepts.

Patty tells the clients they won the case, and they pop the champagne. Literally.

Larry is pulled aside. The client reps want him to not take any of the 2 billion dollar settlement. This makes Larry sad.

Patty pulls Ellen aside and congratulates Ellen on her first victory. Patty tells Ellen she can have her job back, whenever Ellen is ready. Ellen leaves.

Ellen bumps into Nye. He tells her to “get in the car.” The two dudes following her are sitting there. Nye tells them that “they know what she did.”

Turns out the guys are FBI. Turns out they’ve been investigating Patty for a while. Ellen tells them to go ahead and keep on investigating. Then she steps out of the car.

Then it’s David’s funeral. Ellen is there. So is Katie. They talk after the funeral, and Katie says she’s been trying to forgive Ellen. Ellen, it seems, blames herself for David’s death. And so does Katie.

Patty takes the videotape to the DA, and tells him that a) he didn’t get it from her, and b) to sit on it until the next election, at which point he can send Arthur to jail.

Arthur is out on his land. Larry shoots him. Arthur falls down, and maybe dies. But maybe not.

Larry walks away.

Tom talks to Ellen, and asks what they did to win.

Ellen asks if Tom knows where Patty went when she went away.

Two Weeks Earlier: Patty cries at the beach house. Then drives. Then flashes back to the doctor, who tells her that she had a little girl, who died before delivery. That was the grave: Julia. Her daughter. Julia.

Now: Patty is at the beach house. Ellen comes out to see her, on the dock. Patty tells Ellen that she does, in fact, regret what they did. Patty confesses to all her lies and manipulation, and says she’s ashamed of what she did. She hopes Ellen can forgive her, someday.

Ellen says she’ll go back to work for Patty, on one condition: Ellen wants to prove that Arthur had David killed.

Flashback: Ellen gets back into the FBI car, and asks what they’re looking for: “Fraud. Conspiracy. Obstruction of justice.”

Flashback again: Patty tells Ellen she’s welcome to stay at Patty’s place. Patty gets a call from Uncle Phil that “It’s done.” The attack happens, then gets cleaned up. And Patty freaks right out on the beach.

In the FBI Car: Ellen tells the FBI that Patty tried to kill her.

And at the beach house, Ellen and Patty say they’ll see each other on Monday – and that old James Brown classic, “Payback” plays in the background.