By Brandon Nolta

Who else on TV, either real-life or fictional, comes across as formidable as Glenn Close? Even when she plays a vulnerable character, there’s an irreducible core of titanium within the portrayal that gives the impression that you can only push this person so far and then … the deluge. As Patty Hewes, lead litigator in a massive corporate suit on FX’s DAMAGES, Close makes her character appear to be all titanium except for a fragile skin she uses for human interaction. Hewes understands the niceties of everyday human politesse; she just doesn’t give a damn for it beyond what she needs to bend folks to her will.

Then again, being so strong and formidable makes a person an easier target, as Hewes and Ellen (Rose Byrne) learn when somebody sends Ms. Hewes a rather unusual gift through the mail: a hand grenade. Since the judge in the Frobisher trial has given Hewes and Associates until the end of the week to deliver a brief that explains why the case should not be dismissed, this throws the firm into the cooker and sets the temperature on high. Naturally, in the ongoing storm of poor timing that is Ellen’s life, her engagement party is also on Friday, and the schedules look sure to collide. Oh, and in addition to the surprise grenade, Patty’s son is raising hell in school, which makes Patty ready to ship him off to the farthest corner of the world, and due to the worries of Patty’s husband (Michael Nouri), there’s an ex-Secret Service agent (Nestor Serrano) keeping watch for any more surprises in the mail.

This sounds like a pretty full recap of the episode, but that probably only covers a third of the episode. Where DAMAGES really seems to excel, so far in its run, is establishing a palimpsest of narrative threads such that each separate one runs around and through and entangles in so many others that it becomes a Herculean task to tell where one starts and another ends. Part of that is the bookend structure the series has taken so far, but most of it is the densely plotted, intelligent writing that DAMAGES brings to the show.

The acting is still sterling, with Byrne given a little more chance to outline her character this time around. In the flashback sections (the meat of the show so far), she comes across a little bit like a deer in the headlights, which makes a nice contrast with the grim murder suspect of the bookend sequences. Danson isn’t around as much this episode, but he plays up in his limited screen time the nice guy malevolence that makes Frobisher such an intriguing foil for Patty; is he a bastard or isn’t he? The safe answer is that he is, just like everybody else in this show, but it’s still too early to tell. 

But, as usual, it’s Close’s show all the way, much the same way that SAVING GRACE belongs to Holly Hunter or THE CLOSER belongs to Kyra Sedgwick. There are any number of fine actresses who could play Patty Hewes as a strong woman, but very few who could bring the particular mix of emotion and cold-eyed manipulation to the part the way she does. Hewes is a woman to be respected and feared, and she does it without trying to be overtly masculine, a combination that is rare and often misunderstood. More props to Close for pulling it off, and like many, this reviewer will be tuning in eagerly next week to see what else Hewes and crew have up their sleeves.