Glenn Close Lawyers Up for FX Series `Damages’
It looks like Cruella de Ville has scored a law degree.
Glenn Close, who famously played the uber villainess in Disney’s “101 Dalmatians,” now brings a refreshing jolt of the same frosty, indomitable charm to the killer legal thriller “Damages” at 10 p.m. EDT Tuesday on FX.
The darkly gripping new drama series is anchored by Close’s supercharged, elegantly intense portrait of Patty Hewes, the tough litigator at the middle of a twisty Machiavellian tale of murderous intrigue and legal conniving.
“Damages” opens as a pretty young woman with a very traumatized look on her blood-splattered face exits the elevator of a New York City apartment building dressed only in lingerie and a raincoat.
And then wham, we’re zapped backwards to six months earlier and that same pretty young woman, gifted newbie attorney Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne, “Marie Antoinette”), this time minus the blood and anguish. She is about to be handpicked by Patty for a job with Hewes & Associates.
By the shocking cliffhanger conclusion of the excellent series premiere, we’ll discover how that blood came to splatter.
But first we’ll get to know just how ferociously ambitious Patty Hewes is, whether she’s schmoozing with Greta Van Susteren on Fox News, impulsively firing and then rehiring top assistant Tom Shayes (Tate Donovan, “The O.C.”) or plotting to bring down her latest famous demolition target, embattled corporate tycoon Arthur Frobisher.
The allegedly corrupt Frobisher, portrayed with devilish wit by Ted Danson, has been slapped with a class-action lawsuit by Hewes on behalf of hundreds of his employees. Frobisher’s financial hanky panky supposedly caused an Enron-like pillaging of his workers’ futures.
But for Patty, enough is never enough. She’s obsessed with destroying Frobisher.
“If you want to send a message to this man,” Hewes tells an employees group, “make him pay what he can’t afford.”
Patty also has some family advice for her rookie legal protege, Ellen, who is newly engaged to the charming David Connor (Noah Bean).
“Do yourself a favor, Ellen. Don’t have kids,” icily cautions Patty. “Kids are like clients. They want all of you all of the time.”
Ouch. Patty Hewes doesn’t seem to be fully in touch with her maternal instincts. Which can’t be too much fun for her son, a badly misbehaving prep school adolescent.
The entertainingly tangled web also includes Frobisher’s trouble-fixing attorney Ray Fiske (Zeljko Ivanek, “Homicide”) and David Connor’s sister Katie (Anastasia Griffith, “Alfie”). Katie’s a vivacious young chef about to open her first restaurant, a trendy bistro whose key investor happens to be Arthur Frobisher. Uh-oh.
Siblings Todd A. Kessler (“The Sopranos”) and Glenn Kessler created “Damages” with Daniel Zelman, husband of actress Debra Messing.
The trio has given FX what looks like another distinctive, high-quality drama series to add to a growing collection that includes “The Shield,”"Rescue Me” and offbeat new family drama “The Riches.”
But “Damages,” filmed on location in New York, has a more upscale feel, because of celebrity faces like Glenn Close and Ted Danson.
Four-time Oscar nominee Close already has enjoyed the creative freedom of working at FX, earning a 2005 Emmy nomination for her compelling run as Vic Mackey’s no- nonsense boss on “The Shield.”
But now as she cranks up the stealth and venom as Patty Hewes, Close has an even better showcase for her exceptional talents. “Damages” is dynamite. And the fuse is lit.
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Mike Duffy: mduffy@freepress.com
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