Damages: Meet Your Murderous Daddy

If Damages knows how to do anything, it’s how to keep you on your toes.  One episode you’re sure Daniel Purcell is innocent – after all, his wife’s ruby ring was stolen and pawned by a scraggly blond haired guy, just like he said.  But then the next week … Well, hold that thought.

After last week’s diversion, this episode we also return to the mystery of who Ellen kills in five months.  In the hotel room someone arrives with a suitcase of money for Ellen.  The person seems nervous, observes Ellen.  Bang.  Bang.  Ellen exits hotel room 1910 with the suitcase.  So who was trying to pay Ellen off and instead lost their head?

So far no new leads – though Purcell’s looking pretty good, but more on that later – as Ellen took off for West Virginia with Tom to find Daniel Purcell’s reporter friend, Josh Reston.  Unfortunately they have a hard time doing that.  The locals are burning dead livestock by the river, Reston’s home has been ransacked, and his own newspaper editor is lying to them.  Luckily, Reston finds them instead, sneaking up on Ellen outside their motel room.  They go meet in the woods and hash out the Erin Brockovich-worthy scenario.

Not only are whole farms losing their animals, but leukemia rates in the area around the Ultima National Resources facility are 145% above the average.  It seems like somebody’s poisoned the water hole.  And to prove it, Reston has a water sample for them to analyze.  Aware of the sneaky ways of a small town full of spies, Tom and Reston create a diversion, leaving separately from Ellen.  While Tom and Reston get stopped by the cops – always count on the pigs to be dirty – with a bunch of other familiar-looking thugs on their way out of town.  They’re looking for “stolen property.”  Unfortunately for them, the stolen water sample’s in New York with Ellen and Patty Hewes.

But all’s not well with the UNR case.  Patty’s “people” manage to track down the ruby ring and a picture of its pawner, a desperate heroin addict with a sick daughter and a nasty ex named Kevin Walker (not to be confused with the loveable, gay lawyer of Brothers & Sisters).  Walker’s so desperate for money that he robs his own cousin and gets arrested, with the pawn ticket still in his pocket.  Purcell picks the guy out of a line-up and is promptly released from jail.  Happily he hugs his sweet little daughter.  Patty looks on adoringly.  So yay!  Patty freed the innocent man, right?  Remember when I told you to hold that thought?

On a lush green golf course, UNR CEO Kendrick and his sleazy go-to guy, Wayne Sutry, are made aware of the little water sample mishap.  Purcell could be involved.  Sutry says the Purcell situation’s taken care of.  Later on, Claire Maddox, UNR’s chief counsel and Purcell’s secret plaything, is shopping in a farmer’s market with Kendrick.  Purcell’s innocent and he’s been released, Maddox tells him.  She wants to know if they had anything to do with Purcell’s wife’s murder.  Kendrick laughs because, of course, that’s just ridiculous.

Meanwhile a stone-faced lackey – meticulously applying Chapstick – pays a visit to Sutry in a massage parlor.  Can you say cliché?  And is that Darrell Hammond?  So creepy Darrell Hammond tells Sutry he does better with directions – so mindless lackey then – and Sutry sends Hammond to take care of something.  That something?  Kevin Walker, who gets sent a “message” courtesy of Hammond and an inmate’s shank.  So Walker’s been silenced and can’t spill the beans on UNR.

Patty, however, is not clueless about Kevin Walker.  He’s a junkie, not a murderer.  She thinks someone put him up to it, and she thinks that someone was UNR.  Meanwhile, she’s warming to her star witness, Purcell.  She admires his love and protectiveness toward his daughter and after 10 years finally agrees to allow Purcell to meet their son, Michael.  They have a nice little awkward conversion as Patty looks on.  It seems like a touching father/son bonding moment.  Too bad about what happens next.

Patty’s brought Purcell to court – against Claire Maddox – to declare that UNR falsified his report and that they’re poisoning people.  We know from episode one that this did happen.  But on the stand Purcell changes his tune.  He says UNR changed nothing.  The judge throws the motion out, and Patty looks irate.

Flash to a few moments later and Purcell has the water sample.  He’s dumping it into the lake in his backyard as Sutry comes up behind him.  He tells him that Mr. Kendrick has transferred the money to his accounts and that he and his daughter will be taken care of.  So did Purcell get scared?  Accept a bribe in exchange for his daughter’s protection and a bit of old fashioned greed?  Don’t hold your breath.

Flash to three weeks ago.  It’s the night of his wife’s murder.  Daniel gets in the car, panting and sweating.  And who else is that in the car?  Why, it’s creepy Darrell Hammond.  Uh oh.  Another person gets into the car, and it’s Kevin Walker.  Creepy DH gives Kevin the ruby ring, he tells him to go pawn it and keep the ticket (idiot), and tells Daniel to get a good look at him.  Don’t worry, says Creepy DH, it’s all taken care of.  Daniel just needs to go inside and call 911.  Oh snap.

Let’s wrap up: Patty was right, Kevin Walker was put up to the crime.  Or maybe he just took the fall for it.  Either way Daniel was certainly complicit in the killing, but why?  And what does it have to do with UNR poisoning people?  Furthermore, what does it have to do with Ellen’s revenge on Patty/mystery hotel room victim?  And, most importantly, where is sexy Wes and his bureau full of guns?

Guess I’ll have to wait until next week for some answers – or the way this show’s going, more questions.

Season 2, Episode 4: Hey! Mr. Pibb (originally aired January 28, 2009)

For another take on this episode, check out Patty totally didn’t see that coming by Alana D.

For more on Damages, click here.

Wednesdays at 10pm E/P on FX

Photographs courtesy of FX and IMDbPro