Damages: Remember Your Demons

Pete lives! Oh wait, never mind. This week on Damages, Pete lives through his suicide attempt only to be put out of his misery by his own lackeys. But first we get to see Pete through Patty’s eyes, through a series of flashbacks from her childhood. It’s just like Damages to blur the line between the good guys and the bad guys, and this excellent episode is all about blurring that line.

The episode begins with Ellen tossing in bed, she gets up to take a pill, and a male’s voice startles her. It’s dead fiancé David! She’s having a hallucination, he explains with some fancy doctor lingo. Then he wants to know why she hasn’t opened her wedding present yet. He says it will make her laugh. But then the Feds call and let her know that Pete tried to kill himself. She turns around and David’s gone.

Dealing with her dead demons, Ellen returns to group therapy with Wes. She mentions the gift and says that she hasn’t opened it because she’s trying to put her past behind her. Wes interrupts and says that she hasn’t opened it because she’s holding on. If she opens the gift, she has no more moments with David. How perceptive! Wes continues to earn his Sexy title.

While Ellen struggles with letting David go, his killer, Arthur Frobisher continues his journey to put his dark past behind him. He tells his guru that getting shot changed his life, and he wants to build a healing center in the field where he was shot. Even the guru is skeptical of this life change in Frobisher and thinks he’s taking short cuts.

Detective Messer is also worried about Frobisher’s partnership with Patty. (And rightly so.) He goes to see Frobisher and brings along his right-hand man, sexy Wes. Wes warns Frobisher that Ellen had the chance to kill him before when she visited him in the hospital. She might not make the same decision twice. Plus she’s also becoming quite the sharp shooter. Frobisher doesn’t care and refuses to drop the suit against Kendrick. He tells them he “walks without fear” – which gets some pretty awesome looks from Messer and Wes. Yes, Frobisher has lost his mind.

But Detective Messer watches his own back. He visits Frobisher’s guru, threatens the life of a bunny, and lets the guru know what Frobisher’s got to do. The guru tells Frobisher that he should save his own soul – not body – and turn himself in. Frobisher decides to take care of his body instead – so much for enlightenment. Frobisher’s next seen in a car with a hooker. When they’re done, Frobisher makes a call and says, “I’ll do it.” Next we hear, Frobisher’s dropped the lawsuit.

Speaking of hookers, Tom was busy this week trying to reach out to Susie the hooker. He’s looking for dirt on Finn Garrity. They figure he’s been manipulating the energy market to get the UNR stock up (is this possible?). Susie witnesses Finn actually doing this and then tells him about Tom approaching her – not too smart. Finn threatens to kill her if she talks. Susie – remember, not too smart – reaches out to Tom anyway. She tells Tom, Finn has money everywhere. He asks her to find out if she knows Walter Kendrick. She says she will and refuses Tom’s money – she’ll tell him what she needs when she needs it. But some others are taking advantage of their insider knowledge of UNR stock manipulation. Aware that UNR stock is going to illegally surge, Patty’s husband Phil secretly purchases some stock. That’s not going to end well.

Meanwhile, Patty spends the episode having sympathetic flashbacks of Pete rescuing her from her violent father when she was a little girl. Sitting at Pete’s bedside, Pete’s wife reveals to Patty that some new clients were at their house before it happened. Then Ellen visits Patty and wants to know if Pete has anything on her. She thinks the FBI might have gotten to Pete just as they tried to get to her. Well played, Ellen.

The FBI return to try to make a deal with the still living and awake Pete. He’s not playing. So they wire the room. Then Patty comes to see Pete again, and he tells her exactly what happened with the Feds. Patty tells him to tell them everything. Save himself. Ellen, listening in with the Feds, isn’t buying. She can’t believe Patty would let Pete do her in.

But it’s not Patty who’s trying to keep Pete quiet, it’s Patrick, the guy who tried to kill Ellen. After Patty told Pete to save himself, Patrick paid Pete a little visit. Ellen and the Feds overhear them, but no one recognizes Patrick’s voice. Ellen goes up to the room, and just misses Patrick fleeing as Pete bites the big one in the next room. Patrick jumps in a car and tells a guy to hit the gas before Pete’s boss finds out, while Ellen calls Patty and gives her the bad news. Patty watches a little girl in the park walk off with her father and remembers again how Pete helped her during her violent childhood. Patty stands at the fence and cries. She really was going to let Pete talk.

So Damages managed the impossible and made me feel bad for both scheming, creepy Pete and powerful, manipulative Patty. Bravo. But the awesome didn’t stop there.

Here’s the grand finale: 3 months later Pete’s wife finds some files tucked away in their closet. There are surveillance photos of Katie Connor and an ominous red file labeled “Ellen Parsons”. Pete’s wife delivers the file to Ellen – talk about fanning the flames.

Cue Ellen’s hotel room, she’s waving that gun around again. And who’s at the other end? It’s Patty! She’s weeping and looking very distressed. She tells Ellen this isn’t like her, and Ellen agrees: the gun’s not even loaded. So it’s just the two of them, Ellen says, and then she hands Patty the red folder. Patty opens it and seems to know what’s coming.

Bang, Bang.

I guess Ellen lied.

Next week: Ellen and Wes finally fall into bed together. Their shrink thinks that could be psychologically damaging. Oh honey, you have no idea!

Season 2, Episode 8: They had to tweeze that out of my kidney. (originally aired February 25, 2009)

For another take on this episode, check out Patty’s Pete by Alana D.

For more on Damages, click here.

Wednesdays at 10pm E/P on FX

Photograph courtesy of FX and IMDbPro