It doesn’t appear that there’s a definitive answer to the renewal question, but the show’s creators have promised that “Damages”’s many hanging threads will be neatly tied up by the finale’s end. Here’s a quick-and-dirty rundown of where we stand: ingénue-turned-murder-suspect Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) has been released from prison after being bailed out by her treacherous boss, Patty Hewes (Close). Ellen is holding on to a videotape that will clinch Patty’s case against Arthur Frobisher (Danson), a modern-day robber baron bearing a strong resemblance to Enron’s Jeff Skilling. Ellen is keeping the tape, vowing to turn it over to Patty if Patty will defend her against the charge of bludgeoning her dreamboat fiancé, David (Noah Bean), to death. The identity of David’s real killer was obscured for weeks, but we now know that Frobisher’s goons killed David, then tried to kill Ellen to retrieve the damning videotape.
The explanation the writers chose is both slightly anticlimactic and suspiciously pat. Patty seemed all but certain to have had a hand in either David’s death or the attempt on Ellen’s life, and by absolving her of guilt they leave their marquee star free to have all sorts of season-two adventures. This is where the show went wrong. The dense and elaborate plotting of “Damages” would lend itself perfectly to a limited run, but the American television business doesn’t do limited runs. And it’s a shame. We wear our best shows out, dragging them on way past their narrative expiration dates, then beat up on them for not being able to indefinitely sustain their quality.
The strain really shows on serialized dramas, which, by their very nature, must paint their characters into corners again and again, and the longer writers have to manufacture ways out, the more implausible the solutions start to seem. It catches up to every serial show sooner or later: “24,” “Lost,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Ugly Betty,” “Veronica Mars,” “Weeds” and “Heroes” have all struggled at some point with an inability to keep lots of balls in the air at once. So while it would be ideal if the “Damages” team would leave well enough alone, it seems more likely that they’ll be granted a second season. Fortunately, the serials that have stumbled before them outline the “serial killers,” the do’s and don’ts of a successful season two:
A character whose natural story progression has concluded must be axed. Danson’s layered portrayal of Frobisher is among the best acting on television right now, and is certainly Danson’s best work. But as fascinating as Frobisher is, he can’t still be lingering around come season two. Old characters become pests when they are unnaturally shoehorned into the action. “24” has been guilty of this many times. Characters that should have been fast-tracked to the gas chamber for their treason are trotted back out on a whim, with improbable explanations for their reappearances. In order to gain audience investment, characters have to have dire, lasting consequences for their actions, and it’s difficult to invest in a world where any consequences, including death, can be undone. Lock up Frobisher and throw away the key.
This is one technique “24” has always used well: each season takes place a few years after the prior season’s conclusion. The show plays fast and loose with its real-time conceit—by my count, Jack Bauer should be collecting CTU pension by now—but the narrative possibilities created by jumping ahead make it forgivable. There will be a lot of shrapnel scattered by the end of the “Damages” finale, and it would take a lot of time for all of it to be sorted out. But let’s not make the audience sit through it. Leap to one or two years after the Frobisher case, after the dust has settled. There’s nothing we could miss that a few lines of expositional dialogue or a well-placed flashback can’t catch us up on.
With a sprawling serial story, it’s tricky to know when to be stingy with information and when to be generous. Just ask the creators of “Lost,” who were branded clue misers early in the show’s run and haven’t been able to shake the reputation since. The “Damages” team has done a nimble job of dropping an endless trail of bread crumbs while instilling trust that they know exactly where the trail ends. But the finale is where it gets especially tricky.
The writers have vowed from episode one to conclude the Frobisher case and the Ellen murder rap by the end of this batch of episodes. They’ve also said they would be setting up questions that could be explored in a second season. Hopefully, they can accomplish the latter goal without impeding their ability to accomplish the former. While the season-ending cliffhanger is a grand tradition, there is a wrong way to do it. “Ugly Betty,” “Weeds” and “Heroes” are all struggling to recalibrate after overly ambitious cliffhangers that left the writers playing catch-up.
Don’t: Overdo It
Instead of streamlining its second season, “Veronica Mars” got even more complex, focusing on two equally ambitious seasonlong mysteries and expecting viewers to keep track of both. The plots got so confusing that paying attention wasn’t enough—either you used flow-chart software or you didn’t understand what was going on. Less is more, and it seems “Damages”’s creators know this, as they have hinted at making season two consist of a few short arcs rather than a seasonlong story. This could be a very smart move, given they’re careful not to let the arcs overlap too much. The last thing “Damages” needs is to be more convoluted.
Actually, scratch that. The last thing “Damages” needs is more episodes.
