Damages 4.09. and 4.10
To get my big complaint out of the way: I think Ellen was written younger and more naive this season than she was last season, which felt weird to me. I don't think third season Ellen would have let her soon to be ex lecture her on emotional fulfillment and putting that before success, for starters, let alone have listened to him. Which is why this season's Patty and Ellen at the sea scene fell short of last season's as well. That aside, it was a good season, and the Michael-Ellen-Patty clash of three next season certainly looks like juicy plot. (And away to avoid a mere repetition of the season 2 Ellen vs Patty thing which was arguably the show's weakest.) I especially feel satisfied by the way this constellation works with my repeated theories about this season's overall parents and children theme and how Michael and Ellen in different ways were created by Patty, and how they respond to this. Patty being goaded into calling Ellen an ungrateful child in the not-quite-having-the-same-greatness seaside scene (after avoiding admitting that there is this element in her relationship with Ellen all season) just underlined it.
The whole lecture about feelings and being alone if you put success first was especially superflous because I think the audience would have bought Ellen putting Chris' life first without it with no problem, just based on her previous characterisation. The one thing imo Patty gets wrong (in this case, not in general) is when she says Ellen wants to be nice and successful both; it being nice and saving a man's life by cutting a deal instead of being willing to sacrifice him in order to win are two different things. (But then Patty, who has sacrificed the occasional life for the cause/success - which of them it is is always blurry with Patty - would see it differently.) Mind you, the chances of Erickson honoring that deal as opposed to simply having someone kill Chris once Ellen handed over all evidence were remote, but it's undeniable without Ellen's intervention Chris would definitely have died (in Afghanistan), and she felt responsible for endangering him in the first place by making him testify (in addition to friendship and romantic urges, and the David precedent).
As much as the seaside scene fell short of the previous seaside scenes, the very last scene was great because both Patty and Ellen found out they had screwed each other over already; Patty had already given interviews even before making Ellen the offer to get the publicity for the High Star case etc. (i.e. the offer was always insincere), and Ellen had agreed to testify for Michael even before saying goodybe to Patty. (Presumably carrying out her "don't fuck with me" threat.)
Speaking of whom: loved that scene with him, court person, Patty and the toy in episode 9. Especially the contrast to Patty's dream of a repentant Michael, but far more than that: that story about Patty giving him the toy was hands down brilliant because a) it's impossible to disprove, b) it immediately showcases Patty as an unavailable and neglectful mother to the mediator/court person/whatever the official title is, and c) best of all: though Patty tries to counter by stating he made that story up on the spot, she can't know for sure because it really could have happened, and so it's bound to mess at least a little with her mind as well. Actually, for all we know it could even be true, but whether it is or whether he did completely make it up is irrelevant; the point is that it was a brilliant move and exactly what Patty would have done.
Now given Michael was a notoriously troubled teen, and got rich via drugs on the face of it he really doesn't have much of a chance to get custody. Unless, you know, Ellen delivers some of the dead bodies. (Or almost dead, in her own case.) Somehow I doubt she'll reveal Patty tried to kill her, though, because that would beg the question of why she worked for and with Patty after that, but she knows plenty of other things that could be useful. In any case, I don't think the whole thing will end up in a bloody showdown and Patty either reigning triumphant and alone or being broken because neither would be satisfying, storywise, and because the show has amply proven that not only can Patty still use Ellen (i.e. the flattering way she herself puts it), but she needs her even if she doesn't want to admit it. Ellen, of course, needs Patty as well, much as her entire solo career as been an effort to prove otherwise. But she hit home when she said in one of my favourite s3 scenes, "You never replaced me".
As for the season's villains: being fond of tragic irony, I loved that what brought Borman down and set the whole plot in motion wasn't actually him doing his evil system ordained job but the ordinary spark of humanity that most people share - wanting your mate and child to be safe. And of course after killing various people (American and Afghan alike) for it he then screwed it up even further by not being able to come up with another way to interact with his son than treating him as a valued hostage. A Company man, formed by his gruesome business. Occasional brainwaves like taking the boy kite-flying aside. If Borman fails at being a parent (and dies for it - if he'd managed to win the boy's trust, the kid wouldn't have sided with Chris), Howard Erickson from all we've seen excels at the parenting business, but that doesn't make him less of a murderous salesman of death with delusions of patriotic heroism. Inflicting his Chrismas speech video on Chris before Chris' supposed execution was yet another equivalent of the outburst where he yelled and kicked; Chris had shattered his image of being an heroic überpatriarch and father figure to "his men" and needed not just to die but somehow be brought to take it back. One is surprised Erickson didn't yell "you are an ungrateful child" at Chris as well.
If you're keeping score: ungrateful children turning against their parents or "parents" this season: Michael, Ellen, Karoishi (spelling? I only heard the name) and Chris. Parents or parent figures: Patty, Howard Erickson, Gerald Borman. Child with a big question mark as to whom she'll inevitably turn against: Katherine.
I thought - and still think - the end of s3 would have been a good way to end the show, but now, I want it to continue because s4, my one complaint aside, was good and really makes my mouth water for more.
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