‘Damages’: Revenge of the tertiary characters!

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As if there wasn’t enough happening on ‘Damages,’ what with the Frobisher case, creepy Patty and David and Ellen’s awkward engagement and his murder. We know it’s all leading up to (deep breath) ... but it turns out that three of the newer faces are complicating matters even more.

First there is Gregory Malina, the consultant who had something to do with the Frobisher stock dump, although it’s not clear what. Despite leaking information intended to clear Frobisher and burn Katie, he still seems to have a lot of enemies -- one of Patty’s henchmen gunned down a babe/assassin right before she tried to kill Gregory. Panicked, he ran to ... Ray, Frobisher’s attorney. Innnteresting.

Second up is the writer Frobisher hired to pen his public relations-redeeming biography -- except Frobisher screwed up the whole thing by violently micromanaging the interviews, foaming at the mouth and showing up at the poor guy’s house in the middle of the night. At which point he proceeded to crack the writer upside the head, landing Frobisher a misdemeanor assault charge and the front page of the tabloids.

Finally, we have Lila, the Ellen-lookalike who made a pass at David last week at the hospital. She concocted a big lie that her grandpa, who David had been treating, had died -- and lured him to her place to check out the unneeded medical equipment she wants to sell. Then David lost his house keys at her pad. Flash forward a bit, and we see Lila’s gramps is alive, she has David’s keys and she likes to loiter in the apartment he and Ellen share, specifically watching them get romantic in the bath. (Glenn Close must have a little laugh at all the psycho-girl-bathtub references that ‘Damages’ provides.) Flash forward even more, and upon the news of David’s death, Lila tells the cops that David gave her the keys and that they were going to move in together. So she has the means, but where’s the motive?

With the close of Tuesday’s episode, we’re halfway done with this run of ‘Damages.’ Week to week, I’m still impressed with the quality of the show, but it does seem like things are dragging a little. Call me impatient, but I’d rather focus on the dynamics of the characters we’ve been introduced to instead of trying to figure out how a whole new batch of people fits into the puzzle. And maybe others have the same feeling -- the voice-over for ‘scenes of next week’s episode’ included the promise that it’s next Tuesday when all the pieces start coming together.

-- Ann Donahue