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Trope and pothole misuse.
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* [[BadAss Bad Ass Lawyer]]: Say what you will about her methods but Patty Hewes will always get her job done.
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Badass is no longer a trope.
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'''Patty Hewes''': A brilliant attorney who wins her high-stakes lawsuits by [[BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord any]] [[BadAss means]] [[PrettyLittleHeadshots necessary]]. Hewes is a tempered-steel IronLady, but still manages to frequently surprise with the depths she'll sink to to PayEvilUntoEvil. Her backstory and true motivations are slowly revealed as the series progresses. Could easily be the poster child for AmoralAttorney, and in any other show, would be the villain.
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'''Patty Hewes''': A brilliant attorney who wins her high-stakes lawsuits by [[BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord any]] [[BadAss any means]] [[PrettyLittleHeadshots necessary]]. Hewes is a tempered-steel IronLady, but still manages to frequently surprise with the depths she'll sink to to PayEvilUntoEvil. Her backstory and true motivations are slowly revealed as the series progresses. Could easily be the poster child for AmoralAttorney, and in any other show, would be the villain.
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* BreakTheCutie: The entire first season is one of these for Ellen Parsons.
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* BreakTheCutie: The entire heart of the series is largely about Ellen time and again having to choose between the comforts of family versus the thrill of her job. By the end of the first season is one of these for Ellen Parsons.has burned virtually every relationship she had to her friends and family for the sake of her job.
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* LotsaPeopleTryToDunIt: Tom Shayes turns out to have escaped torture and attempted murder by gangsters, but then to have been killed by another person after he arrived home.
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''{{Series/Damages}}'' didn't maintain a strong viewership during its first season, and has continued to drop in ratings since, despite wide critical acclaim. The show went three seasons on Creator/{{FX{{ before being cancelled, and has been picked up by satellite TV provider [=DirecTV=]'s Audience Network for two more; the first two seasons are available on Netflix. Seasons 4 and 5 will each be ten episodes in length.
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''{{Series/Damages}}'' didn't maintain a strong viewership during its first season, and has continued to drop in ratings since, despite wide critical acclaim. The show went three seasons on Creator/{{FX{{ Creator/{{FX}} before being cancelled, and has been picked up by satellite TV provider [=DirecTV=]'s Audience Network for two more; the first two seasons are available on Netflix. Seasons 4 and 5 will each be ten episodes in length.
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* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The season-spanning plots are made of this. The first two seasons split up the juicier details of Enron's collapse. With a company rife with accounting irregularities and professed ignorance of wrongdoing by subordinates, Frobisher is a take on Ken Lay; UNR's manipulation of the energy grid by traders to rack up huge profits fictionalizes Enron's role in the California electricity crisis of 2000-2001. In season 3, Louis Tobin's ponzi scheme has many similarities to Bernie Madoff's while season four is pretty much Blackwater and Erik Prince vs Patty Hewes. Season 5's case is inspired by Julien Assange, who's the basis for the character of Channing McLaren, and Wikileaks.
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* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The season-spanning plots are made of this. The first two seasons split up the juicier details of Enron's collapse. With a company rife with accounting irregularities and professed ignorance of wrongdoing by subordinates, Frobisher is a take on Ken Lay; UNR's manipulation of the energy grid by traders to rack up huge profits fictionalizes Enron's role in the California electricity crisis of 2000-2001. In season 3, Louis Tobin's ponzi scheme has many similarities to Bernie Madoff's while season four is pretty much Blackwater and Erik Prince vs Patty Hewes. Season 5's case is inspired by Julien Assange, who's the basis for the character of Channing McLaren, [=McLaren=], and Wikileaks.
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''{{Series/Damages}}'' didn't maintain a strong viewership during its first season, and has continued to drop in ratings since, despite wide critical acclaim. The show went three seasons on F/X before being cancelled, and has been picked up by DirecTV for two more; the first two seasons are available on Netflix. Seasons 4 and 5 will each be ten episodes in length.
to:
''{{Series/Damages}}'' didn't maintain a strong viewership during its first season, and has continued to drop in ratings since, despite wide critical acclaim. The show went three seasons on F/X Creator/{{FX{{ before being cancelled, and has been picked up by DirecTV satellite TV provider [=DirecTV=]'s Audience Network for two more; the first two seasons are available on Netflix. Seasons 4 and 5 will each be ten episodes in length.
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Absurdly Youthful Mother has been made into a supertrope. Wicks will be moved to subtropes where appropriate.
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* AbsurdlyYouthfulMother: Danielle Marchetti is ''impossibly'' young to have a daughter Tessa's age, considering they're only ten years apart.
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* PlayingGertrude: Danielle Marchetti is ''impossibly'' young to have a daughter Tessa's age, considering they're only ten years apart.
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* NeverOneMurder: Arthur Frobisher senses this truth. [[spoiler:He decides to go ahead anyway.]]
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* NeverOneMurder: NeckSnap: [[spoiler:Jerry Boorman's murder of his girlfriend in the fourth season.]]
* NeverOneMurder:
** Arthur Frobisher senses this truth. [[spoiler:He decides to go ahead anyway.]]]]
** Jerry Boorman is aware of this in the fourth season, but never cared to begin with.
* NeverOneMurder:
** Arthur Frobisher senses this truth. [[spoiler:He decides to go ahead anyway.
** Jerry Boorman is aware of this in the fourth season, but never cared to begin with.
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Trivia tropes.
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* AllStarCast: The closest a TV show has ever come to this: Glenn Close (how many other series can you name that have five time Oscar nominee for their star?), Creator/WilliamHurt, Martin Short, Marcia Gay Harden, Campbell Scott, Lily Tomlin, John Goodman and Ted Danson have all had regular roles on the series and there's not another show on TV with that kind of roster outside of its one off guest cast list.
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* CareerResurrection: For TedDanson. While he hadn't completley gone away after ''Cheers'' he had sort of fallen into has been territory with parts in unsuccesful films, a failed sitcom (''Ink''), a fairly unpopular one (''Becker'') and cameos as himself on ''CurbYourEnthusiasm''. However, when the first season of ''Damages'' made it onto the air though critics couldn't stop talking about his suprisingly strong dramatic performance as Arthur Frobisher which gained Danson his first Emmy nomination in 15 years (including two more for his guest appearances in the subsequent seasons).
** This renewed exposure also helped gain him a supporting role in the HBO sitcom ''Series/BoredToDeath'' and in the fall or 2011 he took the lead role on ''CSI''.
** This renewed exposure also helped gain him a supporting role in the HBO sitcom ''Series/BoredToDeath'' and in the fall or 2011 he took the lead role on ''CSI''.
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* DirectedByCastMember: Tate Donovan (Tom Shayes) directed 3 episodes.
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* DoingItForTheArt: Hardly anyone watches the show anymore and the ratings fall steadily every season with the third season seeing a cancellation from FX and a budget slashed move to Direct TV but it hasn't kept top flight film actors from doing season arcs. It also says something for a famous film actress like Glenn Close to stick with a tv role that probably pays considerably less than any films she's in with a salary increase being fairly unlikely.
** Same with Rose Byrne, who's movie career has taken off as well, during the course of the series run.
** Same with Rose Byrne, who's movie career has taken off as well, during the course of the series run.
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* FakeAmerican: Ellen is played by the Australian Rose Byrne, while Katie is played by British actress Anastasia Griffith.
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* StuntCasting: Damages often casts film actors who would otherwise never do tv (i.e. William Hurt, John Goodman, Campbell Scott etc.) in supporting roles and they often [[TropesAreNotBad give incredibly strong and memorable performances.]]
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* TroubledProduction: Season two, full-stop. William Hurt's role in the season was dramatically scaled back due to problems behind the scenes (Hurt had problems coping with the production style of the series, where the actors were kept in the dark regarding their character's storylines and only given segments of the script before filming). To fill in the gap, actor Creator/JohnDoman was brought on to play the evil corporate executive who Patty was trying to bring down as the new main villain character, while Marcia Gay Harden had her role expanded as Patty's foil during the season.
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* TroubledProduction: Season two, full-stop. William Hurt's role in the season was dramatically scaled back due to problems behind the scenes (Hurt had problems coping with the production style of the series, where the actors were kept in the dark regarding their character's storylines and only given segments of the script before filming). To fill in the gap, actor John Doman was brought on to play the evil corporate executive who Patty was trying to bring down as the new main villain character, while Marcia Gay Harden had her role expanded as Patty's foil during the season.
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* TroubledProduction: Season two, full-stop. William Hurt's role in the season was dramatically scaled back due to problems behind the scenes (Hurt had problems coping with the production style of the series, where the actors were kept in the dark regarding their character's storylines and only given segments of the script before filming). To fill in the gap, actor John Doman Creator/JohnDoman was brought on to play the evil corporate executive who Patty was trying to bring down as the new main villain character, while Marcia Gay Harden had her role expanded as Patty's foil during the season.
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A dark conspiracy/thriller/drama series with a legal theme starring Glenn Close as the ruthless lawyer Patty Hewes. Unusually for a legal series, each season follows a single case in detail rather than a MonsterOfTheWeek format. ''Damages'' is ''extremely'' dark, about as far on the cynical side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism as you can get - the "good guys" on this show, such as they are, would be villains in any other. The (Season 1 - anything beyond would contain spoilers) cast includes:
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A dark conspiracy/thriller/drama series with a legal theme starring Glenn Close Creator/GlennClose as the ruthless lawyer Patty Hewes. Unusually for a legal series, each season follows a single case in detail rather than a MonsterOfTheWeek format. ''Damages'' is ''extremely'' dark, about as far on the cynical side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism as you can get - the "good guys" on this show, such as they are, would be villains in any other. The (Season 1 - anything beyond would contain spoilers) cast includes:
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* CareerVersusMan: One of the largest underlying themes in the show is Ellen currently battling over how much of herself she's willing to give up in order to further her career, and how Patty seemingly gave up any real ambition for a domestic life long ago. This is brought home further with the revelation that [[spoiler: Patty induced a miscarriage when she was younger so that a baby wouldn't interfere with her new job.]] And in the season 5 finale, Ellen [[spoiler: chooses to give up her career once and for all in order to be a wife and mother, after getting multiple people dead directly because of her, nearly killing herself and her unborn child from the stress of work.]]
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Not a trope.
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A dark conspiracy thriller DramaSeries with a legal theme starring Glenn Close as the ruthless lawyer Patty Hewes. Unusually for a legal series, each season follows a single case in detail rather than a MonsterOfTheWeek format. ''Damages'' is ''extremely'' dark, about as far on the cynical side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism as you can get - the "good guys" on this show, such as they are, would be villains in any other. The (Season 1 - anything beyond would contain spoilers) cast includes:
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A dark conspiracy thriller DramaSeries conspiracy/thriller/drama series with a legal theme starring Glenn Close as the ruthless lawyer Patty Hewes. Unusually for a legal series, each season follows a single case in detail rather than a MonsterOfTheWeek format. ''Damages'' is ''extremely'' dark, about as far on the cynical side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism as you can get - the "good guys" on this show, such as they are, would be villains in any other. The (Season 1 - anything beyond would contain spoilers) cast includes:
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* CerebusSyndrome: While the show was ''always'' dark, the first three seasons had the characters going up against white collar criminals and business men. The fourth season opens up with Ellen picking a fight with the largest privatized army in the world, getting them tangled in the grizzly underbelly of illegal war crimes.
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* AbsurdlyYouthfulMother: Danielle Marchetti is ''impossibly'' young to have a daughter Tessa's age, considering they're only ten years apart.
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* CardCarryingVillain: Pell in season 2 is about as cartoonishly evil as it gets. Hiring hit men, destroying the environment and slowly killing wildlife and residents, ruining the lives of friends he's know for decades, all while chuckling and smoking a cigar while boasting how he'll happily go to Hell as long as he dies a rich man.
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* CardCarryingVillain: Pell Kendrick in season 2 is about as cartoonishly evil as it gets. Hiring hit men, destroying the environment and slowly killing wildlife and residents, ruining the lives of friends he's know for decades, all while chuckling and smoking a cigar while boasting how he'll happily go to Hell as long as he dies a rich man.
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* CardCarryingVillain: Pell in season 2 is about as cartoonishly evil as it gets. Hiring hit men, destroying the environment and slowly killing wildlife and residents, ruining the lives of friends he's know for decades, all while chuckling and smoking a cigar while boasting how he'll happily go to Hell as long as he dies a rich man.
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* FridgeHorror: At the end of season 5, the audience finds out that [[spoiler: Rutger is the one who killed Naomi.]] However, [[DramaticIrony none of the characters discover the truth.]] [[spoiler:Everyone, including her victim's daughter, live on thinking she was an unstable woman who took her life.]]
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changed Fridge Logic to Fridge Horror
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* FridgeLogic: Bordering on FridgeHorror, at the end of season 5, the audience finds out that [[spoiler: Rutger is the one who killed Naomi.]] However, [[DramaticIrony none of the characters discover the truth.]] [[spoiler:Everyone, including her victim's daughter, live on thinking she was an unstable woman who took her life.]]
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* FridgeLogic: Bordering on FridgeHorror, at FridgeHorror: At the end of season 5, the audience finds out that [[spoiler: Rutger is the one who killed Naomi.]] However, [[DramaticIrony none of the characters discover the truth.]] [[spoiler:Everyone, including her victim's daughter, live on thinking she was an unstable woman who took her life.]]
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Added Fridge Logic
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* FridgeLogic: Bordering on FridgeHorror, at the end of season 5, the audience finds out that [[spoiler: Rutger is the one who killed Naomi.]] However, [[DramaticIrony none of the characters discover the truth.]] [[spoiler:Everyone, including her victim's daughter, live on thinking she was an unstable woman who took her life.]]
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* OutOfFocus: Patty herself takes a bit of a step back during the middle of season one, where the focus is put more on the rest of her firm while she mostly serves as backdrop to their day.
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* UnCancelled: F/X had canceled ''{{Damages}}'' before DirecTV came to the rescue.
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* UnCancelled: F/X had canceled ''{{Damages}}'' ''{{Series/Damages}}'' before DirecTV came to the rescue.
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''{{Damages}}'' didn't maintain a strong viewership during its first season, and has continued to drop in ratings since, despite wide critical acclaim. The show went three seasons on F/X before being cancelled, and has been picked up by DirecTV for two more; the first two seasons are available on Netflix. Seasons 4 and 5 will each be ten episodes in length.
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----
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* SlidingScaleOfContinuity: Level 5 (Full Lockout), due to the AnachronicOrder and following the case instead of a MonsterOfTheWeek format.
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* AllStarCast: The closest a TV show has ever come to this: Glenn Close (how many other series can you name that have five time Oscar nominee for their star?), WilliamHurt, Martin Short, Marcia Gay Harden, Campbell Scott, Lily Tomlin, John Goodman and Ted Danson have all had regular roles on the series and there's not another show on TV with that kind of roster outside of its one off guest cast list.
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* AllStarCast: The closest a TV show has ever come to this: Glenn Close (how many other series can you name that have five time Oscar nominee for their star?), WilliamHurt, Creator/WilliamHurt, Martin Short, Marcia Gay Harden, Campbell Scott, Lily Tomlin, John Goodman and Ted Danson have all had regular roles on the series and there's not another show on TV with that kind of roster outside of its one off guest cast list.
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Moving from the YMMV page.
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* NotSoDifferent: Patty is, if anything, ''more'' ruthless than Ray Fiske in the first season. [[spoiler: Fiske's only initial crime was insider trading, and he constantly resists Frobisher's bull-headed attempts to make things go away. Compared to Patty's several direct killings, blackmail, etc, Fiske is practically a Boy Scout.]]
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* SeriesFauxnale: While the producers have [[WordOfGod denied this]], the season 3 finale works remarkably well as one of these complete with BackForTheFinale for a number of season 1 & 2 characters and a BittersweetEnding that's least cliffhangerish of any season thus far. Ultimately, the show UnCancelled by Direct TV and picked up for two more seasons.
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* VillainProtagonist: Patty Hewes seems to exceed AntiHero by some degree! In fact she is often FauxAffablyEvil though for Ellen she starts out as a mere BitchInSheepsClothing.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Damages_screen_shot_4795.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Margaret Thatcher has nothing on '''this''' IronLady]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Margaret Thatcher has nothing on '''this''' IronLady]]
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Damages_screen_shot_4795.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Damages_Bluray_3013.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Margaret Thatcher MargaretThatcher has nothing on '''this''' IronLady]]
''this'' IronLady.]]
[[caption-width-right:350:
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Damages_screen_shot_4795.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Margaret Thatcher has nothing on '''this''' IronLady]]
->''"When I am through with you, there won't be anything left..."''
A dark conspiracy thriller DramaSeries with a legal theme starring Glenn Close as the ruthless lawyer Patty Hewes. Unusually for a legal series, each season follows a single case in detail rather than a MonsterOfTheWeek format. ''Damages'' is ''extremely'' dark, about as far on the cynical side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism as you can get - the "good guys" on this show, such as they are, would be villains in any other. The (Season 1 - anything beyond would contain spoilers) cast includes:
'''Patty Hewes''': A brilliant attorney who wins her high-stakes lawsuits by [[BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord any]] [[BadAss means]] [[PrettyLittleHeadshots necessary]]. Hewes is a tempered-steel IronLady, but still manages to frequently surprise with the depths she'll sink to to PayEvilUntoEvil. Her backstory and true motivations are slowly revealed as the series progresses. Could easily be the poster child for AmoralAttorney, and in any other show, would be the villain.
'''Ellen Parsons''': A NaiveNewcomer right out of law school hired by Hewes. Essentially the entire first season is one long BreakTheCutie for her, as she slowly catches on to the rules of Patty's world and begins to manipulate them for her own ends. Serves as something of a {{Foil}} for Patty early on, before TakingALevelInBadass. The contrast and relationship between Ellen and Patty is a central theme of the show, and in fact the rest of the plot was constructed around it.
'''Tom Shayes''': Patty's right-hand man and Ellen's mentor. Tom's morals are somewhat less flexible than Patty's, which in this show just makes him the ButtMonkey. Serves as Patty's [[TheLancer Lancer]], when she has something his morals can handle.
'''Arthur Frobisher''': A CorruptCorporateExecutive on the receiving end of the Season 1 case. [[ItsAllAboutMe Selfish]], [[{{Jerkass}} arrogant]], and [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope ruthless]] in his attempts to defend himself. Already at a slow roll down the slippery slope at the series open and picks up speed over the course of the season.
'''Ray Fiske''': Frobisher's lawyer and Patty's WorthyOpponent. Unusually for an antagonistic lawyer, he's fairly sympathetic and his legal ethics are if anything stricter than Patty's (not that that's saying much). Does his best to rein in Frobisher's bull-headed tendencies, and to keep the wolves at bay to [[EvenEvilHasStandards win the case without bloodshed]].
The show makes heavy use of AnachronicOrder to create drama and tension, as the pieces of the ForegoneConclusion fall into place. Each episode reveals one piece of the puzzle in each the present and the future, and maintains a mix of events that a GenreSavvy viewer will catch on to just in time and {{Shocking Swerve}}s that subvert such GenreSavvy to great effect. The political twists and turns are deep enough to make Creator/TomClancy blush, without becoming a KudzuPlot.
''{{Damages}}'' didn't maintain a strong viewership during its first season, and has continued to drop in ratings since, despite wide critical acclaim. The show went three seasons on F/X before being cancelled, and has been picked up by DirecTV for two more; the first two seasons are available on Netflix. Seasons 4 and 5 will each be ten episodes in length.
Now has a fledgling [[Characters/{{Damages}} Character Sheet]] that needs some Wiki love.
!!Tropes:
* AbortedArc: Wes's Krulik's past and motives for going after Ellen: it's implied in season two that he both has his own personal interest in hurting Frobisher, as well as his own past (implied to be a former cop for whom Rick Messler was blackmailing to get him to keep an eye on Ellen.
* AdvertisedExtra: Marcia Gay Harden as Claire Maddox in season 2 only appears in 7 out of 13 episodes.
* AffablyEvil: Arthur Frobisher and, to a lesser extent, his [[TheDragon Dragon]] Ray Fiske.
* AllStarCast: The closest a TV show has ever come to this: Glenn Close (how many other series can you name that have five time Oscar nominee for their star?), WilliamHurt, Martin Short, Marcia Gay Harden, Campbell Scott, Lily Tomlin, John Goodman and Ted Danson have all had regular roles on the series and there's not another show on TV with that kind of roster outside of its one off guest cast list.
* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: The ending theme for the Japanese release is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAXVNGUgtNc "Perfect Me"]]. The ending theme for the second season is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UIRkknG8SI "Rain"]] by Michi.
* AmoralAttorney: Oh, God, yes!
* AnachronicOrder: Every season. An interesting use - each episode reveals two sections of plot, months apart from each other, with the "past" segments telling HowWeGotHere and the future ones unfolding the story.
* AnyoneCanDie: If your name isn't Ellen Parsons or Patty Hewes, keep your life insurance premiums current.
** Of the main cast members of the first three seasons only [[spoiler: Ellen, Patty, Wistone or Claire Maddox]] aren't dead or in prison.
*** And as of the season 5 premiere, [[spoiler: Ellen]] can be crossed off that list.
**** [[spoiler: She cannot, actually, as it was faked]].
* AntiHero: Patty Hewes, full stop.
* AntiVillain: Joe Tobin in season 3. He starts off as a genuinely nice guy whose world falls apart when his father's corruption is revealed and he even considers cooperating with Patty. Ultimately, he breaks under the pressure, falls off the wagon back to being an alcoholic and does a lot of horrible things to try and protect his family.
** Ray Fiske may also apply. While he is guilty of insider trading he is a BoyScout in comparison to Patty and resists Frobisher's attempts to resolve his problems through violence.
* ArcWords: "Trust no one."
* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Ray Fiske does this in front of Patty after she blackmails him near the end of season 1.]]
* [[BadAss Bad Ass Lawyer]]: Say what you will about her methods but Patty Hewes will always get her job done.
* BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible
* BeardOfEvil: [[spoiler:Rick Messer]] sports one of these.
* BigBad: Arthur Frobisher in season 1. Pell and Tobin for seasons 2 and 3 respectively.
* BittersweetEnding: Season 3's finale for sure. [[spoiler: Former KarmaHoudini Arthur Frobisher]] finally gets arrested for some of his crimes, but at the cost of [[spoiler: Wes]] turning himself in for his part in them. The main case is solved but only after Tobin has [[spoiler: murdered Tom]], Tobin's mother has committed suicide and [[KarmaHoudini Winstone]] has managed to escape with a lot of the Tobins' money. On top of all that Patty's son tries to kill her after she has his girlfriend sent to prison for statutory rape and its revealed through flashbacks that [[spoiler: Patty's deceased daughter was killed in the womb via intentional miscarriage, due to Patty putting her career first over motherhood]]. Ellen asks Patty if everything she's done for her career is worth it to which Patty doesn't reply.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: At best. There's these people, see, and they go around blackmailing, burgling, bribing, and occasionally having people killed. And they're the good guys. The bad guys do all that stuff, but not for good reasons.
* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: Patty gives one of these to [[spoiler:Ray Fiske]].
* BreakTheCutie: The entire first season is one of these for Ellen Parsons.
** Season four has that for Chris, Ellen's love interest.
* [[KickTheSonOfABitch Break The Bitch]]: ''But You Don't Do That Anymore'', with [[spoiler: Patty's actions ending up getting her son Michael killed.]]
* BungledSuicide: [[spoiler:(Season 2) Uncle Pete attempts to kill himself rather than help the FBI against Patty. Patrick finishes the job after Pete wakes from his coma.]]
* ButtMonkey: Arguably Tom Shayes. He is one of the few characters in the series with black and white morals and he gets little to no respect for it. [[spoiler: He even gets KilledOffForReal in Season 3!]]
* BrokenBird: Ellen by the end of season 1, and it's heavily hinted that Patty has this in her backstory.
* CareerResurrection: For TedDanson. While he hadn't completley gone away after ''Cheers'' he had sort of fallen into has been territory with parts in unsuccesful films, a failed sitcom (''Ink''), a fairly unpopular one (''Becker'') and cameos as himself on ''CurbYourEnthusiasm''. However, when the first season of ''Damages'' made it onto the air though critics couldn't stop talking about his suprisingly strong dramatic performance as Arthur Frobisher which gained Danson his first Emmy nomination in 15 years (including two more for his guest appearances in the subsequent seasons).
** This renewed exposure also helped gain him a supporting role in the HBO sitcom ''Series/BoredToDeath'' and in the fall or 2011 he took the lead role on ''CSI''.
* ChekhovsGun: The phone calls one of the FBI agents in season 2 keeps on getting and says are from his wife actually end up being important.
* CleanupCrew: Uncle Pete calls one in to [[spoiler:get rid of the evidence that someone attacked Ellen]].
* ClearMyName: Arthur Frobisher's chief motivation. [[spoiler:Subverted, in that he's actually guilty as sin, and does even worse things to win.]]
* ColdBloodedTorture: implied to have happened to David before he was killed, fortunately off-screen. [[spoiler:On screen for poor Tom in the S3 finale.]]
* CompletelyMissingThePoint: Arthur Frobisher in the Season 1 finale. He tells his son that, "I made a very big mistake, and I'm going to be paying for it for the rest of my life." And just what was this big mistake? "I trusted too many people."
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Arthur Frobisher. Walter Kendrick. Dave Pell. George Moore was actually listed in the credits as "The Executive" for a while.
** The main villains in season 5 [[spoiler: apart from Rutger]] are this.
* DetectiveMole: [[spoiler:Rick Messer retrieves the one piece of incriminating evidence at the David Connor murder scene by flashing his badge and walking straight in the front door.]]
* DirectedByCastMember: Tate Donovan (Tom Shayes) directed 3 episodes.
* DirtyCop: The favored henchman of the show's villains. It makes cleaning up after a bit of DirtyBusiness much easier.
* DoingItForTheArt: Hardly anyone watches the show anymore and the ratings fall steadily every season with the third season seeing a cancellation from FX and a budget slashed move to Direct TV but it hasn't kept top flight film actors from doing season arcs. It also says something for a famous film actress like Glenn Close to stick with a tv role that probably pays considerably less than any films she's in with a salary increase being fairly unlikely.
** Same with Rose Byrne, who's movie career has taken off as well, during the course of the series run.
* DramaticIrony: An enormous source of tension for the show, provided by the AnachronicOrder.
* DrivenToSuicide: Multiple characters. So far [[spoiler: OnceASeason]].
** [[spoiler:Season 1 -- Ray Fiske after being blackmailed.]]
** [[spoiler:Season 2 -- Uncle Pete after being nabbed by the FBI.]]
** [[spoiler:Season 3 -- Both Marilyn and Louis Tobin. Louis by poison, Marilyn by drowning.]]
** [[spoiler:Season 4 -- Kinda sorta Gerald Boorman. More of a [[SuicideByCop Suicide by Shell-shocked soldier whose men he killed]].]]
** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in season 5, where [[spoiler: Naomi Walling]]'s murder is set-up to look like she was DrivenToSuicide. And so far, nobody suspects otherwise.
* DyingClue: Whoever [[spoiler:Arthur Frobisher]] got to kill [[spoiler:George Moore]] should have been fired. They didn't check his pockets for the key piece of evidence that ended up blowing the case wide open.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Ray Fiske, who doesn't have the stomach for what he's gotten into. [[spoiler:He AteHisGun for it.]] Initially, Arthur Frobisher as well.
* EveryoneIsASuspect
* EvilVersusEvil: Depending on your interpretation of Patty Hewes. If you see her as a very dark AntiHero, then it's BlackAndGrayMorality, but certainly her behavior would make her the villain in any other show.
* EvilVirtues: Frobisher's determination and ambition are constant, and he's quite proud of them.
* FamilyValuesVillain: Frobisher, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope at first]].
* FauxAffablyEvil: Dave Pell.
* ForegoneConclusion: In Season 3, you know via a FlashForward in the first episode that [[spoiler: Tom Shayes is going to die]]. Doesn't make the scene itself any less heartbreaking though.
* FakeAmerican: Ellen is played by the Australian Rose Byrne, while Katie is played by British actress Anastasia Griffith.
* FlashbackEffects: Used to show shifts between the present and future timelines. The ''removal'' of the effects is used to great effect, showing the present catching up to the future and the conclusion of the story.
* GoodIsNotNice: Define "good".
* GuiltRiddenAccomplice: Arthur Frobisher's Achilles' heel.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Both Patty and the show's villains are [[Manga/DeathNote childish and hate to lose]].
** Season four takes the cake with Jerry Boorman; a corrupt CIA Agent who has gleefully broken EVERY law imaginable, all in the name of ensuring no one can out him for the laws he has broken part of the "War on Terror". Seven episodes into the season, pretty much EVERY act of murder or violence can be linked to Boorman, either directly or through him forcing his cohort, Howard Erickson, into doing it under threat that if he doesn't and Boorman gets busted, that he will take Erickson down with him.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Chris in season four
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Ray Fiske.]] [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. He decides to kill himself instead.]]
** Also [[spoiler: Wes in season 2.]]
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: [[spoiler: Frobisher.]]
* HijackedByGanon: In season 1. The one behind the blackmail of [[spoiler:Gregory Malina]]? [[spoiler:Frobisher.]] The one who put a hits on [[spoiler:George More]] and [[spoiler:David]] respectively? [[spoiler:Frobisher.]]
* HitmanWithAHeart: [[spoiler:Wes Krulick]].
* HowWeGotHere: Each season had numerous [[FlashForward flash forwards]] throughout, but you're not given the full context until the very end.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each episode is named after a line of dialogue spoken by a character in said episode.
* IncompatibleOrientation: [[spoiler:Ray Fiske]] in regards to Gregory Malina.
* InstantMysteryJustDeleteScene: The show ''loves'' this trope.
* InsultBackfire: Walter Kendrick is being told to "Go to hell". His response?
--> ''I probably will. But while I'm here no one's gonna take away my goddamn company.''
* IronicEcho: "Because I know Patty..."
* IronLady: Patty Hewes, oh so very much.
* ItWasHereISwear: When Ellen Parsons sends detectives to Patty's apartment looking for the man who attacked her, the body, the blood, and the broken window are all gone, and the place is (almost) spotless.
* IWasQuiteALooker: Marilyn Tobin murmurs something along those lines to herself in the season 3 finale,[[spoiler:right before she commits suicide]].
* {{Jerkass}}: Arthur Frobisher, who continues to see himself as TheWoobie. It apparently does not even enter his mind that he has actually done some very bad things, and has therefore earned the bad things that keep happening as a result.
* JusticeByOtherLegalMeans: Patty Hewes steps in where law enforcement has failed.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Frobisher does so with gusto once he gets past his conscience. He starts out as a FamilyValuesVillain and goes downhill rapidly.
* KilledOffForReal: Everyone the show kills off is actually dead, although some keep coming back in dreams and flashbacks.
* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: The ultimate fate of [[spoiler:Rick Messer]].
* MadMathematician: Finn Garrity, the coked-up math whiz turned energy trader in season 2. [[spoiler:In the finale he goes nuts and stabs Patty.]]
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: These were [[spoiler:Rick Messer]]'s ''exact words'' to [[spoiler: Wes Krulick]] in Season 2.
** Also in season 2, [[spoiler:FBI Agent Harrison's murder is made to look like an overdose]].
** [[spoiler: Naomi]]'s murder in the season 5 premiere is made to look like a suicide.
* ManipulativeBastard
* TheMole:[[spoiler: Wes]]
** [[spoiler: Rutger]] in season 5.
* MotiveMisidentification
* MoralityPet: Frobisher and Patty's sons.
** Howard Erickson and his kids as well
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: This is [[spoiler:Jerry Boorman]]'s philosophy, as well as [[spoiler: Rick Messer's]].
* NaiveNewcomer: Combined with BreakTheCutie in season 1 with Ellen Parsons.
* NeverOneMurder: Arthur Frobisher senses this truth. [[spoiler:He decides to go ahead anyway.]]
* NewOldFlame [[spoiler: Daniel Purcell]] is this for Patty.
** Season four Chris is this too for Ellen, introduced as her high school sweetheart.
* NiceGuy: Tom Shayes.
* NoNameGiven: Many, many characters, some important, some not. Most get names eventually, but even then, the credits continue to refer to them as "Bearded Man" or "Pockmarked Man."
* NotSoStoic: Patty Hewes, just not in front of anybody else.
* NotQuiteDead: At the end of season 1, [[spoiler:Ellen assumes that she killed the attacker in Patty's home, but he actually survived.]]
* OhCrap: [[spoiler: Rick Messer]]'s last word, as he sees [[spoiler: Wes]] in his rearview mirror, hiding in the back of his car. [[spoiler: With a gun.]]
-->'''[[spoiler: Messer]]''': ...shit.
* OlderSidekick: Uncle Pete.
* OnceASeason: [[spoiler: Somebody close to Ellen or Patty dying]] and every finale has ended with a scene of Patty and someone else (Ellen in seasons 1 & 3, Tom in season 2) at her lake house.
** Once every ''other'' season, a main character is found dead at the end of the season premiere and the why and the how of his or her death is revealed throughout the season. It started with [[spoiler: David]] in season 1, then [[spoiler: Tom Shayes]] in season 3, and [[spoiler: Ellen]] in the last season, season 5. [[spoiler: Though that was fake...]]
* OnlyMostlyDead: In season 2, [[spoiler:Daniel Purcell assumes he killed his wife. She was actually still alive, barely, when Kendrick's henchman comes in and [[KilledOffForReal Kills Her For Real.]]]]
* OutDamnedSpot: The spot of blood on Patty's shoe [[spoiler:later revealed to be from Ray Fiske [[AteHisGun eating his gun]]]].
* PayEvilUntoEvil: SO. MUCH.
* PerfectPoison: Used by [[spoiler:Louis Tobin]] and on [[spoiler:Danielle Marchetti]] in Season 3.
* PetTheDog: Patty genuinely loves her son. She truly sucks as expressing it, though.
** Most characters on the show get them. Frobisher has his son as a MoralityPet, Fisk has [[spoiler:Gregory Malina]], and so on.
** There's also a lot of screen time dedicated to petting actual dogs and showing responsible dog ownership.
* PhotoPsychic: In Season 3, Ellen only learns that [[spoiler:Carol Tobin]] visited [[spoiler:Danielle Marchetti]] on the night she died because she happened to be in the picture that Ellen wanted a witness to identify [[spoiler:Joe Tobin]] from.
* PrettyLittleHeadshots: Frequent.
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Wes in Season 3. He's BackForTheFinale, though.]]
** The few supporting characters of any given season that don't get killed off usually end up getting put on buses at the end of their season.
* ReformedButRejected: Frobisher plays at being this, but it's fairly obvious that, his claims of spiritual renewal aside, he's still every bit the selfish and egocentric bastard he was before.
* RetCon: According to a line spoken by Patty, Michael Hewes is 18 season 2 when he introduces Jill (his older girlfriend) to his mother and stepfather. The stories in season 3 start 10 months after the end of season 2. Jill is pregnant in season 3. Michael uses a DNA test to prove to Patty that he's the father and that Jill isn't being deceptive. Patty uses the DNA test to get Jill arrested for statutory rape of a character stated to be 18 about a year before the sexual encounter she's charged with engaging in? They didn't even bother to mention Michael's mysteriously lower age before the arrest.
* RevolvingDoorCasting: With the exception of [[spoiler: Arthur Frobisher who has a guest arc in season 2 and 3]] most of the supporting characters (especially the plaintiffs) of any given season usually ended up getting killed off or put on buses.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The season-spanning plots are made of this. The first two seasons split up the juicier details of Enron's collapse. With a company rife with accounting irregularities and professed ignorance of wrongdoing by subordinates, Frobisher is a take on Ken Lay; UNR's manipulation of the energy grid by traders to rack up huge profits fictionalizes Enron's role in the California electricity crisis of 2000-2001. In season 3, Louis Tobin's ponzi scheme has many similarities to Bernie Madoff's while season four is pretty much Blackwater and Erik Prince vs Patty Hewes. Season 5's case is inspired by Julien Assange, who's the basis for the character of Channing McLaren, and Wikileaks.
* SacrificialLion: Both [[spoiler: David]] and [[spoiler: Ray Fisk]] in season 1.
** Apparently [[spoiler: ''Ellen'']] in season 5.
** Actually it ends up being [[spoiler: Michael]].
* [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections Screw The Rules, I Have Connections]]: Dave Pell's M.O. as well as Howard Erickson's.
* [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney Screw The Rules, I Have Money]]: Arthur Frobisher's M.O.
* ShootTheDog
* SickbedSlaying: The fate of [[spoiler:Uncle Pete]].
* SlidingScaleOfCynicismVersusIdealism: Firmly leaning towards the cynical.
* StalkerWithACrush: Lila. Doubles as ClingyJealousGirl, and [[spoiler:subverts AxCrazy]].
* StepfordSmiler: Ellen became this after her fiance's murder in season 1 in order to keep working for Patty. [[spoiler: In fact this was noted by the FBI who persuaded her to help them bring Patty down]].
* StraightGay: Ray Fiske.
** He seems to genuinely love his wife, so it may be IfItsYouItsOkay or BiTheWay. [[spoiler:He doesn't live long enough to make it clear.]]
* StrangeBedfellows : [[spoiler:Frobisher helps Patty to start the case against Kendrick in season 2]]
* StrictlyFormula: There's a WhiteCollarCrime case, there's a 3 months later FlashForward story usually involving one of our heroes in danger or possibly even dead, the audience follows the bread crumbs, there's twists, people die, Patty and Ellen win the case while losing something personal in the process, the season's film actor bad guys die or go to jail, roll credits.
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: David.
* StuntCasting: Damages often casts film actors who would otherwise never do tv (i.e. William Hurt, John Goodman, Campbell Scott etc.) in supporting roles and they often [[TropesAreNotBad give incredibly strong and memorable performances.]]
* SuspectExistenceFailure
* SuspiciouslyIdleOfficers: [[spoiler:Detective Rick Messer]], big time. Does he even ''have'' any actual duties? In Season 2, this is justified for the [[spoiler:FBI agent on Dave Pell's payroll]], because it's explained that his supervisor is in on the conspiracy.
** They actually reveal his background in season two: he's a police detective who spent most of his time in Internal Affairs, where he abused his position helping renegade cops beat any police brutality complaints filed against them and that he left IA in order to become a regular detective, due to policy saying that IA cops couldn't freelance (which is how Messer hooked up with Frobisher.
* SupportingProtagonist: Ellen is arguably this. While Patty is the central character most of the show is focused on Ellen's CharacterDevelopment as a result of being involved in Patty's world.
* ThrowingTheFight: Patty occasionally does this, in order to get her opponents to tip their hand.
* TookALevelInBadAss: Ellen.
* TroubledProduction: Season two, full-stop. William Hurt's role in the season was dramatically scaled back due to problems behind the scenes (Hurt had problems coping with the production style of the series, where the actors were kept in the dark regarding their character's storylines and only given segments of the script before filming). To fill in the gap, actor John Doman was brought on to play the evil corporate executive who Patty was trying to bring down as the new main villain character, while Marcia Gay Harden had her role expanded as Patty's foil during the season.
* TwistEnding: Several plot threads seem to point to one solution then out of the blue will head for another, completely unexpected resolution. One of the reasons why critics loved it.
* UnCancelled: F/X had canceled ''{{Damages}}'' before DirecTV came to the rescue.
* UglyGuysHotDaughter: With inverted gender roles for Patty Hewes and her son.
* TheUnreveal: The contents of David's wedding gift to Ellen.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler:Rick Messer]]'s public image is that of an exemplary police officer. He's anything but.
* WhamEpisode: The use of SurpriseTropes is this show's trademark, though the heaviest hitters usually come towards the end of each season.
* WhiteCollarCrime: How every one of Patty's cases starts. They never end that way.
* WorthyOpponent: Ray Fiske, during Season 1.
* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: Ellen apparently has some.
* YouGetMeCoffee: Patty likes to do this to her employees, just to torture them.
----
[[caption-width-right:350: Margaret Thatcher has nothing on '''this''' IronLady]]
->''"When I am through with you, there won't be anything left..."''
A dark conspiracy thriller DramaSeries with a legal theme starring Glenn Close as the ruthless lawyer Patty Hewes. Unusually for a legal series, each season follows a single case in detail rather than a MonsterOfTheWeek format. ''Damages'' is ''extremely'' dark, about as far on the cynical side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism as you can get - the "good guys" on this show, such as they are, would be villains in any other. The (Season 1 - anything beyond would contain spoilers) cast includes:
'''Patty Hewes''': A brilliant attorney who wins her high-stakes lawsuits by [[BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord any]] [[BadAss means]] [[PrettyLittleHeadshots necessary]]. Hewes is a tempered-steel IronLady, but still manages to frequently surprise with the depths she'll sink to to PayEvilUntoEvil. Her backstory and true motivations are slowly revealed as the series progresses. Could easily be the poster child for AmoralAttorney, and in any other show, would be the villain.
'''Ellen Parsons''': A NaiveNewcomer right out of law school hired by Hewes. Essentially the entire first season is one long BreakTheCutie for her, as she slowly catches on to the rules of Patty's world and begins to manipulate them for her own ends. Serves as something of a {{Foil}} for Patty early on, before TakingALevelInBadass. The contrast and relationship between Ellen and Patty is a central theme of the show, and in fact the rest of the plot was constructed around it.
'''Tom Shayes''': Patty's right-hand man and Ellen's mentor. Tom's morals are somewhat less flexible than Patty's, which in this show just makes him the ButtMonkey. Serves as Patty's [[TheLancer Lancer]], when she has something his morals can handle.
'''Arthur Frobisher''': A CorruptCorporateExecutive on the receiving end of the Season 1 case. [[ItsAllAboutMe Selfish]], [[{{Jerkass}} arrogant]], and [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope ruthless]] in his attempts to defend himself. Already at a slow roll down the slippery slope at the series open and picks up speed over the course of the season.
'''Ray Fiske''': Frobisher's lawyer and Patty's WorthyOpponent. Unusually for an antagonistic lawyer, he's fairly sympathetic and his legal ethics are if anything stricter than Patty's (not that that's saying much). Does his best to rein in Frobisher's bull-headed tendencies, and to keep the wolves at bay to [[EvenEvilHasStandards win the case without bloodshed]].
The show makes heavy use of AnachronicOrder to create drama and tension, as the pieces of the ForegoneConclusion fall into place. Each episode reveals one piece of the puzzle in each the present and the future, and maintains a mix of events that a GenreSavvy viewer will catch on to just in time and {{Shocking Swerve}}s that subvert such GenreSavvy to great effect. The political twists and turns are deep enough to make Creator/TomClancy blush, without becoming a KudzuPlot.
''{{Damages}}'' didn't maintain a strong viewership during its first season, and has continued to drop in ratings since, despite wide critical acclaim. The show went three seasons on F/X before being cancelled, and has been picked up by DirecTV for two more; the first two seasons are available on Netflix. Seasons 4 and 5 will each be ten episodes in length.
Now has a fledgling [[Characters/{{Damages}} Character Sheet]] that needs some Wiki love.
!!Tropes:
* AbortedArc: Wes's Krulik's past and motives for going after Ellen: it's implied in season two that he both has his own personal interest in hurting Frobisher, as well as his own past (implied to be a former cop for whom Rick Messler was blackmailing to get him to keep an eye on Ellen.
* AdvertisedExtra: Marcia Gay Harden as Claire Maddox in season 2 only appears in 7 out of 13 episodes.
* AffablyEvil: Arthur Frobisher and, to a lesser extent, his [[TheDragon Dragon]] Ray Fiske.
* AllStarCast: The closest a TV show has ever come to this: Glenn Close (how many other series can you name that have five time Oscar nominee for their star?), WilliamHurt, Martin Short, Marcia Gay Harden, Campbell Scott, Lily Tomlin, John Goodman and Ted Danson have all had regular roles on the series and there's not another show on TV with that kind of roster outside of its one off guest cast list.
* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: The ending theme for the Japanese release is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAXVNGUgtNc "Perfect Me"]]. The ending theme for the second season is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UIRkknG8SI "Rain"]] by Michi.
* AmoralAttorney: Oh, God, yes!
* AnachronicOrder: Every season. An interesting use - each episode reveals two sections of plot, months apart from each other, with the "past" segments telling HowWeGotHere and the future ones unfolding the story.
* AnyoneCanDie: If your name isn't Ellen Parsons or Patty Hewes, keep your life insurance premiums current.
** Of the main cast members of the first three seasons only [[spoiler: Ellen, Patty, Wistone or Claire Maddox]] aren't dead or in prison.
*** And as of the season 5 premiere, [[spoiler: Ellen]] can be crossed off that list.
**** [[spoiler: She cannot, actually, as it was faked]].
* AntiHero: Patty Hewes, full stop.
* AntiVillain: Joe Tobin in season 3. He starts off as a genuinely nice guy whose world falls apart when his father's corruption is revealed and he even considers cooperating with Patty. Ultimately, he breaks under the pressure, falls off the wagon back to being an alcoholic and does a lot of horrible things to try and protect his family.
** Ray Fiske may also apply. While he is guilty of insider trading he is a BoyScout in comparison to Patty and resists Frobisher's attempts to resolve his problems through violence.
* ArcWords: "Trust no one."
* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Ray Fiske does this in front of Patty after she blackmails him near the end of season 1.]]
* [[BadAss Bad Ass Lawyer]]: Say what you will about her methods but Patty Hewes will always get her job done.
* BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible
* BeardOfEvil: [[spoiler:Rick Messer]] sports one of these.
* BigBad: Arthur Frobisher in season 1. Pell and Tobin for seasons 2 and 3 respectively.
* BittersweetEnding: Season 3's finale for sure. [[spoiler: Former KarmaHoudini Arthur Frobisher]] finally gets arrested for some of his crimes, but at the cost of [[spoiler: Wes]] turning himself in for his part in them. The main case is solved but only after Tobin has [[spoiler: murdered Tom]], Tobin's mother has committed suicide and [[KarmaHoudini Winstone]] has managed to escape with a lot of the Tobins' money. On top of all that Patty's son tries to kill her after she has his girlfriend sent to prison for statutory rape and its revealed through flashbacks that [[spoiler: Patty's deceased daughter was killed in the womb via intentional miscarriage, due to Patty putting her career first over motherhood]]. Ellen asks Patty if everything she's done for her career is worth it to which Patty doesn't reply.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: At best. There's these people, see, and they go around blackmailing, burgling, bribing, and occasionally having people killed. And they're the good guys. The bad guys do all that stuff, but not for good reasons.
* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: Patty gives one of these to [[spoiler:Ray Fiske]].
* BreakTheCutie: The entire first season is one of these for Ellen Parsons.
** Season four has that for Chris, Ellen's love interest.
* [[KickTheSonOfABitch Break The Bitch]]: ''But You Don't Do That Anymore'', with [[spoiler: Patty's actions ending up getting her son Michael killed.]]
* BungledSuicide: [[spoiler:(Season 2) Uncle Pete attempts to kill himself rather than help the FBI against Patty. Patrick finishes the job after Pete wakes from his coma.]]
* ButtMonkey: Arguably Tom Shayes. He is one of the few characters in the series with black and white morals and he gets little to no respect for it. [[spoiler: He even gets KilledOffForReal in Season 3!]]
* BrokenBird: Ellen by the end of season 1, and it's heavily hinted that Patty has this in her backstory.
* CareerResurrection: For TedDanson. While he hadn't completley gone away after ''Cheers'' he had sort of fallen into has been territory with parts in unsuccesful films, a failed sitcom (''Ink''), a fairly unpopular one (''Becker'') and cameos as himself on ''CurbYourEnthusiasm''. However, when the first season of ''Damages'' made it onto the air though critics couldn't stop talking about his suprisingly strong dramatic performance as Arthur Frobisher which gained Danson his first Emmy nomination in 15 years (including two more for his guest appearances in the subsequent seasons).
** This renewed exposure also helped gain him a supporting role in the HBO sitcom ''Series/BoredToDeath'' and in the fall or 2011 he took the lead role on ''CSI''.
* ChekhovsGun: The phone calls one of the FBI agents in season 2 keeps on getting and says are from his wife actually end up being important.
* CleanupCrew: Uncle Pete calls one in to [[spoiler:get rid of the evidence that someone attacked Ellen]].
* ClearMyName: Arthur Frobisher's chief motivation. [[spoiler:Subverted, in that he's actually guilty as sin, and does even worse things to win.]]
* ColdBloodedTorture: implied to have happened to David before he was killed, fortunately off-screen. [[spoiler:On screen for poor Tom in the S3 finale.]]
* CompletelyMissingThePoint: Arthur Frobisher in the Season 1 finale. He tells his son that, "I made a very big mistake, and I'm going to be paying for it for the rest of my life." And just what was this big mistake? "I trusted too many people."
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Arthur Frobisher. Walter Kendrick. Dave Pell. George Moore was actually listed in the credits as "The Executive" for a while.
** The main villains in season 5 [[spoiler: apart from Rutger]] are this.
* DetectiveMole: [[spoiler:Rick Messer retrieves the one piece of incriminating evidence at the David Connor murder scene by flashing his badge and walking straight in the front door.]]
* DirectedByCastMember: Tate Donovan (Tom Shayes) directed 3 episodes.
* DirtyCop: The favored henchman of the show's villains. It makes cleaning up after a bit of DirtyBusiness much easier.
* DoingItForTheArt: Hardly anyone watches the show anymore and the ratings fall steadily every season with the third season seeing a cancellation from FX and a budget slashed move to Direct TV but it hasn't kept top flight film actors from doing season arcs. It also says something for a famous film actress like Glenn Close to stick with a tv role that probably pays considerably less than any films she's in with a salary increase being fairly unlikely.
** Same with Rose Byrne, who's movie career has taken off as well, during the course of the series run.
* DramaticIrony: An enormous source of tension for the show, provided by the AnachronicOrder.
* DrivenToSuicide: Multiple characters. So far [[spoiler: OnceASeason]].
** [[spoiler:Season 1 -- Ray Fiske after being blackmailed.]]
** [[spoiler:Season 2 -- Uncle Pete after being nabbed by the FBI.]]
** [[spoiler:Season 3 -- Both Marilyn and Louis Tobin. Louis by poison, Marilyn by drowning.]]
** [[spoiler:Season 4 -- Kinda sorta Gerald Boorman. More of a [[SuicideByCop Suicide by Shell-shocked soldier whose men he killed]].]]
** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in season 5, where [[spoiler: Naomi Walling]]'s murder is set-up to look like she was DrivenToSuicide. And so far, nobody suspects otherwise.
* DyingClue: Whoever [[spoiler:Arthur Frobisher]] got to kill [[spoiler:George Moore]] should have been fired. They didn't check his pockets for the key piece of evidence that ended up blowing the case wide open.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Ray Fiske, who doesn't have the stomach for what he's gotten into. [[spoiler:He AteHisGun for it.]] Initially, Arthur Frobisher as well.
* EveryoneIsASuspect
* EvilVersusEvil: Depending on your interpretation of Patty Hewes. If you see her as a very dark AntiHero, then it's BlackAndGrayMorality, but certainly her behavior would make her the villain in any other show.
* EvilVirtues: Frobisher's determination and ambition are constant, and he's quite proud of them.
* FamilyValuesVillain: Frobisher, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope at first]].
* FauxAffablyEvil: Dave Pell.
* ForegoneConclusion: In Season 3, you know via a FlashForward in the first episode that [[spoiler: Tom Shayes is going to die]]. Doesn't make the scene itself any less heartbreaking though.
* FakeAmerican: Ellen is played by the Australian Rose Byrne, while Katie is played by British actress Anastasia Griffith.
* FlashbackEffects: Used to show shifts between the present and future timelines. The ''removal'' of the effects is used to great effect, showing the present catching up to the future and the conclusion of the story.
* GoodIsNotNice: Define "good".
* GuiltRiddenAccomplice: Arthur Frobisher's Achilles' heel.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Both Patty and the show's villains are [[Manga/DeathNote childish and hate to lose]].
** Season four takes the cake with Jerry Boorman; a corrupt CIA Agent who has gleefully broken EVERY law imaginable, all in the name of ensuring no one can out him for the laws he has broken part of the "War on Terror". Seven episodes into the season, pretty much EVERY act of murder or violence can be linked to Boorman, either directly or through him forcing his cohort, Howard Erickson, into doing it under threat that if he doesn't and Boorman gets busted, that he will take Erickson down with him.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Chris in season four
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Ray Fiske.]] [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. He decides to kill himself instead.]]
** Also [[spoiler: Wes in season 2.]]
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: [[spoiler: Frobisher.]]
* HijackedByGanon: In season 1. The one behind the blackmail of [[spoiler:Gregory Malina]]? [[spoiler:Frobisher.]] The one who put a hits on [[spoiler:George More]] and [[spoiler:David]] respectively? [[spoiler:Frobisher.]]
* HitmanWithAHeart: [[spoiler:Wes Krulick]].
* HowWeGotHere: Each season had numerous [[FlashForward flash forwards]] throughout, but you're not given the full context until the very end.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each episode is named after a line of dialogue spoken by a character in said episode.
* IncompatibleOrientation: [[spoiler:Ray Fiske]] in regards to Gregory Malina.
* InstantMysteryJustDeleteScene: The show ''loves'' this trope.
* InsultBackfire: Walter Kendrick is being told to "Go to hell". His response?
--> ''I probably will. But while I'm here no one's gonna take away my goddamn company.''
* IronicEcho: "Because I know Patty..."
* IronLady: Patty Hewes, oh so very much.
* ItWasHereISwear: When Ellen Parsons sends detectives to Patty's apartment looking for the man who attacked her, the body, the blood, and the broken window are all gone, and the place is (almost) spotless.
* IWasQuiteALooker: Marilyn Tobin murmurs something along those lines to herself in the season 3 finale,[[spoiler:right before she commits suicide]].
* {{Jerkass}}: Arthur Frobisher, who continues to see himself as TheWoobie. It apparently does not even enter his mind that he has actually done some very bad things, and has therefore earned the bad things that keep happening as a result.
* JusticeByOtherLegalMeans: Patty Hewes steps in where law enforcement has failed.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Frobisher does so with gusto once he gets past his conscience. He starts out as a FamilyValuesVillain and goes downhill rapidly.
* KilledOffForReal: Everyone the show kills off is actually dead, although some keep coming back in dreams and flashbacks.
* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: The ultimate fate of [[spoiler:Rick Messer]].
* MadMathematician: Finn Garrity, the coked-up math whiz turned energy trader in season 2. [[spoiler:In the finale he goes nuts and stabs Patty.]]
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: These were [[spoiler:Rick Messer]]'s ''exact words'' to [[spoiler: Wes Krulick]] in Season 2.
** Also in season 2, [[spoiler:FBI Agent Harrison's murder is made to look like an overdose]].
** [[spoiler: Naomi]]'s murder in the season 5 premiere is made to look like a suicide.
* ManipulativeBastard
* TheMole:[[spoiler: Wes]]
** [[spoiler: Rutger]] in season 5.
* MotiveMisidentification
* MoralityPet: Frobisher and Patty's sons.
** Howard Erickson and his kids as well
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: This is [[spoiler:Jerry Boorman]]'s philosophy, as well as [[spoiler: Rick Messer's]].
* NaiveNewcomer: Combined with BreakTheCutie in season 1 with Ellen Parsons.
* NeverOneMurder: Arthur Frobisher senses this truth. [[spoiler:He decides to go ahead anyway.]]
* NewOldFlame [[spoiler: Daniel Purcell]] is this for Patty.
** Season four Chris is this too for Ellen, introduced as her high school sweetheart.
* NiceGuy: Tom Shayes.
* NoNameGiven: Many, many characters, some important, some not. Most get names eventually, but even then, the credits continue to refer to them as "Bearded Man" or "Pockmarked Man."
* NotSoStoic: Patty Hewes, just not in front of anybody else.
* NotQuiteDead: At the end of season 1, [[spoiler:Ellen assumes that she killed the attacker in Patty's home, but he actually survived.]]
* OhCrap: [[spoiler: Rick Messer]]'s last word, as he sees [[spoiler: Wes]] in his rearview mirror, hiding in the back of his car. [[spoiler: With a gun.]]
-->'''[[spoiler: Messer]]''': ...shit.
* OlderSidekick: Uncle Pete.
* OnceASeason: [[spoiler: Somebody close to Ellen or Patty dying]] and every finale has ended with a scene of Patty and someone else (Ellen in seasons 1 & 3, Tom in season 2) at her lake house.
** Once every ''other'' season, a main character is found dead at the end of the season premiere and the why and the how of his or her death is revealed throughout the season. It started with [[spoiler: David]] in season 1, then [[spoiler: Tom Shayes]] in season 3, and [[spoiler: Ellen]] in the last season, season 5. [[spoiler: Though that was fake...]]
* OnlyMostlyDead: In season 2, [[spoiler:Daniel Purcell assumes he killed his wife. She was actually still alive, barely, when Kendrick's henchman comes in and [[KilledOffForReal Kills Her For Real.]]]]
* OutDamnedSpot: The spot of blood on Patty's shoe [[spoiler:later revealed to be from Ray Fiske [[AteHisGun eating his gun]]]].
* PayEvilUntoEvil: SO. MUCH.
* PerfectPoison: Used by [[spoiler:Louis Tobin]] and on [[spoiler:Danielle Marchetti]] in Season 3.
* PetTheDog: Patty genuinely loves her son. She truly sucks as expressing it, though.
** Most characters on the show get them. Frobisher has his son as a MoralityPet, Fisk has [[spoiler:Gregory Malina]], and so on.
** There's also a lot of screen time dedicated to petting actual dogs and showing responsible dog ownership.
* PhotoPsychic: In Season 3, Ellen only learns that [[spoiler:Carol Tobin]] visited [[spoiler:Danielle Marchetti]] on the night she died because she happened to be in the picture that Ellen wanted a witness to identify [[spoiler:Joe Tobin]] from.
* PrettyLittleHeadshots: Frequent.
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Wes in Season 3. He's BackForTheFinale, though.]]
** The few supporting characters of any given season that don't get killed off usually end up getting put on buses at the end of their season.
* ReformedButRejected: Frobisher plays at being this, but it's fairly obvious that, his claims of spiritual renewal aside, he's still every bit the selfish and egocentric bastard he was before.
* RetCon: According to a line spoken by Patty, Michael Hewes is 18 season 2 when he introduces Jill (his older girlfriend) to his mother and stepfather. The stories in season 3 start 10 months after the end of season 2. Jill is pregnant in season 3. Michael uses a DNA test to prove to Patty that he's the father and that Jill isn't being deceptive. Patty uses the DNA test to get Jill arrested for statutory rape of a character stated to be 18 about a year before the sexual encounter she's charged with engaging in? They didn't even bother to mention Michael's mysteriously lower age before the arrest.
* RevolvingDoorCasting: With the exception of [[spoiler: Arthur Frobisher who has a guest arc in season 2 and 3]] most of the supporting characters (especially the plaintiffs) of any given season usually ended up getting killed off or put on buses.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The season-spanning plots are made of this. The first two seasons split up the juicier details of Enron's collapse. With a company rife with accounting irregularities and professed ignorance of wrongdoing by subordinates, Frobisher is a take on Ken Lay; UNR's manipulation of the energy grid by traders to rack up huge profits fictionalizes Enron's role in the California electricity crisis of 2000-2001. In season 3, Louis Tobin's ponzi scheme has many similarities to Bernie Madoff's while season four is pretty much Blackwater and Erik Prince vs Patty Hewes. Season 5's case is inspired by Julien Assange, who's the basis for the character of Channing McLaren, and Wikileaks.
* SacrificialLion: Both [[spoiler: David]] and [[spoiler: Ray Fisk]] in season 1.
** Apparently [[spoiler: ''Ellen'']] in season 5.
** Actually it ends up being [[spoiler: Michael]].
* [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections Screw The Rules, I Have Connections]]: Dave Pell's M.O. as well as Howard Erickson's.
* [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney Screw The Rules, I Have Money]]: Arthur Frobisher's M.O.
* ShootTheDog
* SickbedSlaying: The fate of [[spoiler:Uncle Pete]].
* SlidingScaleOfCynicismVersusIdealism: Firmly leaning towards the cynical.
* StalkerWithACrush: Lila. Doubles as ClingyJealousGirl, and [[spoiler:subverts AxCrazy]].
* StepfordSmiler: Ellen became this after her fiance's murder in season 1 in order to keep working for Patty. [[spoiler: In fact this was noted by the FBI who persuaded her to help them bring Patty down]].
* StraightGay: Ray Fiske.
** He seems to genuinely love his wife, so it may be IfItsYouItsOkay or BiTheWay. [[spoiler:He doesn't live long enough to make it clear.]]
* StrangeBedfellows : [[spoiler:Frobisher helps Patty to start the case against Kendrick in season 2]]
* StrictlyFormula: There's a WhiteCollarCrime case, there's a 3 months later FlashForward story usually involving one of our heroes in danger or possibly even dead, the audience follows the bread crumbs, there's twists, people die, Patty and Ellen win the case while losing something personal in the process, the season's film actor bad guys die or go to jail, roll credits.
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: David.
* StuntCasting: Damages often casts film actors who would otherwise never do tv (i.e. William Hurt, John Goodman, Campbell Scott etc.) in supporting roles and they often [[TropesAreNotBad give incredibly strong and memorable performances.]]
* SuspectExistenceFailure
* SuspiciouslyIdleOfficers: [[spoiler:Detective Rick Messer]], big time. Does he even ''have'' any actual duties? In Season 2, this is justified for the [[spoiler:FBI agent on Dave Pell's payroll]], because it's explained that his supervisor is in on the conspiracy.
** They actually reveal his background in season two: he's a police detective who spent most of his time in Internal Affairs, where he abused his position helping renegade cops beat any police brutality complaints filed against them and that he left IA in order to become a regular detective, due to policy saying that IA cops couldn't freelance (which is how Messer hooked up with Frobisher.
* SupportingProtagonist: Ellen is arguably this. While Patty is the central character most of the show is focused on Ellen's CharacterDevelopment as a result of being involved in Patty's world.
* ThrowingTheFight: Patty occasionally does this, in order to get her opponents to tip their hand.
* TookALevelInBadAss: Ellen.
* TroubledProduction: Season two, full-stop. William Hurt's role in the season was dramatically scaled back due to problems behind the scenes (Hurt had problems coping with the production style of the series, where the actors were kept in the dark regarding their character's storylines and only given segments of the script before filming). To fill in the gap, actor John Doman was brought on to play the evil corporate executive who Patty was trying to bring down as the new main villain character, while Marcia Gay Harden had her role expanded as Patty's foil during the season.
* TwistEnding: Several plot threads seem to point to one solution then out of the blue will head for another, completely unexpected resolution. One of the reasons why critics loved it.
* UnCancelled: F/X had canceled ''{{Damages}}'' before DirecTV came to the rescue.
* UglyGuysHotDaughter: With inverted gender roles for Patty Hewes and her son.
* TheUnreveal: The contents of David's wedding gift to Ellen.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler:Rick Messer]]'s public image is that of an exemplary police officer. He's anything but.
* WhamEpisode: The use of SurpriseTropes is this show's trademark, though the heaviest hitters usually come towards the end of each season.
* WhiteCollarCrime: How every one of Patty's cases starts. They never end that way.
* WorthyOpponent: Ray Fiske, during Season 1.
* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: Ellen apparently has some.
* YouGetMeCoffee: Patty likes to do this to her employees, just to torture them.
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