Damages

Trust me, Damages is worth it. And for those without access to DirecTV, worth the wait.

Devious Patty is still drinking like a fish, while wan Ellen is still seeking her advice (still, Ellen? Really?), and I still will not be able to resist watching every episode I possibly can.

Damages returns to spiteful, vindictive and wildly entertaining life Wednesday night after resuscitation by satellite-television provider DirecTV.

Damages isn't on the level of 'The Sopranos,' but, like Ellen Parsons, it knows what it's about these days. And if you want to see some prime, grade-A Acting, well, you could do a lot worse.

Patty returns to the unanswered question that Ellen asked her last season: "Is it worth it?" For viewers, yes, it is.

The poisoned relationship of attorneys Ellen Parsons and Patty Hewes has gone slack. But The supporting cast is superb. [8 Aug 2011, p.40]

While a bit deliberately paced, a good start, with (as always) an excellent guest-star roster.

If you're one of the people who've so far managed the suspension of disbelief required to accept that Close's Patty Hewes could yet again find a way to pull protege Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) back into her orbit, Season 4 shouldn't disappoint.

The show has become a little like legal 24 for me: lots of talent and strong performances, but it has increasingly seemed to strain to up its stakes in its one-case-a-season format.

To its credit, Damages remains the kind of show that demands genuine attention; there's no reading the newspaper or scribbling crosswords while watching it. Moreover, Goodman, Close and Baker are the kind of fine actors that a certain class of viewer would happily watch read the phone book. It's just that given the pacing in these first two episodes, that analogy's not far off.