"Damages" Recap - Episode 10: Sort Of Like A Family
You know how when an actor or actress from a television show does an interview, they talk about how everyone on the show is like family? Corporations try to peddle that same line. All the employees are like family, with the CEO some kind of paternal or maternal caretaker.
Well you know what? That's crap.
Actors and actresses only say that stuff because it's what they're supposed to say and it's a good way to suck up to the execs running the show and the ones at the network. Corporate execs say that stuff so they can get as much information out of their employees as possible, just waiting for the right time to use it against them.
I'm wildly exaggerating, right? Maybe, but this week's episode has Patty Hewes taking the concept of "corporation as family" and spinning it into a masterful web that she uses to trap Frobisher. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
First we open the show on Ellen and poor, doomed David. They're having sex while there's lovely waltz music playing in the background. Ellen's on top and it's getting pretty intense when all of a sudden she morphs into...Patty! When Patty starts moaning and calling out David's name, that's enough. For me, and for David. David wakes up.
He was asleep at the beach house, it's the middle of the night and Ellen isn't in bed. He finds her outside listening to the crickets chirping by the seaside. She says she could get used to this. So could I.
Meanwhile Patty and Tommyhawk are at Patty's apartment talking about whether Ellen is now expendable. Tom's ready to push her out. "She's not your type of lawyer," he says.
Patty disagrees, saying as long as One Night Stand Greg is still in play, so is Ellen.
Back at the beach house, David gets a call from Katie. After hearing what she has to say, he tells Ellen, "Gregory Malina's dead."
Ellen is no longer in play.
Opening credits.
It's present day and Patty's on the highway still driving around in those freaky glasses.
Tommyhawk's at the jail talking to Ellen. He tells her he went to the beach house but Patty was gone. Tom's like, I want to help you Ellen, but I don't know what to believe. Ellen tells him he can believe that someone tried to kill her.
Flashback one month earlier. We're at Hewes Headquarters in a strategy meeting for the upcoming Frobisher deposition. Tommyhawk announces that One Night Stand Greg is dead, that's too bad, pass me a donut and let's move on. Ellen briefs everyone about the Arlington/Frobisher car accident in which a girl died. Frobisher was drunk at the time, but supposedly he wasn't driving. Patty's going to use the incident to show Frobisher's history of obstructing justice by paying off people who can work against him, namely the dead girl's parents.
Frobisher's with the little Frobishers outside their palatial estate, about to go into seclusion with Mr. Deep Fried Southern Charm Ray Fiske to prepare for the deposition. Boopsie Frobisher lovingly gives Art his lucky golf club. Frobisher thanks her and tells her everything's going to be okay. Binnie and Biff Frobisher are like, whatever.
Patty and Fiske are negotiating deposition details over drinks. It's like two tennis players batting the ol' legal tennis ball around.
Patty wants a video camera. Fiske says no way.
Patty's like, what are you worried about. "You're client's a matinee idol. Unless his herpes has flared up he'll be just fine." Hee.
Then they hash out how many sessions they'll be. Patty wants seven. Ray wants two. Patty says five. Ray says three. Patty says okay, but I want my video camera. Deal, set and match.
Then Patty leans in closer to Fiske and says, "Gregory Malina's dead."
Ray acts all surprised. "That's horrible. Maybe the police will find the guy."
Patty says she won't hold her breath.
"And Ray," Patty takes a long pause, looks down, then back up, not blinking once and says, "Shame on you." It's positively chilling.
Mr. "We are not animals" is open mouthed, spooked to the core. Patty gets up and walks out and all Fiske can do is stare after her. Wonderful stuff.
Ray and Frobisher are chatting on an apartment penthouse roof. Frobisher's taking practice putts with his lucky golf club. Ray's worried about the Arlington issue. Frobisher insists he's not settling and he'll figure out a way to deal with it.
Patty and Ellen are at HH, and this is when Patty tells Ellen she is now out of play. She wants her to report to Felicia and help her with some pro bono work. That's pretty much the equivalent of telling Ellen she'll be helping to challenge parking tickets. Ellen, however takes it like a trooper.
Back at the apartment, Ellen and poor, doomed David are watching television when they come across Frobisher holding a pre-emptive strike press conference with the father of the girl who died in the Arlington incident. Ellen's amazed.
The father of the girl says Frobisher's a wonderful man and we stand by the police report that says our little Cindy was driving when the accident happened. The only reason Frobisher gave us financial support was because he loved our daughter. He didn't want anyone to know about it because that's the kind of man he is.
And the cherry on top? Cindy's Dad says, "Character's what you do in the dark. Isn't that what Christ teaches us?"
"Jesus," That from Patty at her apartment as she also watches the press conference.
Flash forward a month to Ellen in jail talking to Tom. She tells him if there's no longer a dead body in Patty's apartment, someone's covering up. All of a sudden Tom is kinda wishy-washy, saying without evidence, what can he do?
Ellen says, "Get me bail, I'll do the rest myself." Sounds like a plan.
Tom goes to Patty's apartment and there's Corey, still outside on the terrace barking his little head off. Tom lets him in.
Flashback to Patty, Ellen and Tom at HH all pissed about the Frobisher press conference. Patty is convinced there's a leak in the office, so she decrees that no one attends the deposition with her except Tom. Ellen asks permission to talk to Grandpa George to see if he was the leaker. Patty says no, get back to that flunky work I gave you.
As soon as Ellen leaves, Patty tells Tom to call Grandpa George and set up a meeting.
He might have to clear his appointment book though because right now, Grandpa George is on the street meeting with Ray Fiske. For people who really shouldn't be seen together, these two meet on the street in broad daylight quite a bit, don't they?
Anyway Grandpa George wants to know why Fiske let Frobisher hold the press conference. Fiske is like, what do you think, I have a leash around Frobisher's neck? The man's a gazillionaire and pretty much does whatever he wants. You try controlling him. When Grandpa George calls Fiske incompetent, Fiske shoots back that the whole Arlington issue came up because of him and he warned him it was a mistake. They both then threaten to expose the other and Grandpa gets the last word when he says, "Arthur needs me and so do you."
Ray Fiske better watch himself when it comes to dealing with Grandpa. Grandpa George's a politician, and there's nothing more dangerous than a politician trying to cover his own butt.
It's deposition day number one and Frobisher is trying to pick out a tie that says, "I'm an honest, upstanding businessman who would never think of stealing the life savings of my employees." Art, personally I think that's asking a lot of any tie.
Fiske chooses a smart, pale blue number and tells him to use a Windsor knot because it looks "assertive and formidable." Fiske is evidently right. At tie-a-tie.net, a cool little website every man should know about, they recommend using Windsor knots for "presentations, job interviews, courtroom appearances etc."
Frobisher's evidently never been to tie-a-tie.net because he doesn't know how to tie a Windsor. He says to Fiske, "You believe that? A billionaire who doesn't know how to tie a rich man's knot."
Fiske sits Frobisher down and starts tying the knot. Either Ray has some money in his background or they're now teaching knot tying in law school. While Fiske plays valet, he and a nervous Frobisher are very close and it's a very intimate moment.
I think Frobisher's less nervous about the deposition than the idea that Fiske might try to plant him one right on the lips. Well, it doesn't happen, but what do you want to bet there's an outtake somewhere with Ted and Zeljko doing just that?
Anyway, Fiske is tying the tie and all of a sudden his dream from a few weeks ago comes true. Arthur actually thanks him for his sixteen years of loyal service and friendship. Frobisher knows he's a pain to deal with and appreciates Ray's loyalty.
"You may be the only one I can trust, Ray. You're a good friend." Awww.
See, it's moments like these that make me forget the sleazy Frobisher sex scenes with hookers and high priced lawyers, the authorizing of hits on people, and the theft of the life savings of over five thousand employees. Here, you truly feel Frobisher's got a heart. But don't worry. That'll change any minute now.
Tie finished, they're ready to go face Patty.
Ladies and gentleman the moment we've all been waiting for. Patty Hewes and Arthur Frobisher in the same room going toe to toe, head to head, nose to nose, breast to chest.
Patty's all important video is rolling as she asks Art about a chart that shows all the Frobisher holding companies. Frobisher says his COO created those holding companies. He, Frobisher, shouldn't be held personally responsible for those.
It's all very polite and cordial as Patty gently probes and Frobisher puts his training to good use.
Later, Frobisher's on the phone talking to Boopsie, saying Patty was softening him up during the first session, but Ray thinks it went well. Boopsie's glad. Frobisher says he loves her and misses her and the family. When she hangs up we see she's at a restaurant with a man who's clearly closer than just a friend. It becomes obvious that she's going to leave Frobisher, but she insists on waiting until after the deposition is over.
Wow, Boopsie's not nearly as dumb as I thought. Good for her. I'd stop calling her Boopsie in honor of that, but I can't remember her name.
Ellen sets up a late night meeting with Grandpa George in a dark, back alley somewhere. So he needs to meet Ellen in a deep, dark alley, but he can meet Ray Fiske on the street in broad daylight. Grandpa, I think those brain cells are starting to lose their juice.
Anyway Grandpa goes on the offensive and says someone at HH is in Frobisher's pocket and leaked the Arlington story. He's pissed about it and he'll never, ever trust them again. Ellen, who's still got some smarts says, how do I know you didn't leak the story Grandpa?
Grandpa's like, because "I could get killed for what I told you. You'll get nothing else from me. And tell Tom Shayes to stop calling."
Ellen lets that pass and tells him if he's the one with the connection to Frobisher, they'll find it. As they walk out of the alley separately someone is taking pictures. Hm. Just remember, on this show surveillance is usually spelled P-a-t-t-y.
At home, Ellen's with poor, doomed David saying that she doesn't believe Grandpa George. She knows he was an SEC commissioner and she's going to talk to the SEC investigator Laura Watkins who was fired when Grandpa thought she was investigating Frobisher too aggressively.
Cut to Ellen talking to Laura. It seems Grandpa George kept the investigators on Frobisher's stock broker when it was clear he was a dead end. The week before the Frobisher stock dumping, the investigators were very close to exposing the accounting fraud. Not only that, Grandpa George was in Jacksonville Florida, four hours away from Frobisher, on that infamous Florida weekend supposedly at an SEC retreat. Who chose the Florida location? Grandpa George.
The next day, at the coffee table outside the deposition conference room Frobisher walks up to Ellen and introduces himself. She snubs him. Uncaring, he says when he was Ellen's age, he used to run from situations where he was standing two feet away from people who hated his guts. "Now, I love this sh*t."
Day two of Patty vs. Frobisher. She's asking about that famous weekend in Florida. She asks about his interest in financing Katie's restaurant, and then his pulling the financing after she agreed to testify for Patty.
Tommyhawk then brings out exhibit 41. It's a picture of One Night Stand Greg. Patty wants to know if Frobisher recognizes him. He says no.
She asks if he knew that Greg was in Palm Beach that weekend? No.
Or that he was seeing Katie? No.
Or that he owned 1,000 shares of Frobisher stock? He says his stock was publicly traded. A lot of people had it.
Or that he sold his stock the very same morning Frobisher sold his? Frobisher blinks. Once. Twice. No.
Pause.
Are you aware Mr. Malina is dead?
Pause.
No..no, but he's never seen this man before. He/'s very sorry to hear that.
Patty finishes with a smug smile. That will be all for today.
Later, correctly assuming that his deep friendship with Ray Fiske might just be a sham, Frobisher asks Ray if he gave Greg stock in his company. Fiske says absolutely not.
Frobisher can't figure out who did, but he thinks Grandpa George engineered Greg's hit and run. It's then that Fiske throws Grandpa under the bus by telling Frobisher he suspects George leaked Arlington. They're interrupted by Fiske's senior partners Marshall and Amos. It's a political meeting with their billionaire client to make sure he's happy and content with their representation. Frobisher plays along saying how great Ray is and how happy he is with them.
At HH, now that's she's got some solid info, Ellen tells Patty she spoke with Grandpa George.
Patty hits the roof. "You have jeopardized the only serious lead we still have. How could you be so stupid!"
The last word emphasized with a bang on the desk. Patty then tells her to get out of her office.
I'm fully expecting Ellen to apologize and meekly walk out, but all she does is stand there. When a couple of minutes go by she says quietly, "I'm so sick of your bullsh*t."
Good going, Ellen!
Patty smiles, looks up and says, "What did you say to me?"
"You heard me."
"Get out," Patty says. "And don't bother coming back."
And Ellen's outta there. On her way out, she leaves the Grandpa George info folder with the receptionist and tells her to give it to Patty.
Flash forward to Tommyhawk at Patty's apartment. Corey bolts for the kibble bowl while Tom looks around. When Corey comes over to the coffee table and starts sniffing around, Tom notices something on the table, reaches for it and..."Excuse me. Does Miss Hewes know you're here?"
It's the doorman, he came up the service elevator and scared the hell out of Tom. After Tom explains that he has a key, the doorman leaves and Tom continues looking around. On the coffee table, Tom's surprised to find a large piece of coral that has some small drops of blood on it.
Flashback to Ellen coming home to David and telling him she was fired. Where's she going now? She's going to Disney World! Well, not really, but she does want to go out and get drunk. "We still have some friends, don't we?" Hee.
The next day, Fiske intercepts Frobisher on his way into the third day of the deposition and hands him a sheet of paper. Turns out Boopsie filed for divorce that morning. Frobisher can't believe it. Fiske wants to reschedule the deposition. Frobisher says no. Fiske tries to change his mind, but Frobisher's not having it. He goes inside.
Inside, Patty's getting down to the nitty gritty. She questions Frobisher about the SEC investigation and whether or not he thought his company was on sound financial ground when he gave a speech to his employees and told them to buy company stock. Frobisher says he mentioned the investigation during the speech, and possible SEC action, but he insisted to his employees that the company was financially sound
Patty asks if they believed him. He says yes.
"For almost thirty-five years they knew that I was fully committed to them."
Frobisher's distracted, but he continues on about the importance of the relationship between an employer and his employees.
Patty pauses and smiles, "That's sort of like a family, isn't it?" Yes.
And you were the head of the household. You might say you were husband and father to your employees.
You could say that, yes.
And was it your job to hold the family together? Yes.
And you failed.
Objection.
I'll rephrase. Was it painful when you failed?
Objection.
Would you agree that the crumbling of that relationship is nothing less really, than the dissolution of a marriage?
Frobisher's face tightens and he warns quietly, "You watch what you say."
The collapse of your company wasn't your fault?
I was mislead by the accountants. I take full responsibility but not the blame..."
...I understand. It's like marriages. Companies just fail sometimes. Irreconcilable differences, no one is to blame. Is that you're position?
She says it so nonchalantly, but now goes in for the kill.
Or is the failure of this relationship as you call it your failure, your breach of trust, your infidelities...
Frobisher's steaming...
Fiske tries to jump in...
...and we have liftoff!
Frobisher jumps out of his seat, throwing papers to the ground.
"This is bullsh*t. This is bullsh*t." He keeps repeating it over and over. "I'm done here. I'm done. I'll see you in court, you bitch."
And he slams out of the room.
Ray can't believe it and Patty just stares across at him knowing she's done a solid day's work.
And the Emmys go to...Ted Danson and Glenn Close. Just ship the awards over to their houses right now guys, 'cause this is the scene that just earned 'em.
Cut to an out of control Frobisher confronting Boopsie in their driveway while she's throwing suitcases in the trunk.
"Did you want Patty Hewes to use this against me?" Frobisher yells.
Boopsie doesn't want to talk to him and gets in the car fully intending to drive off but Frobisher's car is blocking hers. Frobisher demands she talk to him, banging on the closed window, but Boopsie backs up determined to leave. In a rage, Frobisher goes to his car and takes out the famous lucky golf club and slams it in Boopsie's windshield as she pulls around him to leave. I suppose there's a certain poetry in that.
Frobisher collapses on his front steps, calls Fiske and tells him he can't take anymore. Make Patty an offer. Once again, I almost feel sorry for Frobisher here. You can tell he has no clue what went wrong and how his life became such a mess. It's actually the same thing Ellen's been thinking while she's been in jail. I suppose there's a certain poetry in that too.
Patty has a broad grin on her face as she meets with "her favorite divorce attorney." Turns out he's Boopsie's lawyer. They toast to the fact that he gave Patty the tip about the divorce and then made sure the papers were "accidentally" filed a day early. They both agree Patty owes him one. A big one I'd say.
Fiske calls Patty and offers a $500 million settlement. Patty says it's tempting but "I've still got work to do. If Gregory Malina was worth killing, he must have known something. If he'd testified, my guess is we'd be talking ten figures."
How much is ten figures? Eight, nine, ten...a billion dollars!? Wow.
Ray warns she won't get more than 500 out of Frobisher. Patty says goodnight and hangs up. Then she opens the folder Ellen left for her and starts reading.
At the "I no longer work for Patty" party, they're telling penis jokes when Ellen gets a call from Patty herself. She sends it straight to voicemail. Patty leaves her a message that says the stuff Ellen left for her was "pretty interesting."
Flash forward to Tom back at the jail with Ellen. He tells her he found blood, but he still can't reach Patty. When Ellen implies that Patty tried to kill her Tom says no way.
"I know things Tom," Ellen says. "Things that could destroy her."
And she says the only way she'll find out the the truth is if she talks to Patty face to face. So she wants Tom to call her again and tell her Ellen knows she tried to kill her.
We cut to Patty still driving on the highway. We get a closeup of her foot on the accelerator and there's a tiny drop of blood on her shoe.
Hm. Does that mean Patty really tried to kill Ellen? Or that Patty did the cleaning up after someone tried to kill Ellen? Or that Patty hired someone to kill Ellen, then showed up when it was all over and got the blood on her shoe?
Or that Patty pricked her finger on a safety pin when she was getting dressed and the drop of blood on her shoe came from that?
I guess we can pretty much discount that last one.
