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Damages S3 finished on Monday, and only now am I ready to say anything!
This show! Oh, how I love it, I cannot even find enough words! What other TV programs gives us such tightly crafted (and both thematically and symbolically rich) story arcs that span *three* full seasons with (virtually) no seams showing? S3 even managed to rescue -- and render meaningful, in retrospect -- many of the more lackluster elements of S2. I am in awe of both the writing and acting talent involved here!
I could go on and on about so many things (and I see some other people have posted about a lot of the topics that struck me), but for now I will talk about what I love the most: Patty Hewes and Ellen Parsons!
What other TV program has given us anything even *close* to this kind of complex female-female relationship? The show never truly commits to any single interpretation of what they are, exactly. Mother-daughter substitutes, mentor-mentee, a femslash pairing, mirror images, predecessor/successor, friends, rivals, enemies, colleagues, partners...the genius of this show is that they are -- or have been, or will be -- ALL of those things to each other.
( Spoilers for all three seasons inside )
They're kindred spirits. And yet not. Drawn to each other and also repulsed. And while we (the audience) initially were led to believe that Patty was the sun and Ellen a hapless planet wheeling about in orbit, it turns out that's the wrong metaphor. They're binary stars, revolving around a common center of mass, simultaneously running away from and falling back toward each other in an endless circular dance.
This show! Oh, how I love it, I cannot even find enough words! What other TV programs gives us such tightly crafted (and both thematically and symbolically rich) story arcs that span *three* full seasons with (virtually) no seams showing? S3 even managed to rescue -- and render meaningful, in retrospect -- many of the more lackluster elements of S2. I am in awe of both the writing and acting talent involved here!
I could go on and on about so many things (and I see some other people have posted about a lot of the topics that struck me), but for now I will talk about what I love the most: Patty Hewes and Ellen Parsons!
What other TV program has given us anything even *close* to this kind of complex female-female relationship? The show never truly commits to any single interpretation of what they are, exactly. Mother-daughter substitutes, mentor-mentee, a femslash pairing, mirror images, predecessor/successor, friends, rivals, enemies, colleagues, partners...the genius of this show is that they are -- or have been, or will be -- ALL of those things to each other.
( Spoilers for all three seasons inside )
They're kindred spirits. And yet not. Drawn to each other and also repulsed. And while we (the audience) initially were led to believe that Patty was the sun and Ellen a hapless planet wheeling about in orbit, it turns out that's the wrong metaphor. They're binary stars, revolving around a common center of mass, simultaneously running away from and falling back toward each other in an endless circular dance.