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By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

So, I have this problem.

I actually don't want to write about this week's ep of Damages until I see how it ends NEXT week.

It's a strange dilemma because I once again found myself completely in awe of the creative genius that IS this show. I have said it for two straight seasons: I just don't know how they do it.

How they manage to take all these threads and weave them so brilliantly into one complete tapestry in half the time it takes for a network show to even start to get interesting just amazes me.

Still.

Thank the TV gods FX renewed the show for seasons two AND three last year, otherwise I'd already be begging that it should come back for a third season.

Thankfully, we already know it will.

And you can bet that however this ends next week - Ellen shooting Patty; Tom having been fired/now in cahoots with Ellen to take out Patty; Walt Kendrick meeting his match in Patty with her proof he's manipulating the energy market AND poisoning the state of West Virgina; Daniel Purcell finally doing the right thing and having to live with his decision in the nine circles of hell; Phil and Patty starting the divorce of all divorces that is going to get even uglier than the UNR case - you KNOW we are going to be set-up for the third season.

And we will be kept waiting in grand anticipation.

Just like I am - right now - for the finale next week.

Which will be a special 90 minute whopper.

Ding!

We've reached the penthouse floor of our second season elevator ride of suspense.

Step off. Stand in. Hang on. Watch out.

The special 90-minute second season finale of Damages airs next Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on FX. To catch up on the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of the show, head on over to the official Damages Web site. You can also download full episodes of the show over at iTunes. More at Pass The Remote...

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

Wait. Time out. Flag on the play.

So, Ellen DOES shoot Patty?!?!?!??!?! There isn't someone else in the room and/or Patty doesn't stumble into the elevator in shock from being a witness to Ellen's vengeful side?!?!?!??!

Egads, folks.

How the frick did I miss THAT?

I thought she was just ... that there wasn't ... that she had only ... oh, ne'er mind.

Wowza.

This would again be why I love this show: just when I think I've got something sorted out, it turns me around and throws me for a loop.

We only have TWO episodes left.

And they're being set-up to be another pair of humdingers given: a) Claire Maddox is now ousted as head legal counsel UNR after trying to pull off her own coup to take over the corporation given her recent discovery that Walter Kendrick is an arse; and, b) Phil's affair is headline news, thanks to Ellen's PI photos of Phil smooching his Londong Love ending up on Patty's desk.

Yes, this week was juicy.

But I fear we might be done with Marcia Gay Harden.

Total speculation on my part, but her going to Patty to tell her to nail Kendrick seemed to suggest her time was done - sort of a graceful exit stage left.

And that's a bummer.

If she does pop up again, that will be fine by me. MGH was a pleasure to watch, and I confess I liked they brought her around to be one of the good guys in the end (give or take one's definition of "good").

And the tension between Patty and Ellen almost boiled over this week, eh? We obviously know it will, but the final pieces of Ellen's rage seem to be falling into place.

Quietly.

Under the surface.

Hardly containable.

And now quite obvious to Patty.

Glenn Close and Rose Byrne have manifested their tit-for-tat this season even better than they did the first season. The two confrontations this week - in the office, after Patty pulls the investigator off the Frobisher investigation much to Ellen's ire; and, Patty at home, in a subdued drunken stupor, having torn her closet apart after the blowup with Phil's affair, having called Ellen to tell her she knows she's the one who sent the affair photos to her in the first place - were so perfectly done. There is - as always - a certain controlled stillness to their scenes together that makes one's skin crawl; the tension just burns through the screen. This really is the consummate lesson in the less-is-more approach.

And that's just what we have left: less.

Only two episodes to wrap up this second season.

It's going to get ugly.

And that is always a good thing on Damages

New episodes of Damages air Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on FX. To catch up on the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of the show, head on over to the official Damages Web site. You can also download full episodes of the show over at iTunes. More at Pass The Remote...