The Morning After: Wrapping Up

Very twisty finale of Damages last night. The chess moves were at Bobby Fischer levels and the surprises came fast in the last half hour. Unfortunately, and as a result, the story didn’t make much sense. Spoilers Ahead.

Why would Dave Pell give up everything he worked for and quickly make a deal with Patty? He had more to lose, including the kibosh of the big merger, which would have happened if the CEO was indicted for toxic polluting. Pell just gives Hewes evidence that the boss endangered lives when, in fact, he doesn’t need to do it. He also mentions he knows about the bribery, hence confirming Patty’s suspicion that there is a mole in her office and that it is Ellen, when he doesn’t need to do that either. Yes, Garrity posed a problem, but Pell could have just called him and said Patty would be arrested once she made the bribe. And if he hadn’t told her there was a mole in her office, she probably would have made the bribe and would have been arrested or else she would have lost the case. Garrity could have been taken care of, given his penchant for coke, with a little staged overdose. But Pell gives Patty the whole store in a split second and doesn’t think he will suffer for it. For anybody not having a clue to what I am talking about, you kind of had to be there.

Also spoilery:

Wasn’t Det. Messer talking to Ellen when he said “I’ll meet you in 15 minutes” (just before he was shot)? So where was Ellen 15 minutes later? Or was he talking to someone else? And why was he always called “Bearded Man” in the credits, even though we’ve known his name since last season? And and, was there ever supposed to be more of a story with Katie’s boyfriend at the beginning of season 2? He was (incredibly briefly) played by Seth Gilliam of “The Wire” — surely he was meant to be a bigger part of the story!

@jondelfin: Wes (was that his name?) or Seth Bullock, as I will always know him, distracted Ellen with what I assume was great this-makes-me-forget-about-the-crucial-appointment-I-have-next sex. Poor dead David. Apparently, bringing justice to your killer wasn’t as important to Ellen as a great roll in the, ahem, briefs.

The series finale of Life on Mars was trippy — a solid episode that brought many of the series strands together, followed by a very risky ‘coda’ that provides an explanation (of sorts) for what has been going on with Sam Tyler all this time. I liked it, but I imagine that the ending was very polarizing for the audience who stuck with the show — either you’re going to like it or hate it.

Regarding the Life on Mars finale… Wow. I hated it, but I wasn’t a big fan of the show, so maybe it is less ridiculous if you’ve seen all the episodes