Any warm-blooded, true fan of the perpetually talented actress Glenn Close tuned in recently to see the new FX drama Damages, which serendipitously premiered in a not-much-else-on summer tv non-season. The fact that Close, whose phenomenal career includes primarily movies, would make the move to television indicated the script and character MUST be fantastic.
They are.
Close plays a cut-throat, take-no-prisoners lawyer reminiscent of the ice-queen professionalism and ambition of real-life women like Martha Stewart or Hillary Clinton. You want to hate her, but she is so brilliant, it's difficult. Close plays the character with the villanesque charm of her portrayal of Cruella DeVille in 101 Dalmatians and the tinge of psychosis of her Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction.
Close's character, Patty Hewes, is the top - er, female dog?- at the Manhattan firm. Scenes in which Close describes why she isn't a good mother and her assessment of ambition and its origins are both haunting and poignant. Few women in television dramas take on such calculating, powerful roles unapologetically. Would we as tv viewers even blink if the lead character in this new drama was a man?
Also excellent in the drama is newcomer Rose Byrne as the newly hired 'apprentice'/lawyer at Hewes' firm. Reminiscent of the employer-employee relationship characterized by Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada, the innocence of Byrne has viewers hoping she can survive the sinister Hewes. When Hewes stalks her at her sister's wedding and offers her the job, Byrne sips from Hewes' bourbon ("It takes the edge off," says Hewes) and as a viewer you can practically feel the deal-with-the devil apple bite of Eve happening.
Hewes later tells her protegee not to have children, as it will divert her from her career ambitions. "Children," says Hewes, "are like clients. They take everything out of you."
Even smaller characters have opportunities to display excellent acting- notably Ted Danson (when did he get old?) as a lawyer whose face will probably eventually end up with Hewes' tire tracks on it.
For FX, whose recent successful series have included hard hitting dramas like Nip/Tuck and Dirt, the show is another feather in their cap. The show airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m.
The tv industry jury may still be out, but the verdict is a definitely going to be in favor of Glenn Close's magnificent performance.
For a review of FX Network's edgy drama Nip/Tuck, click here.
More:
Tom Shales of the Washington Post reviewed Damages: check it out at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/23/AR2007072301832.html?hpid=sec-artsliving
Other reviews of Damages include:
www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/07/24/glenn_close_is_hard_to_dismiss/
and
www.tvguide.com/news/glenn-close-damages/070724-04
Photo by Jennifer S. Altman
