Damages: Drown and Out?

Last night’s epic 90-minute Damages served not only as a season finale, but also as a possible series finale, since the fate of the show on FX has yet to be determined. Since this could be the end of the line for Patty & Co., the show’s writers decided to pull out all the stops, and go out in style, with a bang rather than a whimper. Luckily for viewers, they erred on the side of caution and opted to wrap up as many loose ends as possible, rather than leave us with questions and cliffhangers.

Wes returned and told Ellen the truth about Frobisher’s role in the murder of her fiancé, David. Wes then made the ultimate sacrifice and turned himself in for the murder of Messer in order to help Ellen put Frobisher behind bars for his crime.

Meanwhile, the Tobin family beautifully imploded on itself. Joe learned of Winstone’s betrayal and his mother’s endless lies, then fell off the wagon – HARD! He sent DiFalco to murder Winstone, and drunkenly threw Marilyn out of his motel room and out of his life. Marilyn couldn’t forgive herself for Tessa’s murder, and committed suicide by jumping off a bridge into the East River.

Patty had misgivings about Tom’s deal with Winstone, which didn’t go exactly as planned. Things got a little messy when DiFalco showed up, stabbed Tom, and strangled Winstone! Winstone shot DiFalco, but it was Tom who finished him off with a wrench. Ellen still got the evidence she needed, but Winstone double-crossed them by stealing the money for himself and jetting out of the country.

Tom survived his stab wounds, but his luck ran out when Joe Tobin cornered him at home and drowned him in his own toilet. Patty thought she was clever by having Jill arrested for having sex with a minor. But her plan backfired, and it turned out that her son Michael was the one who plowed into Patty’s car in an attempt to kill her. Patty let Michael get away, but she used Ellen’s evidence to get a confession from Joe.

After Tom’s funeral, Patty and Ellen shared a tender moment. Patty confessed that her recent horse-filled nightmares were a result of the guilt she felt over sacrificing her unborn child in favor of her burgeoning career. “Was it worth it?” Ellen asked. Patty didn’t answer, but she didn’t have to, and Ellen walked away…

Patty stands alone on the waterfront.

Cut to: May 1972.
Young Patty’s doctor says he knows she has the bar exam coming up, but they both know that being a mother is more important that any of that. Young Patty walks along a desolate country road. She stops at a farm to pet a horse. Keith Carradine pops out of the adjoining red barn and tells her his name is Decker. He then tells her that a baby is a big responsibility. Patty rubs her pregnant belly and says, “I always wanted a child.”

Cut to Patty and her soulless black sunglasses staring vacantly back at us.

Is this the last time I will hear the show’s opening theme song?! I hope not!

Tom opens the apartment door for Winstone and says they are all set. Winstone is disgusted with the state of disrepair of the apartment, as well as Tom’s lack of decorating skills. Ellen pops out with the paperwork concerning the terms of his immunity. Tom warms the papers won’t be good until their deal is done, and Winstone assures them they will get everything they need to put the Tobins away.

Patty walks down the street with a malicious smile on her face. She snarls when she sees Jill, who thanks Patty for her “generosity” and gloats about the new, red Jaguar she bought for Michael, as well as their new 3 bedroom apartment. “You don’t want to do this,” Patty growls. Jill goes from whimsy and delusion to hardcore bitch in less than 2 seconds, and tells Patty that she can’t dictate the terms of her relationship with Michael. “I can play power games, too, Patty!” she chirps, then brazenly invites Patty to her baby shower the following week.

Mr. DiFalco stops by the bank manager’s office for the customary signing of the papers. Warning bells go off for him when the dummy manager says he appreciated “Mr. Zedeck’s visit” the other day.

DiFalco runs to Zedeck and Joe with this information. Zedeck is pissed that someone knew about the account and forged his identity. Joe surmises that Winstone knew about the account and must be behind it. “You should never have cut Lenny off,” Zedeck sighs. “You turned him against us.” No shit, gramps! Zedeck tells DiFalco to find Winstone.

Super sexy Wes, played by Timothy Olyphant, saunters into a dive bar and sits down across from Ellen. He apologizes for disappearing on her at the end of last season. She asks him about Detective Rick Messer, and Wes confesses that Messer not only killer her fiancé, but confirms that Frobisher was behind it. Ellen asks how Wes is involved in all of this, and he says that Messer was blackmailing him. He was lying to Ellen from the start, but he switched sides when he fell for her. He has enough to put Frobisher away, but he’d have to give himself up in the process. Ellen tells him not to. “I’ve let go,” she says. Well, she better hold on tight to this cutie!!

Tom picks up his rental car and asks if he can remove the Statue of Liberty bobble head. The rental guy says he can, but he shouldn’t since it’s good luck. “89,000 miles without a scratch,” he informs Tom, and I burst out laughing, knowing what is in store for the car.

Patty is daydreaming again. She is a young girl, walking past the farm again. Suddenly, there is blood on her hands, and she is slumped over in the grass.

Patty helps Tom and Ellen coordinate their final exchange with Winstone. Ellen senses that Patty is holding something back. “Are you sure we can trust him?” Patty asks. Tom says it’s a risk they are willing to take. “Alright. Let’s do it,” Patty tells them woefully, as if she, too, knows the horrible fate that is about to befall poor Tom.

Frobisher is getting some shwarma from a street vendor as Wes approaches, grumbling about their meeting places. Frobisher smartly assesses that he feels safer meeting Wes in public. They wax nostalgic about Messer for a moment before Wes brings up Ellen’s dead fiancé, David. Wes wants Frobisher to turn himself in. Seriously?! Did you really think that would work?! Frobisher knows Wes killed Messer, and warns him to back off.

Joe tells Marilyn that Winstone has turned on them and is stealing from them.

Cut to Thanksgiving Night:
Louis confesses to Marilyn that he did all of this to protect Joe from some poor business deals he had made in the past. Louis and Winstone stole the money to pay off Joe’s investors.

Joe is so furious that Marilyn didn’t tell him sooner that he raids his motel’s mini fridge, pours two mini bottles of vodka into a glass, and takes a big, long gulp as Marilyn sobs hysterically for him to stop. Joe figures out that she has been using him since Thanksgiving to keep the money coming. “What else are you lying about?” he asks, and she neglects to tell him that she had him kill his own daughter. He then tells her the consequences for lying are that she is cut off from her grandchildren and is now dead to her own son. “Get out!” he bellows, and forcibly manhandles her out of the room. I want to be sorry for her … but I’m not!

Michael pulls his hot, new, red Jag over and offers to help Jill get out. But just as he hops out, the feds bust in and have Jill arrested without an explanation! LOVE it!

Patty strolls casually into Jill’s holding cell. “I knew this had to be you!” Jill grins, a little too happy. Patty informs her that she pulled a few strings to have Jill arrested for sleeping with a minor. Jill scoffs that Michael will never testify against her, but Patty whips out Michael’s chromosomal test and says that the date of conception is all the proof she needs to have Jill locked up for good. Jill starts sweating now and offers to return the money, but Patty says it’s not about the money. In fact, she already seized the car and the apartment. HA! Jill offers to flee town, but Patty tells her it’s too late. Now when the baby is born in prison, Michael will have sole custody. “You’re despicable,” Patty spats out. “Oh, please!” Jill begs, but Patty simply gets up and leaves!

Marilyn goes to Patty and says she will confess to the entire Ponzi scheme if Patty will simply leave Joe alone. Marilyn offers to confess to other crimes, like having Tessa Marchetti killed so Joe would never find out he was her father. Patty seems somewhat sympathetic, considering she has her hands full with her own baby mama drama at home. But when Marilyn begs to be taken away, Patty tells her it is only Joe she is after.

Frobisher is at a noisy hot spot with his blonde producing partner, who is drunk and eager to take a ride in his Escalade to see his dark, depraved underbelly, just like Terry did. Just as she goes to get her coat, Frobisher is visited by the ghost of Ray Fiske, who looks more alive dead than he ever was before he shot himself! Ray’s warning to Frobisher to keep quiet fall on deaf ears, and Frobisher staggers off for drunken car sex.

Ellen sits in Tom’s rental car. Winstone gets in with his signed immunity papers. Winstone admits he doesn’t trust Tom or Patty. Ellen tells him that this case will make her career, and she has no intention of sharing it with Patty. Winstone admires her ambition. He then tells her that the evidence she needs is in Joe’s possession, but he can retrieve it. As Ellen looks over the signed papers, Winstone gets out, and for some reason he is clutching Ellen’s purse!!!

Patty is drunk and staring at the hole in her wall. She suddenly has a flashback montage: She is a young girl at the farm. She is offering to put Tom’s name on the company. Ellen is forgiving her for everything. There is blood on her hands. Michael tells her that people either leave her or die. Those are the only two endings with her.

Albert Wiggins breaks into Joe Tobin’s motel room dressed as a repair man named Jorge. He finds a briefcase full of cash, but more importantly, he finds the evidence in the manilla envelope marked, “Deliver to Patty Hewes.”

Patty meets with Tom and Ellen in the park under the cloak of darkness and tells them to call of the deal with Winstone. She offers to help Tom and his family with whatever financial help they need, but Tom doesn’t want her help. She tells him again to call off the deal, then continues on with her absent-minded nightly stroll.

The next day, Ellen meets Tom on the street and he tells her that he talked to Patty and the deal is back on. Ellen doesn’t believe him, and neither do I. But somehow Tom convinces her and tells her she knows what she needs to do.

Frobisher gets into his Escalade, where Wes is waiting for him with a pistol. Frobisher tries to spare his life by offering $1 million. But Wes doesn’t want the money. “Tell me why you should live,” Wes demands, and Frobisher spouts off a litany of his recent do-gooder accomplishments. Wes cocks the gun, and Frobisher sobs for his life. Wes calls the police and says he’d like to help solve two murder cases.

Winstone eyes a pistol on his desk. He then arrives at Tom’s apartment with a duffel bag full of cash.

Frobisher is cuffed and escorted into a police car, where Ray Fiske’s ghost is waiting for him. Frobisher says he has gotten out of worse situations before and he can land on his feet again. “It’s the American way!” he chirps. “Not this time,” Ray tells him solemnly.

Tom hears his name and whirls around to find Mr. DiFalco, who is asking where Winstone is.

Winstone watches Ellen dart into the apartment building, then sneaks over to her car and returns her purse to the passenger seat. But he’s spotted by Barry, the crazy homeless man, who rifles through the purse, sees a bunch of cash, and takes the whole bag with him.

DiFalco hides in the kitchen as Tom gives Ellen the duffle bag full of cash to give to Patty. As soon as Ellen leaves though, DiFalco pops out and stabs Tom in the knee. Tom crumples to the ground and tries to claw his way out the door, but DiFalco drags him back inside and proceeds to stab him twice in the gut. He’s about to cut Tom’s throat when Winstone bursts in and shoots DiFalco in the back! YES! Just as Winstone is helping Tom out the door, DiFalco pops to life and starts strangling Winstone!

Ellen pulls over for some reason in Tom’s car and unzips the duffle bag.

DiFalco strangles Winstone to death. Then Tom whacks DiFalco over the head with a wrench and savagely bludgeons HIM to death! LOL

Ellen discovers that the majority of the money was a sham. Even worse, the evidence he promised isn’t there!

Ellen bursts into Patty’s apartment with the bad news, and is startled by a dark figure who sneaks up behind her! “Where’s my mother?!” Michael barks at her. Ellen doesn’t know and runs out the door.

Tom staggers out the door, and bumps into his homeless friend, Barry, holding Ellen’s purse. Tom makes sure to smear his blood all over the quilted leather before telling him to make sure he returns it to Ellen.

Ellen throws the duffle bag of faux cash into the trunk of Tom’s car then answers her cell phone. It’s Patty. She is headed home to meet with Michael. Ellen whines that she needs to see Patty NOW! Um, Ellen, you’re outside Patty’s apartment. She’ll be there in a few minutes! Calm down! Oh, wait! Don’t calm down! Someone just stole Tom’s car!!

Tom limps to a nearby payphone and leaves a message for his wife.

The homeless bum goes upstairs and sets Ellen’s purse down on the floor. He’s about to get rid of DiFalco’s dead body when Winstone sputters back to life and starts coughing. Barry scoops him and cradles him like a wee babe.

Patty is driving towards her apartment when Tom’s rental car plows headlong into her.

Joe drunkenly stumbles through the park with a paper sack of booze when his cell phone rings and Winstone tells him it is all over. The feds will be coming for him soon. He apologizes and hangs up before Joe can start another vicious tirade.

Detective Vic interrogates Patty and asks if she knows anyone who could have done this to her. Cut to Patty watching Michael stagger out of Tom’s rental car and run away down the street.

Tom seems to have staggered all the way from Winstone’s ghetto tenament building in Brooklyn all the way back to his Upper East Side brownstone, while dripping blood with no one noticing or stopping to help him. Hmm… this is just now starting to get far-fetched! LOL

He hobbles up the stairs, calling out for Deb, but who should appear instead? Drunk Joe Tobin, hell-bent on revenge. Ever the bully, Joe shoves Tom’s head in the toilet and drowns him. Tom’s struggling finally subsides, and our beloved Mr. Shayes has finally met his end.

Marilyn drowns her sorrows in cigarettes, booze, and home videos.

Joe stares at Tom’s lifeless body hanging out of the toilet and wonders how to dispose of him. His solution? Wrap him in a quilt, drag him to the dumpster, and heave ho!

Marilyn hails a cab and asks to be driven to the East River. In the next shot of the bridge, a body falls from the bridge, (as we’ve seen before) but this time a woman’s scream is definitely audible as Marilyn jumps to her own death! AWESOME SAUCE!!

Patty leaves her frantic message on Ellen’s phone, which hardly seems to faze Ellen at this point. Ellen then receives a call from Winstone, who tells her that he put the evidence in her purse, because he didn’t trust Tom Shayes. Winstone hangs up, then whips out the real duffle bag full of cash and a plane ticket, and boards a plane!

Ellen and Vic search the purse, but come up empty. Ellen pays Barry a visit, and the scraggily bum just happens to have the evidence in his cardboard foyer.

Patty tosses the envelope across the table to Joe Tobin, who’s now behind bars and tells him it contains all the evidence needed to put him away. Patty asks if he knew that Tessa Marchetti was his daughter. Joe doesn’t believe her. Patty says Marilyn would have corroborated it, but they just pulled her body out of the East River. Patty adds insult to injury by saying, “The fish got to her, but you can still recognize her face.” LOL

Patty tells Gates that she got a confession out of Joe – for the murder of Tom Shayes.

Patty is staring off into the water again. Ellen walks down the pier and stands beside Patty. “It was a nice service,” Ellen says. “I’m going to miss Tom,” Patty replies. Patty then says she finds this place very calm, and wants her ashes scattered here one day. She then asks Ellen what her plans are. Ellen is unsure. Patty tells her about the time she was at a crossroads once. She was pregnant, with a job offer at a law firm in NY. She was told to remain in bed for the safety of her baby, but she chose to sacrifice her baby’s health for her career ambitions. “Was it worth it?” Ellen asks. Patty doesn’t respond, but her silence speaks volumes. Ellen smiles. “I’ll see you, Patty,” she whispers, leaving Patty watching her walk slowly away.