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Glenn Close: "Damages"

 

My husband and I have spent our Covid months rewatching the Glenn Close vehicle "Damages." (Spoiler alert.)

This is a show where Glenn Close is a crusading lawyer, but she's also not what she seems: She is herself a bully, even though she makes money by fighting bullies. Rose Byrne is her young helper; through fighting Glenn, Byrne's character becomes strong, but perhaps she becomes "too" strong, perhaps she herself becomes a bully.

Over five seasons, the ladies wear many daring frocks--sleeveless sweaters, sweater-coats, snow-white "Nehru" jackets, pin-stripe suits, exquisitely-tailored cardigans. And their hair changes. Long, "natural" hair means you have abandoned Manhattan to become a virtuous stay-at-home mom. Spiky "Devil Wears Prada" hair means you have embraced ambition and lost your moral compass. (The show was written by three men, and the men really ought to have consulted with female colleagues now and then. As I recall, zero female writers get their names flashed across the screen, in the opening credits. Maybe I'm off. I did see "Arthur Phillips" attached to one episode; he must have needed a break from writing "The Russian Debutante's Handbook.")

The "Damages" people learned early that casting "against type" can make for fun viewing, and so, again and again, we're shown a "comedian" in a dramatic role. The guy from "Cheers"! Lily Tomlin! Martin Short! John Goodman! Dharma--from "Dharma and Greg"!

Best of all, "Damages" doesn't make you work too hard. There was a recent piece in the "Times" about "Melrose Place," and about how middle-brow shows are often more fun than their supposedly superior competitors. And do you know what? I would happily watch "Damages" over "Deadwood." Give me a Harlan Coben thriller over "The Americans," any day. That's just where my brain is at--in these times.

My husband has fully fallen in love with Glenn Close, and he tries to take screenshots of her image--while we're watching the show--so he can treasure the memories before bed at night.

I can't blame him. Glenn says acting is "a magic trick," and she is indeed a magician.

I hope the writing team will scale similar heights--once again--sometime soon.
 
P.S. Correction. Two female writers get credit--for two episodes. There were around sixty episodes total.
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