Damages/Characters
< Damages
 | Some or all of these characters need descriptions. A list of tropes is not a description. Please provide at least a few words telling how these characters differ from other characters with the same tropelists. |
WARNING! There are unmarked Spoilers ahead. Beware.
Characters from Damages include:
Hewes & Associates
Patricia "Patty" Hewes
(Played by Glenn Close)
- Ambition Is Evil: She has this in spades.
- Anti-Hero: Walks the line between types III and IV.
- Bad Ass Lawyer: She ALWAYS gets the job done.
- Blackmail Is Such an Ugly Word: Gives one of these to Ray Fiske.
- Blondes Are Highly Amoral
- Career Versus Family: She had to make this decision once in her backstory. Her unborn daughter lost out to her career.
- Deadpan Snarker: Patty has her moments, one particularly humorous one in the pilot:
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Lawyer: Patty if you were a man I'd beat the shit out of you. |
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- Easily Forgiven: Averted. Ellen does eventually forgive Patty for being a huge Jerkass and trying to kill her, but it takes all of Season 2 and Ellen holding a gun to Patty and almost killing her for it to happen. Arguably, her forgiveness of Ellen after she tried to sell her out to the FBI qualifies.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Discusses the case in Season 1 with Ray Fiske whilst walking their dogs.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion Averted. In a Flash Back, she is seen to intentionally induce a miscarriage whilst heavily pregnant so that she can focus on her then up and coming career.
- Good Is Not Nice
- Iron Lady
- It's All About Me
- Justice by Other Legal Means: Steps in where the legal system fails.
- Manipulative Bastard
- Morality Pet: Her son Michael.
- Mysterious Past
- Pay Evil Unto Evil
- Pet the Dog: Gets a few of these moments with her son here and there.
- Also the series hints that she sees Ellen as a surrogate daughter
- She was also deeply upset by both Uncle Pete and Tom Shayes' deaths.
- Power Hair
Ellen Parsons
(Played by Rose Byrne)
Begins the series as a fresh out of law school intern to Hewes and Associates, personally hired by Patty, who dreams of becoming a corporate lawyer. Initially seeing Patty as a role model, she learns that there is a dark side to corporate litigation and that her new boss has no scruples when it comes to winning. Arguably the true protagonist of the series, the entirety of Season 1 shows her gradually learning the stakes and becoming a chess master in her own right.
- Brainy Brunette
- Break the Cutie: The entire first season is this for Ellen.
- Broken Bird
- Broken Pedestal: Heavily implied that Patty Hewes is this for her especially after the events of Season 1.
- Cartwright Curse
- The Mole: In Season 2 for the FBI.
- Naive Newcomer: At the start of the series.
- Not So Stoic
- Promoted Fangirl: In-Universe: is a big fan of Patty who is a giant in the lawyering world.
- Sadistic Choice: A milder version. Given these by Patty throughout season 1 to see if she's more loyal to her career or her family.
- Stepford Smiler: After the first season finale and up until the end of Season 2.
- Supporting Protagonist
- Took a Level In Badass: Compare Season 1 Ellen to the Ellen of Seasons 2 and 3.
- Welcome Back, Traitor: After Season 2.
- The Woobie: In Season 1.
- You Remind Me Of Me: Patty tells her this in Season 2. Season 1 Ellen would have jumped for joy at this. Season 2 Ellen... not so much.
Tom Shayes
(Played by Tate Donovan)
Patty's partner in her firm and one of the most moral members of the main cast. Unlike Patty, he doesn't get many of the high-profile cases because of his stern moral code.
- Butt Monkey
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': For most seasons, Tom is the series Butt Monkey. The one time he tries to play chess master with the Tobins (whom he despises for suckering him and countless individuals into losing their life savings in a ponzi scheme) ends with his murder.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: His death.
- Foil: He's one to Patty, being a basically decent person working for far less moral employers.
- Foregone Conclusion: His demise is revealed in a flash forward at the beginning of Season 3.
- Hair of Gold
- Happily Married
- Killed Off for Real
- Nice Guy
- Took a Level In Badass: Subverted. It doesn't end well for him.
Peter "Uncle Pete" McKee
(Played by Tom Aldredge)
Patty's right hand man for several years. Though not blood-related, Patty refers to him as her uncle. When Ellen becomes a liability in Season 1, he is ordered by Patty to kill her. Luckily Ellen survives the attempt.
- Bungled Suicide: After he knows the FBI is on to him.
- Chekhov's Gunman
- Cleanup Crew
- Cool Old Guy
- Deadpan Snarker
- Driven to Suicide: An unsuccessful attempt.
- Honorary Aunt: He is not Patty's uncle by blood but rather through comradeship. When he is killed off, Patty is devastated.
- Older Sidekick
- Sickbed Slaying
Season 1 Characters
Arthur Frobisher
(Played by Ted Danson)
A corrupt executive of a major company. Patty represents his former clients who were defrauded out of millions by his schemes.
- Affably Evil
- Big Bad: For Season 1.
- The Bus Came Back/Commuting on a Bus: The latter in Season 2, the former in Season 3.
- Clear My Name:
- Corrupt Corporate Executive
- Even Evil Has Standards: Initially.
- Family Values Villain
- Guilt Ridden Accomplice: Ends up having a decent collection of these.
- Heel Face Revolving Door: Of sorts, after the first season.
- It's All About Me
- Jerkass
- Karma Houdini: After Season 1. Subverted.
- Moral Event Horizon: Crosses this when he starts ordering murders.
- Morality Pet: His family, especially his son.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Doesn't feel this way at first but eventually gives in and Jumps Off the Slippery Slope.
- Put on a Bus: In the middle of Season 2. Happens more permanently in Season 3 when he finally goes to jail.
- Reformed but Rejected: Keeps playing this card in Seasons 2 and 3. Its not true though.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money
- Strange Bedfellows
- Wangst: Part of his front.
- The Woobie: Portrays himself as such.
Ray Fiske
(Played by Željko Ivanek)
Frobisher's lawyer and insider trader.
- Amoral Attorney: One of the milder ones in the series.
- Anti-Villain
- Ate His Gun
- Bi the Way/If It's You It's Okay/Invisible to Gaydar: The storyline isn't explored thoroughly enough to make it clear.
- Bury Your Gays
- Even Evil Has Standards
- Face Heel Turn: Subverted.
- Incompatible Orientation: Wants Gregory Molina who is actually straight.
- Sacrificial Lion
- We Hardly Knew Ye
- Worthy Opponent
David Connor
(Played by Noah Bean)
Ellen's fiance. He is a doctor and initially disapproves of Ellen joining Patty Hewes' law firm.
- Foregone Conclusion: His demise, also counts as a First Episode Spoiler.
- Killed Off for Real
- Nice Guy
- Sacrificial Lion
- Stuffed in The Fridge
- We Hardly Knew Ye
Katie Connor
David's sister and Ellen's future sister-in-law.
(Played by Anastasia Griffith)
- Advertised Extra: After becoming a main cast member in Season 2, she contributes a whole lot less to the plot than she did in Season 1.
- Chekhov's Gunwoman: Had a one night stand with a witness Patty wanted to testify against Frobisher. To get closer to the witness, Patty hired Ellen, knowing that she was sister-in-law to be to Katie, and tried to get to the witness through her.
- Dumb Blonde: Subverted.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: In Season 2.
- Unwitting Pawn
Season 2 Characters
Daniel Purcell
(Played by William Hurt)
A respected scientist and former friend of Patty in the past. He becomes involved in Walter Kendrick's energy profiteering scam. He has his own secrets that he is trying to hide...
- Corrupt the Cutie: In his backstory with Patty.
- Happily Married: Subverted. He tried to kill his wife when she found out about his involvement with Kendrick. Unbeknownst to him, she was still alive when he left, only for a hitman hired by the Kendricks to come in and finish the job.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: He's the biological father of Patty's son Michael.
- New Old Flame
- Not So Stoic
- The One That Got Away: For Patty.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: William Hurt didn't enjoy the fact that he frequently received only fractions of a script at a time which made it difficult for him to navigate his character's arc as he had never worked on a TV series before. This led to him being difficult to work with and caused his arc to be less prominent as well as the creation of the Walter Kendrick character to shoulder some of the screen time intended for Hurt. Its unclear if similar problems caused Marcia Gay Harden's arc to be shortened as well.
- Smug Snake
Claire Maddox
(Played by Marcia Gay Harden)
- Advertised Extra
- Put on a Bus
- The Rival: Initially billed as one of these for Patty. Unfortunately for viewers, her story arc was cut short.
Wes Kulick
(Played by Timothy Olyphant)
- Aborted Arc: In the second season finale, when he saves Patty's life, it seems to hint at the beginning of some sort of storyline more directly involving the two of them. Unfortunately, the potential arc got shelved thanks to Olyphant becoming unavailable for the third season other than a couple brief scenes in the finale.
- Anti-Villain: Starts out like this until his Heel Face Turn.
- The Bus Came Back
- The Mole: For Rick Messer.
- The Power of Love: Facilitates his Heel Face Turn.
- Put on a Bus
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Olyphant getting cast in Justified caused the producers to have to shelve any plans they had for the character beyond Season 2.
Walter Kendrick
(Played by John Doman)
- Big Bad
- Eviler Than Thou: He's this to Arthur Frobisher.
- Evil Old Folks
- Put on a Bus: To prison.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: See this trope's entry under Daniel Purcell.
David Pell
(Played by Clarke Peters)
Finn Garrity
A whiz-kid mathematician.
The Deacon
(Played by Darrell Hammond)
Season 3 Characters
Louis Tobin
(Played by Campbell Scott)
- The Alcoholic: On the wagon at the start of Season 3. Falls off spectacularly later on which leads to his downfall.
- Anti-Villain: Is a genuinely nice guy who is shocked at his father's misdeeds and just wants to his family out at first.
- Big Bad
- Face Heel Turn: Over the course of the season.
- Love Makes You Evil
Marilyn Tobin
(Played by Lily Tomlin)
- Driven to Suicide
- Fake Guest Star
- I Was Quite a Looker: Mumbles something to this effect during the season finale just before she commits suicide.
- Killed Off for Real
Leonard Winstone/Lester Wiggins
(Played by Martin Short)
Julian Decker
(Played by Keith Carradine)
Season 4 Characters
Howard T. Erikson
(Played by John Goodman)
- Corrupt Corporate Executive
- My Country, Right or Wrong: Almost outright stated. No one denied his patriotism, only his execution of that patriotism. Well, except for Boorman, but he's a jerk.
- Private Military Contractor: CEO of Blackwater Expy Highstar Security
- Put on a Bus: To prison.
Jerry Boorman
(Played by Dylan Baker)
- Big Bad: Responsible for much, if not all, of the mayhem in Season 4.
- Complete Monster
- It's All About Me
- Killed Off for Real
Christopher Sanchez
Played by Chris Messina
Recurring Characters
Michael Hewes
Patty's teenage son with Daniel Purcell. He is the closest thing to a Morality Pet that Patty has, although she is not above manipulating him for her own ends.
- Despair Event Horizon: Tries to kill his mother after she has his girlfriend arrested for statutory rape.
- The Dutiful Son
- Parental Favoritism: He's Patty's only child but her soft spot for him puts Michael firmly in this category.
Detective Rick Messer
(Played by David Costibale)
- Beard of Evil
- Dragon Their Feet: After the case with Arthur Frobisher is more or less resolved, he spends the bulk of Season 2 tying up his own loose ends related to the case.
- Corrupt Cop
- Detective Mole
- Killed Off for Real
- The Reveal: In the season finale, when he goes into a crime scene to retrieve some evidence while the cops are still around... only for him to pocket it and make his way out the door because he's actually a cop.
- Villain with Good Publicity
- Back to Damages