Episode 2 takes off right where the pilot episode finished, with the discovery of David’s dead body in an empty bath, alongside a bloodied ornament, quickly identified by the police as a murder weapon.
Going back to 6 months earlier, Katie tells Ellen that Frobisher’s lawyer has been calling her three times a day, and she’s clearly stressed about her role as a prosecution witness. She has a moving in present for Ellen and David - some brass book ends, which are the same as the blood soaked item used to kill David six months later.
Patty meets up with Tom, who she “sacked” in episode 1, and tells him to work his relationship with Ellen as she seems to trust him.
Poolside at the Frobishers’, and Mrs Frobisher is complaining to her husband about the press intrusions - she only spent $2,000 on shoes, not the reported $20,000 - and tell him to “try harder” to settle the case. Frobisher demonstrates what a kind employer he is by turning his nose up at the cooked food served to him, telling his butler he can eat it - and then changing his mind and tell him to give it to the dogs instead.
At Hewes Associates, Patty is pressuring the Frobisher Employees Group to hold off from accepting their $100,000,000 offer whilst she tries to see what leverage the new witness - Ellen’s sister in law - can bring.
Frobisher pays a visit to his lawyer, but is more concerned with what the “bottom line” would be if his wife leaves him. His lawyer tells him they need her now more than ever, else Frobisher will take a beating in the press. He tells Frobisher that on paper their case is “tighter than a bull’s arse on fight night”, but all bets are off if Patty Hewes gets Katie Connor in front of a jury.
Katie turns up at Hewes Associates for a meeting with Patty and Ellen to go over her timeline from the day in Florida which is central to the case, but is left on her own when Ellen is dragged way to a meeting.
“Get the hell out of my office or tell me the truth”
Patty gets Katie on her own, and after some inane small talk about olive oil, shows her ruthlessness. She tells Katie she doesn’t buy her timeline and tells her to “get the hell out of my office” or tell her the truth, calling her a worthless witness, adding “I don’t give a shit about you”.
Katie goes out onto the street and is being watched by Frobisher’s man, who reports back and then suggests to his boss a “permanent solution”. Frobisher initially disgusted, pointing out that Katie is an innocent girl, and then curious before deciding its a road he doesn’t want to go down although his man seems to want to persuade him otherwise. Having thought about it some more, and after a bout of frantic, drug fuelled sex in a car, Frobisher tells him to “do it”.
Patty meets up with Tom. We learn that the reason for her mistrust of Katie was that she has evidence of a traffic ticket at a time when she was supposed to be at work on the day in question, which was left out of the timeline.
Meanwhile, Patty is going through her credit card bill and a chink in her armour - almost crying - is revealed when her husband tells her that their son has hired out strippers. Tom bumps into Ellen at the office, going through the motions of collecting his belongings as arranged with Patty, but she rebuffs his attempt to probe her.
Katie is followed on the street by Frobisher’s assassin, armed with a knife, but he fails when she confronts him in front of people. She signs Frobisher’s non disclosure agreement and returns it to his lawyer, which leaves him frantically trying to call off the killing.
“Our fates are intertwined, Katie”
Frobisher pays Katie a visit at her restaurant, in which he is an investor. She’s nervous as he tells her “our fates are intertwined, Katie”. This has an effect on her, and she goes to Patty Hewes to admit she lied. She tells her that she lied about her traffic ticket, because she got it after running late following a one night stand, which subsequently led to her having to abort the resulting pregnancy. She tells Patty she never saw the guy, called Greg, again and doesn’t know his surname, although she seems to have lied again as she soon meets up with Greg again, but it observed by Tom.
Episode 2 ends with Ellen and David checking out a new apartment arranged for them by Patty. They go into the bathroom, the room in which David will die six months later, and we get a flashback of Ellen dropping the murder weapon… apparently having killed him.
What did you think of this episode of Damages? Please leave a comment…