Damages
There's Only One Way to Try a Case
TV Flash files “There's Only One Way to Try a Case” as a desk essential hour — Damages (2007–2012) on FX/Audience, season 4, episode 1, aired 2011-07-13, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E01: listed hour 40 of 59 in the Damages guide, first listed hour of season 4. It aired 2011-07-13 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Next One's Gonna Go in Your Throat” (S03E13). Next is “I've Done Way Too Much for This Girl” (S04E02).
Essential hour: “There's Only One Way to Try a Case”. There's Only One Way to Try a Case relaunches year four like a lecture Patty would bill for — broadcast-cable hybrid still treating law as thriller.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Three years have passed since Patty and Ellen last worked together. Ellen reconnects with her high school friend, Chris Sanchez, who has recently returned from a stint at High Star, a private contractor in the Middle East. Unable to get assistance from the corporation or the government, Ellen decides to look into his case. Both her new boss and Patty warn Ellen about building a case against High Star Security Corp.
Viewer FAQ
Where does There's Only One Way to Try a Case sit in the Damages guide?
S04E01 is listed hour 40 of 59 — first listed hour of season 4, season 4 episode 1.
When did Damages S04E01 air?
There's Only One Way to Try a Case aired 2011-07-13 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Is Damages a procedural I can sample any week?
No. Nonlinear seasons keep the betrayal already in the room. The associate walks in anyway — psychological bloodsport, not a tidy verdict.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Glenn Close's Patty Hewes bills loyalty as a weapon and smiles like a closing argument. Damages shuffles time so the betrayal is already in the room, then sends Rose Byrne's associate walking in anyway. Legal television as psychological bloodsport, not a tidy verdict.
Flash: Glenn Close smiles like a closing argument and the timeline is already fractured. Patty Hewes takes a young associate under her wing as cases turn into moral bloodbaths — loyalty billed as a weapon, betrayal already in the room. Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler, and Daniel Zelman's series (2007–2012) made Rose Byrne's Ellen walk in anyway. Tate Donovan, Željko Ivanek, William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden orbit a legal thriller that shuffles time so the knife is always twisting. Close won multiple Emmys for Patty.…
Filed against
- Glenn Close as Patty Hewes
Glenn Close's Patty Hewes billed loyalty as a weapon on Damages — a smile like a closing argument, time shuffled so the betrayal is already in the room, Rose Byrne's associate walking in anyway. Legal television as psychological…
- Rose Byrne as Ellen Parsons
Rose Byrne’s Ellen Parsons walked into Damages already betrayed — 2000s catalog legal bloodsport, Glenn Close’s smile as a closing argument, then Physical and Mrs. America turning the same nerve into aerobics empire and ERA combat. TV…
- Tate Donovan as Tom Shayes
Tate Donovan bled Damages as Tom Shayes — Glenn Close's Patty Hewes billing loyalty as a weapon, time shuffled so the betrayal is already in the room, legal television as psychological bloodsport. Not a tidy verdict. TV Flash files him as…
- Zeljko Ivanek as Ray Fiske
Zeljko Ivanek’s Ray Fiske bled Damages from inside the firm — Glenn Close’s Patty Hewes billing loyalty as a weapon, time shuffled so the betrayal is already in the room, Rose Byrne walking in anyway. Legal television as psychological…
- William Hurt as Daniel Purcell
William Hurt’s Daniel Purcell walked Damages as prestige guest weather — Glenn Close’s Patty Hewes billing loyalty as a weapon, time shuffled so the betrayal is already in the room, Rose Byrne’s associate walking in anyway. Legal…
- Marcia Gay Harden as Claire Maddox
Marcia Gay Harden billed loyalty as a weapon beside Glenn Close on Damages as Claire Maddox — legal television as psychological bloodsport, time shuffled so the betrayal is already in the room, Rose Byrne walking in anyway. A…