NewsdayVerne Gay

Gorgeously acted, written, paced, structured and conceived, "Damages" remains one of the best shows on TV--and maybe the most enjoyably addictive.

Boston HeraldMark A. Perigard

This is the best ensemble of any show anywhere, and watching these gifted actors bounce off each other is a joy. Damages proves capable hands can craft a thriller for TV.

Chicago Sun-TimesPaige Wiser

It’s a lot to juggle, but you can count on the payoff to be worth the trouble. Power, weakness, greed, violence--what’s not to like?

USA TodayRobert Bianco

Yet, as rock-solid as the entire cast may be, Damages still belongs to Close, who makes us embrace a character who in other hands might be repellent or, worse, ridiculous.

TV GuideMatt Roush

The show has found its footing again after a scattershot second season. The dramatic focus is very tight, not to mention topical

SalonHeather Havrilesky

This show transcends the base level of twisty procedurals with one thing: Patty Hewes.

New York MagazineEmily Nussbaum

By refueling with the Madoffs, the show’s writers have brought a titillating jolt to the show’s by-now-established riffling of silvery, half-concealed trauma flashbacks. Even if, in the end, it’s nothing more than highly lacquered candy, it’s tasty stuff.

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

Damages borrows heavily from the front page, and that keeps it interesting.

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

The series retains its trademark flash forwards that signal murders and/or deceits yet to be revealed. It's one of the show's more operatic touches but this time the revelation, a fantastic and personal driver for stories, feels less like an attempt to manipulate the audience and more rooted in the plausible.

VarietyBrian Lowry

FX has often made its bones by seeking to push the pay-cable envelope in terms of standards, sometimes gratuitously so; Damages demonstrates that envelope-pushers needn't be edgier, necessarily, just smarter.

Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara

This time around everyone, Byrne in particular, moves with an air of confidence that allows you to keep your eyes on the knives being juggled in the air rather than the person doing the juggling. Which is exactly where you want the audience's eyes to be when you're pulling off a con, or a show like Damages.

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

Damages is a show that has always required a viewer's full attention, and the rewards are there for those who do.

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

One of the best things about the season is that, via Joe Tobin, the show has given viewers if not someone to root for, someone to at least partially empathize with.

Entertainment WeeklyKen Tucker

Scott is terrific as the conflicted son who's something of a sap, a patsy for Patty and Winstone. Plus, we're promised more Ted Danson as Arthur Frobisher, a reason for celebration. And the bottom line on Close is: Nobody upstages Patty. It's the character's curse, and the actress' triumph.

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

Save for one far-fetched incident, the two hours provided enough clues as to where the season will head--and how much conflict from secrets and lies will be coming down the pike - to hook fans of the show who might have been waffling on the commitment.

Slant MagazineJ.C. Frenan

Regardless of whichever cathartic moment wins out this season), no intervention at the level of systemic injustice will have transpired, even allegorically. In such a thoroughly and inescapably capitalist vision of the world, structural injustice is not only profitable, but necessary to the maintenance of the system of the series.