When the Kesslers and Zelman devised the series, they did not specifically intend for Patty and Ellen to be lawyers, wanting primarily to explore the power structures between two strong women—Patty and her protégée Ellen—and choosing a profession afterwards.

It received two Emmy Award nominations for writing and directing and one win for Close for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

She is taken to a police station, where two detectives, Dan Williams (Casey Siemaszko) and Rosario Ortiz (Maya Days), find in her pocket a business card for Hollis M. Nye.

Later at a bar, Ellen meets Nye (Philip Bosco), who cautions that Patty is dangerous and has her sign a card reading "I was warned."

Patty insists on taking the case to trial rather than accepting a settlement, but on Ellen's first day it is revealed that the prosecution cannot yet link Frobisher to his stockbroker—though both were in Palm Beach, Florida over the same weekend—and thus cannot disprove that the selling of his stock was not pre-arranged.

Frobisher meets with his former custodian Larry Popler (Victor Arnold), who names a settlement price of $100 million, which Ray returns to Patty.

Katie, meanwhile, thinks that she is being watched, and tells Ellen and David that she had catered a function for Frobisher in Florida and that afterwards he had offered to help her open a restaurant.

Though Katie is initially hesitant to testify, she finds her dog Saffron dead in her apartment with a note reading "Quiet" pinned to a wall.

Landgraf pitched Damages to Close, who agreed to play Patty so long as the series was shot in New York City, where she resides.

Noah Bean, who felt that he gave "an awful first audition" for the role of David, was called in for a second reading as he was waiting for an elevator to leave the building, and was ultimately cast.

[18] Filming took place on location at various sites around Manhattan; after the first season had been greenlit, sets were built at New York's Steiner Studios.

[9] The series remained untitled during casting and filming,[20][21] and was named Damages after FX had greenlit the pilot and placed a 13-episode order for the first season in March.

The New York Times' Alessandra Stanley praised FX for choosing another series that "keep[s] the light focused on the dark side of its main characters".

Stanley wrote that "Damages is yet another show that requires viewers to tune in to every episode to follow the plot, but it is the most grown-up thriller in the pack [of serialized drama series].

[29] Oliver's Age colleague Melinda Houston called Close "delicious – and convincing" as Patty and thought that the script was "fabulous".

He praised the "solid cast" and "smart dialogue", but felt that "the template feels a little too familiar ... moreover, it's fuzzy how long the show's mystery will persist".

[35] Entertainment Weekly's Gillian Flynn graded the episode as a C−, criticizing the characters' lack of logic and the "many ludicrous scenes".

[2] The pilot episode was submitted to the Primetime Emmys judging panel for determining the nominees for Outstanding Drama Series;[37] Damages was nominated but did not win the award.

[38] Close chose the episode as her Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series submission;[39] she was nominated and went on to win the award.