When Christopher Sanchez (Chris Messina), an Afghanistan War veteran and old high school boyfriend of Ellen's, gets in touch with her, Ellen begins to suspect that High Star, a billion dollar private security firm, is covering up the deaths of three of Sanchez's soldiers.
She starts working on building a wrongful death suit against High Star and its founder and CEO, Howard T. Erickson (John Goodman).
A future timeline jumps three months ahead, where a young Afghan boy brings a prisoner bound to a chair with a hood over his head a sandwich.
The unknown prisoner, wearing a medallion identical to the one Sanchez previously wore, is then approached by two masked men who threaten him with a machete.
The acting by Close and Byrne has beautifully captured this burning schizophrenia," writes David Hinkcley of The New York Daily News.
The fourth season's first couple of episodes underscore why this slow-moving series was a tough sell for FX", but continued by stating "To its credit, "Damages" remains the kind of show that demands genuine attention; there's no reading the newspaper or scribbling crosswords while watching it.
"[6] James Poniewozik from Time criticized the season's story in general, saying "the show has become a little like legal 24 for me: lots of talent and strong performances, but it has increasingly seemed to strain to up its stakes in its one-case-a-season format.