Lawyer Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne, left) and New York litigator Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) are the characters driving the action in the legal drama Damages. (Showcase)

The series Damages is more than a taut whodunit — it’s one of the most exhilarating portrayals of female ambition in the history of television. Tough, smart and devoid of the clichés that usually define TV “bad girls,” the show’s two lead characters are doing for the working woman what Livia Soprano did for mothers: invigorating a symbol of womanhood with a fresh, fierce new approach. The portrait isn’t pretty, but it’s fascinating, and long overdue.

Damages offers one of the most exhilarating portrayals of female ambition in the history of television. The portrait isn't pretty, but it's fascinating, and long overdue.

Set in Manhattan, Damages concerns itself with the highest rungs of the socio-economic ladder. Populated by egomaniacal billionaires, corrupt federal officials and ferret-eyed lawyers, the show is an extended exploration of the psychology — some might say pathology — of power, with its rich rewards and near-biblical tax on the human soul.

The 13 dense episodes of season one focused on the working relationship between ruthless litigator Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and her newest associate, the fresh hire Ellen Parsons (Australian actress Rose Byrne). Hewes & Associates is in the thick of a complex, increasingly sordid pre-trial investigation into the activities of a “poster boy for corporate corruption,” one Arthur Frobisher (played by a pitch-perfect Ted Danson). In order to prove her mettle, Ellen eagerly digs up dirt on Frobisher.

A self-made (not to mention self-destructive) billionaire, Frobisher dumped his shares in his company right before the stock became virtually worthless, leaving 5,000 of his employees without pensions. Sound familiar? It’s meant to. Frobisher’s guilt is never in doubt. The big conundrum is: how far will Patty and Ellen go to prove their case? I’m not spoiling anything when I say they go pretty far, and that the consequences are tragic. A chain of missteps leads to the deaths of several characters, including Ellen’s fiancé, David. Her subsequent arrest for his murder becomes a key part of the story mix.

Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) is trying to move up the ladder at the firm Hewes & Associates in the series Damages. (Showcase)

Created by Daniel Zelman and brothers Todd A. Kessler and Glenn Kessler, Damages debuted in the summer of 2007 on the U.S. cable network F/X (airing on Showcase in Canada). It has won no shortage of acclaim for its strong writing and stellar performances — Close and supporting actor Zeliko Ivanek have both garnered Emmy awards. Its combination of rich characters and intricate plotting has resuscitated the genre of the legal drama, no small feat in a landscape saturated with Law & Order spinoffs.

How Ellen Parsons went from a rookie litigator to a blood-soaked murder suspect — and what role Patty Hewes might play in it all — was the central mystery of season one. The series is shot backwards and moves from the present to the recent past and back again in each episode. The dramatic structure can be dizzying at times, but there’s no question it builds a great deal of suspense. The search for answers begins at the office, the modern day proving ground of the mortal soul, and focuses on the adversarial relationship between Ellen and Patty. Their chemistry and charisma enhances the hunt for clues.

Working women are often given short shrift — and even shorter skirts — on TV. At worst, such characters are drawn as oversexed, under-stimulating parodies of ruthlessness, like Amanda Woodward (Melrose Place) or Alexis Carrington (Dynasty); at best, they are loopy, hyper-emotional ingénues in the vein of Ally McBeal or Meredith Grey (Grey’s Anatomy). Patty Hewes and Ellen Parsons are a breed apart from these caricatures. Fierce competitors, they’re complex characters first, adults second and women third. While both actresses are attractive – Byrne is as glossy a screen idol as they come — preternatural intelligence and ruthlessness are Patty and Ellen's defining characteristics. There’s no overt sexual connotation to their desire for success. Their motivations are both professional and primal: they want to win.

In her long film career, Close has played some wickedly manipulative characters, most notably the Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons (1988). On Damages, Close radiates intelligence and control; but when Patty is irritated — which is often — Close shines like a gloriously unchecked id, a Komodo dragon in an Armani pantsuit.

Tom Shaves (Tate Donovan) is Patty Hewes' most trusted advisor in the series Damages. (Showcase)

Byrne, who has had a smattering of film roles (in Troy and Wicker Park), is no less formidable. Ellen can morph from Snow White to the Evil Queen in a flash of her dark eyes. After a few months with Patty, those eyes are fully open to the world she inhabits. Ellen trades her law book for Old Testament revenge. “I don’t believe in the law anymore, but I do believe in justice,” she tells Patty in the final episode of season one, at which point Ellen rivals her mentor for sheer calculation and sangfroid. Convinced of Patty’s corruption, Ellen sets the narrative tone for season two when she decides to bring down her former boss.

Damages boils morality down to quotidian choices, the daily decisions made by the individual, often within the context of work. In designing Patty and Ellen, the show's writers have made interesting choices of their own. They could have drawn firm lines between the two women, making Patty the bitchy boss from hell and Ellen the triumphantly moral heroine. Instead, they’ve given us two cunning manipulators at the top of their respective game. Who will reign supreme is the question that opens season two. Until that debate is resolved, I’ll settle for the show’s singular victory: a credible depiction of two morally complex women.

Season two of Damages premieres Jan. 18 on Showcase.

Flannery Dean is a writer based in Toronto.