Game Of Thrones Houses: BATTLE "DAMAGES"...

The players assemble for the fourth season of DAMAGES. Images: DIRECTV.

"When I am through with you, there won't be anything left..."

Always prophetic words from the main theme for the new fourth season of the hit legal thriller DAMAGES, now airing on the US DIRECTV channel (and hopefully on the UK by early next year), that have never been more telling and absolute for the dangerous and blisteringly forthright legal shark Patty Hewes (the always great Glenn Close at her killer best here, in what is surely one of the best roles on TV), as she and her once apprentice, the equally battle hardened and more life resilient Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), four years on from the wrap up events of the previous season and in a kind of emotional truce, with each party no longer wanting to put the other down, tackle a huge case linked to the worlds of high-tech warfare and business corruption. However, with such dangerous behind the scenes forces at work in both these game-changing arenas having to be exposed and brought to book, could this new legal battle prove to be the ultimate undoing of the once impervious Hewes, now in a position where the majority of her trusted allies are gone (dead, or imprisoned), where she's currently undergoing psychiatric evaluation (her shrink being played by Fisher Sevens), at a crossroads point in her life where she's even more emotionally guarded since the Tobin case resolution, and totally removed from her family. Are the chinks in her armour starting to show? And what will happen to Ellen, now more ambitious in her career, who has a personal stake in this new war of words and deeds, what with it being crucially linked to an old friend from her school days, Chris Sanchez (played by Chris Messina), now a jittery and on the edge conspiracy victim who will play a key part in the lawsuit.

Time heals all wounds for the notorious Patty (Glenn Close) and Ellen (Rose Byrne)? Probably not...

Below are are some of the great posed publicity images released for the new series, which is receiving positive reviews from critics for its stronger plotlines and even more distinctive air of charged menace and atmosphere in its new, less restrictive American channel home. KOOL TV can't wait to see how the new storyline, surely as complex and twist and turning as a road map of Monaco, and its great new guest cast (including Griffin Dunne, Dylan Baker and a heavy weight performance from the always reliable John Goodman), will develop...