Most critics like Damages, and nearly all of them like it for the same reason: Glenn Close as Patty Hewes. The praise is for her ruthlessness, and several reviewers single out the time-shifting structure, with flashbacks used to build suspense rather than to explain. The editing gets credit more than once, and Ted Danson is named alongside Close as a reason to watch.
The reservations are about the story around her. Variety finds the premise of unethical lawyers overly familiar and worries the plotting will tip into implausibility. The AV Club, reviewing the pilot, sees serious problems and thinks Rose Byrne’s character is dominated and underdeveloped, though Collider, writing later in the season, credits Byrne as a driving force. The Guardian admits to being confused as well as intrigued. The spread is moderate: no review is negative, and the two mixed notices come earliest, before the season has shown its hand.