By Joe R | Season 1 | Episode 1
Tate Donovan and Glenn Close are riding in a limo. From now on, they'll be Tom Shayes and Petty Hewes. Tom is on the phone and relays to Patty that someone-or-other's final offer is $25 million. "No it isn't," Patty says, with barely any emotion at all (though if she had one, it'd be contempt). Soon enough, she gets an irate phone call from Robin Thomas, a "Hey! It's That Guy" who's been playing this same kind of smug, buttoned-up asshole for years. He keeps trying to convince Patty that she has no case and that 25 mil is a gift. Patty, cool and dismissive, insists on $150 million. She plays around about water signs and fire signs for a few moments, killing time until the limo arrives at the courthouse.
When they get there, Robin Thomas continues to promise that the settlement is better than Patty can ever hope with the jury, seeing as she never proved his client was at fault. Patty turns around and, without a trace of cynicism in her voice, says, "Children died, Martin." It's maybe my favorite thing about Patty Hewes as played by Glenn Close: even when you are 100% sure in your mind that she's in this thing for the winning and not for the people she represents, she's still able to sell it to you otherwise. She's always got you off-balance. A court officer tells them the verdict is in, and a skittish Robin Thomas ups the offer to $50 million, then to $75 as Patty tells him about a young client of hers who deserves justice. Patty's almost to the top of the courthouse steps when Thomas angrily caves to the $150 million. Tom makes him call the judge and inform him of the settlement. "You're a real hard-dick bitch, you know that?" Robin spits at Patty, desperately trying to diminish her power now that he's been soundly thumped. Patty sees an older woman climbing the steps and greets her: "Afternoon, Madam Forewoman." Thomas goes apeshit, saying he thought they'd arrived at a verdict. The foreperson says not at Quizno's, they haven't. The court officer (obviously one of Patty's people) slinks back up the steps as Thomas rants at Patty: "If you were a man, I'd kick the living dogshit out of you." Patty, her eyes smiling, doesn't miss a beat: "If you were a man, I'd be worried." Score.
That night, Ellen's taking a cab with her fiancé, David Connor, and telling him about the utter lunacy of leaving Nye's offer on the table. They arrive at what is doubtless some downtown bar, the better to underline just how much Ellen is not in the upper crust right now. Nothing says "still paying off my college loans" like colored lights strung up inside a watering hole. She and David order drinks, but Ellen spots Hollis Nye -- still buttoned up in his suit -- at the end of the bar. Nye never drops his bright smile nor friendly demeanor once as he delivers a litany of ominous (well, ominous considering what we know about Bloody Ellen Trenchcoat) warnings about working with Patty Hewes. He points out David and says there won't be any room for him and Patty in her life. There won't be room for Ellen and Patty. "With Patty Hewes," he smiles, "there's only Patty." He innocuously asks Ellen to sign a business card for him, saying it'll clear his conscience. "You're special, Ellen," he says. "That'll only make the fall harder." Ellen's confused and says she hasn't even met with Patty, much less accepted the offer. Nye's unmoved: "Once she meets you, it's all over. She'll see what I see. And then she'll own you." Nye says his firm's offer is still good, and then he hands Ellen back the business card. Above her signature, he's written "I was warned."
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