Damages, Season 2. Biggest. Letdown. Ever.

So I was all hopeful that season 2 of Damages would be teh awesome, because of how amazing and addictive season 1 was.

Boy, was I wrong.

Reason: I HAVEN'T A CLUE WHAT'S GOING ON.

First of all, there are too many characters.

Last season was nice and simple: Ted Danson, Ted Danson's lawyer, Ellen, David, Katie, Katie's boyfriend, Glenn Close, Pete, Tate Donovan.

This season there's Ellen, Glenn Close, Tate Donovan, Katie, Ellen's therapy boyfriend, evil Kevin Smith cop, evil NYPD cop, blonde hooker, blonde hooker's client, Chevy Chase lookalike, Chevy's lawyer, Chevy's lover (played by Marcia Gay Harden), two FBI detectives, Pete, Pete's wife, Pete's bootleg DVD dealers (there are at least 3), and the male journalist. And those are just the ones I can remember.

Then there's the crazy timeline. Last season there were two sets of time: the present and six months ago. The show would count down from the six months, going back and forth (present, six months ago, present, five months ago, present, ten weeks ago, and so on) until everything synced up. It was very cool. The show also made it clear whether we were in the past or the present--the past looked normal, and the present looked washed out and everything had a yellow tint. This season...fuggedaboutit. It goes from the present to six months ago to ten weeks later to ten years ago to four months later to...who cares. Everything is shot exactly the same so you have no idea if you're in the past or present or future. Yes...there is a future.

Also, the plot. I don't know what's going on. Okay, so there's a company polluting the environment, and there's a guy with a hooker and he's making financial transactions on his computer and Pete gets blackmailed and Ellen's therapy guy is hanging out with evil Kevin Smith cop and Marcia Gay Harden is representing the hooker in court and having an affair with the Chevy Chase guy...who happens to be the father of Glenn Close's son. Yeah, I need a drink just typing all this up.

Not since Lost has a show confused me so much. I am this close to giving up Damages. But still, I have hope that season 3 goes back to the KISS method: Keep It Simple, Stupid.