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Years after Glenn Close boiled that bunny in Fatal Attraction, we might have been in danger of forgetting never to let the actress, who plays murderous maniacs so well, anywhere near the family pet.
New drama serial Damages (TV One, Wednesdays, 8.30pm) is a welcome opportunity for the
five-time Oscar nominee to head up a telly thriller, following the pleasing trend of classy older actresses turning to the small screen for roles they can sink their teeth into.
And sure enough, that cute little dog Saffron didn't stand a chance in last night's pilot double episode, once Close hit her stride as high-stakes litigation lawyer Patty Hewes, who will stop at nothing - not even hound-icide - to bang up her man.
While Close is undeniably a strong lure, the role of smiling, seductive psychopath is nothing new for her. Even her facial features seem to be moving ever closer to the witchy cliches of hawk nose and nutcracker jaw. What makes her character intriguing, however, is that it's unclear what side she's on.
Ostensibly the champion of the underdogs, it seems no means are too low if they serve her ends. Hewes' schizophrenic mix of nice and nasty alone would carry this show, even if the action had not succeeded in lighting the touch paper so well.
Damages looks to be a ripper, the distinction between good and bad, the players and pawns as blurry as all that arty camera work turning the bright lights of the Big Apple into lurid smears.
The show's lighting and looks are about as noir-ish as you can get without filming in black and white.
Manhattan appears at times a city burnished with gold, at others filled with dark blood-red shadows.
Into this shifting world is thrust rookie Ellen Parsons, snapped up by Hewes straight out of law school not so much for her talents, it transpires, but because her friend Katie is a key witness in a case vital to Hewes' ego and career.
Actress Rose Byrne brings a wide-eyed seriousness to the character of Ellen which makes her the perfect blank slate.
But the real eye-popping performance comes from the normally comedic Ted Danson as businessman Arthur Frobisher, who has swindled 5000 employees out of their life savings.
Danson plays Frobisher as every inch the baby-boomer billionaire: a casual, cool dude trapped in a patriarch's body. The show has its share of ridiculously portentous lines but Danson brings an almost Shakespearean dimension to his character's slide into evil. One scene in particular, where he was offered murder as the easy solution to his woes while strolling around the tennis court on his sumptuous estate, was mesmerising. Talk about evil in Arcadia.
The drama's most interesting move, however, is its use of flash-forwards, starting with a traumatised and bloodied Ellen running half-naked through the streets of Manhattan. This bold beginning at the end, the teasing drip-feed of the details, the hints and layers of secrets are more than enough to get a body hooked.
At last we have a telly thriller that looks set to be a must-watch. Just lock up your dogs and cats.
