Daniel Hardman. You jerk. Big surprise: he's a bad dude. Annoying surprise: Jack Soloff is working with him. This episode, to be honest, didn't do a lot for me. I had some problems with the predictable nature of a lot of what was going on here, and I wasn't really feeling it for most of the time. Let's start with a brief plot summary (I'm on a time crunch!)
At the vote over Harvey's suspension, Harvey announces that he'll be cutting his compensation and giving more to the other partners. He does this on Soloff's recommendation that he do something to humble himself to the other partners. Harvey is not suspended, but it's a close thing. Jack then announces that he wants to bring in a new client to the firm - one that they will be splitting with Daniel Hardman, who wants to come back to the firm on a trial basis. Jessica immediately says no.
Turns out, Daniel was hoping that Jessica would say no. He wants to poach a bunch of Jessica's clients right out from under her nose, and take the firm back by force. Mike figures out that Daniel's first target is going to be McKernan Motors. Mike also comes up with a way to save the day - they have to privatize McKernan. They need money to do that, so they go to Giannopoulos and Sidwell. These two men hate each other, so they both agree to put money up front so they'll be besting each other. However, this plan doesn't work either - Daniel Hardman is able to outbid them. Harvey figures something out - Charles Forstman is backing Daniel! Harvey goes to talk to Forstman, asking him to back down. Forstman says he'll stop giving Hardman money... as long as Harvey resigns. All Forstman wants is Harvey's humiliation.
Meanwhile, Louis discovers that Jack Soloff is only working with Hardman because Hardman has something on him. However, Louis can't figure out what it is. Louis thinks that they might be able to help get Soloff on their side if they offer him a promotion to name partner. Jessica pretends to consider it, but she ultimately tells Jack that she'll waive his non-compete if he resigns immediately. She doesn't want somebody who's in cahoots with Daniel Hardman (willing or no) at her firm. Soloff doesn't take her up on her offer.
While all of this craziness is going on, Rachel is facing a whole other level of stress with her mother. Her mom is planning a whole big wedding for Rachel, including a wedding announcement, and a huge guest list that includes important figures from Harvard and the legal community at large. Rachel knows that none of this can happen - it will put too big of a spotlight on Mike, and risk his secret being exposed. Rachel gets into a fight with her mother, forced to pretend that a big wedding isn't something she wants. Rachel's mother tricks Mike into coming to a meeting with her alone (he thought Rachel would be there). She asks Mike what's really going on, and Mike, forced to come up with a lie on the spot, tells Rachel's mother that the reason they want a small wedding is because Mike doesn't have a family, and Rachel agreed to have a small wedding.
Later, Mike talks to Rachel, wondering if he's taking away her dream wedding, and whether marrying her is really the right thing to do. He reveals that he talked to Claire, and that Claire told him that if he really loved her, then he wouldn't marry her. Mike was afraid that maybe Rachel felt the same way. Rachel assures him that she doesn't care about the rest of it - the only thing that matters is marrying Mike.
Mike, reminded by his conversation with Rachel's mother that he does still have one person he might call, talks to an old friend: Trevor. The two of them meet for drinks, but Trevor reveals that he can't come to Mike's wedding. He's married now, and he promised his wife that this part of his life was over. He can't associate with Mike, because Mike is breaking the law. Trevor gives Mike the advice that Claire should have given him last week, and tells him that if he really wants to make things work with Rachel, he should quit his job.
So... I'm going to start with complaints.
Hardman is still properly threatening, but his quest to take over the firm isn't packing the same punch that it did the last time he nearly succeeded in doing just that. I think it's because his Japanese client is totally off-screen, and the whole thing ends up being just about who can come up with more money. I don't know what it was, but for some reason the stuff between Jessica and Hardman in this episode just felt... old hat. It was the same stuff they've already hashed out before. And even Charles Forstman, who should be a really scary adversary to come across, felt like repetition.
Ultimately, Jack Soloff working with Hardman is predictable and disappointing. I guess it's a good thing that he's being blackmailed, as I definitely wouldn't have expected that, but even with that pseudo-twist, it's just simply not all that interesting to watch obvious-villain-guy work together with other-obvious-villain-guy. It would have been much more fun to watch Jack dig his heels in and side with Jessica.
I'll talk in a second about how much I liked the stuff with Rachel and her mom, but I will admit there was a little too much melodrama in the scenes with Rachel and Mike. The weepy confessions of love don't really work for them. It's not the actors - they both do a convincing job. It's just that I don't like seeing Rachel get all emotional and over-the-top about all of this.
Then there's this bit with Trevor at the end. I love Trevor, in that I love to hate him. So much of Mike's earlier loserliness (it's a word, go with it) can be attributed to Trevor's influence. But he also seemed to genuinely love Mike in his own way. I really liked seeing Trevor again, but there was that moment at the end where he said that he went to see someone, and Mike asked "who?" and Trevor said "you know who." Was that supposed to be Jenny? Because to be honest, it wasn't clear. I wish we could have had something more explicit there.
But I didn't hate this episode by any means. There were a lot of good things going on.
I loved Harvey's moment of apology before the suspension vote. Jack accused him of trying to bribe the partners by offering them money, but I didn't see it that way, and I genuinely don't think Harvey meant it that way. He was honest about hitting Louis, and he was honest about what his compensation had meant to him in the past, and how he wanted to prioritize his relationships with the partners from now on. It was another wonderful showcase of Harvey's bravery, and it really shows us how much he's grown because of his therapy.
Then there's the Harvey/Mike stuff. Lots of fun banter. I loved the moment when Harvey realized that Mike had given him a straw-man idea so that he could impress him with his real idea afterwards. Harvey asks him how long he's been doing that, and Mike reveals that it's been a while. Then there's the prostate humor, which I think is rather distasteful, but still somehow manages to get a chuckle out of me all the same. And the scene where Mike went to Sidwell and Harvey went to Giannopoulos, and they both sassed their way into a lot of money? So awesome. The dynamic duo, back at work. I want so much more of this.
Louis seems really humbled by his latest screw-up, so that's good. I mean, I don't forgive him and I never will, but I do appreciate the fact that he's genuinely trying to save the firm from Hardman. That's one mistake he has learned his lesson from. Daniel Hardman is bad news. Louis also had the best laugh of the episode. Donna reveals that Mike and Harvey got a really good idea to defeat Hardman once when they were high. Louis balks at the suggestion that he get some weed to help relax and get inspiration - "Donna, look at me. Do I look like someone who needs to be hungry and paranoid?!" That was gold.
I did love all the stuff between Rachel and her mom. You can tell that Rachel's heart is breaking over so many different things here. She wants to be all excited and happy and plan her dream wedding with her mother, but she knows she can't. I'm really close with my mom - I can't imagine having to keep such a big secret from her. Even though the secret is such a big part of this show, it wasn't until this episode that I fully realized what a burden Mike is putting on the people who love him. I mean, Harvey and the other people at the firm are one thing. It's a professional secret that they all share. But for Rachel to have to lie to her parents? That's just so brutal.
Trevor. Like I mentioned earlier, I love Trevor's character. And there's something so delicious about him turning up now and putting Mike in his place. I mean, here Mike is, engaged to a beautiful and smart woman who he really loves, and he's just been promoted to Junior Partner, and is the youngest person in the firm to do so. And yet here comes Trevor, and makes him feel about one inch tall. In a way, Trevor is just as bad for Mike's self-esteem as he ever was, but this time everything is flipped. Mike has ostensibly put his old life behind him, but all it takes is Trevor showing up for him to remember - he's still breaking the law. In fact, what he's doing now is much more serious than his old deviant pot-head behavior. It was such an unexpected way to bring Trevor back into the story. I sort of hope we get more of him, but if we don't, I think that was a good way to wrap up that part of Mike's life.
I think that's where I'll stop! Sort of a mixed bag, but I'm still looking forward to the mid-season finale next week. What am I going to do without this show?!
7/10
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