Suits: Mudmare (7x03)

Last season, I complained quite a bit about the fact that Harvey was bending over backwards, and Mike was looking like a selfish little git. This season, I'm forced to think that perhaps Harvey's the asshole after all. I'm having some really strange mixed emotions about this episode, to be completely honest. Let's take a look.

Cons:

Harvey treats everybody like shit in this episode. Donna, Louis, Mike... seriously. He actually does. The thing that bothers me isn't the decisions he's making, but the way he's delivering them. Basically, Alex has a big client that has a conflict with Mike's pro bono, meaning Mike has to drop his client. Mike is really unhappy about it, but Harvey forces him to drop it anyway. Louis and Donna both tell Harvey they think this is a mistake, because it sends the messages that Alex's clients can steamroll over existing PSL clients. Harvey doesn't listen. Mike, doing as he's told, gives his pro bono case to the clinic, trusting that Oliver will take care of it. Harvey yells at Mike again because of Mike's association with the clinic, and tells Mike to put it in writing that he won't be involved with the case. In the end, Mike and Alex have a conversation, and it turns out both of them felt pressured in this situation, and Alex really didn't like having to mess with Mike because of his client. What does this all shake out to? Harvey was the only one who was a dick in this whole scenario!

Harvey tells Mike to drop his client, which he knew would make Mike angry. But instead of trying to work things out, he steamrolls over Mike, ignores advice from his fellow name partner Louis and his new COO Donna, and then yells at Mike some more for good measure. He comes across like a total dick. He could have explained himself better. He could have let people talk it out. He could have, I don't know, suggested doing a conflict waiver letter? Which is, you know, a thing? And all of this would be fine? But no. He had to behave in the most caveman-ish way possible during the whole exchange.

Suits: The Statue (7x02)

Yeah, okay. This was a good episode. And it actually fixed some of the things that made me angry about last week's installment, so... good on ya!

Cons:

Rachel took a backseat again. Last week, we learned that she would be taking over the associates, but we didn't get to see that play out. This week, she almost took over a case for Mike but then ultimately didn't, and we didn't get to see her playing bad-ass attorney. What with Mike becoming a legit lawyer, I sort of feel like we've forgotten that Rachel is a lawyer now too.

Harvey and Louis get into another brief tiff in this episode. Louis is whiny, Harvey is a steamroller, they both say sorry and are okay by the end. It wasn't a bad plot thread. I guess I just don't know what they can do with Louis' character at this point to make him more interesting. He's been through the same whirlwind dozens of times and I'm getting really sick of it.

Suits: Skin in the Game (7x01)

This show has a special place in my heart. It's sort of like a disobedient, not-too-bright child. It can piss me off so easily, but nothing it does makes me love it any less. And lemme tell you something - there are a bunch of things about this opener to Season Seven that are not what I would call ideal. And yet... I still had fun watching.

Cons:

Donna... okay... look. All last season I was annoyed because the whole plot thread with "The Donna" was stupid and made no logical sense. However, I really liked the idea of exploring Donna getting more attention and respect for all of her hard work. Now, we throw this whole "Donna is suddenly a senior partner" thing into the mix. Yo. I'm a legal secretary who works at a corporate firm... let me tell you that this is ridiculous. There are plenty of other ways to move up in your field without going to law school, even if you work at a law firm. Donna seems to be suggesting that she's valuable not because of legal expertise but because of her management skills. Great! Promote her to a practice manager, head of client relations, executive administrator... any of these things. These are all real jobs with real power and money and an office and a say in firm policies. And they all make a lot more sense than just her being made a partner in the firm. It's ridiculous.

Louis screws up, people call him on it, and he backs down. Again. This time it's because he's smarting over his breakup with Tara. I get that he would be hurting, but he yells some truly horrible and abusive things to the associates, and we're all just going to forgive him and move on to the next cycle in the never-ending Louis story? Yikes. I'm sick of it.

Doctor Who: The Doctor Falls (10x12)

I really quite enjoyed this episode. I won't lie, though, I also had a few complaints. I can taste freedom, though. Moffat is almost out of here. Let's dive in.

Cons:

Basically, this is just a continuation of next week, which is perfectly lovely, in that we're wrapping up the only real through-lines of this season's plots. Namely, Missy. The problem is that this episode had a lot of endings, and I'm not sure I'm satisfied with them. Namely, Missy. The Master and Missy kill each other in this episode, which on the one hand is like the perfect way for them to go out, but on the other hand, it still feels like we didn't have enough screen-time with Missy to make her inclusion in this season feel worthwhile. There was so much more to explore. And I get the whole dramatic irony thing, because now we know that Missy was going to go back and stand with the Doctor, but the Doctor doesn't know that... yadda yadda.... I just feel like there was a more satisfying ending that could have come out of this.

And then there's Bill... On the one hand, I love the way her character ended up, going off with another immortal lesbian to explore the universe forever more. I'm all about that shit. But at the same time, my complaints from last week still stand. She did a lot of reacting instead of acting in this episode, and I still feel like we're only just beginning to understand her as a character. I really wanted her to be the carry-over companion for our new Doctor and new show-runner. We didn't get nearly enough time with Bill.