Suits: Derailed (4x14)

Oh. No. Donna! I'm freaking out. What the hell is going to happen? I can't believe we only have two more episodes until the season is over... this show is my favorite. I always miss it when it's not around. Let's go ahead and talk about the plot of this one. A lot of good stuff going on here.

Mike gets a call from Professor Gerard, who asks for Mike's help with a case. Apparently, an accident at Liberty Rail caused a lot of deaths, and somebody has information that could prove the company was responsible. Mike also learns that Gerard knows his secret. Harvey doesn't want Mike to take the case, because it's a whistle-blower case, but Mike asks Harvey for a chance. Mike talks to the informant, who says that the brakes were faulty and that's why the accident occurred. When Mike tries to get proof, he is cut off by the Liberty Rail lawyer, who has a document proving that they had all their brakes tested. Mike also learns that his whistle-blower informant has done the same sort of things at a lot of his previous jobs, making him extremely unreliable.

Harvey tells Mike to pull the plug on the case, but Mike begs him for more time. Harvey gives him 24 hours. Mike knows that if he can find a paper trail proving that the company replaced the brakes after the accident, he can prove their guilt. Mike despairs, because 24 hours isn't long enough to get the papers through legal means. Donna to the rescue! She talks her way into the Liberty Rail office and gets the evidence. Mike and Harvey use it to strong-arm Liberty Rail into paying a settlement and publicly announcing their fault.

However, as Harvey goes out for drinks with the lawyer, she throws a bombshell - apparently, they have video footage of Donna illegally obtaining the evidence. The lawyer promises to send it to the DA's office. It looks like it's over for their case, and over for Donna as well.

Meanwhile, Jeff Malone asks Harvey if he can cover Jessica's work for a while so that Jeff can take Jessica on a romantic vacation to France. Jessica decides that she deserves this vacation, and that she'll go. When Jeff says that he loves her, Jessica realizes that she doesn't want to lie to him anymore. She talks with Harvey about the possibility of telling Jeff the big Mike Ross secret.

While all of this is going on, Louis discovers that people are answering the phone "Pearson Specter," and leaving off the "Litt." He is enraged. Rachel tries to calm him down, but Louis ends up calling the receptionist at the front desk 50 times, hearing the infuriating answering message. The receptionist comes to Rachel, feeling harassed. Louis goes to Jessica, who agrees to get the receptionists to add the "Litt." Jessica discovers that Jeff paid them to leave Louis' name off, out of anger for what Louis did to Jessica. Jessica asks Jeff to smooth things over with Louis, and Jeff does so.

The answering message is fixed, and Louis and Jeff even go out for drinks. Unfortunately, this is where things go wrong. Jessica later shows up at Jeff's house to tell the truth about Mike Ross, but Jeff is in no mood to hear it - when he asked Louis how he'd known about the mess with Hardman, Louis started by saying "it all started two years ago." Now, Jeff knows that Jessica's story about how Louis got his name on the wall was bullshit. He doesn't want to hear any more explanations. He says that they're done, and closes the door in Jessica's face.

Okay. I have a complaint that could be considered a nitpick, but it's actually something on which the whole episode hinges, so...

Why exactly did Donna and Mike both assume that Harvey wouldn't give Mike more time once he came up with a plan? This whole episode was just Harvey saying no, Mike giving him puppy eyes, and then Harvey backing down. Once Mike had the plan to find a paper trail proving Liberty Rail's guilt, why wouldn't Harvey let him have the chance? Mike and Donna are two of the people that know him best in all this world. Did they really think he'd be that unreasonable?

Right along the same line, I have to question Donna's reasoning here. Did she really think she would get away with something so brazenly illegal? There really isn't even a grey area, here. She stole those documents. After what happened before with the paper shredding incident, you would think that Donna would learn! It seems a little unbelievable that she felt the need to meddle to such a degree.

One last thing: Rachel better have something to do for herself, and soon. Wasn't she supposed to be working as a lawyer in this firm too? We never see her work on cases. We never see her work with Harvey, because of course Mike is monopolizing all of his time. Usually, Rachel just sits around in her office waiting to help everybody else with their problems. That's not cool! I want to see more for her. Hopefully next season she gets a plot line of her own?

But hey. You guys all know why I watch this show, and on the Harvey/Mike front, I have only good things to say. Let's start with some other positive aspects of this week's episode, and then we'll talk about my favorite bromance.

Tricia Helfer. I mean, she basically plays the hot bad ass in everything I've ever seen her in, but I am so not complaining. I loved seeing her take Mike and Harvey down a peg, even though she is sort of evil.

Louis was a good mix between comic relief and actual member of the team this week. I totally understood his anger about the phone answering thing. I think I'd be upset, too! It was sort of amusing to see him glare at that poor receptionist, and I loved how panicked and flustered he got when everybody kept calling his behavior "harassment." But then there's the very real issue of respect at play here. He's right to demand equality with the other partners, if only because people will start asking questions if Louis is left out.

Even though I'm still so, so mad at Louis for hurting Mike last week, I still loved his threat to Jeff: "Why don't you ask Mike Ross about my headlock, because it's a goddamn vice!" Drunk Louis was also a hoot. He's so desperate for a friend, and you can tell just how grateful he is to be out with Jeff. Even Jeff was starting to see Louis as a potential friend by the end there.

I've never made my distaste for Jeff Malone a secret. However, I did like to see Jessica so happy and at peace in this episode. It sucks that it's not going to work out, for her sake.

I complained about the lack of Rachel, but she did do a lovely job of supporting everybody else in this episode. That opening scene with Rachel and Mike was so hot. Apparently Mike is okay with Rachel tying him up and sexually dominating him while watching Game of Thrones... well Hot Damn. Rachel also tries to placate Louis and help him get over his feelings of inferiority. The best moment for Rachel was when she went to talk to Donna about what Donna did for Mike. She suggests that Donna take the night off, because "that's what superheroes do." For all Donna knew, this was the only acknowledgment she'd get for her good deed, and it's just so sweet that Rachel would think to say something.

Speaking of Donna... I know I got a little annoyed with her recklessness, but she did have her usual moments of awesomely bad ass behavior. I loved it when Harvey rendered her speechless with his decision not to interfere with Mike. But of course she can't leave it there - she brings over a cactus to Harvey's place in order to bring some life into the environment, and she tells Harvey that he needs to trust Mike. Apparently, Harvey can't separate himself from Mike long enough to get perspective. Aww! Donna is meddlesome by nature, but she only gets this invested when she feels like something it threatening Harvey's happiness. In this case? That happiness is Harvey's professional and personal relationship with Mike.

As you knew I would, I'm ending with the bromance.

Mike was so cute and idealistic in this episode. It reminded me of him in the earlier seasons, with his ill-advised decisions to support the underdog, and Harvey's reluctant support of his antics. In this episode, Mike asks Harvey to give him a chance. Twice, Harvey looks like he's going to say no, and then Mike steps closer and says "please," and Harvey caves. Do you have any idea how cute that is? Harvey wouldn't do that for anybody else. He just wants Mike to succeed so badly. When Harvey tries to pull the plug, he has a good reason: Mike is asking the jury to believe something pretty unbelievable. Mike's response is: "No, I'm asking you to believe it." He just wants Harvey's support. That's pretty much all he's ever wanted, and he's got it.

At the actual settlement, when Harvey and Mike have their moment of victory, we see something like a role reversal. Mike demands money from the client, and Harvey, taking up Mike's side of things, demands that the company publicly admit their fault. Harvey tells Mike he did a good job (which Harvey almost never does, by the way) and Mike comes back by saying that Harvey is starting to come into his own, as well.

Also, there's the fact that Mike casually asks Harvey out for drinks, making me think that the two of them actually do hang out outside of work on a somewhat regular basis. Yes! And they joke about Harvey's sex life! Mike makes an innuendo, and Harvey asks what that's even supposed to mean. Mike says "You know what it means." And Harvey grins and says "Sure as hell do!" Ugh. My heart can't even take how much I love this.

As we look forward to next week, I'm wondering if we're going to see any anger between Harvey and Mike. Will Harvey blame Mike for what's going on with Donna? I can't wait to find out! I hope Donna will be okay!

8/10