Oh my God. Thank you, universe, for this influx of the bromance. Last week was a little light on the Harvey/Mike material, but this week was just... gosh. I'm a happy camper. Let's take a look at the plot first, though.
Stephen Macht is back as Professor Gerard, the man who nearly discovered Mike's secret last season. He wants Harvey's help on a case - he is being accused of accepting a bribe - but Harvey doesn't want to take the case up. Mike yells at Harvey for letting his personal grudge get in the way of doing his job, and Harvey decides to take the case after all. Gerard got the $25,000 playing back room poker, and it's up to Harvey and Mike to figure out how to get him off on the charges without revealing the alibi. They manage to find a way to use the TSA - the opposing council wants to turn this into a case of national security to mess with them, so Harvey decides to use that to make Gerard testify under seal. That way, the judge will know about Gerard's gambling, know he's innocent of the crime he's being charged with, and Harvard Law will never find out about the gambling and fire Gerard.
There's a snag in this plan, though. As Mike preps Gerard for taking the stand, he notices a hole in his story - he is inconsistent about his winning hand in the poker game. Mike tells Harvey that Gerard is lying. At first Harvey doesn't want to believe it, but eventually he does, confronting Gerard and learning the truth. He accepted the $25,000 as a bribe for changing a student's grade. Harvey confesses to Mike that the reason he doesn't care about winning this case for Gerard is that he always thought Gerard was better than the rest of them, and actually had a sense of ethics. He's disappointed to find out Gerard is just as corrupt as the rest of them. Mike does come up with a plan to save Gerard, though.
Mike goes to the student that Gerard bribed and forces him to sign an affidavit swearing that the $25,000 was a loan. That way, he still gets an F in the class, but he's not facing charges for bribing a Harvard professor. Harvey gives the news to Gerard, who is grateful to be free of the bribery charges, but also grateful that nobody discovered his gambling secret. Gerard also reveals that he knows Mike's secret, but he won't say anything. Harvey asks Mike to come out for a drink with him, and he thanks Mike for making him take on Gerard's case, since it forced him to confront some stuff, and get closure. Mike reveals that he was scared Gerard would find out about his secret, and that he was worried Harvey had invited him out to tell him. Harvey doesn't have the heart to tell Mike that Gerard knows, so he lies and says everything is fine.
Meanwhile, Louis continues to be an awful person. Jessica asks him to help continue her lie to Jeff Malone by enforcing the idea that he blackmailed her about Daniel Hardman. Louis demands payment for this - he wants one of Harvey's clients. At first, Harvey is willing to give one up, but then Louis acts like a jerk and Harvey takes it back.
Donna goes to Louis and gives him one of Harvey's clients - the very first client that Harvey was given when he made name partner. Louis makes a huge mistake with the client, and ends up in big trouble. Instead of admitting to his mistake, Louis blames Rachel for not warning him about the relevant information. Rachel did try to tell him, but Louis was too busy sitting on his high horse to listen to her. However, Rachel stays up all night and comes up with a solution for Louis' problem. Louis doesn't even thank Rachel for the work, and continues to treat her like dirt.
Louis also finds out that Harvey never liked this client, and that Donna was actually doing Harvey a favor by pawning her off on Louis. Louis yells at Donna for this, but Donna has had enough - she tells Louis that he needs to "get on the God-damn team." Louis replies that he doesn't want to be on a team of liars, and Donna shoots back that on their team, they protect their own. Everybody else is tired of fighting Louis' battles, so he'd better step it up.
Louis seems to take Donna's words to heart. He goes to Jeff Malone and corroborates Jessica's lie about the bribe. Maybe Louis can make things better.
So. Do I have complaints?
Jeff Malone. I hate him. I don't think he's interesting, and I think Jessica could do better. There was this one scene in the episode where Jeff brought Jessica a nice dinner and talked about trust, and how he felt closer to Jessica because the walls were starting to come down. This was just so, so forced and over the top. We get it. Jessica has to lie to the man she's dating. But I can't care about that too much, because I don't think much of the guy himself! He's just so annoying!
The only other thing? The lawyer working on the other side against Professor Gerard was just a little campy for me. It takes a special sort of power to deliver these sorts of quippy one-liners, and this actor just didn't have it. His lines came across more cheesy than powerful, in the one brief scene we got with him. It's a small thing, but still.
Really, though, that's all I've got in terms of complaints. Everything else was suitably awesome. (Haha suitably. I didn't even do that on purpose).
First of all, Donna is awesome. I was so happy when she yelled at Louis. I really needed to hear that. Donna has done all she can to smooth things over, and as she reminds Louis, these people are about loyalty. Yep, they're all criminals, too. That's the show. But they care about each other. And they're willing, with time, to let Louis in. But he has to be on board! Donna also chastises Harvey in this episode, for being rude to Louis. I think ultimately Donna functions as the moral compass for a lot of these characters, and I love seeing her work her magic.
Rachel! I'm glad she got something to do in this episode. She was absolutely slaying it when it came to Louis. Even though Louis treated her like crap, she tried to warn him and do the right thing. When that didn't work, she helped him clean up after his mess even though she was disrespected for her efforts. I'm so glad to see her standing up for herself. Between Rachel and Donna, I don't think Louis stands a chance.
Louis himself had a lot of really nuanced moments in this episode. I was a tiny bit worried that he was just going to be too evil and lose all of that complexity that we've seen in him over the years, but in this episode I saw a little bit of that come out. He's hurt. He's devastated that everybody has been lying to him this whole time. It's a natural reaction, of course. Who wouldn't be hurt? He lashes out and he hurts people in return, but that doesn't mean he's irredeemable. The hardest relationship to patch up is going to be Harvey and Louis, but I think they might actually be able to make it work. Eventually. I liked seeing Louis yell at Jeff Malone, because I don't like Jeff, but also because it showed that he was willing to help Jessica out, even when he technically didn't have to.
And I've saved our two leading heartthrobs for last. Oh, Harvey and Mike. You two will be the death of me.
First of all, Mike yelled at Harvey for not taking on a case. You could just tell that Harvey was shocked at Mike's words, and that more than anything, he didn't want to disappoint Mike. In the same way that Harvey was upset about Gerard, Mike was upset about Harvey's failings. Harvey doesn't want Mike to look down on him, and I think that's a big part of why he took on the case. The best part? Mike knows it. He jokes with Harvey about it. Later, when Mike realizes that Gerard is lying about the poker game, he is surprised to find Harvey brushing him off. He asks Harvey: "Why are you defending him?" and Harvey shouts back: "Because you asked me to!" This is just further proof that Mike's opinion matters a lot to Harvey. He'd do anything for him.
There were also a lot of funny moments between them, like when Mike said that he would have come up with his plan faster but he had to stop to eat sushi, and Harvey remembered that he had said the same thing his first week working there, only then it was pizza. Harvey also steals Mike's bagel, which is just too cute for words.
Finally, there's that scene at the end, where Harvey asks Mike out for a drink in order to tell him the bad news that Gerard knows Mike's secret. Harvey doesn't go through with it, because he could see how scared Mike was and he didn't want to be the cause of any more stress. I wonder when/if Mike's going to find out that Gerard knows... and what about Scottie? Does Mike know that she knows?
I think I'll stop there. Yay for Mike/Harvey bromance! Keep it coming!
8/10
Donna goes to Louis and gives him one of Harvey's clients - the very first client that Harvey was given when he made name partner. Louis makes a huge mistake with the client, and ends up in big trouble. Instead of admitting to his mistake, Louis blames Rachel for not warning him about the relevant information. Rachel did try to tell him, but Louis was too busy sitting on his high horse to listen to her. However, Rachel stays up all night and comes up with a solution for Louis' problem. Louis doesn't even thank Rachel for the work, and continues to treat her like dirt.
Louis also finds out that Harvey never liked this client, and that Donna was actually doing Harvey a favor by pawning her off on Louis. Louis yells at Donna for this, but Donna has had enough - she tells Louis that he needs to "get on the God-damn team." Louis replies that he doesn't want to be on a team of liars, and Donna shoots back that on their team, they protect their own. Everybody else is tired of fighting Louis' battles, so he'd better step it up.
Louis seems to take Donna's words to heart. He goes to Jeff Malone and corroborates Jessica's lie about the bribe. Maybe Louis can make things better.
So. Do I have complaints?
Jeff Malone. I hate him. I don't think he's interesting, and I think Jessica could do better. There was this one scene in the episode where Jeff brought Jessica a nice dinner and talked about trust, and how he felt closer to Jessica because the walls were starting to come down. This was just so, so forced and over the top. We get it. Jessica has to lie to the man she's dating. But I can't care about that too much, because I don't think much of the guy himself! He's just so annoying!
The only other thing? The lawyer working on the other side against Professor Gerard was just a little campy for me. It takes a special sort of power to deliver these sorts of quippy one-liners, and this actor just didn't have it. His lines came across more cheesy than powerful, in the one brief scene we got with him. It's a small thing, but still.
Really, though, that's all I've got in terms of complaints. Everything else was suitably awesome. (Haha suitably. I didn't even do that on purpose).
First of all, Donna is awesome. I was so happy when she yelled at Louis. I really needed to hear that. Donna has done all she can to smooth things over, and as she reminds Louis, these people are about loyalty. Yep, they're all criminals, too. That's the show. But they care about each other. And they're willing, with time, to let Louis in. But he has to be on board! Donna also chastises Harvey in this episode, for being rude to Louis. I think ultimately Donna functions as the moral compass for a lot of these characters, and I love seeing her work her magic.
Rachel! I'm glad she got something to do in this episode. She was absolutely slaying it when it came to Louis. Even though Louis treated her like crap, she tried to warn him and do the right thing. When that didn't work, she helped him clean up after his mess even though she was disrespected for her efforts. I'm so glad to see her standing up for herself. Between Rachel and Donna, I don't think Louis stands a chance.
Louis himself had a lot of really nuanced moments in this episode. I was a tiny bit worried that he was just going to be too evil and lose all of that complexity that we've seen in him over the years, but in this episode I saw a little bit of that come out. He's hurt. He's devastated that everybody has been lying to him this whole time. It's a natural reaction, of course. Who wouldn't be hurt? He lashes out and he hurts people in return, but that doesn't mean he's irredeemable. The hardest relationship to patch up is going to be Harvey and Louis, but I think they might actually be able to make it work. Eventually. I liked seeing Louis yell at Jeff Malone, because I don't like Jeff, but also because it showed that he was willing to help Jessica out, even when he technically didn't have to.
And I've saved our two leading heartthrobs for last. Oh, Harvey and Mike. You two will be the death of me.
First of all, Mike yelled at Harvey for not taking on a case. You could just tell that Harvey was shocked at Mike's words, and that more than anything, he didn't want to disappoint Mike. In the same way that Harvey was upset about Gerard, Mike was upset about Harvey's failings. Harvey doesn't want Mike to look down on him, and I think that's a big part of why he took on the case. The best part? Mike knows it. He jokes with Harvey about it. Later, when Mike realizes that Gerard is lying about the poker game, he is surprised to find Harvey brushing him off. He asks Harvey: "Why are you defending him?" and Harvey shouts back: "Because you asked me to!" This is just further proof that Mike's opinion matters a lot to Harvey. He'd do anything for him.
There were also a lot of funny moments between them, like when Mike said that he would have come up with his plan faster but he had to stop to eat sushi, and Harvey remembered that he had said the same thing his first week working there, only then it was pizza. Harvey also steals Mike's bagel, which is just too cute for words.
Finally, there's that scene at the end, where Harvey asks Mike out for a drink in order to tell him the bad news that Gerard knows Mike's secret. Harvey doesn't go through with it, because he could see how scared Mike was and he didn't want to be the cause of any more stress. I wonder when/if Mike's going to find out that Gerard knows... and what about Scottie? Does Mike know that she knows?
I think I'll stop there. Yay for Mike/Harvey bromance! Keep it coming!
8/10
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