Suits: Mea Culpa (5x08)

Seriously, Louis? Seriously?! I can't. I'm so done with him. I've been done with him for a while, but this... this crosses a line, and it also makes me seriously question what the hell this show thinks they're doing with his character. Let's slow down and look at the plot first.

Louis is livid about Harvey's attack. Donna tries to get him to calm down, but Louis is out for blood. He wants to sue Harvey. Donna manages to convince him to keep it within the family. Jessica wants Harvey to take two weeks off, and to humbly apologize to Louis. Louis doesn't think this is sufficient, and wants Harvey to have a three month suspension without pay. Jessica convinces Louis to wait for two weeks, because she hopes that he'll calm down by then. Harvey talks to Dr. Agard, who makes him realize that Louis was wrong to lash out at Harvey, but the reverse is also true. Harvey has to apologize.

And Harvey does. In one of the bravest, most emotional moments this show has ever had, Harvey sincerely apologizes for what he did to Louis, and he opens up to him about his panic attacks, and how they're triggered by Donna leaving, and by stuff with his family and his relationships. Louis is shocked at Harvey's confession. He invites Harvey to come back the next day, especially because the next day is Mike's partnership vote.
 

Speaking of, while all of this is going on, Mike is trying to think of a good way to get out of accepting junior partnership. He simply can't think of anything good enough. Jessica talks to Jack Soloff about his surprising nomination, and Jack says that he really thinks Mike deserves it. If Jessica is mad at him for nominating Mike, he's willing to rescind the nomination and let Harvey do it instead, but Jack can't see one good reason why Mike shouldn't be partner. Jessica realizes that there is no reason good enough, so... she ceremoniously presents Mike with his first case as partner!

Harvey comes in to work the next day and has THE CUTEST BROMANTIC SCENE WITH MIKE EVERRRR okay I'm calm now. But in any case, Harvey congratulates Mike on making partner, and he goes to the meeting with the partners to officially vote Mike in to the partnership. Mike gets a unanimous vote. However, this moment of celebration is short lived. Louis turns on a dime, announcing to the whole room that Harvey viciously attacked him, and demanding his suspension. Jack Soloff speaks up and says that Louis can't suspend Harvey without the partners' support. Jack moves to wait for Friday so that they can all vote on the matter.

Harvey confronts Louis, furious. Louis says he doesn't believe Harvey has been having panic attacks at all. Jessica tells Harvey that he is not to be alone with Louis until the vote. She then tells Louis that his behavior was despicable. Donna listens to Louis' dicta-phone and hears Harvey confess to having panic attacks. She is furious, accusing Louis of wanting to record Harvey's weakness to play it for the partners. Louis insists that he only wanted proof that Harvey hit him. Donna issues an ultimatum, saying that if Louis uses Harvey's weakness to humiliate him in front of everyone, then Donna is done working for him. Louis realizes that he acted rashly, and he wants to pull out of the vote. Jessica tells him it's too late to go back on the vote. He made his bed, now he has to sleep in it.

Meanwhile, things are not going so well with Mike's first case. Mike asks Rachel to be his associate, but just before they are about to have their first meeting with the attorney on the other side, Mike recognizes her as Claire, the woman he went out with years ago who knows he didn't really go to law school. Mike rushes out of the room, leaving Rachel to deal with the meeting by herself. She is flustered and uncertain, but Claire realizes that Rachel is unprepared, and cuts her some slack. As the case goes forward, Mike lets Rachel take the lead, staying in the shadows so that Claire won't realize that he's the same Mike Ross that she once knew.

Rachel makes a couple of mistakes, and it causes Mike to yell at her. Rachel fights back, angry that Mike has dumped this on her. She's making mistakes because she's trying to cover his ass. The two of them make up, and Rachel finds a way to get what she wants out of the case. The only problem? Her last action triggers a background check on all parties involved. Mike knows his secret might be revealed at last, but Rachel manages to get him out of this last scrape. Claire reveals that she knows the truth, but Rachel tells her that she and Mike are engaged, and begs her not to turn Mike in. Claire decides not to. Claire and Mike finally meet again, after all of these years. Claire tells Mike that if he really loves Rachel, he won't marry her. She knows that Mike and Rachel can never have a lasting life together, because Mike is eventually going to get caught.

Okay. What do I think of this episode? Well, I loved it. I love Harvey. My God. But I have one serious thing to complain about.

Louis Litt. He's gone beyond a character that you love to hate. He's just... he's just awful. Plain and simple. And the thing is, we've seen him make the same mistakes again and again. He lashes out, gets too emotional, then realizes that he made a mistake, and other people have to bail him out. Does he learn anything? Nope! It's so freakin' tedious. I'm so sick of it. He's become this static character that just gets recycled again and again for the same purpose.

But honestly, that's my only serious complaint. There was this one strange moment when Soloff tried to call Hardman, and I was sort of confused. But I'm willing to let that go as a buildup to something more interesting in the coming weeks, so I won't label it as a complaint just yet. (Although I really do wish that Jack Soloff could stay on Jessica's side during the showdown. It would be much more interesting.) Anyway... onto all the awesome stuff.

Jessica Pearson continues to be the light of my life. She handles everything with such grace, while still managing to be funny and flawed and just so perfectly interesting. She had so many great moments in this episode. I loved it when she offered Mike the partnership. She's upfront with him, telling him that this isn't what she wanted, but she does sincerely believe Mike deserves it. Her other best moment was when she told Louis off for his despicable behavior. She says that everybody already knows where she stands - and it's not with Louis. And then there's the moment when Louis tries to go back on the vote, and Jessica says that this is the reason why she wanted Harvey to take two weeks. She knew Louis would cool down and change his mind. Jessica knows all.

Donna was in fine form this week. She didn't immediately jump to Harvey's defense, but she remained fair, not willing to believe that Harvey would attack unprovoked either. In the end, Donna had the best line of the episode, when she told Louis that she felt horrible for him, but now she's starting to wonder if she should. And the look of disgust on her face when she realized what Louis had done with the dicta-phone... damn.

Rachel and Mike's plot thread wasn't as interesting to me, but it was still really great. Troian Bellisario (Patrick J. Adams' real-life wife) was excellent as Claire. I liked the fact that Mike's first case turned in to such an almost-disaster. I really love Mike, but you have to admit, he's broken a lot of laws. Sometimes it's satisfying to watch him sweat. The irony of Mike's situation is that if he had confronted Claire directly, he could have written it off as a miraculous story of his life turning around. Since he hid from her, she knew for sure he was guilty.

This whole business of Claire telling Mike not to marry Rachel is... well, it's cliche. I was waiting for something to jeopardize their wedding. But even though it's a bit contrived, I don't mind. And the reason I don't mind? Claire is right. Mike and Rachel can't keep living the way they are right now, and expect to live happily ever after. It's not going to work out. Honestly, Mike should quit being a lawyer. That is how he can prove that he loves Rachel. But obviously that doesn't make for interesting television. I'm excited to see how these two confront this latest obstacle in their relationship. Their moment of reconciliation after their fight was really sweet.

I'll finish with the Harvey/Mike moment, because... wow. I've really been missing the two of them and their cute moments this season. There's been just enough to keep me happy, but not enough for me to adequately squeal over. The one scene between Mike and Harvey in this episode more than made up for the bromance draught I've been suffering through. Harvey makes Mike a personalized nameplate that says "Junior Partner." Harvey tells Mike that an army couldn't keep him away from his partnership vote. Harvey tells Mike that he's never known anybody who deserved being made partner more. I mean... thank you, Suits, for giving this to me.

It doesn't stop there, either. In the meeting, Harvey is so happy to see Mike get a unanimous vote. Both Donna and Mike call Louis out on his behavior, remarking that it was a low blow for Louis to use Mike's partnership vote to lure Harvey back to the firm. Donna knew how much this would mean to Harvey, as did Mike. Oh my God.

There's also the hilarious and beautiful little moment when Mike uses Game of Thrones to make Louis understand how terrible he was. Harvey is Jon Snow, Mike is his Uncle Benjen, and Louis is the kid who used Uncle Benjen to lure Jon out in the open so everybody could stab him to death. That was so fantastic.

In all, the bromance stuff, and the strength of Harvey, Jessica, Mike, and Rachel's characters, made for a fantastic episode. I'm really irritated with the way Louis is being portrayed on this show, but I still think this one was a win.

8/10