This show is killing me with its awesomeness. This wasn't a perfectly executed episode, but it hit all the elements of this show that I love the most, so it's going to get quite a bit of leniency from me.
Cons:
Each of the two main plots tonight had one small problem. It wasn't enough to detract from my generally favorable impression, but still.
First of all, in the "Save the Firm" plot thread, we have the return of Jack Soloff. This character vacillates in my mind from totally useless to potentially quite interesting. The trouble with him is that I think we were meant to feel sympathy for him, since he is one of the many partners of PSL who has been screwed over because of Mike. Jessica even makes amends with him in the end, agreeing to pay for his buy-in so he can work at Robert Zane's firm. But this act of generosity from Jessica came after Jack trying to sue her, and Jessica's line about getting him out of the mess because she was the one who caused it just didn't ring true for me. I'm interested, in theory, in the idea of exploring the grievances of other PSL employees and partners who had to scramble to save their careers because of Mike... but is Jack really the best spokesperson for that group? We know too much about his slimy ways for me to feel too much sympathy.
Mike's side of the plot was both more interesting and slightly more troubling to me. The main sticking point here is that Mike is too belligerent. He gets into a fight with Frank with very little goading, and he acts like a total dick to Harvey from the get-go, refusing to hear Harvey out and let him help. Now, there are ways to easily make this an interesting development. Perhaps the feelings Mike expressed when he was beating up on Harvey last season are resurfacing. Perhaps he's resenting the fact that Harvey gets to go on with his life while Mike is stuck in prison. That would explain Mike's testy behavior. But that's not the explanation they are offering. Instead, as Mike gets further into trouble with Frank Gallow, he just gets more and more pissy with Harvey, and more and more stupid about his safety. I hope we can round out Mike's anger and resentment into a more explainable trait. Because as it is, I want to smack him and tell him to be a bit more considerate. After all, Rachel and Harvey are freaking out, too.
Pros:
So. Other than the problem of the unsympathetic Jack Soloff, the stuff in the save-the-firm plot was excellent. I don't even know where to start. The plot is basically that Jessica, Louis, and Harvey use the buy-in money from the other partners to try and pay off the lawsuits, claiming bankruptcy. This almost works, but Soloff and the other PSL partners try to get their money back. Jessica goes to Robert Zane and he calls off his new employees, saving Jessica and the firm. So, they almost succeed again, but then A. Elliott Stemple shows up and puts a wrench in their plans, basically extorting PSL for a personal bribe in exchange for him letting it go and letting the firm settle its lawsuits. Stemple doesn't want money - he just wants to make Harvey pay. In the end, Harvey gives over a painting he has had hanging in his office for his whole career. It's the duck painting, and it represents Harvey's only good memories of his mother. Jessica pays for Jack's buy-in with Robert Zane, claiming she'd rather have friends than enemies.
Okay. Lots of things to unpack about this awesomeness.
First of all, Louis took a backseat this week but he did have a very humorous moment towards the start of the episode. He hires a bunch of movie extras to make the firm look like it's fully staffed. That is, until Jessica points out that they're trying to use bankruptcy to get out of their lawsuits... Louis quickly dismisses his little worker bees. So funny!
Jessica Pearson is my heart and soul, honestly. In this episode, we saw her at a low moment, begging Robert Zane for his help. And Robert, surprisingly, actually gave it. We also saw Jessica at her most benevolent, when she decided to help Jack Soloff get back on his feet. I really adore seeing her strength and character come out.
Gretchen! She's back, and she's as awesome as ever. She points out to Jessica that now that everybody's gone, the firm is looking a whole lot blacker, what with Jessica, Rachel, and Gretchen now making up the very small employee pool. Jessica says that this shouldn't matter, but then gives a very discreet fist-bump to Gretchen. And my heart exploded. Later, Donna comes in and says she's black on the inside. When Gretchen gives her shit for it, Donna produces a picture of her dating... somebody, although we're never given a firm answer as to who. Whoever it was, it seems to earn Donna an extra ounce of Gretchen's respect. I was a little off-put by this exchange, but at the same time I'm all for these strong women working together. As a legal secretary myself, it's fun to see the role filled by such badass characters, even if the reality is less glamorous.
Then there's A. Elliott Stemple, who I hate even more now than I thought possible. As I'll talk about in a minute, Harvey is undergoing a great deal of stress at the moment, what with Mike's life on the line in prison, and his firm about to collapse. Stemple uses his weakness and exploits the hell out of it, taking away Harvey's one fond memory of his mother. The buildup to this moment was just so heartbreakingly sad, because Harvey has been mostly absent from this plot thread thus far, dealing with the Mike situation, but when it comes down to it... Harvey knows that he got Jessica and Louis in to this mess, and that he needs to get them out. Giving up that painting was so hard for him, and the moment packed a serious punch. Stemple is such a slime ball, and Harvey is such a darling. How much pressure can one person take before they snap?
Speaking of snapping, over on Mike's side of the plot, things heat up real fast between Mike and Frank Gallow. Frank goads Mike about Rachel, and Mike attacks. Donna had gotten Rachel onto the approved visitor's list, but Rachel is barred from seeing Mike because of the fight he started. Harvey goes down to the prison to see what's going on, and when he learns about Frank, he says he'll find a way to get Frank transferred to another prison. Mike makes him promise to stay out of it and let him handle it. Harvey promises, but on his way out he has an altercation with Frank, who taunts him by threatening Mike's life. Mike is nearly attacked by Frank and some of his goons, but Mike's real roommate, a guy named Kevin Miller, sends a guard in and stops the fight from happening. Harvey goes to Sean Cahill and cashes in his favor; Cahill promises to look in to getting Frank transferred elsewhere, so that Mike will be safe.
First of all, I love Donna for getting Rachel onto that visitor's list, and I love Rachel for being a badass and trying to force her way in when she is at first denied access. Rachel took a backseat to Harvey's involvement this week. I like the fact that while Harvey and Mike both want to keep the truth from Rachel about Mike's dangerous situation, Rachel won't let it happen. She demands answers from Harvey, and also demands that he do whatever is necessary to keep Mike safe. Maybe Harvey is in a better position to make things happen, but Rachel is not about to be pushed to the side.
The new characters in the prison are all shaping up to be pretty interesting. Frank is a formidable baddie, and I really like the way he's being portrayed with a lot of charisma to go along with his scary attitude. It makes me believe him as a leader in this situation. The prison counselor is also getting more interesting. Mike goes to him to ask for a job where he will work in front of people so that he can stay out of trouble, and the counselor obliges. He still gives Mike a bit of a hard time, but I think the respect and trust between them is starting to grow already. Finally, there's Kevin Miller, Mike's roommate. Mike was rightfully pissed at him for letting Frank into his room in the first place, but Kevin didn't want to cross Frank, a formidable presence in the prison, for the sake of some guy he didn't even know. However, Kevin more than makes up for it later, saving Mike from getting stabbed and probably getting himself in trouble with Frank in the process. He also reveals to Mike that he has a phone, and that Mike can use it if he wants. The jury is still out on this Kevin guy. I mean, I trusted Frank when I met him in last week's episode, and we saw how that turned out. But it seems like Mike has already made a new ally to go along with his new enemy in prison.
The rest of this review is basically just going to be me freaking out about Harvey and Mike. This is the quality content I could only have dreamed of when I learned that Mike would be going to prison.
First off, Harvey is super defensive about Mike when dealing with the fallout at the firm. When the prosecutor is talking about how PSL has defrauded all of its clients, Harvey gets steamed, saying he's tired of everybody talking shit about Mike: "he gave his heart and soul to every client he ever had!" Later, when he goes to Cahill to get help getting Frank out of there, he bristles at Cahill's derisive mention of Mike, and retorts that "that kid" is the reason that Cahill's career is doing so well right now. I just love the fact that even though Harvey knows it was wrong to hire a fraud, he can't discount Mike's goodness and his moral character.
I also love the moments between Harvey and Rachel, because we're really seeing how these two can come closer over their shared love for Mike. When Rachel first comes in and tells Harvey about the fight that Mike got into, he plays it cool, saying that he'll give the prison a call and find out what's going on. When Rachel walks away, his calm demeanor slips away and he tells Donna he's going down there right away. He wanted to keep Rachel from worrying. Later, Rachel yells at Harvey for refusing to do something to help, since Harvey is trying to trust Mike to take care of it on his own. When Rachel comes back to apologize, she says that "I didn't think this was going to be as hard as it is." Harvey responds: "for me, too." This reminds me of last week, when the two of them quietly admitted to each other that they missed Mike. There's nobody else in the world who could quite understand exactly what they're going through.
The main thing to glean from Harvey this week is that he is barely holding off a major freak-out. He goes down to see Mike, and when Mike asks him to back off, he has a look of severe distress on his face. He does promise to leave it alone... but that only lasts a few seconds. The best scene in the whole episode comes when Frank and Harvey talk through the chain link fences in the yard of the prison. Frank had gotten his guard buddies to help him have a private moment with Mr. Specter. At first, Harvey doesn't rise to the bait. But then Frank says that he's got Harvey right where he wants him. He refers to Mike as Harvey's "little boyfriend," and says that every time Harvey's phone rings, he'll be forced to wonder if this is the call where he finds out Mike is dead. Harvey snaps, reaching through the fence and bending Frank's finger backwards, threatening to put a hit out on him, or kill him personally when he gets out: "Don't you ever even look at Mike Ross again!" He even starts breathing heavily as he walks away, in a moment reminiscent of his panic attacks from last season. Then, later, the exact thing that Frank taunted him about happens. He gets a phone call from the prison and answers it with a shaky voice, terrified about what he's going to hear. When he finally gets through the automated voice and hears Mike, he says "oh, Mike, thank God." Mike is too busy being angry with Harvey for threatening Frank, but we the audience know just how panicked Harvey really was. Great performance from Gabriel Macht, particularly in that moment.
This stuff is gold. I cannot even tell you. Everything about Harvey in this episode just screams desperation. We learn that Frank was supposed to go away for conspiracy to commit murder, but that the evidence was mishandled and thus not permissible. Harvey pulled every trick in the book for Frank to go away for fifteen years, even though he might have gotten away with a much smaller sentence if not for Harvey. That explains Frank's anger, and it also explains Harvey's panic. This guy is not messing around.
So, in short, the stuff with the firm is solid Suits material. I love Jessica, Gretchen, and Donna. I love seeing them all come together as a team for once, instead of squabbling like children. But it's the stuff with Mike (and Harvey worrying about Mike) that really makes me excited for this season. What a bold, daring, different direction to take this show! I've always admired Suits for not resting on its laurels, and this season is proving to me that big risks can come with big rewards.
9/10
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