Suits: Shake the Trees (6x07)

Oh no... poor Harvey. That's my main takeaway with this episode, even though Harvey is straight up breaking the law and I probably shouldn't be sympathizing with him quite this much. But still. Poor Harvey. In all, this may have been the weakest installment of the season thus far, but there was still a lot to enjoy.

Cons:

I've been complimenting the speed of the central plot for the past few weeks, but this week I noticed that we're getting a lot of repetition. Harvey shows up at the prison, Mike is surprised to see him, Harvey tells Mike a new piece of information, Mike still has nothing to report back about Kevin. Cahill and Harvey collude, it looks like Sutter might win anyway, Harvey has to do what he can to make it look like he's supporting Sutter while undermining him all the while... I feel like the events of this episode basically recapped what we already knew was going on. Of course, things did move forward, and they moved forward in a few really big ways. But in terms of the pacing and the structure of this episode, I sort of feel like we're getting more of the same.

I'd say my least favorite part of this current plot thread is Mike's characterization. There's this moment where Kevin accuses Mike of regretting taking a deal to save Harvey. Kevin says that he doesn't regret the deal that he took, because he did it to protect his wife, who he loves. It was an interesting moment, and I feel like maybe we're supposed to get the idea that Mike does resent Harvey a little bit for being out and about while he's trapped inside. He even admits something like that to Kevin. But if that's what they're going for, they're just not doing enough to flesh out Mike's character and his motivations. Why is he acting so short and testy with Harvey? Shouldn't he be just a tiny bit grateful that Harvey has been working so hard to rescue him? As tired as I am of seeing Mike in prison, I'm starting to wish we could spend more time with him just in prison, dealing with the daily challenges and maybe learning something about himself from his awful experiences. That doesn't seem to be what's happening, and it's a shame.

Suits: Spain (6x06)

This show, man. It does not pull its punches. Let's dive straight in.

Cons:

In subplot news, Louis and Tara's relationship is just gross. Louis gets the house he wanted, but Tara wants to see it before the closing is over, meaning that Louis has to find a way to get her in there to look around before the previous owners have officially vacated. Louis gets Donna to help him out, and they go to look at the house. But the previous owners come in while Tara and Louis are there, ruining the plan. At first, Tara is pissed off, and rightfully so... but then she seems to think it's romantic that Louis bought a house just to spend time with her, and it looks like she has feelings for Louis, too. Ugh. Stop romanticizing deceit 2k16. I really wanted to like this relationship, because I'm a fan of turning Louis from a bumbling annoying failure to a competent adult worthy of his wealth and power. But alas... I can't get behind this relationship. Tara finding the whole thing romantic was really annoying to me. Wasn't she just the least bit creeped out? This plot thread also didn't do any favors for Donna, as she spent the episode supporting Louis in his crazy plans and acting like she deserved a medal for it.

The main plot continues to focus on the delicious mess between Mike, Kevin, Harvey, Cahill, Sutter, et. al. I really like where everything is heading, but I do have one complaint. Mike is struggling to handle the fact that Kevin was arrested for drunk driving, since Mike's parents were killed by a drunk driver. I like the idea of exploring this tension, but the episode started off with Mike having a dream where Harvey came to tell him that Rachel was dead, and that Kevin had killed her. This was just a little on the nose to me. The whole sequence didn't feel like a dream at all. It felt awkward and forced. Usually, even if my dreams are manifesting as a result of my current life circumstances, it's not quite as cut-and-dry as this. There might have been a cool way to have Mike dream about his parents' death, and Kevin's arrest, and even Rachel being in danger, without having it be so spelled out for us.

Suits: Trust (6x05)

And we're back. I'm going to dive right in to this one without much preamble. I liked it, though!

Cons:

Louis has a subplot where he asks Donna for her help in buying him a house in the Hamptons, so that Louis can have Tara remodel it. Last week, I said that Louis' thing with Tara had the potential to actually be sweet, but this whole idea of spending absurd amounts of money to lie to a woman in order to eventually court her... it just reeks of the old Louis, the one who always skeeves me out in his behavior towards women. And Donna spent the episode helping him find the house, which relegates her back to a position of Louis' little helper. She's not even supposed to be working for Louis anymore! And in the end, Louis tells Donna that he misses her, and that's enough for Donna to forgive Louis for being a jerk and present him with the perfect house? It felt like a sloppy retread of the same old ground with Louis. The whole thing annoyed me.

Suits: Turn (6x04)

Rarely have I been so torn about an episode of this show. Generally I think a certain episode or plot development is either so-so or fantastic. This week, there were some things I really loved, but a few things that I flat-out hated. Let's dive in.

Cons:

So, my two big complaints about this episode both center around Mike's story line. In short, Harvey tells Mike that he has to inform on Kevin and then he can get out, and Mike says no. Harvey wants to tell Rachel to get Rachel to change Mike's mind, but Donna says no - if Rachel finds out that Mike turned down a deal like this, she'll be heartbroken. So then Harvey arranges with Cahill and the warden to drug Mike, pretend it was Frank Gallow, get him out of prison for a short period of time so he can talk him in to taking the deal. He's supposed to go to Cahill, but instead Harvey takes Mike to Rachel. They spend a few hours together, and Mike tells Rachel about the deal, and agrees to take it.

Okay. Where to even start? This whole keeping Rachel in the dark thing is driving me crazy. There's this moment where Donna says that if Harvey tells Rachel what's going on, Rachel will leave Mike. That's... insane. Rachel knows all about Mike's loyalty. If they could get through Mike's decision to go to prison to protect Harvey, Louis, and Jessica, then surely they could get through this too. Then, later, Harvey has Mike lie to Rachel about how he got out of prison for six hours, which is just gross. I get that we're supposed to think everybody cares about Rachel and wants what's best for her... but that's not what I get from this at all. The fact that Harvey has gone to see Mike multiple times, and that we only just now got a phone call between Mike and Rachel in the fourth episode is really annoying. I feel like everybody else is treating her like a child that needs to be coddled and protected. She deserves to have all the information. It sucks that Harvey and Cahill are the only two people in this whole episode who think Rachel deserves to hear the truth. Also, and I hate saying this, but Rachel is just a stronger character without Mike around. Her life is finally moving forward in a way it hasn't been able to in such a long time. There's this sick little part of me that doesn't want Mike to be free, because it'll give Rachel a chance to get her life onto stronger footing without him around to drag her down. Sorry, not sorry. I love Mike, but Rachel might deserve better.