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.

Pros:

I'm going to start with Rachel's subplot, because it's a lot less complex than the main story.

Rachel's Innocence Project case with Leonard Bailey takes a turn for the worse when Rachel's professor tells her the case isn't viable. Rachel tells Leonard, and he is crushed that she is giving up on him. Rachel then turns to Jessica, asking for her assistance. If she backs Rachel, Rachel can keep going on the case. But Jessica doesn't have the time to spare. Later, Jessica changes her mind, agreeing to work on the pro-bono case.

I love seeing more of "bad-ass Rachel," as Jessica calls her. Rachel has this awesome thing where she's a mix of the softer, more emotional connections with her client, like Mike was in the early days, and the more intense no-nonsense attitude of Jessica Pearson. In a way, it parallels her with Harvey, a man who values loyalty above all else, but isn't above crossing lines to protect his own. But Rachel stands on her own, too, without need of comparison to anybody else. She wants to help Leonard Bailey not just because she feels bad for him, but because she's good at her job, and she wants to see justice done. Jessica agreeing to help Rachel makes me really excited too. She turned Rachel down at first because she has no time for pro-bono work, but after a long day of struggling to drum up new business, she decides that an act of compassion from PSL might look better than more headlines about Mike. Any excuse to see Rachel and Jessica working together is a win in my book!

The Mike-centric plot continues to be the most interesting to me. I think the thing I like about it is how complex it's all becoming. A brief summary is difficult, but basically Harvey finds out that Sutter, the client he rejected earlier, is the guy that Cahill is trying to put away. Now, Harvey has to represent Sutter, Kevin's father-in-law, so that Kevin will continue to trust Mike. But Cahill is going up against Sutter, since he's under investigation, so now Harvey is in the position of representing Sutter while actively rooting for Mike to get Kevin to talk, which will put Sutter away and free Mike from prison. Harvey loops Louis in to help get Sutter out of a suspended trading license, using their new trader friend Stu, which loops him in, and Jessica as well, because she's the one who asks Stu for his help. This effectively wins Harvey a victory for Sutter, pissing off Cahill, but keeping Kevin on Harvey's side. Meanwhile in prison, Mike and Kevin have problems when Kevin finds out that Mike left the prison the night before, but eventually Kevin tells the truth about why he was arrested: he nearly killed somebody while drunk driving. And if all of that wasn't complicated enough, Mike finds out that his plan to get Frank Gallow parole will only work if his attorney of record delivers the paperwork in person. Harvey begrudgingly agrees to represent Gallow, but he sets Frank up, threatening to tell people that Frank tried to poison Mike, and then saying that the only way to protect his "admission of guilt" is if Harvey is his lawyer. But Harvey won't help him get out early unless Frank stops trying to hurt Mike, and instead becomes his protector.

Okay. There is a lot to unpack here, as you can tell. What I love about this is the way that everything is now tied so intricately together. Mike and Kevin are dealing with Frank Gallow, but now Harvey has to represent Gallow, and now he's representing Sutter, which means that in the public eye he is on Kevin's side, but secretly he and Cahill are both working towards the goal of getting Kevin to turn on Sutter. Cahill for career reasons and Harvey for personal ones - getting Mike out of prison. Louis gets roped in to help, Rachel finds out about it, and then we find out that Kevin is in prison for drunk driving, the very same way that Mike's parents were killed. Julius is judgmental of Mike turning on Kevin, but Mike pushes back against him, too. The intricacies of these relationships and story threads are a lot to grapple with, but they make for an exciting episode. I really have no idea what's coming down the pipe.

There are a lot of relationships I want to highlight in this big mess of stuff. I'll go through them really quick:

Harvey and Cahill - they have this weird enmity mixed with respect thing going on. Harvey gets one up over Cahill, but he doesn't totally defeat him, either. They have a drink together in the end, to solidify their respect for each other, knowing full well that it'll be back to battle the next morning. I didn't expect to care much about Cahill, but I'm finding him more and more interesting!

Harvey and Sutter - Harvey says he's representing Sutter because he owes him, since Kevin has been protecting Mike. This isn't the real reason, of course, but I do love the fact that Harvey's loyalty to Mike is dictating pretty much his every move in this episode.

Harvey and Louis - I love the moment when Harvey asks Louis for help in getting something done for Sutter. At first, Louis says that there's nothing that can be done, but when Harvey says that this leads to a way to save Mike, Louis decides to make it happen, no matter what. He even admits to Harvey that he's been missing Mike. Aww!

Harvey and Jessica - Similarly, Harvey enlists Jessica's help with Mike by asking her to go to the traders. Jessica isn't happy about it, because she knows that she's basically rooting for Sutter to lose, for Mike's sake, even while helping Harvey in representing Sutter. She says: "losing this case might be good for Mike, but it's not good for us." Even so, Jessica puts Mike first, which I think is awesome.

Harvey and Rachel - Rachel knows all about the Cahill thing now, of course, and she and Harvey have a quick check-in. Rachel is acting a bit cagey, and Harvey actually stops to ask her what's going on. This leads to Rachel asking him if he thinks Cahill can really get Mike out, and Harvey saying he's not sure... but he's never going to stop trying. These two continue to have these small moments where they reaffirm that Mike is at the center of their thoughts, and I love it.

Kevin and Harvey - Kevin and Harvey get some more time together in this episode. I loved it when Kevin told Mike about meeting Harvey the night before. Harvey played the angry and concerned friend very well, as Kevin was totally convinced that Harvey was going to attack Frank Gallow. Later, Harvey comes in to tell Kevin not to trust anybody in prison. This was meant to make Kevin trust Harvey, and therefore Mike, but it adds an interesting extra dynamic to the whole thing. Harvey has no reason to dislike Kevin, after all. And Kevin has no reason to suspect Harvey.

Mike and Kevin - The seeds of discord have been sown, as Kevin starts to suspect Mike a little bit, and Mike pushes Kevin for details about what landed him in prison. Eventually, Kevin does tell Mike at least part of the true story, with tears in his eyes. I love the fact that we got thrown for a loop here. Kevin nearly killed somebody while driving drunk? Yikes. Obviously there's more going on here - he got drunk after a fight with his wife, which was ostensibly about her father, Sutter. But we don't know the details, and Mike is going to have to find a way to press harder to find out. We now we have the added tension of Kevin participating in the same illegal and irresponsible activity that killed Mike's parents and started him down the path that landed him in prison as well. This is getting juicy.

Mike and Julius - Julius is being a bit judge-y of Mike turning on Kevin, which I think adds another layer to all of this. Mike isn't turning on Kevin, per se. He's turning on Sutter, who is a real piece of work. I can't wait to see what role Julius will have in all of this. He seems to be on Mike's side, but how far will he go for him?

Harvey and Frank - One of the highlights of this episode was Harvey's scene with Frank, where he backs him into a corner and becomes his attorney, pretty much against Frank's wishes. Harvey admits that he's sick to his stomach to be representing Frank Gallow, but that it's worth it to protect Mike. The enmity that these two have is really intense. This isn't even really a case of two enemies teaming up to take out a bigger threat. Harvey is representing Gallow for one reason and one reason only: to protect Mike. And Gallow is accepting that, because it means getting himself out of prison sooner.

Harvey and Mike - Of course, underpinning this episode and indeed underpinning this whole show is the relationship between Harvey and Mike. They don't have a lot of time to talk in this episode, but they hardly need to. They each know what the other wants, and what moves the other will make. Even when Mike gets testy with Harvey for telling Kevin not to trust anybody, you can tell that Mike respects the move. And when Mike brings up his problems with Frank, Harvey doesn't hesitate to represent Gallow, a man he despises, all in order to keep Mike safe.

That's a lot of stuff to happen in one hour, and I felt like this episode balanced it all out with finesse. As I mentioned above, Louis' plot thread was the only one I felt was wanting. I can't wait for more! When's the big Sutter-related secret going to drop?!

8/10