Suits: Quid Pro Quo (6x15)

Eh. I guess my problems with this episode outweigh my positive notes about it, but it's not like I had a bad time watching or anything. I'm a little torn.

Cons:

Donna and Benjamin's plot continues to be stupid, although I did like some of the elements that came out of it this week. I'll discuss that in a moment. Still, the entire premise is so painfully stupid and unearned by the rest of the show. I couldn't help but agree with the investors that Donna and Benjamin met with. Why should anybody throw money at this thing?

Louis and Tara veered right back into stupid town. I mean, they never really left it, but at least I've been enjoying Louis' character development. This week, Louis continues the streak of making informed, logical decisions and not losing his mind over inconsequential things, which I quite enjoyed. But he decides to tell Tara the full truth about Mike - he knew Mike was a fraud, and he leveraged that knowledge to become name partner. She predictably thinks this is awful, and then Louis has the audacity to compare what he did to the fact that Tara was sleeping with more than one man when they met.

Ew. Louis. What. The problem with this plot thread, I think, is that there's no real way to root for Louis in this scenario. Even though he's being calm and trying to do the right thing, the fact remains that what he did about Mike was completely over the line. He blackmailed his co-workers into a promotion instead of turning Mike into the police. There's no way to spin that, and all it does is remind us of what a slimy little rat Louis can be.

Also, even though I liked the main plot with Harvey and Mike this week for the most part, I must admit I'm getting whiplash with Mike a little bit. He wants to be a lawyer at all costs. But then the cost is too high. But then it's not. But then it is. It looks like going into the finale, Mike is dedicated to getting into the bar no matter what, but he's been flip-flopping so much that it's hard to trust that.

Pros:

As for "The Donna" plot thread, I liked two things about it this week: Stu is back, and that's delightful. He and Donna are probably going to go into business together, and it'll be fun to have him back around. Secondly, Donna realizes that people won't necessarily take her seriously just because she has a can-do attitude and is good at reading people. The investors aren't interested in getting into business with a legal secretary. This was a great wake-up call for Donna, who still seems to believe that if she saunters into a room with enough confidence, everybody will fall at her feet. I'd be interested in exploring her confidence and how much of it is a pretense. That's a much more interesting avenue to explore than this magic robot thing.

As for the main plot: I won't get into details, but basically Harvey tells Mike he can get into the bar, but only if he drops the class action. Mike says no, because he doesn't want to abandon the miners. Mike says that they're done - it's too risky to try and get him into the bar now. Harvey then goes to Rachel. The two of them meet with a woman who can give them leverage over Velocity. This in hand, Mike and Harvey leverage a meeting for Mike with the bar.

That's a really simplistic description of the plot, but it leads to all sorts of meaty material. Mike's moral decision to sacrifice his own career for the sake of the miners was a great moment, and one we sorely needed. I needed to be reminded that Mike is essentially a good person. Harvey's desperation to get Mike into the bar is well documented at this point, and I liked seeing him continue the fight, even when Mike had given up.

Harvey and Rachel working together is such a treat. There's this unspoken truth between them that they are Mike's family, and that they need to do right by him at all costs. Mike gets angry at both of them for going behind his back, but ultimately he knows they're doing the best they can for him, and he decides to go through with the plan. I like this harmony. It's nice to have Rachel, Harvey, and Mike all on the same page and all working towards the same goal.

There were a lot of bad-ass moments, what with Rachel and Harvey tracking down the woman from Velocity, or Harvey and Mike getting a huge settlement for the miners, or Mike going to Seidel to get his deal back on the table. It's always fun watching these characters work together to kick ass. It also leads to a lot of humor. My favorite part is at the end, when Harvey says to Mike: "welcome back to the bar." Mike thanks him, and then a few minutes later they both talk at the same time: "technically..." "you weren't ever really..." "yeah." That made me laugh.

Underpinning the humor and the fun quippy moments is a lot of respect and trust. I liked how, after Mike yelled at Harvey for dragging Rachel in to this mess, Mike goes to give Harvey the go-ahead. Harvey says he wasn't going to take the meeting without Mike's permission. It might seem like a small thing, but it's not. When Mike and Rachel talk about the situation, Mike tells her that Harvey told him about Rachel going to Harvey to stop this whole mess if it got too risky. Rachel says "he wasn't supposed to tell you that" and Mike replies: "you really think he wouldn't?" Mike and Harvey don't keep secrets from each other - just from everybody else.

I can't believe next week is the finale... this show goes by so fast whenever it's on air! I'm glad we're getting a Season Seven, because I really want to see the fallout of whatever happens at Mike's hearing next week.

7.5/10