Suits: Skin in the Game (7x01)

This show has a special place in my heart. It's sort of like a disobedient, not-too-bright child. It can piss me off so easily, but nothing it does makes me love it any less. And lemme tell you something - there are a bunch of things about this opener to Season Seven that are not what I would call ideal. And yet... I still had fun watching.

Cons:

Donna... okay... look. All last season I was annoyed because the whole plot thread with "The Donna" was stupid and made no logical sense. However, I really liked the idea of exploring Donna getting more attention and respect for all of her hard work. Now, we throw this whole "Donna is suddenly a senior partner" thing into the mix. Yo. I'm a legal secretary who works at a corporate firm... let me tell you that this is ridiculous. There are plenty of other ways to move up in your field without going to law school, even if you work at a law firm. Donna seems to be suggesting that she's valuable not because of legal expertise but because of her management skills. Great! Promote her to a practice manager, head of client relations, executive administrator... any of these things. These are all real jobs with real power and money and an office and a say in firm policies. And they all make a lot more sense than just her being made a partner in the firm. It's ridiculous.

Louis screws up, people call him on it, and he backs down. Again. This time it's because he's smarting over his breakup with Tara. I get that he would be hurting, but he yells some truly horrible and abusive things to the associates, and we're all just going to forgive him and move on to the next cycle in the never-ending Louis story? Yikes. I'm sick of it.

Pros:

That being said, I do still like the idea of Donna standing up for herself more. Basically it's the framework I have an issue with, rather than the sentiment and motivation underpinning it. I hope that we can see what Donna can truly bring to the table other than just smart-ass remarks. She seemed like a truly brilliant secretary, but what does she offer that warrants the title of partner? I'm willing to suspend my disbelief to find out where they go with this.

Also, this episode featured Harvey not wanting to give thought to Donna's idea, and Louis demeaning Donna when she told him something he didn't want to hear, but then in the end, we get this great scene with Mike. More so than anybody, maybe even Harvey, Donna is the person who saved Mike and really encouraged him to start his new life. Donna comes in to congratulate Mike on his job and tell him how proud she is, and Mike makes a half-jesting offer that Donna could stay with the office, as it were, and work for Mike. But then Donna gives him the news that she's a partner. Mike is shocked, but really pleased. He tells Donna "it's about time." This was the first and only response Donna got in the whole episode where somebody affirmed her belief that she truly deserved this. Setting aside the reality-bending nonsense of Donna being named partner, I really did think this was a nice moment.

While Louis' never-ending cycle of crap pisses me off, I am glad that this plot thread gave Rachel a chance to grow a bit. She still played a supporting role here, as she encouraged Mike to go off and have fun with Harvey, and tried to smooth things over with Louis as best as she could. In the end, it looks like she will be taking over management of the associates, which is a big step for her. Her journey as a compassionate yet driven young woman is a journey I really loved watching, and I feel like she's finally getting what she's deserved all along.

Harvey got the biggest character arc of the episode, and fortunately I quite enjoyed it. He starts dating Paula, his prior therapist, but at first things don't go well because he seems to be reverting back to old bad habits. He can't seem to take control of the firm. He and Mike work on one last case together for old time's sake, but Mike has to yell at Harvey when Harvey backs down under threat from the client. Eventually, Harvey steps it up, beats the client at his own game, makes Donna partner like she's been asking all episode, and tells Louis firmly that he'll be taking control as managing partner. He then goes back to Paula and kisses her, affirming to himself and her that he wants to give this a real try.

Surprisingly, I actually rather like the idea of Paula and Harvey making a go of it. It's sort of random and out of the blue, but I like her as a character and I like that she doesn't put up with Harvey's crap. There was a lot of manly-man posturing from him in this episode, and she indulged it, but there was the sense that she knew exactly what was up with him from the start, as would make sense given their history as doctor and patient. Again, I'm sort of suspending my disbelief, because in reality I feel like a relationship between two people with such a history is a terrible idea. But, hey. Let's see how it shakes out.

Harvey finally taking control of the firm was really satisfying to see. I'm glad Louis backed off immediately and let Harvey take what's his. I'm also glad that the reason Harvey was finally able to see sense was that Mike yelled at him and demanded that he take control. There's something so satisfying about putting an end to Harvey's self-doubt. He's always put on this confident air, but now I feel like he has the reality of confidence to back it up. And I'm a sucker for the fact that Mike is the one who got him there.

I'll mention also, real quick, that Mike's character arc is basically that the clinic is really leery of Mike going to work for PSL, and Mike keeps insisting to everybody that he's going to do pro bono work and this will be better for everyone. Of course, his first case back with Harvey is working on a huge corporate deal, going to a fancy party with models, and having a blast while doing it.

Obviously this is going to be a thing this season, and I actually really like it. While before Mike was always looking over his shoulder and afraid he was going to get caught, now he has legitimacy. He's faced with the prospect of what to do with that legitimacy, and thus far he's failing in his own estimation. There's going to be push-back from Harvey, who's going to want Mike around as a corporate lawyer, and there's going to be the undeniable fact that Mike's really good at pushing rich people around and making big deals, and that more than being good at it, he actually likes it. I want to see how Mike reconciles these things.

I often end my reviews with a look at all the bromance, and hoooo boy. This episode was chalk full. Honestly, Mike and Harvey's flirting is getting a bit out of hand, but I'm not complaining.

First, there's the fact that Harvey, as he so often does, frames his day and his mood in relation to Mike. When he tells Paula that he's gotten his life together, the two things he mentions are that he's made peace with his family, and he got his old associate back. Later, when Donna tries to talk to him, he uses as an evasion tactic the fact that "it's Mike's first day back."

The banter in this episode was off the charts. Some of the best this show has ever had. But it's peppered with so many warm moments of Mike and Harvey just affirming how much they care about each other. Harvey is long past denying what this kid means to him. There are too many cute moments to count, but I think my favorite is probably when Mike gets drunk at the party and still schools Harvey by remembering the plan perfectly. The look on Harvey's face as Mike drunkenly walks away to talk to models is one of pure affection and amusement. I could watch these two hang out all day.

And there you have it. This show is weird and I don't know that I can support most of what it gets up to nowadays. The mishandling of Donna and Louis' characters sucks, because there's so much potential there. But if I can get some more feel-good Harvey and Mike bromance in the mix, then I'm apparently willing to put up with quite a lot of nonsense.

7/10