Suits: Divide and Conquer (7x04)

Uh... Mike? Mike? What the heck are you doing? Are you for serious? What? No. Nope. Bad job. Let's take a look.

Cons:

So, Mike is going behind everybody's back and helping Oliver with the deceased prisoner case. This is horrendous. Mike has talked long and hard about how having a secret has weighed so heavily on his mind, and now that he's finally free, and a part of the bar, he lasts only a handful of weeks before he starts breaking the ethical rules of being a lawyer? He could get disbarred for what he's doing, and at this point I'm very sure he doesn't deserve another chance. Like... what the heck. After everything Harvey has done for him, and after everything he's been through, and after all this time of Rachel being so patient with him, and he's about to risk it all? Again? The part of this that kills me is that it's not like it's a black and white choice. If Mike keeps to his word and stays out of the case, that doesn't mean the client is going to lose everything. Mike could perhaps recommend another attorney to Oliver, or, as I mentioned last week, he could just do a waiver letter and PSL could legitimately represent both clients. This whole thing is such unnecessary and manufactured bullshit, and I'm pretty disappointed in it.

Speaking of manufactured bullshit: Harvey tells Jessica that he's having a hard time being in charge, and that Louis is angry with him. So, Jessica basically goes behind Harvey's back and helps a competing law firm (Alex's old firm) to go after them. This forces Harvey, Mike, Louis, Donna, and Alex to all work together to save the day, bringing the firm closer together. I have two problems. First of all, Jessica gave privileged information to another firm, which is, as discussed above, a horrible and illegal thing to do. Secondly, Jessica is great and all... but why has she appeared so much in this season? If she's gone, she's gone. Save her for the spin-off, please and thank you. Gina Torres is amazing, and it was great as always to see her. She looked particularly stunning in that dress. But at this point she's become something of a crutch for the story. We need to let the show grow and separate from her at this point.

Pros:

Although Jessica's involvement may have felt a bit shoehorned, I mostly really liked the main plot thread this week. Harvey has managed to piss off a lot of people, but an outside threat really did bring the team back together again. Mike swept in and saved Harvey's ass on a patent issue, which made for some adorable bromantic banter, and the return of the whole "Batman and Robin" comparison that just melts my heart. Harvey, you ol' softy. Also, I love that Harvey pissed people off last week, so the first thing we see him do in this episode is go to talk to Mike and give him a new pro bono, hoping to clear the air. When Donna tells Harvey that he made people mad, Harvey's response is to say "I already took care of Mike." I can't get enough of that kind of thing. Mike really is the first thing on Harvey's mind in most situations.

Surprisingly, Louis continued his streak of acting like a decent human being. He started to yell and get upset a few times, and at first refused to be rational in dealing with the potential loss of a client. However, when Alex stepped in and helped Louis keep that client, Louis didn't get mad at him for interfering. He thanked him, took him out to lunch, and promised to stand up for him if Alex ever felt overlooked at PSL the way he did at his old firm. Talk about character growth! Later, Louis also patched things up with Harvey. The two of them went to talk to their competitor and would-be poacher together, a united front at last. I just hope the good energy between them isn't a one-off thing!

I also liked Donna and Rachel's roles in all of this. Donna is worried that the associate she fired is the one leaking information to their competitor, so she enlists Rachel's help to dig up the truth. Of course, it ends up being a dead end. But it gives both of them a chance to further discuss Donna's new position in the firm. Donna knows that people think she's not up for this position, and she wants to make sure she covers all of her bases and does what's best for the firm. I'd love to see more of this. We're so used to seeing Donna as this uber-confident and competent woman. But it only makes sense that she'd be a little unsure after being promoted to such an important position.

Rachel and Mike, meanwhile, are wondering how to balance their super busy professional lives with their personal relationship. Neither of them are able to make any time for wedding preparations, and Robert Zane asks Rachel how they're going to make time for their marriage if they can't make time for their wedding. After thinking on it, Mike and Rachel decide that they want to have time to savor their wedding and do it up right. That means that they'll set a date, but it'll be awhile. On the one hand, this plot thread didn't really push the plot forward in a meaningful way. But on the other, it was nice to see Mike and Rachel take a second to think about their lives and their priorities, and reaffirm their commitment to each other.

I really like Robert Zane, and I liked that he and Rachel finally got to have a conversation about Rachel's career, and how proud Robert is of Rachel. That felt like it was a long time coming from the early days of the show. Sometimes things really do need to be said out loud. Also, the scene of the two of them in Harvey's apartment at the beginning was pretty choice. Robert is such a goof.

I guess that's all I have... I'm really, really pissed off that Mike is doing what he's doing right now. I think it's contrived drama at its worst and could really come back to bite him in the butt. We'll have to see how the rest of the season unfolds...

7/10