Suits: Shame (7x09)

Ah, yes. The Mike and Harvey banter and bromance continues. This is the good stuff. However, unfortunately that doesn't mean the whole episode was a winner.

Cons:

This is a small thing, but I wanted to bring it up because it's been bugging me. Why does everybody feel the need to have serious conversations in bathrooms? You've got Gretchen walking in to the men's room to confront Louis, and then Louis walking in to confront Gretchen later on. You've got Rachel finding Donna in the bathroom... it's just a lot of bathrooms. I always think about the convenient timing, that people always seem to find each other washing hands, and not still in a stall. It's just kind of weird.

Rachel and Robert's plot thread felt a little disconnected from the rest of the narrative. Robert wants to work with Rachel on a pro bono, and so they start going after a bank that apparently racially profiles. When they can't prove their case, Robert gets disproportionately angry, and reveals to Rachel that the real reason he wanted to go after the CEO of this bank is because back in the day, Rachel's aunt and Robert's sister worked for this guy, and he made her life miserable by sexually harassing her in the workplace. I liked this plot thread a lot, but like I said, it felt a little out of place. How does this connect with any of the other stories of the episode? And why bring it in now as a brief little plot thread just before the hiatus? I've wanted more for Rachel to do all season long, but this feels like an odd way to utilize her as a character.

Pros:

Louis, Brian, and Gretchen have a plot thread that continues the progression of Louis' redemption arc. (Hopefully this one sticks.) Basically, Louis takes Brian under his wing and works on an intellectual property case with him. When Brian makes a huge error, Louis lashes out at him, and Gretchen chastises Louis for his behavior. Later, Gretchen tells off Brian for trying to quit instead of working to fix his mistakes. It all works out in the end, as Brian finds a way to fix his mistake, and Louis comes over to help watch the baby so Brian can get some sleep.

Over the years, we've heard all about how the associates are Louis' children, and how much he cares about being in charge of them. But this is the first time we've seen him really bond with an associate, and it's doing wonders for his development. We now see that although he can be hotheaded, he's also capable of being a good mentor to someone. Even with Katrina we never really saw this level of mentor-ship. The resolution, where Louis goes to help with the baby, was exactly the kind of feel-good moment I can get behind for Louis' character.

And Gretchen! I'm so happy she stepped it up and put Louis in his place. She's a great character and it's a bummer that we don't get to spend even more time with her. I like that she wasn't cowed by Louis' threat of firing her, and I especially liked that Louis apologized for it later. Gretchen rules!

Donna spends the episode confronting the feelings inside of her that led her to almost sleep with her married ex. She tells Rachel about it, and admits that she's sorry that in the past she's always put Harvey ahead of herself. I'm happy to see Donna continue to stand for herself, but I will admit this sort of thing is getting a tad repetitive. Still, it reads a lot better coming from an accomplished COO, instead of coming from Harvey's secretary who was clearly in love with him. And speaking of being in love with him, we see that Donna is going to be put on the stand in a case Harvey is working on (more on that later). Donna wants Louis to prepare her by putting her through a mock trial, like he did so long ago when he got personal and basically forced Donna to admit that she loved Harvey.

And this is really interesting to me. In one sense, you could say that this whole thing is hyped up too much, and that the idea of another mock trial is just an excuse for more drama and emotional turmoil. But on the flip side of that, I really appreciate that Suits is a show that takes emotional and mental health really seriously. There's no downplaying the effects of demoralizing public humiliation. We see this with the fact that Louis and Harvey have both sought psychiatric help. We see it in how Louis' anger issues result in real consequences for and from his victims. And we see it in the fact that Harvey and Louis are both really uncertain about putting Donna through an emotionally difficult situation, just to prepare her for a case.

Speaking of that case, let's turn to Harvey and Mike. These two are just the greatest. Mike feels the need to apologize for all the trouble he's caused Harvey because of the prison case, so he picks a hot shot prosecutor and he takes on a client so that Harvey can prove himself a worthy competitor to a new up and comer. The only problem is, it turns out that this prosecutor Malick worked just a few offices down from Harvey back when he worked at the DA's office, and Harvey didn't remember him at all. Malick has a chip on his shoulder, and he's out for revenge. We do the typical back-and-forth, where Mike and Harvey think it's hopeless, then they find a way out, then Malick counters, then Harvey and Mike think they've won for sure, but surprise! Malick has one more trick up his sleeve. The episode ends without resolution, as Donna is being called on the stand so that Malick can try to prove that Harvey has suppressed evidence in the past, and is attempting to do the same thing in the current case.

There is so much to love about this. Lots of good Harvey and Mike banter, the two of them teaming up to take on a case, Mike bringing the case to Harvey in the first place because he wants to make up for causing Harvey any pain or inconvenience... this is all gold. And the fact that we're ending this half of the season before the hiatus with Mike and Harvey teaming up to take on a guy with a grudge... it feels like vintage Suits, and I'm thrilled to be watching it.

That's all I've got for now. I'm excited for next week. It looks like we might be forcing some sort of forward progress on the Harvey/Donna plot thread. I'm actually a little bit excited to see how this plays out. We've seen that Harvey is capable of being a loving boyfriend... can we expect that sort of behavior in a relationship with Donna?

8.5/10