Suits: Cats, Ballet, Harvey Specter (8x06)

Okay. Yeah. This was pretty good.

Cons:

For the most part, I really did enjoy Harvey talking out his feelings, and his abandonment issues. But despite the fact that he's more in tune with himself, I still felt like his yo-yo-ing emotions were a little too blunt and obvious. He's not just vaguely irritated with Louis, he's flat-out mean, yelling at his co-worker and partner for no good reason. And when given the chance to talk to a professional about it, he comes to a realization of the problem within seconds. It's not that I think it's bad for Harvey to see a therapist and realize some emotional truths about himself. I guess I'm just annoyed that it happened so quickly. Also, sometimes Harvey and Louis behave like little children in a way that makes me think their names shouldn't be on the door of a very prestigious law firm. Is that just me? They can really be immature a lot of the time.

Pros:

I like that in this particular case, Harvey was the one in the wrong. Sure, Louis can overreact sometimes, but Harvey is the one who freaks out at Louis about something that's not his fault, and then takes over one of his clients in some weird form of punishment. Louis has every right to be upset. Obviously, their little talk with Dr. Lipschitz doesn't go so well, but it opens the door for Harvey to acknowledge his own bad behavior, and his later talk with the therapist goes better. The bromance that carried this show for seven seasons is no longer around, so it makes sense that Louis and Harvey's relationship would get some more attention. I love that Harvey still maintains a sort of "alpha dog" attitude about Louis, reminding him who's boss, but that it feeds in to their genuine affection for each other at the end of the day. The moment at the end when Harvey confiscates Louis' Dictaphone was great - Harvey wants to say nice things to Louis, but he doesn't want any sort of record of it. Excellent!

I want to say more generally that Suits has really surprised me with the time and dedication it takes to look at the mental health of its lead characters. Obviously, given that this is a show that takes place in a corporate law firm, they can't do too much high drama involving the physical safety of the main characters. Instead, they take a look at how these high pressure situations and tumultuous relationships might affect someone internally. There are a lot of characters like Harvey Specter on TV, but I haven't seen many other shows dive in to the psychology of the cocky, good-looking womanizer character in quite the same way. I'm impressed! Also, even though I usually save any Mike mentions for the end of the review, I want to say that I love the fact that Harvey knows himself well enough to know that he's still got some abandonment issues to work out. He's nervous about Louis pulling away from him to focus on his growing family, and he fully admits that he expects people to leave him. He gives as examples Mike, Rachel, Jessica, and even now his sister-in-law. Harvey is loyal to a fault, and he can't understand why the people he gives such devotion to are constantly turning away from him. It's sad, but the feelings do make sense.

I really enjoyed both of the subplots this week. Let's start with Katrina and Brian. The two of them have gotten to be pretty good friends, but Donna is a little concerned that there might be feelings developing. Katrina denies this, and tries to put a little bit of distance between herself and Brian by sending him home to spend time with his wife and son instead of pulling another all-nighter. Katrina is a character I never would have expected to enjoy so much, but I'm glad that her role has been expanding this season. And she and Brian are sort of cute, honestly. I feel bad for Katrina, because I can tell that she actually does have feelings for him. It's just the flustered, silly feelings of a small crush, but still. Katrina strikes me as the kind of person who has trouble with romantic relationships because she doesn't know how to make herself vulnerable (hey, that's every character on this show, pretty much!). Whether or not they go down the drama/romance path, I do hope we see more of Katrina and Brian's friendship. It's pretty adorable!

Finally, you've got Donna and Sam. There were a lot of things to love about this plot thread. First off, I liked that Alex was basically the "Donna" of this situation, talking to both women and getting them to see eye to eye. It was nice to see somebody else play that game, and Alex is such a genuinely good guy for helping these two women come to an understanding. I also like that Sam continues to try and prove herself part of the team, but she can't quite let go of her instincts to toe the line. Donna doesn't take kindly to her interference, especially since Sam muscled her way in to this pro bono to begin with, but in the end the two women work together to right a wrong, and become closer in the process.

I also just want to say that everyone flirting with Donna this week made me laugh. First, she and Alex joke around about how great she looks, and then Sam flirts with her and Donna makes it known that she's not totally inexperienced with the ladies. I loved that. And Donna and Sam did look really good all dressed up for that charity event!

I'll stop there. This show doesn't have the same spark that it used to in the early days, but I find myself still compelled by a few things going on. That will have to be good enough!

8/10