Suits: Coral Gables (8x08)

I rather enjoyed Louis' story, and Gretchen's, but could have done without some particular elements of this episode.

Cons:

Mainly, I thought Sam's plot thread was unnecessary. It wasn't bad, but it just sort of rehashed things we already know about her. Sam tries to poach a client from her old firm, gets mixed up in some old sketchy behavior, and ultimately ends up losing a client instead of gaining one. Along the way, Harvey is there to try and keep her in line. I liked Harvey interfering and making the right call, but what I was less crazy about was Sam trying to cross a line, failing to do so, and learning apparently nothing from it. She did something really sketchy in her past, and it appears that she learned absolutely nothing from it.

Pros:

Like I said, I did enjoy Harvey being the voice of reason in Sam's plot. Despite this show's many flaws, I still maintain that Harvey's character growth is one of the more nuanced and well thought-out that I've ever seen on a TV show like this, particularly with such a cliche character to start things off with. Harvey was the kind of guy who did the reckless stuff he is now cautioning Sam against. But he's not being a hypocrite - he genuinely has grown and learned over several seasons. One of his most important lessons is that it's possible for him to lose. He can't go in to every scenario ready to battle it to the ends of the earth - sometimes he has to give in. What taught him this? Mike going to prison. It's the first Mike mention we've gotten in a few episodes, so of course I had to mention it. I miss him so much.

Louis and Sheila go to see a fertility specialist, but it turns out to be a guy that used to bully Louis in high school. With some help from his therapist, Louis confronts the trauma he went through as a child, and decides to let the past go. He doesn't have to forgive his bully, but he does need to move past it for the sake of trying to start a family with Sheila. This plot thread is one of those that could feel repetitive or unnecessary, but actually works very well in reality. In some ways, you want Louis to get revenge on this jerk, or you at least want the jerk to acknowledge that his behavior wasn't just a harmless youthful prank, but rather a lasting trauma for the man in front of him. But ultimately, it's Louis' inner peace and feelings that are important, not whether or not the bully realizes he's wrong. That's a difficult pill to swallow for me sometimes, in fiction and in reality, but here I think it works out pretty well.

But the best story of the night belongs to Gretchen, a character long under-utilized. She makes a pretty big mistake, failing to get an important signature packet to another law firm. A deal doesn't go through, and Alex nearly loses a client, all thanks to Gretchen's mistake. I'm a legal assistant, so let me tell ya - I was feeling Gretchen's dismay and anxiety. I've made mistakes like this. Maybe not ones that would literally cause a deal to fall through, but I've sent documents to the wrong person or shot an email off with inaccurate information. It can happen to anyone, and I like that Alex, despite his client's threats, refused to even consider firing Gretchen. I was glad that this was a story focused around a pretty realistic thing that might happen at a law firm. There was no secret conspiracy, nobody was lying to anybody about anything, it was just a matter of an envelope getting covered up by a stack of files by accident. Nothing earth-shattering. Gretchen owns up to what she did, and even offers to retire to save Alex his client. Donna is there with some comforting words, and Gretchen decides she still has some fight left in her after all.

Despite not liking Sam's plot thread too much this week, I must point out that the parallels between Alex and Sam continue to intrigue me. This week, they both screw up and lose business instead of getting a big win. They are racing for the honor of name partner, and both of them just stumbled at the exact same time. It's interesting to watch, and I seriously don't know who, if anybody, is going to "win" at the end of this race. We're getting close to the mid-season finale, and I'm starting to wonder if Suits will try and maintain itself past this eighth season. If not, what is the show's endgame?

8/10