Suits: Harvey (8x16)

Wow, okay, I'm sorry... I'm not convinced. I feel bad, but that just did not work for me.

Cons:

I'm talking about Donna and Harvey. I'm sure there were plenty of people watching that episode who were overjoyed that their ship had finally set sail, but I was just completely underwhelmed. I promise you, this isn't just about me shipping Marvey, either. On its own merits, Harvey and Donna hooking up just does not work for me on a fundamental level. I'm going to break down some of the reasons why.

First of all, on a superficial level, I just didn't buy their chemistry in that final scene. It wasn't embarrassingly bad or anything, but I found Donna and Thomas much more compelling in terms of chemistry, so that's a bummer.

Then, there's the hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-hammer script. As the episode ends, Robert makes this big declaration about how going through something difficult makes you realize what's important in life - and for him, that's his wife. Then, Alex repeats the same thing, saying he needs to get home to his wife. So here's the problem with this - Harvey had just asked first Robert, and then Alex, to go grab a burger with him, and they both turned him down to go be with their wives. This doesn't read like Harvey is secretly pining for a specific woman, it reads like he's just generally lonely.

Then we have a moment with Samantha. She makes a comment about what she's going to do without the one person who she always wants to go to when she has good or bad news, and Harvey abruptly has a light bulb moment and leaves, to rush off to Donna because he's apparently just realized that Donna is that person for him. I mean... that's a cliche, for one thing. And for another, this whole narrative doesn't bear itself out in a satisfying way at all. What I realized watching this episode is that the last several seasons of Suits have made a convincing case for the fact that Donna is still pining for Harvey, but it hasn't made a case for the reverse of that. Sure, Harvey loves and cares for Donna deeply, but Harvey's sudden realization here doesn't bear out under what we've seen over the last few seasons. I just don't buy that he loves her. This is sort of a lose-lose situation for me, because I didn't like the implication that Harvey just realized what had been right in front of him all along, but I think I would have been equally annoyed if they'd tried to imply that Harvey had been pining for Donna and had just decided to act on it. The fact is, I'm just not convinced by them as a romantic pairing anymore. And on top of that, Harvey was rude to Samantha! She was trying to share her feelings about Robert leaving, and Harvey just left! Ouch.

This show has positioned Donna as a strong female character, and has given her an arc about self-confidence and going after what she deserves for herself. That's a great concept for a character, but I find that often the show doesn't follow through on its promises with her characterization. This episode is a good example of that. The episode is called "Harvey," and that final scene between Harvey and Donna is supposed to be this big, exciting, culminating moment for the two of them. So... why did Donna get so little of the run time this week? As far as we could tell just last week, she had serious and genuine feelings for Thomas. Now, it seems that was a red herring. A way for her to lie to herself about her continued love for Harvey. And we only get a few little snippets with Donna to see that play out. She's not in the majority of the episode, so pretty much the whole emotional journey is Harvey's. That's fine, but it has the unfortunate consequence of sort of framing Donna like a prize to be won. The episode didn't take its time to convince me that Donna wanted this, and that Thomas wasn't that important to her.

Turning to other aspects of the plot - I found the flashbacks perfectly fine in and of themselves, but I don't really understand Robert's guilt over the death of a mugger acting as a catalyst for saving Harvey and getting disbarred. There have been plenty of other times over the course of this show where he could have sacrificed something because of a generally guilty conscience. Why was this particular situation the one that made him decide to act? The connection seemed quite flimsy to me.

Also, this was a finale, and Katrina wasn't in it at all! I call foul. I hope we get tons of time with her in the ninth and final season.

Pros:

Whew. Sorry I complained about the Darvey stuff for so long. I understand that there are a lot of people who are probably thrilled, and while it may sound like I'm contradicting myself, I do understand it on a certain level. I really don't give much of a crap about Donna and Harvey's romance, but I'd rather have them together than keep playing the juvenile will-they-won't-they game. If the writers are smart about this, we now have a whole season to build up their romance and make them a convincing couple. I do appreciate that.

There were aspects of this episode that I actually enjoyed quite a bit, peaking out from between all of the stuff that pissed me off. To start with, I found the flashbacks with Robert and Samantha pretty strong. I think their connection works to humanize Robert, and to bring Samantha into the world of the story with a little more strength. Her character still isn't super interesting to me, but I did find her compelling here. She was angry and scared, and Robert was there for her no matter what. It reminded me of the strength of the mentor/mentee relationship that has gotten so much emphasis on this show. Harvey and Jessica, Mike and Harvey, Samantha and Robert. There's something undeniably powerful about the strength of bonds that stretch past the professional.

There was one moment with Samantha that I particularly loved, and it actually felt like a good moment to encapsulate the appeal of this show as a whole. She's talking to Harvey about Donna - if Samantha's being honest and professional, Donna should be fired for breaking privilege with Thomas. But if she's speaking as Donna's friend, there's no way Samantha would even consider letting her go. She comments that the firm is rubbing off on her, and marvels at how crazy they all are. The point is, she knows that Harvey would never consider turning on Donna, and Samantha wouldn't want him to. They'd all throw themselves in front of a bus, commit career suicide, to protect one another. Mike did it for Harvey, Louis, and Jessica. Harvey tried to do it for Mike, then for Donna. Robert does it for Harvey. It's what they do. It's what makes them a family even when everything is at its absolute craziest and lowest point. And that's why these people are compelling to watch.

I really do like Alex quite a bit. He hasn't been given a ton to do, but his willingness to lie to protect Harvey this week was really touching, and I liked the moment afterwards when Harvey thanked him for it. There's a camaraderie there that I wish we could explore more. It's fun to see him as a team player in this way, instead of relegated to the subplot.

Daniel Hardman was kind of toothless in this episode. By that I mean, he was trying to disbar Harvey, but he didn't get a lot of screen-time to be his villainous self, and I oddly rather appreciated that. We don't need to spend a lot of time focusing on a character who's just returning for one episode. And actually, this episode did something to humanize Hardman. After all, he's sort of... right. I mean, Harvey is guilty of exactly what Hardman is accusing him of, and yet once again, this same group of people manages to pull the rug out from under him and ruin his chances of getting back on top. The stuff between Hardman and Zane was actually a little bit... touching? There's a moment when Robert is confessing to breaking privilege, and Hardman is just disbelieving, and he seems really hurt that Robert is directly involved like this. Hardman expected a dirty trick, but he didn't expect it to come from Robert, and you can tell that he's upset about it on a personal level. That oddly made me a bit emotional!

There was one Mike mention, and it was pretty great. (See, you can tell I'm not much of a Darvey fan when I end this particular review still talking about Mike). Hardman wants to know why Robert has thrown in his lot with Harvey and Louis, and wonders if it's "just because Rachel married Harvey's protege?" That basically implies that even Daniel Hardman knows the importance of Mike to Harvey, since he's comparing it to Robert's love for his own daughter. Or maybe I'm delusional. Don't take this away from me, it's all I have left!

6/10