[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpEHBNCANUY]
Synopsis: We catch up with the Suits crew after the end of last season. Mike is trying to impress his new boss, Harvey is forced to make a tough decision, and all of the women on this show are as kick ass as ever.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Suits is back!
USA’s Suits is one of the few shows I really look forward to. As time has gone on I’ve become pickier about the shows I want. I mean, television quality is steadily increasing and I would rather devote my time to shows which reflect that aforementioned boost in quality. Suits is definitely one of those shows and tonight’s episode is a perfect example of why I love it so much.
So we left off last season with everything kind of good, kind of not. Harvey’s lady, Scotty, ended up leaving the firm and therefore left their relationship. Mike decided to become an investment banker after getting scared by an investigation, since he was not legally practicing law. He ended up choosing the job that would be legitimate over the job that he loved, but could put not only him but everyone around him in jeopardy. By the finale, Harvey lost not one but two people he cared about and the first scene of the new season shows where he and everyone else is in the aftermath of the last episode.
Harvey is sleeping with a nameless girl and flaunting it around the office. Gina Torres’ character, Jessica, has a mysterious new lover we only get a silhouette of in the opening scene. Mike and Rachel seem to be happy as clams together, since Rachel got what she wanted (to go to law school and have Pearson-Specter pay for it) and Mike is working a job he likes. Everything seems to have settled, but of course that can’t hold true for long. Let’s throw a wrench into the mix, shall we?
The audience gets a peek at Mike’s new job and really, it seems pretty similar to his old one. He gets to be his sweet, intelligent self while convincing people to take deals. Unfortunately, his new boss isn’t having any of it because Mike isn’t making enough money. He’s an investment banker, after all, and if they’re not making over 50% turnaround on their deals then apparently they aren’t making enough. So of course Mike has to go poking around for a bigger fish and that fish will eventually put him at odds with Harvey.
First, though, while Mike is off finding a whale to land, Jessica and Harvey are faced with an uncomfortable situation. Jeff Malone, well known SEC prosecutor, has shown up at the firm in order to give Harvey and Jessica a heads up: the sharks are circling and there is going to be an SEC investigation launched and each and every one of their clients is going to come under fire. If they don’t make a move soon, then they are going to be in for a world of hurt (what’s new?). However, he’s come with an offer and not just a warning: hire him. Hire him, and he will not be the one coming after Pearson-Specter with all of his power and abilities.
In other words, he offers to become their ally instead of their enemy.
I feel a bit proud of myself that just watching the scene, I totally called it that he happens to be the lovely gentlemen Jessica is sleeping with. It was subtle, but somehow their relationship came out in the minute shifts in postures and attitudes when they were put in the room together. Don’t even get me started on how wonderful Gina Torres is. I’m disappointed she didn’t get more screen time in Hannibal season two because she plays subtle almost as well as Mads Mikkelsen. She is another actor in the world who doesn’t mind dialing it back in order to let the small ways she moves and the sharpness of her tone portray to the audience what needs to be seen.
Then again, I’m glad we get an entire season of Suits with Gina Torres in a starring role. Holla.
Meanwhile, in the land of Louis Litt we get the true humor side of the show. This is one of the things I love about Suits: even when it gets pretty drama heavy and confusing, we can count on Louis to do something completely ridiculous to lighten the mood. I think the writers made a great decision in giving him a new associate because he and Katrina play off of each other so well. She fuels him, but she also acts as a sort of grounding character who can balance out the sheer absurdity of the things Louis does. He seems a little less out there when he’s got Katrina reigning him in and redirecting him. Needless to say, I enjoy Louis’ character a lot more now that Katrina is his partner in crime.
The entire episode, Louis is completely clueless as to what is happening around him. As Katrina is a ground to him, I think Louis is almost a grounding force for the audience. Even when everything else is spinning out of control, Louis is up to some sort of scheme in order to further his own agenda. He’s a character whose motivations are almost always obvious, and when everyone else is acting like huge question marks when it comes to their aim, Louis is straightforward. That stays true for tonight’s episode as he tries to play coy in order to figure out how to get his name on the wall alongside Jessica Pearson and Harvey Specter.
It doesn’t work out for him, poor guy, but at least he tried and eventually got his shit together.
With an idea in mind on how to land the big one Mike needs to impress his new boss, he approaches Harvey to enlist his help. After all, Harvey is the lawyer for Mike’s hedge fund, so they have an excuse to work together. Mike shares his idea, Harvey mocks it, refuses to go along with it, and forces Mike’s hand. So Mike lays down the law, puts Pearson-Specter under review, and tells Harvey if he doesn’t step up and do his job then he will lose a client. Harvey doesn’t back down, neither does Mike, and it puts them in a sticky situation when another client comes along and creates a conflict of interest.
On a side note, another thing I love about this show is the ability to leer openly at beautiful men in suits. I know some people think the show uses sexist advertising, but I just have a difficult time seeing it that way. There is one scene in particular tonight that I probably wouldn’t have noticed a year ago, but noticed now. Harvey used Rachel to send a message to Mike that he wasn’t backing down, and while Rachel and Mike are discussing is, the camera is focused squarely on Mike’s rear end. That’s right, even though you can see his entire body in the mirror he’s in front of, the attention is clearly ALSO being drawn to his butt tucked away in a nice suit.
It is refreshing to see this, because in a typical show I imagine it would have been Rachel who would have been the focus. We would have been waiting to see her undressing or getting dressed. The focus would have been entirely on her body because that is the norm in television. Instead, during the entire scene, the focus was on objectifying Mike’s wonderfully cute butt and I loved it. I love this show because it gives women more than their fair share of eye candy and puts the focus on sharp suits, well fitted trousers, and the way it is filmed often puts men in suggestive situations just as much as it puts women in them.
Suits is beautiful in this regard and it is one of the things that makes it stand out in the process of shooting. Never mind the fact the cinematography as a whole in this show is absolutely breathtaking. Everything is dynamic and nothing feels gross, old, or boring. It is always moving somewhere and it really helps push the audience through the storyline.
Anyway, rambling aside, the episode tips towards its finish with three events. Harvey realizing there is a conflict and that he is going to have to stop helping Mike as a client, Mike realizing that Harvey is going to put up a fight and there is nothing he can do about it except embrace it, and Jessica agreeing to hire mister SEC investigator Jeff Malone. In usual Suits style, the writers waste no time in piling on the tension as they set up the next story arch. No time is wasted, and that’s the final thing I appreciate about this show. They don’t hem and haw, they push forward with the belief that their audience is intelligent enough to keep up with what is happening.
Finally, the episode ends with a big surprise: the client Harvey has chosen, who Rachel has to help defend, and who Mike has to go toe to toe with is none other than the married man Rachel slept with. Oh snap!
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV5Z45g1Sso]
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