Suits Recap: ‘Hard Truths’

The first half of Suits’ seventh season ended with Donna planting one on Harvey and walking away, leaving us to spend the next six months wondering what this meant for their relationship. Well, the show’s midseason premiere gave us yet another Donna-centric cliffhanger — and one, frankly, that I didn’t think was necessary, but I’ll talk about that a bit more once we finish going through the episode.

“Half Truths” pick up immediately where last season left off, with a confused Harvey frozen in Donna’s office post-kiss. How does Harvey react to the news? Well, in the most Harvey way possible. Avoidance! He tells Louis to tell Donna about Jessica’s disbarment and then heads home where he finds Paula — you know, his girlfriend — waiting for him. Harvey impulsively asks her to move in, but she politely declines because she doesn’t move too quickly, which is more than fair.

Harvey continues his avoidance strategy at work the next day when he finds Donna waiting for him in his office. She wants to talk about the kiss, but Harvey refuses. So, she decides to change the subject and suggests they hire a new senior partner in order to show the world they can still recruit top talent without Jessica’s name on the door. But, Harvey cruelly shuts her down, saying she’s not a lawyer and thus shouldn’t be involved in this decision. That’s when Louis comes in, and Harvey kicks Donna out so the men can discuss how to handle the situation. Louis wants to dissolve and restructure the firm so they can pay Jessica her money without having to worry about Jack Soloff, who I forgot was a thing, and the other senior partners coming after them. However, in order to restructure the firm, Harvey needs the permission of one of the old named partners; you know, one of the guys Jessica got rid of when she ascended to the throne.

So, Harvey pays Stanley Gordon a visit. Obviously, Stanley’s a bitter old man who only agrees to help if Harvey does something for him. The details of this deal don’t matter, but it’s fair to say Stanley is a pretty terrible person and even after Harvey gets him what he wants, he refuses to approve the restructuring. Stanley says he’ll say yes if Harvey puts his name back on the door, which is the last thing Harvey plans on doing.

Ignoring Harvey’s wishes, Donna sets up an interview with a potential new senior partner and gives Harvey two options: talk about their kiss or interview the killer lawyer she recruited. Harvey chooses option B. But because he’s an a–hole, Harvey spends half the interview making snide remarks directed at Donna and purposefully ends it.

Look, I definitely understand why Harvey is pissed. His mom was a cheater, it messed him up, and now he feels like Donna has made him one, too. Not cool on Donna’s part. But, that doesn’t excuse his very unprofessional and, frankly, immature behavior. Furthermore, Donna also has a point, too: She has spent most of their relationship putting him first and she definitely earned the right to act selfishly for once — in this case, figure out if she felt anything for him. She says she didn’t.

That night, Harvey pays Paula a visit and finally comes clean about the kiss. She reacts exactly the way you would expect: She’s hurt not because of the kiss, but because Harvey asked her to move in right after it happened. The worst part of all of this, though, is that Paula thinks this is the first time anything like this has ever happened between him and Donna, since Harvey has neglected to tell her about the time they slept together.

Donna ends up telling Louis what happened between her and Harvey. Louis, who has been in a similar position, tells Donna a hard truth: She messed up and needs to apologize to Harvey. Later on, Donna does just that, but Harvey, at the time, isn’t in the right headspace to hear her, because he’s struggling to figure out what to do with the firm. He has two options: bring Gordon back, or, as Louis suggests, publicly disavow Jessica, which would sate Gordon’s desire for revenge on her.

After brooding on the roof, Harvey pays Donna a visit and asks if she thinks he should make Mike a senior partner; Alex suggested it after Mike killed it on a case he gave him earlier in the episode. Donna tells Harvey that Mike isn’t ready, which is something Harvey needed to hear. Before leaving to do what needs to be done, Harvey admits that Donna was right; she always puts him first and thanks her for that. The two hug it out, making it past this awkward moment.

With no other option and Jessica’s approval, Harvey releases a statement throwing Jessica under the bus. As the episode ends, he goes to see Paula and does something he should’ve done ages ago: He tells her he and Donna slept together years ago. This is a weird cliffhanger in which to end the episode, especially since I’m not nearly as invested in this relationship as I thought I was. We’ll have to wait until next week to find out what happens there.

Apart from the Harvey/Donna of it all, there wasn’t much else going on in the midseason premiere. As I mentioned, Mike worked on a case that Alex gave him, and although he encountered some problems, he eventually came out on top and earned his client $90 million. Also, Mike and Rachel decided to make planning their wedding a priority. Hmm, what could that mean?

Source: http://ew.com