Category Projects: Suits

Okay, now it’s starting to feel like Patrick J. Adams’ time on the show is coming to an end. With two more episodes left this season, “Pulling the Goalies” sees Harvey and Mike team-up to help Judge Ralls, the judge who presided over Mike’s fraud case. Seeing Harvey and Mike kicking it like the good ol’ days has been a rare occurrence in the past few seasons, so it was nice that we got one more Batman and Robin takedown before Adams leaves the show. Obviously, this case wasn’t without its bumps.

Judge Ralls approaches Mike to represent her in the lawsuit, claiming she overturned a verdict for personal gain. She swears she didn’t do it, and guilt trips Mike into taking the case since she treated him fairly during his trial. She even quotes his closing statement back at him. So obviously Mike feels compelled to take it. However, taking her on as a client means the firm would have to drop any client that has a case in her court. This is the last thing Harvey wants to do, but Mike asks him to work on it with him because he wants them to have fun together and thinks Harvey might need a distraction from his break-up.

So, the two get to work on the case, which proves to be trickier than they expected. But that’s not really important here. What’s important is the meal the two share while working where Harvey tells Mike about Donna kissing him, and Mike admits that he told Donna to tell Harvey how she felt before it was too late. Harvey realizes Mike couldn’t have known she’d kiss him. So for the moment they’re cool, but once the case heats up, everything changes.

Eventually, the opposing counsel suing Ralls tells Mike and Harvey that she’s coming after her. Harvey’s one rule is that clients don’t lie to him, so he’s totally prepared to drop her because that means he won’t have to give up a big client he’s trying to sign. Mike, being Mike, doesn’t want to do that and unfairly accuses Harvey of never sacrificing, which causes a fight. Harvey points out that he has sacrificed everything, and then Mike throws the whole “I went to prison for you” thing in his face.

Donna overhears the entire argument and decides now’s not the right time to tell Harvey that she put their office lease in jeopardy. While Mike and Harvey were doing the Batman and Robin thing, the firm’s flirtatious landlord David Fox approaches Donna and tricks her into admitting that the firm restructured, which violates the lease and allows him to evict the firm in 90 days. Donna asks Rachel to help come up with a countersuit to save the firm, which ends up putting it in even more jeopardy because David never actually filed his suit and Donna’s suit violates the terms of the lease, which states that tenants can’t sue the landlord without first going to arbitration. So now, the firm has 30 days to move out. (Next: Donna and Rachel pull a Burlesque)

Continue reading Suits Recap: ‘Pulling The Goalie’

All good things must come to an end. The relationships you expected to end ended in tonight’s Suits. Sure, it wasn’t surprising, but it was still rather entertaining to watch exactly how these things fell apart.

At the top of the hour, it seems like Harvey and Paula are out of the woods. As they’re enjoying coffee together in the morning, Harvey says he wants to take her out for a nice, intimate dinner. Paula says yes. But what’s supposed to be a romantic dinner for two turns into an awkward evening meal for three people because Harvey’s mom comes down to the city for the night and asks to see him. Not wanting to disappoint either woman, Harvey decides to invite his mother to dinner.

The Harvey-Paula-Lily dinner starts out well. There’s laughing, stories are shared. No awkwardness in sight! But then Lily accidentally ruins it. As she’s about to leave, she thanks Paula for being the reason she and Harvey reconnected since Harvey told her that someone important in his life pushed him to do it. But, in case you forgot, that wasn’t Paula. That was Donna. Paula’s face drops, and the meal ends on a very awkward note.

And thus we arrive at the first ruined relationship in the episode. Paula realizes that she really can’t handle Donna being such an integral part of Harvey’s life because her ex cheated on her with someone he worked with and now she’s worried it’ll happen again — even though she knows she shouldn’t let the past affect this new relationship. So, she does what we all hoped she wouldn’t and gives Harvey an ultimatum: their relationship or Donna. It’s a moment I’ve been dreading because this is such a worn out cliché, but Christina Cole makes it work because you believe that Paula realizes how messed up this is and yet knows it’s the only thing that will ease her mind. Continue reading Suits recap: Inevitable

How did Harvey’s conversation with Paula about sleeping with Donna 12 years ago go? Not great Bob!

“Bad Man” wastes little time in revealing that Harvey and Paula are on a mini-break of sorts. Harvey hoped that Paula would just yell at him for a bit for lying and then they could move past it, but that’s not what Paula needs right now. No, she needs space to process this information and demands that Harvey gives it to her. Which he does. So, when the episode opens, Harvey is boxing his troubles away, but that’s barely getting the job done since he can’t stop thinking about their conversation.

Thankfully, our lord and savior Jessica Pearson appears to Harvey (via a phone call) with a problem that’ll help keep his mind off of his relationship issues. Jessica, who is totally fine with the harsh press about the newly named Specter Litt released, asks Harvey to divert $2 million of the money he’s giving her to an untraceable account. Obviously, Harvey’s first thought is that she’s trying to do something illegal, but she assures him she isn’t yet refuses to tell him why she has such an odd request.

This is a money issue, so Harvey turns to Louis for help, but Louis doesn’t have the “emotional bandwidth” for this problem because he’s dealing with his own issues: Sheila. Earlier that morning, Sheila interrupted Louis’ mudding session and tried to seduce him with some below-the-mudd action. The scene made me feel very uncomfortable. Louis tries to resist her, but Sheila ignores him and simply gives him a burner phone that she will call to set up their next rendezvous in the next few days because she’s certain he’ll change his mind and embrace being a bad boy.

Dr. Lipschitz says what we all want to tell Louis: Being a “bad boy” isn’t his thing and he shouldn’t do this because Sheila, like most of the women he pursues, can’t love him the way he wants/needs to be loved. (In case you forgot, which I did, Louis and Sheila broke up because Louis wants a family but she doesn’t.) But Louis being Louis refuses to get over the idea and continues to pursue Sheila. He tries to convincing her to leave her fiancé, but she rebuffs his sweet declaration of love because he broke her heart once before and she knows neither of them will change their minds about what they want out of life. So for now, Louis’ options are mistress or nothing at all.

As the episode unfolds, the series treats us to flashbacks to Louis’ high school years when he was “dating” a girl, who was only dating him as a cover because her parents wouldn’t approve of her actual boyfriend. Louis eventually learned what was up, but it took him a long time to put an actual end to it. In fact, one day Lil Louis overheard this girl telling her real boyfriend that she can’t actually be with Louis because he’s not a bad boy. Back in the present, Dr. Lipschitz reminds Louis again that it’s true, being a “bad boy” is not in his nature. But Louis decides that a tiger can indeed change its stripes. So, he shows up at Sheila’s office and declares that he’s ready to be a bad boy, because making the right decision is so damn hard for this man. (But hopefully this is the last time I have to use type “bad boy.”)

Continue reading Suits Recap: ‘Bad Man’

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. Continue reading Suits Recap: ‘Hard Truths’