The fourth episode of SUITS season 6 saw Harvey Specter at odds with two of the most important people in his life, and it was all because of his attempt to save one of them. Given the chance to become an informant in exchange for his freedom, Mike Ross wanted no part of the deal when he found out he’d need to turn on his roommate and only friend in prison, Kevin Miller. Harvey was desperate to find a way to make Mike see his side of things; but one of his ideas for doing so caused a major disagreement with Donna. With Sean Cahill’s offer hanging in the balance, Harvey went with a much more complicated plan…but was he too late? Check out our SUITS recap to see if the risks Harvey took paid off, how Jessica Pearson fared in her first run-in with the firm’s tenants, and what Rachel accomplished on her Innocence Project case.
Harvey Specter: The Genius We Deserve. Harvey had to have been so proud of himself. After failing to get Frank Gallo transferred to another prison and away from Mike Ross, his visit to Sean Cahill in last week’s episode wound up producing the possibility for an even better end result: All Mike had to do was inform on his cellmate, Kevin Miller, and he’d get an early release. Harvey was so excited about his news — and was kind of on a deadline, seeing as how there was no telling when Gallo would strike again — that he was prepared to run off to Danbury in the middle of the night to see his friend and client (brother, son, whatever else…) to make sure he knew about it.
But it wasn’t that simple.
Harvey was so riddled with guilt over Mike’s situation that he temporarily forgot that Mike just wasn’t the type of guy to turn on his friends. It was, after all, why Harvey wasn’t in prison himself. So, when Harvey told Mike that all he had to do was stab Kevin in the back and he’d be a free man, it didn’t end as he’d expected. Mike didn’t accept. The Dynamic Duo wasn’t back. Batman was still without Robin. In fact, the conversation turned into a screaming match, which only intensified when Mike revealed his own way to get Gallo off his back.
Mike being the genius that he is, he’d found a way to get Gallo released early.
Let’s not go into the implications of Mike Ross being completely fine with putting a dangerous criminal back on the streets, just to keep himself and his new buddy safe. I’m going to just pretend like he has some kind of endgame in mind that involves screwing Gallo over at the last minute, while somehow…I don’t know. Yeah, I just have no idea how Bleeding Heart Mike would ever want someone that dangerous to be a free man. But that’s cool.
After taking some time to think, Mike ultimately decided he didn’t want to take the deal. Even though he’d already lost everything by choosing to go to prison rather than provide evidence against someone else (Harvey) once, he still wasn’t willing to be that guy. Was it an honorable choice? Absolutely. Was it a smart choice? Remains to be seen. Was Mike even capable of telling Harvey what he’d decided? Nope. Instead of calling Dad, Mike asked to be transferred to Mom (Donna, of course) after a brief phone call with the should-be wife.
Mike told Donna he was afraid someone would find out what he had done, and he’d never get back to Rachel. Oh, and if Harvey tried to come change his mind, he’d refuse to see him. I think deep down, Mike knew that Harvey would find a way to convince him to turn on Kevin. Not only was his history with Harvey much more extensive and full of shared drama, but there was also the small matter of wanting to stay alive.
Because Harvey knew Mike all too well, he knew that the one person who would convince Mike to change his mind was Rachel; but Donna was not going to allow Harvey to involve her. As happens on SUITS, Donna and Harvey found themselves in the middle of a heated argument that basically boiled down to the idea that doing something that might destroy another individual (Rachel) in an attempt to save someone you love (Mike) is great in the short term — especially if it works — but a terrible moral decision in the long run. As bad as Harvey’s regret was, Rachel would be in far more pain if involving her still didn’t get Mike to as asked. Mike had already chosen prison over Rachel once, and if he did it again, it could destroy them both.
Let no one say that Harvey Specter isn’t a brilliant, if occasionally misguided, human being. Also, talk about a SUITS plot twist like no other.
Just as Mike’s plan to get free of Gallo by getting him out of prison seemed to be working, Mike suddenly took ill and collapsed in the prison yard. The logical conclusion, based the story so far, was that Gallo had only spoken to Mike in the cafeteria in order to get close enough to his food to poison him. However, it wasn’t Mike’s worst enemy that had drugged him: It was his best friend.
No, really.
Harvey Specter drugged Mike Ross so he could sneak him out of prison for a few hours, ostensibly to let Sean Cahill show him why he should turn on Kevin. What Harvey actually did, though, was take Mike home to spend some time in bed with Rachel. On the one had, this was one of the most hilariously bizarre things to ever happen on SUITS. On the other, Harvey Specter is a complete and total genius. He had everyone fooled. Anyone who saw him enter that prison, sick with worry for Mike and consumed with enough rage to try to go after Gallo in front of the prison warden, would’ve been completely convinced that Harvey was at Danbury to avenge Mike. He even coached Kevin to say that he’d witnessed Gallo approach Mike at mealtime.
What I’m saying here is that Harvey Specter is almost as good of an actor as Gabriel Macht. Almost. Macht had to be the one to act so well that even his actor was acting well, after all.
After all of that, Harvey dropped an upset Mike off in front of his own building, then just sort of waited around. As in, Harvey broke Mike out of prison and gifted a bro with a conjugal visit.
Anyway, said waiting around involved nearly punching Sean Cahill for trying to go into the building to tell Rachel what was really going on; but just as Harvey was about to make that overly emotional decision, Mike appeared to break it up. He and Rachel had devoted their pillow talk time to discussing why he was really home for a few hours, and then he’d decided to take Cahill’s deal after all.
Or so he said. As elaborate as Harvey’s scheme to make it happen may have been, “get Mike a couple of hours with Rachel” still seems like way too easy an avenue for getting him to stab someone in the back. We’ll see, I guess.
Meanwhile, at Jessica Pearson’s School for Gifted Strong Females (and Louis Litt). First up, Rachel Zane continued to prove that she’s a new, improved version of herself in SUITS season six. When Leonard Bailey (her client for The Innocence Project) was upset that he didn’t even have a “real” lawyer, she didn’t give up or resort to the tears of old. Rather, Rachel put on her cool, Jessica-esque exterior and found just the right words to get Leonard to explain why he needed her.
Then, when Professor Dunbar told Rachel that she’d been too naive in accepting Bailey’s case, she produced two boxes full of evidence to the contrary: proof of several counts of prosecutorial misconduct in the case. Boxes of it. Plural. When the professor was impressed, Rachel reminded him that, while she may only be a second year law student, she had plenty of experience and knowledge thanks to her time as a paralegal.
While Rachel was busy trying to become the next Jessica Pearson, Jessica herself was proving why there’s no one capable of reaching her level. After all the trouble Harvey had gone to in order to secure Nathan Burns as a client, Stu “Dudebro Tenant” Buzzini decided to sell PSL’s shares in Burns’ company, destroying his good faith agreement with Harvey. Burns was far from happy about that, meaning the firm was about to lose its only recent client.
Harvey had plenty of trouble on his plate without worrying about Stu, so Jessica said she’d handle it. And handle it she did. Big time. Dudebro may have been able to get under Louis Litt’s skin using stupid frat boy pranks, and he may have even been able to get one over on Harvey by failing to honor their deal. Jessica Pearson was not, however, going to let him get away with anything. After arrogantly (not to mention grossly — workplace sexual harassment, much?) demanding that Jessica go to dinner with him if she wanted him to unwind the trades, Stu learned the cardinal rule of SUITS: One does not mess with the queen.
Jessica used her connections to make sure that one of Stu’s recent acquisitions started losing value — but only after she jumped through the proper legal hoops to make sure she couldn’t be taken down for insider trading — and made sure he knew it was a good thing that he vowed never to forget what she’d done. “You mess with me again, and I’ll not only kick you out of these offices; I’ll put you in the ground.” In fact, Jessica did such a good job of putting Stu in his place, he decided he wanted her as his lawyer. She took the offer but on one condition: Stu and his fellow frat boys had to stop messing with Louis Litt. Family is, after all, the most important thing at the firm.
Other thoughts.
- “That’s what’s killing me, Donna. Don’t you understand?” Nah, Harvey. She doesn’t understand at all. You’ve only been together…how many years? She’s only helped you pull your head out of your unfairly attractive behind how many times?
- On a more serious note regarding that last quote and the image header used on this recap: I’m fascinated by how the “Donna argues with Harvey over his terrible life choices” scene is basically a SUITS trope at this point, and yet it never gets old. Whenever Sarah Rafferty and Gabriel Macht share a scene, something special is guaranteed; if it involves their characters being on opposite sides of an issue, though, that’s SUITS at its absolute best. These two actors are wonderful together, and every time Donna has to make Harvey see sense, there are new opportunities for character growth and viewers’ insight into where exactly Harvey Specter has been versus where he is (hopefully) going. Given the outpouring of emotion when Harvey said the guilt was killing him and physically let it show, I’d say this might have been the most open he’s been yet.
- Louis Litt fell in love at first sight, which is great for him and all…but could he not make up excuses to have Tara work for him in order to get close to her? It’s problematic at best. I also have no idea how this is going to fit into the current narrative, other than as the lighter subplot.
- I get that Mike’s life is on the line, but could Donna maybe get her own storyline outside of fixing everyone’s problems? We get it. She’s been the firm’s backbone since SUITS began, constantly cleaning up the lawyers’ messes. On this latest episode, she made Rachel see that she had no reason to feel guilty for throwing herself into her work and forgetting to miss Mike. She gave Louis the brilliant idea to remodel the office, which would keep him from having to see the traders. Donna even made Harvey look past his guilt long enough to see that risking Rachel’s heart wasn’t the way to save Mike. All of that is wonderful. Really, it is. But who is Donna Paulsen when she has no one to save but herself (and not because of some legal snafu involving paperwork and fraud, which has already been her big conflict — twice).
- Free Gretchen from Louis Litt, 2k16.
Make sure to tune in to the next episode of SUITS on Wednesday, August 10 at 9/8c on USA Network.