SUITS season 6 has been primarily focused on Mike Ross serving his time in prison, while he and Harvey Specter work on finding a way to lessen his time behind bars. After a bit of a weird hiccup in the previous episode, “Spain,” set the story back on track when both men finally earned the trust of their counterparts in the case against William Sutter. While Mike and Harvey were busy trying to solve the very real problem of keeping Mike safe and forging interesting new friendships in the process, Louis Litt continued to deceive his way into a new romance. Check out our SUITS recap to find out what happened when two major characters faced the consequences of their big lie, while another one reaped the benefits of his own.
Lying: The best way to find love, apparently. Ever since Tara walked into his life, Louis Litt been about as problematic as it gets. After demanding that Donna help him find the perfect Hamptons house in SUITS 6×05, Louis was ready to be the proud owner of just such a property…But when Tara asked to visit his “ancestral” home, he needed Donna to pull some strings so he could continue his deception.
What’s the best way to get your dear friend to accomplish the impossible — for everyone but her — so you can have a shot at meeting some girl? Tell her she doesn’t deserve to be in the executive kitchen, then essentially order her to work her magic. Obviously. Donna went above and beyond, as usual. She delivered the keys to Louis ahead of the requested time and schlepped out to the Hamptons to help “stage” Louis’ new property as if it had, in fact, belonged to his family all along. Just as Tara was admiring the view — and Louis was admiring Tara — the actual owners of the house caught Louis in the middle of his self-directed piece of theatre. And they were anything but happy with what they found.
Louis learned his lesson, right? Comeuppance and all that good stuff? Nope.
When Tara assumed that Louis was trying to get free work out of her so he could decide if he wanted to close the sale or not, he confessed all. Instead of running the other way when she found out a man had gone to such dishonest and and outlandish lengths to have a chance to spend time with her — rather than, you know, just asking her out in the first place — Tara actually said it was the most romantic thing she’d ever heard. I actually feel sorry for this character if this kind of behavior is her idea of romance. Lying is no way to start a relationship, especially when that lying involves hiring a woman to work for you as a method of “getting to know her.”
Louis has always been a wee bit clueless in the ways of the human race, particularly the female species, but after everything Pearson Specter Litt has suffered as the result of a lie, you’d think he would at least know that honesty is the best policy. Or, if nothing else, Donna should have talked some sense into him, rather than going out of her way to help him perpetuate his lies. Usually, she’s good at that sort of thing. I still don’t know what happened there.
But hey: At least the entire wood discussion was funny, I guess?
The real plot thickens. The big story on SUITS season 6 has, thankfully, not been Louis’ relationship sideshow. And while last week’s developments for Mike and Harvey were a bit convoluted at best, “Spain” brought real meaning back to the story at large. We finally have confirmation on what exactly it was that brought Kevin Miller to prison for three years: Much like Mike, he’d taken a deal that saved someone he loved. For Kevin, it was his wife, who had not only been aware of William Sutter’s insider trading — but in on it, as well.
During a mock deposition, it became obvious that Kevin couldn’t stand his father-in law, much less care about him enough to want to be in prison for three years; but no matter how much Mike tried to convince him to just go ahead and turn Sutter in, he refused. Punishing Sutter for his actions would mean sending Kevin’s wife to prison for much longer than three years, which meant he couldn’t do anything about his situation. So, after opening up about everything from how the program he’d written for Sutter was his chance to finally prove himself — but turned out to be nothing more than a lie to cover up the insider trading — Kevin made Mike give him his word that he’d never tell a soul. Mike’s never been one to go back on his word, especially when given to a friend, so that probably means his one chance at freedom is probably shot.
Before the mock deposition forced Kevin to finally open up to Mike, though, Harvey had come to some realizations of his own. Sean Cahill had reservations about Harvey representing William Sutter. Both lawyers had agreed that there’d be no collusion, and Harvey had promised to defend Sutter to the best of his abilities. In plenty of ways, we saw Harvey doing exactly that; but the truth of the matter was that Harvey came to accept that he’d do anything to get Mike out of prison, even if it meant blowing his own case. At one point, he even tried to slip Kevin’s program to Cahill by way of his dinner trash.
In the process of working on this case, Harvey learned something about himself that SUITS viewers have known pretty much forever: When Harvey Specter cares about someone (in this case, Mike), that someone is far more important than business. Harvey also discovered that Sean Cahill wasn’t hyper-focused on the integrity of the case because he was worried about what Harvey might do; he was worried about himself. This case was personal to Harvey because of Mike, but it meant something more than just upholding the law to Sean, too. His mother, everyone’s most beloved first grade teacher, never had a chance to retire and take her dream trip to Spain, and it was Sutter’s fault.
If Mike will just stick to the plan and use Kevin to help take down Sutter, everybody has the chance to win. Mike gets out of prison and out of danger. Harvey gets his friend back, and can stop feeling guilty about him being behind bars for a crime he and Mike committed together. Cahill will know that justice has been served, and he will have gotten some sort of vengeance on behalf of his mother. As Mike suggested himself, there may even be a way for Kevin to demand immunity for his wife if he finally turns on his father-in-law.
But will Mike actually go through with it? Between giving his word to Kevin that he’d leave it alone and all of the sage advice from Julius, it doesn’t look like things are going to work out quite that well. There will be no nice, happy ending with everything tied up in a neat, little bow.
This is SUITS, after all.
Extra thoughts:
- Mike Ross does Sean Cahill better than Sean Cahill. As much as it needed to happen, I really wish Mike had never been caught because seeing him playing lawyer again reminded me of one of the many reasons I’d come to love SUITS in the first place.
- “I just thought showing Tara your wood wasn’t the only way to show her what kind of man you are.” There’s actual meaning hidden behind that innuendo, complete with shades of the usually wise Donna. Too bad she didn’t bestow more wisdom on Louis from the get-go and prevent him from…whatever this garbage has been.
- Jill is to Kevin as Harvey is to Mike. Take that how you will.
- Rachel dies, and it’s Harvey that comes to Mike’s rescue — in his dreams. Take that how you will, too.
- Donna Paulsen continues to deserve better. More thoughts here.
- Despite everything he’s accomplished, Mike’s nightmare is a giant warning sign that our boy is a heaping pile of mental distress. Julius was right to point out that Mike’s subconscious was trying to work through the whole problem of having to turn in his friend in order to save himself. However, the part of the dream with Rachel’s death via the exact same method as his parents’? That points to a whole different can of worms. If the prison counselor’s job is to make sure that the inmates are the best possible versions of themselves by the time their sentences are up, Julius really needs to get cracking on helping Mike work through his childhood trauma before anything else. It obviously caused an otherwise brilliant and compassionate human being to become somewhat of a loser (remember the idiot who walked into Harvey Specter’s office that first day?), and then there’s the fear of abandonment to deal with. Good luck, Theo Huxtable.
- I am still 100% here for strong Rachel and her ability to find the balance between fighting for her client and making sure he knew who was boss. So far, she’s exhibiting the best qualities of the Pearson Specter Litt lawyers. Jessica has been a great mentor, and I even saw some shades of Harvey when she stressed the importance of Leonard’s honesty. Who knows? Maybe she’ll even remind us that the good side of Litt exists.
- We need to talk about Donna’s pink dress. It should be illegal to look that good and not have anyone notice.
- Neal McDonough and Gabriel Macht are so wonderful together. This budding professional relationship between Sean and Harvey is, much like Rachel’s massive growth, what’s keeping SUITS season 6 going in spite of some of the unfortunate missteps. This relationship is so different from the bond that Harvey and Mike have, yet it fits nicely into the series in terms of a (most likely) temporary replacement.
- Pearson Specter Litt Cahill?
Make sure to tune in to the next episode of SUITS on Wednesday, August 24 at 9/8c on USA Network.