“Donna,” the SUITS mid-season finale, teased the reset of the infamous “do you love Harvey Specter” scene from the series’ first season. But unlike last time Louis Litt was tasked with preparing Donna for an in-court appearance, the mock trial never came. While the Pearson Specter Litt family dealt with the aftermath of Andrew Malik’s harsh treatment of Donna in court, Donna herself had to decide what loving Harvey really meant. If that wasn’t enough of a story to tell in this packed SUITS mid-season finale, Team Zane was busy trying to get justice for their own family by going head-to-head with a corrupt banker.
Let’s get Zane-y. Before delving into the Donna story of “Donna,” let’s talk about Robert and Rachel Zane.
As we learned in “Shame,” Robert Zane’s discrimination suit was really his way of getting back at the predator who had ruined his sister’s life when she turned down his advances. After Robert had lost his cool when questioning a bank worker in the first chapter of this story, Rachel came to the SUITS mid-season finale as Team Zane’s winner.
And she stayed firmly in the hero position for the entirety of the episode. Girl power, folks: It’s a beautiful thing.
Rachel realized that, if Arthur Kittredge (the bank’s CEO) had treated Aunt Jasmine so terribly, it was likely that he’d done the same to other women. And that, according to our brilliant young lawyer, was “treating a group of people differently, which is the definition of discrimination.”
This new angle kept the suit alive. Team Zane was able to dig up enough dirt to depose Kittredge, whose executives were 90% male — a number even worse than the average, which isn’t exactly promising in and of itself.
Kittredge was the exact caricature of your stereotypical wealthy, white misogynist. In the middle of being questioned about his mistreatment of women like Jasmine Zane, he made wildly inappropriate comments about his “type” and even sexually harassed Rachel. He did this to a young woman, despite the fact that she was the opposing counsel — and in front of her father, no less. The monster even offered to settle the case “for one date, maybe two” with Rachel while in the midst of telling Robert Zane that he remembered his sister.
Robert Zane, seasoned veteran, completely lost his cool and was caught, on the record, telling Kittredge that he’d do anything in his power to get back at him for what he’d done to Jasmine. So, his case was in jeopardy yet again. (Apparently, being recorded harassing opposing counsel doesn’t destroy a case, but Robert’s type of outburst does.)
Rachel, however, kept her cool the entire time. She bore the strength under pressure and in the face of unwanted advances that all women have been forced by society to learn to develop. It’s either get a thicker skin to deal with men like Kittredge or let them defeat you.
Rachel Zane was not one to be defeated.
When Kittredge claimed that the discrimination accusations were unfounded and used one of his employees as a token example of his equal hiring and treatment, Rachel fired back with “you mean the woman of color you sent in to hide your crime.” After mentioning that Arthur had fired Alicia Taylor for refusing to sleep with him, she asked whether attractive women intimidated him. When Kittredge tried to make Rachel’s question seem stupid and asked why she even wanted to know, she spoke for intelligent, capable women everywhere: “because they’re strong and they’re powerful. And they know what they want.”
And when all seemed to be lost for the second time, Rachel took the reins (for the second time) and formed a plan that would finally get Robert Zane the win he’d been looking for. Rachel even made some sort of sportsball reference, to which her dad proudly asked whether she’d actually been listening to those games all along.
Rachel’s answer? “Not the games, Dad. I was listening to you.”
By the end of the trial, SUITS even gave Rachel the opportunity to take on that 90%-male Board. As Robert Zane finally had his chance to chat one-on-one with Arthur Kittredge, pretending to grovel as a means of saving face with his clients, Rachel was busy drowning the Board in truth (tea) and consequences. She reminded them that, should this case go to trial, they wouldn’t fare well as people who were aware of Kittredge’s behavior but didn’t stop the pattern.
Because, as Rachel pointed out, “most juries aren’t made up of rich, old white men.”
Quietly, while all of the high-stakes SUITS mid-season finale drama surrounding its most frustrating will-they-or-won’t-they pairing was unfolding, Rachel Zane made a statement to the world: I am woman, hear me roar. I am a formidable opponent; and I am a lawyer with a story outside of my boyfriend’s.
…and rich, old white men had better beware.
Donna(‘s feelings) on trial. It’s nice to know that a SUITS mid-season finale can be still surprising in the best of ways, even after a season that lost sight of some of the series’ best qualities.
No, I’m not talking about that kiss either…even if that was a beautifully complicated surprise.
The promotion for “Donna,” as well as the closing moments of the previous episode, prepared viewers for a reset of SUITS’ mock trial from the series’ first season. But very early in the SUITS mid-season finale, it was established that Louis Litt would not, in fact, prepare Donna for Andrew Malik’s in-court questioning. Because she had worked with Harvey on the case that they thought Andrew was going to discuss, she would not have to testify because work product was privileged.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because that exact defense was used way back when. The difference, this time, was that Malik wasn’t trying to get Donna’s testimony regarding anything having to do with the Cameron Dennis of it all. He was actually putting her on the stand to talk about the time she’d buried a memo on the Coastal Motors trial.
Malik’s argument was that Donna was only promoted to COO for doing illegal things at Harvey’s request and for, you know, banging him.
In fact, the entire time that Donna was supposed to be testifying, Malik was essentially telling a story about Donna’s lack of qualifications for her new job. Forget about the fact that other firms had COOs that weren’t lawyers or that Donna knew the workings of Pearson Specter Litt inside and out. She was just a failed actress with experience waitressing and not much else. As Malik became a voice box for every fanboy lurking in the comments section, who has argued against Donna taking a more important role at the firm — or on SUITS at all — Donna fought back defiantly…But it was all-too-obvious that, on the inside, she wasn’t quite so confident.
Later, when Louis came to ask Donna how his brilliant plan (to fix things with the wrong witch hunt) worked out in court, Donna didn’t want to talk. But when Louis pushed, she unloaded her frustrations on him: Louis was supposed to protect her, but he chickened out and did what was best for him, leaving her to get attacked with no defense. Louis said that Harvey and Mike were capable of backing her up at trial.
But Donna didn’t want to hear it: “I don’t care what Harvey did, Louis. Because I came to you for help, and you left me high and dry.”
The problem was that Louis did do what was best for himself and not Donna: He really couldn’t bring himself to ask all of those personal questions about her relationship with Harvey because they made him think about his own failed romantic life; and he just couldn’t take it. Louis didn’t offer up this explanation and apology until the end of the episode, long after Mike had tried encouraging Donna to share her feelings with Harvey.
But after an unknown amount of time (SUITS has taken that whole “wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey” thing from DOCTOR WHO far too literally), during which Mike’s advice — and basically all of the recent events — had eaten at Donna, Louis came back to the COO’s office. When he talked about how he was counting down the days until he lost Sheila forever, how she was someone else’s forever now when she should have been his, and how he wished she’d seen her soulmate right in front of her face all this time, it was obvious that Louis, in his Litt-Up way, was doing double-duty. Not only was he opening up and sharing his feelings with one of his closest friends, but he was also giving Donna the tools she needed to avoid making the same mistakes that he did.
After Donna’s conversation with Louis, when Harvey came to the office — presumably to let everyone know that Jessica Pearson was taking her name off the wall because Malik was having her disbarred over the whole Mike fiasco — Donna finally did something for herself. She kissed Harvey Specter, left him speechless, and walked out the door.
Her only explanation to the stunned (the youths might call it shooketh) man left drowning in feelings? “Sorry, Harvey. I just had to know.”
Here’s hoping her answers are exactly what Dr. Lipschitz ordered…because God knows Dr. Agard isn’t exactly capable of making a diagnosis, much less a care plan, here
More thoughts on the SUITS mid-season finale:
- “I’m talking about women.” I’m listening, Rachel. Tell me more.
- “I don’t want to just prove him wrong. I want to make him regret he ever met me.” Donna on Andy Malik? Or SUITS viewers on [insert name here].
- Paula Agard admires Harvey’s loyalty…but sat across from him in therapy, listening to how he clearly had feelings for his then-secretary, and daydreamed about him sweeping her off her feet. Then, she even entered a relationship with him, despite knowing that Harvey still had feelings for Donna — and Donna had feelings for him. What a trashy waste of a formerly intelligent, useful character.
- “I don’t feel threatened by you having another woman in your life that you care about.” When a room full of men writes a female character, they think writing a line like this is enough to make that character seem “strong” and “secure in her relationship.” In reality, the development (or lack thereof) of the Paula/Harvey relationship, coupled with her supposed legitimacy as a therapist, just make her look willfully ignorant. And that’s the best-case scenario.
- Zane family flashbacks. Baby Rachel “doesn’t let boys tell her what to do either.” Quality.
- “I know she’s had a rough time. I’ll tell her we stuck it to Malik, and we couldn’t have done it without her.” Harvey’s Dumb Boy Syndrome is exhausting. That is not — at all — what Mike wanted you to talk to Donna about, Harv. See also: He was trying to give you relationship advice earlier in the episode, and you lost your mind…Go back to that discussion. Try listening — for once.
- “So, while you’re drinking that shake. Choke on this.” When a SUITS mid-season finale is so good that even Alex Williams becomes someone worth caring about, great dialogue like this happens…And now I want a milkshake.
- “Yes, about me and Harvey. Because it’s always about me and Harvey! Last time, this time…Goddamnit, Louis! I begged you to help me! I even asked, ‘what if your plan doesn’t work?’ But you didn’t you listen. So, Malik rattled me, and he humiliated me. And he said I am only COO because I slept my way there. And he made it sound plausible, so now that’s on the record thanks to you.” I was so very much here for Donna Paulsen telling men that they weren’t there for her after she’d always been there for them and just…laying her feelings on the line, whether they might hurt some feelings or not. Beautiful.
- Just going to revisit “it’s always about me and Harvey” here.
- “The man she was meant to be with is standing in front of her face…I should have told her when I had the chance.” Louis Litt, guys. LOUIS. LITT.
- Rachel kind of broke girl code by sharing Donna’s confession with Mike? But Mike did the thing, so who cares? Also, the boy genius really needed someone to explain to him why Agard asked him, not the person who knew Harvey best, for a gift idea. Oy vey. (And so much for her not being threatened by the other woman, seeing as how she can’t even ask Donna a simple question.)
- Sarah Rafferty remains the star of SUITS. The end.
That’s it for the SUITS mid-season finale. Make sure to tune in when SUITS season 7B airs on USA in 2018!