‘Suits’ is definitely my favorite new show from this summer. I had little to no expectations for it going in, and it really surprised me. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to recap the last few episodes due to time commitments, but suffice it to say that they were all really good. The show aired its first season finale last week, and I feel that’s worth covering.
In the second-to-last episode, Harvey had learned that his former boss and mentor (Gary Cole, who’s been on just about every show on television over the last few months) from his time as a prosecutor in the D.A.’s office had deliberately suppressed evidence that caused Harvey to send an innocent man to prison. In ‘Dog Fight’, he decides to right that wrong, albeit a dozen years too late.
The wronged party, Clifford, has served the majority of his sentence and has only four years to go. He has resigned himself to that fate, and is skeptical of Harvey’s motives for helping him now. Nonetheless, Harvey convinces him to let him reopen the case.
Unfortunately, the current D.A. (Chi McBride) isn’t sympathetic to Harvey’s plight. When Harvey convinces a judge to grant a retrial based on new evidence, the D.A. plays hardball and advises that he will seek the maximum penalty of life imprisonment for Clifford at the new trial. He also very swiftly manages to outmaneuver Harvey and get the new evidence declared inadmissible. For once, Harvey really worries about losing.
In the end, Harvey has to pull some dirty tactics, using the logic that, “Sometimes the good guys gotta do bad things to make the bad guys pay” – a lesson he ironically learned from his old mentor. In this case, he tricks the douchebag former frat boys who really committed the crime to turn on one another until one confesses.
On Mike’s side of things, his bad-seed friend Trevor comes calling again, claiming to have cleaned up his act. He worms his way into staying at Mike’s place, which means that Mike has to jump through hoops to keep his relationship with Jenny (previously Trevor’s girlfriend) a secret.
Mike eventually decides to come clean to Trevor, but before he can, Trevor finds out for himself by listening to one of Mike’s voicemails. The episode ends on a cliffhanger as Trevor gets into the law office and ambushes chief partner Jessica (Gina Torres) in a hallway. We’re left with the assumption that he’s going to out Mike as a fake lawyer.
The finale is another very good episode, with a lot of juicy character moments. I especially like the scene where paralegal Rachel and Harvey’s secretary Donna bond over the men they can’t have. There’s also a really funny scene where Harvey and Donna have a pretrial ritual we’re not allowed to see that somehow involves a can opener. I’m very glad to learn that this show has been picked up for a second season. I’m looking forward to more.
