SUITS’ latest episode, “Pecking Order,” set up what appears to be the obvious conflict for the first half of the series’ eighth season. In case it wasn’t clear enough when Samantha Wheeler demanded that Robert Zane make her the next name partner at Zane Specter Litt, the constant questioning of just whose team she was on hammered the point home: This character is not to be trusted when her desires are at odds with those of the already established players. And speaking of established players, that whole “Litt comes last” line from the season premiere came back to bite the first two names on the wall.
“You handle your clients. I’ll handle mine.” On SUITS, the case of the week is usually about as forgettable as it can be. Aside from the subtle indication that Harvey Specter might still not be over losing Mike Ross, the whole idea of Harvey having to save one of Mike’s former clients from — I’m cracking up here — going to jail for fraud, that tradition continued here.
But at least it set up a couple of key ideas: First, Robert Zane has Harvey figured out. (“If that guy’s wrong, he’s not gonna see it.”) Second, if Samantha Wheeler isn’t getting her way, she can only be trusted about as far as she can be thrown.
When Zane thought that Harvey was wrongfully siding with Max, the Podspace partner who Mike Ross had warned him would come knocking if the company ever needed help, he sent his right hand woman to keep an eye on the firm’s former managing partner. As a surprise to absolutely no one, Sam repeatedly went behind Harvey’s back to accomplish what was “best for the firm,” rather than actually working alongside him.
First, she tried to force Donna into giving her an expense account that was three times anyone else’s — and even tried to lie and say it was “only” double the accounts back at Rand Kaldor. In the process, the new chick on the block even managed to insult the firm’s resident queen, so if she was ever supposed to be anything other than a one-dimensional SUITS villain, that’s off the table. Next, Sam went behind both Donna and Harvey’s backs to Mr. New Name Partner Himself to get an even bigger account than Donna had gifted her with…and all of this was so she could show up at Harvey’s meeting with Nick (Max’s partner) , derail Harvey’s plans, and then start trying to play Mom and Dad against one another with some line about Harvey’s “ex-assistant” refusing to give her enough money.
As if Donna Paulsen is just an “ex-assistant.” It looks like we have a character that’s shady and kind of stupid here.
As the case continued, Samantha would make more moves against Harvey, including negotiating a way for Max to leave the company without first discussing it with Harvey. Sam eventually revealed that Max had been afraid enough to contact a defense attorney, so she’d gone on a mission to find out why he’d been distracted enough to let his partner lose millions of dollars in the first place. But Harvey was still (rightfully) spent a lot of time being upset about her interference. Sure, Max’s sister got into a cancer treatment program, and Ms. I Don’t Answer To Anyone “gifted” Harvey with the means to keep the remaining client out of future trouble, but her methods were shady — even by SUITS’ standards.
Having someone completely new come in and lie to Harvey’s face about giving her “word” that she won’t do anything until the next morning’s partner meeting does not bode well for said newcomer. Neither did her confrontation with Donna in the ladies’ room, in which she called ZSL’s COO “a lot more disappointing than the legend.” Like, we’re not here for women attacking women, especially when those women are, in fact, legends. Furthermore, when neither Donna nor Gretchen — who had even more contacts than Donna — can get a straight story on the woman’s background, that does not bode well. At all. Samantha Wheeler is obviously hiding something; and whatever it is, it’s probably not the secret to why Harvey refuses to go mudding.
But it gets even more sketchy: Later, when Sam tried to warn Alex Williams off of trying to grab Starboard Airlines, any kind of “I’m doing all of these underhanded things for the good of the firm” lie was more than debunked when she refused to tell Alex exactly why Gavin Andrews was “not worth the trouble.” Like, if you truly care about the firm, be forthcoming with information that can keep it from going down. If not? Bye.
The sad thing here is that there’s nothing particularly interesting about Little Miss James Bond. Sure, there’s a mystery to her, but something about it just falls short. Maybe it’s because we’ve had this whole internal firm backstabbing nonsense far too many times, or maybe it’s because there’s something just…lacking in the execution. If there’s any backstory that needs getting to the bottom of here, it’s simply why there was ever a need to bring a less-interesting-than-Harvey Female!Harvey to SUITS in the first place.
Litt’s last…but not least. Let’s just say it: Louis Litt’s relationship with Sheila Sazs continues to be a little problematic. With that being said, there’s some good to it, too. (If nothing else, Rachael Harris and Rick Hoffman play trade some of these hilarious lines off of each other a little bit too well.)
Louis spent much of “Pecking Order” being afraid to tell the supposed love of his life that he neither was, nor wanted to be, managing partner. Why? He was afraid that the truth would cause her to lose respect and/or interest.
In fact, it took Louis not being able to get it up during “managing partner, secretary” and a trip to Dr. Lipschitz before SUITS’ favorite underdog finally came clean about something he didn’t need to lie about in the first place. And let’s not even get into how utterly inappropriate it was for Sheila to first call her boyfriend’s therapist, then go visit him and pretend that her non-existent brother was “lying to himself” about not wanting a promotion because “some crackpot undermined his confidence.”
Joke’s on Sheila because the crackpot was her…And Dr. Lipschitz, the one consistently honest and ethical male character on SUITS, made sure she knew it. “The only times in his life that Louis has been unable to perform have been with you. Including most recently, when he went to tell you the truth and couldn’t because he was afraid of how you might view him.”
After her meeting with Lipschitz, Sheila was at least mature enough to apologize to Louis for making him feel like he was anything less than perfect; better yet, she helped him realize that he needed to have words with Harvey and Robert about their inability to consider his thoughts on the managing partner issue. In one of SUITS’ typically strong “Louis gets mad and goes off” scenes, Litt vowed that, just because his name came last, he would not be the third wheel. He also reminded both Zane and Specter that without Litt, the firm wouldn’t even exist. Bonus points for calling Robert Zane “Robbie” and leaving both of the firms’ other two name partners with “oh, shit” looks on their faces and their tails firmly between their legs.
Following his triumphant moment at work, Louis came home to learn that Sheila had (yet again) changed her mind about having children. First, she wasn’t at all interested — which caused the couple’s initial breakup. Then, she realized she was open to the idea of having Louis’ children, to the point where she’d leave it up to fate by “pulling the goalie.” Now, after hurting Louis’ feelings and making him think that he had to have a certain level of power to be worthy of her, Sheila decided she was now ready to start trying.
Look: People can change (even if that doesn’t happen terribly often on SUITS). But with where Sheila’s ultimate decision was placed, plot-wise, the series is sending a weird message that, with the right amount of convincing and proving a man’s worthiness, a woman can change her mind about her lack of interest in childbearing. And that…Well. Sometimes, yes, it does take the “right” man…But often? “I don’t ever want to have children” means exactly that. Period.
Of course, the positive message here was that we all need “to be given the common courtesy of being treated like an equal.” Also, there was the brilliance of Dr. Lipschitz: “True power is not pretending to be what you’re not; it’s admitting the truth of who you are.” So, I’m just going to take these two concepts from Louis Litt’s latest SUITS victory and leave it at that.
More opinions!
- “And again, what exactly is the good of me horning in on his territory?” Again, I’d really love to know why you’re on SUITS at all.
- “I get it. The new girl comes in…You want to make sure she understands the pecking order.” “That wasn’t my intention…But if that’s the way you see it, then that tells me a lot more about you than it tells you about me.” Nothing makes me happier than seeing Donna Paulsen shoot down awful characters for their lack of, well, character.
- “You meant a lot to Mike, which means you mean a lot to me.” We’re all fine here. (We’re not remotely fine. Thanks for that, SUITS.)
- “Samantha, if you bring Donna into this, we’re never getting off on the right foot.” I am Harvey, and Harvey is me. Also, this is the most loaded line of all time and brings to mind moments like Harvey punching Travis Tanner in the face. Classic SUITS, folks.
- Donna Paulsen’s shade level is a goal. That “well, that’s interesting. Because I never heard of you” line was the most beautiful thing.
- “Because from where I stand, Harvey is the firm. And you don’t seem to have his back at all.” Harvey is the firm. Donna loves the firm so much that she went to Dr. Feelbad, begging her not to make her give up her job. And, to her, Harvey is the firm…I’m tired.
- “No. This is about your behavior with Harvey. And Alex. And me. And about a hundred other things that all tell me you don’t care about anyone here but yourself.” That sound you hear is me chugging delicious hot tea.
- “Show Harvey what I see in you: Whatever happens along the way, when push comes to shove, you will never let him down.” Sure, Robert.
- Seeing Donna, Gretchen, and Katrina work together was amazing. Having the squad moments involve digging up dirt on another female character — even one I clearly don’t care for — was the opposite of amazing, as was bringing Katrina in at the end of the “plan” to find information, when involving her from the start was the most obvious choice. Also the opposite of amazing: all of the hitting SUITS viewers over the head with foreshadowing that the second Sam’s “team” doesn’t involve Harvey, he’s screwed. We get it: Sam will find out about Alex’s desire to be name partner and actively work against the very same team she professes to be playing for. Zzz.
- Can’t believe Sheila thinks the managing partner gets to bang the secretary, when Specter sure hasn’t banged his (former) secretary in over 12 years. Wow.
- “I don’t want managing partner., and you said you loved me. Well, this is who I am. And you can either accept that or not, but it’s not changing.” Louis, go off.
- “No one thinks of you as a third wheel, Louis.” “Oh, really? Because you wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me [pointing at Zane], and you [Harvey] wouldn’t have a firm at all if it weren’t for me. I saved both your fuckin’ asses, and not only didn’t you think to thank me, as far as I can tell, you didn’t even clock what I did! Now, I am a partner, just as much as you. And I am done having to remind you of that. So, the next time there’s a decision to be made, guys? You’d better pull up a seat at that table, or I swear to God, I will break the whole goddamn thing in two! Any questions?” Take that, Harvey. I can not stress how good Hoffman was in this scene. So, someone send the man a clock since I hear that’s what we do to show our appreciation for people in the SUITS universe.
- Alex Williams can take his nonsense about the ballet being boring and choke on it.
- “I’m going to do what Jessica would: I’m going to go home, make myself a drink, and figure out how to get my way.” Ok but why didn’t Donna go down with him?
Catch the next all-new episode of SUITS on Wednesday, August 1 at 9/8c on USA.
