Photo: Christos Kalohoridis/USA Network
In SUITS 9×02, “Special Master,” the firm faced the immediate consequences of refusing to remove Robert Zane’s name from the wall. Louis Litt signed control of A Firm Has No Name over to the Bar’s representative, Faye Richardson, at the end of the season premiere; and now, it was time to see what Faye’s leadership would look like. In short, the team did not handle the new authority well; they did not handle it well at all. (Who’s surprised? No one? Good.)
But as has always been the case on SUITS, with great turmoil came even greater chances for the series’ main characters to prove their dedication to each other. Whether it was through preventing a new sister from letting her emotional connection to a client destroy her ability to think clearly, helping a brother deal with the stress at the top, or treating the love of one’s life like the superhero he or she was, the personal stories at Zane Specter Litt Wheeler Williams continued to prove that, even in SUITS’ final season, what will always matter is just how much these characters have grown—and will continue to grow—together.
The case of the week gets real. Samantha appeared to be the only lawyer doing legal work in SUITS 9×02, at least until she brought Katrina Bennett in as a second seat. The case was loosely related to the Faye situation—Sam had to learn how to work around the new rules without getting herself into any serious trouble—but it also had a lot of real-world and familial implications that, sadly, may have been lost in the shuffle.
The setup was simple: Samantha Wheeler’s old friend, Lucas Hodges, interrupted her boxing time to see if he had a wrongful termination suit on his hands. He was the only employee who was laid off when his company lost a Department of Defense contract; even the boss’ son-in-law kept his job. A win seemed painfully simple for Sam.
…but then she found out that Lucas hadn’t told her the whole story. His employee records included reports that he had “repeatedly missed work at crunch time,” even without calling in; and he’d also attacked a fellow employee. It didn’t take much for Sam to realize that her friend was suffering from PTSD; but he didn’t want to admit that he needed help—not even to himself. The denial was so bad that, when Lucas was first diagnosed, he managed to get a doctor to lie for him so he could do another military tour; as a surprise to no one, a lack of proper medical care made the situation even worse.
Lucas’ employer had suspected that poor mental health was to blame for his behavior; but in order to get the massive settlement she wanted, Samantha would have to allow her friend’s illness to go on-record. That was obviously not going to happen, so she considered falling back on her favorite behavior: doing something potentially sketchy, just to get leverage on the other guy. But Katrina managed to keep Sam from doing anything damaging, both because she’s the hero A Firm Has No Name needs and because the new boss of sorts had, essentially, threatened her.
And so it was that Team Satrina (Kamantha?) saved the day. Sam secured Lucas a new job offer; but the agreement was null and void if he didn’t seek treatment. In order to convince Lucas that there was no shame in asking for help, Sam opened up about being a victim of childhood abuse.
From a firm-as-family standpoint, both Harvey and Katrina stepped up to take care of Sam when she needed their support. For Harvey, it was a matter of helping her handle Faye’s new rules. Katrina, on the other hand, was supportive in a more difficult way: She was the voice of reason. Sometimes, the tough love is just as tough for the one delivering it as the one who has to take it; but Katrina did what was best for Samantha when it counted the most.
The case itself should have been front-and-center, given the subject matter, but it wasn’t. It was the B-story. Which, honestly? That kind of sums up how we treat veterans like Lucas, who come back from their tours of duty with scars that prevent them from being able to resume “normal” lives. Sam’s guilt over not staying in the military to back up her friend should be society’s guilt for how our system does anything but support the Lucases of the world.
And then, of course, there’s every other person with mental illness who gets left in the dark to suffer alone…
And another managing partner bites the dust. Much of “Special Master” was focused on A Firm Has No Name’s response to the newest nemesis, Faye Richardson. Following her sudden appearance in the Darvey SUITS premiere’s final moments, Louis Litt’s main concern was finding a way to get rid of her. And when, in the middle of what was supposed to be a private leadership meeting, Faye barged in and started laying down the law, she didn’t exactly endear herself to anyone.
Ms. Richardson even threatened to fire anyone who “continued to cross lines,” and when COO and Goddess of Knowledge Donna Paulsen told Ms. Richardson that she didn’t have the authority to do that, she was pretty much like, “bitch, you thought.”
Faye declared that she had complete control over every running aspect of A Firm Has No Name: New clients, new cases, allocation of resources, and everything else formerly under the current bosses’ purview was now hers to approve or deny—and hers alone. Of course, after being used to doing everything how they wanted, when they wanted, and with whom they wanted, our infinitely-flawed heroes were automatically on the lookout for any possible way to skirt the rules.
So, business as usual there.
Also under the business as usual category: A name change! Despite Samantha Wheeler’s open threats and alllllllll the effort put in to avoiding it in the SUITS premiere, Robert Zane’s name officially came down. It was Faye’s first act as “the Bar’s special asshole,” as Gretchen called her; but instead of being proof that maybe the gang should behave for once, all it did was make everyone even more determined to work against her.
It was so bad that Sam almost left the firm, but Harvey convinced her to stay because quitting wouldn’t look like a protest. It would just prove everyone’s bad assumptions about her and Robert right. And so, without losing yet another name partner, the gang went back to doing what it does best: breaking the rules and hoping for the best.
The lawyers rebelled in whatever way they could manage. Sam and Harvey decided to lie about when Sam had accepted Lucas’ case; when that didn’t work, Sam used her own money to front the bill and enlisted Katrina’s (free) help. In an effort to keep him from having an exit interview with Faye and telling the truth about who had really broken privilege, Donna and Harvey worked on trying to get Thomas Kessler to come back to the firm.
Predictably, that was an epic failure; but it allowed for a couple of interesting developments. First, Harvey showed up, all open and honest-like about how much he can’t live without Donna. And second, it provided an opportunity for Sarah Rafferty to murder everyone show off just how well she could play everything from Donna’s discomfort at having her husband all along new boyfriend working for her ex, to her final, desperately-earnest attempt at getting another woman to empathize with her.
Bonus: Super-duper couples’ moment in Donna’s office, with Harvey convincing her that everything was going to be all right. Commence melting—and not just because this summer is hotter than Casual!Harvey.
But it was Louis Litt who took Faye’s new authority over the firm the hardest; and, ultimately, he was the one who lost the most in SUITS 9×02.
Faye caught him lying to the associates about why she had joined A Firm Has No Name, then humiliated him in front of them by forcing him to tell the truth. Worse yet, she found out that Louis had enlisted Benjamin to find a loophole in the Bar’s by-laws that would get her off his back. Since Louis told Ben that he didn’t care how he accomplished his task, he had essentially given the IT guy a free pass to hack the Bar; and when Faye found out, she confronted him about it.
Instead of straightening Benjamin out for going too far, Louis pulled a Litt. (Read as: Louis lost it.) There was a lot of screaming about the betrayal of telling the truth, and Louis even threatened to fire Benjamin for following orders. Donna told Louis that wasn’t how the firm worked; and when Harvey agreed with her, Louis accused him of just going along with the wife because they finally ended their [insert number that isn’t 12 here]-year dry spot.
And in that moment, Donna proved that she doesn’t, in fact, know everything: “Harvey would never side with me just because of that.” (Cut to: the guilty-as-charged, please-don’t-kick-me-out-of-bed look from Harvey. Brilliant.)
Was Donna trying to make a joke here? Hasn’t Harvey always sided with Donna just because she’s Donna? Come on! Like Darvey Bangfest 2k19 was going to change that.
Back to business.
Louis might have wanted to fire Benjamin for his disloyalty, but it was Mr. Litt himself who wound up losing his job, or at least a part of it. Rather than confronting Louis in public (for the fourth time!), Faye manifested herself out of thin air was waiting in the back Louis’ car to tell him he was officially the firm’s shortest-running managing partner. And if he didn’t like it, he could resign.
Remember how, when Louis became managing partner, he was the only lawyer behaving with anything resembling any idea of what maturity was? Yeah, me neither.
Quality SUITS content. Need a break from the firm drama, all of which could have been avoided if these lawyers ever behaved ethically—just once in their careers? SUITS’ final season is two-for-two with having you covered!
First up: We have a new ship! Lalex! Allitt?
I don’t know. I’m bad at ship names, obviously.
Either way, when Louis needed a break from having the demon that is Faye ruining his life, Alex had the perfect plan for letting off some steam: Bowling. Initially, the firm’s soon-to-be-former name partner was an even worse bowler than Yours Truly; but once Alex told him to just imagine Faye’s face on all of the pins, he turned into a bowling machine.
(Note to self: Imagine all the years of Darvey being held back for the sake of holding them back next time you go bowling. You might pull off a perfect game.)
After throwing some balls around, Louis and Alex bonded over their shared “outsider” status at A Firm Has No Name. During their chat, Alex stressed that he and Louis were going to get through the rough times together; so, obviously, the new bromance is probably going to hit a snag any episode now. At any rate, since Louis had shared his not-completey-secret wrestling history, Alex let Louis in on his own special talent: tap dancing.
And at that, Allit made a pact not to share Alex’s super-manly hobby with Harvey, and Louis confessed that he’d had to “downplay [his] manliness in front of Harvey for years.”
Speaking of Harvey and manliness!
Harvey Specter remains the perfect man for Donna Paulsen; and if SUITS’ final season does anything to change that, someone’s getting hurt (me).
It’s time to, yet again, point out that all of that talk about how shippers only thought they (we) wanted Darvey to become canon but really didn’t was garbage logic. Just as I mentioned in the premiere recap, SUITS has not had a fundamental change now that the pair is an official couple because they always behaved like one, anyway. Things are heightened now; that’s it! The series hasn’t become a soap; Darvey hasn’t lost their spark after hitting the sack; Sarah Rafferty and Gabriel Macht’s chemistry is better—not worse!—than ever; and the firm hasn’t suddenly become one that could actually survive in the real world.
There is no Moonlighting Curse. SUITS hasn’t suddenly lost its magic; that happens when you force the characters to follow a certain plot, not when you let them go where they’ve obviously always been headed.
Take, for example, the interaction with Louis in the opening moments of SUITS 9×02. Darvey were simply more in-sync than in the past; but had a similar scene existed before they became official, Harvey still would have simply muttered “Donna” before backing behind her in an attempt to get away from Louis and his supportive “mankini.” The only thing that was new here was that Darvey was at Louis’ apartment for personal reasons—specifically, to fill him in on their new relationship status—rather than to talk about firm drama.
Although, the conversation did eventually turn to work—which is totally fine! SUITS continues to be a show about a messed up law firm, after all!
And sure, Harvey might have worked extra hard at keeping Thomas Kessler away from Faye and her exit interview, but let’s get real: It’s not as if tons of his working moves haven’t been about doing whatever he could to protect Donna. There’s a whole string of men who have been punched in the face with toasters for daring to insult her, after all.
We can talk about character growth, like Harvey’s raw and open response to Thomas’ question of who Donna is to him: “She’s the most important person in my life, Thomas. And she knows that.” But even within that, we’re talking about character development, not something that has forced Old Man Specter into behaving like he’s been taken over by a pod person. It’s just SUITS delivering on the maturity promised by the first six seasons of Harvey’s character arc—like wiping the slate clean, to borrow a phrase from Faye Richardson, after the mess that was the Paula situation.
Unless you want to say that honesty has broken the running SUITS theme of, “everyone here is unethical and dishonest as F…” that is. But we’re not going to talk about that here.
The point is, just like any other season of SUITS, A Firm Has No Name was in trouble; and there were some really great relationship moments, both for friendships and romantic entanglements, along the way.
That’s it. Close the books on SUITS 9×02. That’s the recap.
Thoughts and prayers for A Firm Has No Name.
- Faye: “…leadership such as it is.” Donna: “Such as it is?!!!” Me: Get her, queen. Harvey (probably): “I love her.”
- You’ve had two managing partners disbarred in as many years…” Wait just a minute here. Harvey thanked Donna for 12 years in the series’ fifth season; Jessica Pearson was disbarred in New York at the end of the sixth season, then again in Chicago during the backdoor pilot that was SUITS’ seventh season finale. Robert Zane lost his license as SUITS season 8 closed. Even if there was a week between “for 12 years” and now, we’re still talking about a two-year span (per Faye)…but Harvey talked about his relationship with Donna being “12 years in” in the ninth season premiere???? Wtf kind of time-traveling bullshit is this? This is why we always have a show bible, folks…
- “It sends the message that we don’t throw our friends to the wolves.” Unless it’s by making them all accessories to the crime of knowingly employing a fake lawyer.
- Faye was set up as the “frigid woman in power” trope—at one point, Gretchen even mentioned that she had fired her own husband and had him disbarred for breaking some rule or another; but then, when Donna came to her about the Thomas situation, she actually showed some empathy. It instantly took her from a one-note “enemy of the firm” character to someone interesting. The power of Donna.
- Meanwhile. What kind of sorceress is Faye? How does she always manage to show up right at the worst possible time? She’s everywhere! Can’t decide if she’s a slasher flick villain or an X-FILE. Perhaps both.
- “That’s the problem with this place: you’re a bunch of wild dogs running around, defecating all over the legal standards you swore to uphold.” Click here to see the only appropriate reaction.
- “And you can bet your ass I’m going to put a leash on every one of you.” Ok but Donna hasn’t even had a chance to leash Harvey in bed yet…I’ll see myself out.
- “Listen to me: You have nothing to be ashamed of. There are literally thousands of people going through the exact same thing.” A mental health PSA from Samantha Wheeler. Take note: This doesn’t just apply to PTSD. Get help if you need it. The end.
- …just make sure you get that help from someone who doesn’t suck. Looking at you, Paula Agard.
- “Well then, what do you suggest? Because there’s no opera today; I haven’t gotten my mud membership card back yet; and unless there’s a cat fair that I don’t know about, we have got nothing.” Cat fair? I want to go to there.
- Also, can we stop making those things “har har not manly” already, or no? No? Ok.
- “I don’t know if you know this about me, Alex, but I have a lot of rage.” Oh, hey. Same!
- “See? This is what I’m talking about. How did he even make it through law school?” Fabulous throwback to a similar scene in the SUITS premiere.
- ..and Harvey? You still have less than zero room to talk. So, stop. Shhh. Stand there, look pretty, and do all the romantic things you’ve wanted to do for Donna for 84 years. Those are literally the only things you’re here for. Don’t think too much. It’s dangerous.
- Louis’ reaction to finally having Darvey clearly spelled out for him, complete with the lit-up eyes and awed exclamation of “oh, my God!” was very relatable. Louis-as-fandom is legit.
- Side note: There is absolutely nothing wrong with Harvey’s plumbing. Donna can confirm.
- “Maybe you’re not going to try and talk me out of it because you’re less uptight since we, um…”
“Since we…what?” (Since you banged all night.)
“Nothing. Since we nothing?” “That’s right. Because if anybody was uptight, it was you.”
“But I’m the one acting consistently.”
A marriage in four lines. - Better yet: The Superman scene. Harvey was so emotionally mature and openly loving? Is this real life??? And Donna was so proud of herself for getting one of Harvey’s nerd references. And I just…Imagine if we’d had this all along, or at least on any kind of reasonable timeline. Imagine.
- “Save Metropolis? You don’t even know your own phone number.” We love a Secretary!Donna throwback!
SUITS’ final season continues on Wednesdays at 9/8c on USA.
