Photo by: Shane Mahood/USA Network
“Prisoner’s Dilemma,” the eighth episode of SUITS’ final season, saw Harvey Specter struggling to stay out of prison as his worst enemies conspired against him. But while Harvey warned codefendant Sean Cahill that Andrew Malik always had a curveball at-hand, it was life that took Harvey by surprise in the episode’s final moments. Adding to an already stressful and soul-destroying hour of television, Amy Acker returned to guest star as Louis Litt’s sister, Esther Edelstein, who brought to light the painful experience of far too many women.
#EstherToo. As Louis complained about baby names to his dictaphone, his sister paid a visit to No Use For Firm Name. Louis was proud to say that her pending merger was solid; but he quickly learned that a good deal was the opposite of what Esther wanted. She needed a way out of the deal because 15 years ago, the person on the other side of the deal had sexually assaulted her.
For anyone who follows the news (or, you know, knows any women at all), Esther’s story was all-too-familiar: She was at a conference in Miami with her mentor, Paul Richmond, and Richmond invited her to his room. And, well. Let’s let Esther speak for herself here: “The next thing I knew, his hands were all over me; and when I pushed him away and told him to stop, he got angry—he said I’d been leading him on. He started forcing himself on me.”
Louis, oblivious to how these things work from his position of privilege, couldn’t fathom why Esther wouldn’t just tell her Board about the assault. Her answer? “Because it happened fifteen years ago, and in case you haven’t noticed, women who come forward get put through the meat grinder.”
Scalding. Hot. Tea.
Esther also reminded Louis that, as her brother, he’d automatically jumped to, “but I thought he was your mentor” when she started to tell her story; so, he needed to think about what others’ reactions would be.
Louis promised his sister he’d find a way to make the deal disappear—without raising the assault issue; but, Louis being Louis, he couldn’t keep his cool when things didn’t go his way. So, rather than helping Esther, he got her accused of “fabricating” the whole story; and her Board triggered her buyout clause.
Because that’s what happens when women tell their stories: Powerful men lie, and the next thing you know, assault survivors are victimized all over again when society sides with the accused.
Louis, however, didn’t get it and—yet again—argued with Esther about coming forward. He wanted to know why she couldn’t just tell the truth and magically make everything ok. Because it’s totally always that simple. People trusted Bill Cosby; look how many victims and how many decades it took before he was punished. And what about the seemingly endless list of men, who everybody knows about, that have still not seen any consequences?
Anyway.
Luckily for Louis, Katrina Bennett overheard “just enough” of his argument with Esther to be able to help. Her first order of business was to explain to Louis, and the “average, good guys” that he represented, that Esther wasn’t just angry; she was also “feeling powerless and ashamed.” But Louis was deluded enough to believe that Esther had all the power in this situation because she had the Truth on her side or whatever. Katrina, again, corrected him: “To do what? She can’t put him in prison—it was too long ago. Make him feel like what he did was wrong? That’s never going to happen.”
Katrina was also smart enough to know that No Use For Firm Name would need help, which sent Louis in search of Samantha Wheeler’s special brand of assistance. Sam furthered Louis’ education: “Sure as we’re sitting here, if you go after him, he’ll admit it happened but say it was her.” Louis, still unable to open his eyes and look at the overwhelming amount of history that proved Sam’s statement, asked how she knew. But Sam had seen this all before, which was how she knew Richmond had done this more than once.
After his meeting with Sam, Louis apologized to Esther for failing to control himself (color me surprised at the maturity of it all). Meanwhile, Katrina sought out Sam to say she wanted in on whatever she was planning, whether it was underhanded or not. For six years, Katrina was a prosecutor. When she went after someone like Paul Richmond, everyone believed the woman who’d been attacked; but Katrina still “had to watch as 12 jurors exonerated the bastard,” something she vowed she wouldn’t let happen this time.
And so it was that power lawyers Bennett and Wheeler found a way around some non-disclosure agreements to prove that Richmond had done exactly what he’d done to Esther to several other women, all of whom he’d had silenced. All it would take was one plaintiff, and they had a case. So, Katrina did what Louis had been unable to do all along: She convinced Esther to come forward; and, just at the right moment, Esther did.
With the help of Katrina, Sam, and Louis, Esther was able to oust Richmond and save her company. But was that really justice? It’s not like he wound up behind bars where he belonged. Sometimes in life, you have to settle for a win that feels like a loss; with sexual assault cases—especially those where power dynamics are involved—”sometimes” becomes most of the time.
Speaking of behind bars: Charles Forstman and Andrew Malik, sitting in a jail. C-O-N-S-P-I-R-I-N-G. On the side half of SUITS’ tension-heavy episode, Harvey Specter found himself at risk of disbarment—or worse, imprisonment. This time, Andrew Malik was trying to get to Harvey through Sean Cahill, his once enemy and current frenemy; and Malik came about as close to winning as ever.
Remember when Harvey signed William Sutter, just so he could get dirt on him for Cahill in a deal to free Mike Ross? After being arrested, Cahill certainly did. And that meant Harvey’s date night with Donna was interrupted by the angry SEC prosecutor waiting on Harvey’s doorstep.
Initially, Harvey assumed Sean was there to entrap him; but in yet another show of growth, he spent the rest of “Prisoner’s Dilemma” putting his faith in the other man…right up until he couldn’t. Harvey’s first move was to declare himself Cahill’s lawyer so they could safely get their stories straight; his next move was to lie to his girlfriend in a misguided attempt to keep her from worrying about him.
…but, in case we’ve forgotten, his girlfriend is Donna Paulsen—and she always knows(unless we’re talking about her own stupid feelings over the course of 12* years, of course).
Back at No Use For Firm Name for a brief moment, Harvey was confronted by Faye, who already knew about Malik’s attack and offered to take over as Cahill’s lawyer. Harvey was back in alpha-lawyer mode as a way to protect himself from his own fear of losing, so he instead took the offer as an opportunity to boast: “You? I could have two hands tied behind my back and cinder blocks on my ankles, and I’d be better than you.” (Fact check: True.)
As Harvey had warned Sean, Andrew Malik had some curveballs ready for them: The first was an affidavit from Kevin Miller, the other guy whose ass Harvey freed by screwing Sutter, verifying that Harvey and Sean had conspired. That left two important questions unanswered: Why was Malik was bringing all this up years after the fact? And what, exactly, caused Miller to turn on Harvey?
The second answer was easy enough to find: Malik threatened Kevin with more jail time for him and his wife’s first imprisonment; the first answer needed to be hunted down with the types of skills owned only by The Donna Paulsen. William Sutter met none other than Charles Forstman in prison; and he allegedly told Forstman everything on his deathbed.
Harvey attempted to flip Forstman and Miller but came up short; meanwhile, Cahill put the pressure on Malik’s boss to make him drop the case on the grounds that it was all about Malik’s hatred for Harvey. All that accomplished was getting Harvey arrested for the first time, Cahill arrested for the second time, and both of them put in interrogation rooms without lawyers while Malik tried to make Cahill turn on Harvey.
We love violating suspects’ right to an attorney here!
Malik told the story of SUITS through the most negative viewpoint possible: Harvey Specter is nothing but an uncaring asshole, who screws everybody over and breaks all the rules to get what he wants. Viewers know better by now. At least, we should.
Somewhere along the line, Cahill wavered. He accepted Faye as his attorney (ew), made a deal with both devils, and caused Harvey’s fragile new ability to trust folks blow up in his face.
Oh, There was a disbarment in that deal, too. Fabulous.
It had been a while since Harvey had punched anybody in the face, so just in time for its final run, SUITS delivered: Harvey attacked Sean for turning on him—punching him so hard that Cahill really thought now was the time to tell Harvey what an uncaring person he was.
Unlike in the past, though, Harvey wasn’t going to believe he was that guy; and he wasn’t going to let Cahill believe it either. “My whole life, I have done what I think is right. But there’s always someone, somewhere, who hates me for it because they think I’m breaking the rules. Well, rules aren’t right or wrong. Every line I’ve ever crossed, I’d do it again. Because I am fine with what’s in my soul.”
Back at No Use For Firm Name, Donna was educating Ha Satan (that’s Hebrew for “the adversary,” by the way) Faye on exactly the same thing. While Faye argued that Harvey was “a cancer to this firm,” with no morals and a bunch of sheep doing his bidding, Donna reminded Faye that it was Harvey’s “moral code” which, very recently, saved her worthless hide from being turned over to the Bar.
Honestly, if Harvey physically rearranged Cahill’s face, Donna’s line about nobody loving Faye, complete with her parting words about Harvey saving her ass, verbally rearranged her (lack of) soul.
Just as all seemed lost, No Use For Firm Name banded together to realize that, in contacting Charles Forstman, Malik had realized that Harvey was “onto something.” The firm family figured out that William Sutter’s confession hadn’t occurred on his deathbed. He told Forstman when he was perfectly healthy, then happened to suddenly drop dead following a heart attack. Malik and Forstman decided to perjure themselves by changing the events surrounding the key witness’ death, so they would be in jail for a very, very long time—not Harvey and not Sean.
In order to prove that Malik and Forstman were as dirty as he knew them to be, Harvey had to give Cahill a second chance—something the “old” Harvey never would have done. More evidence of the best growth on SUITS!—and he delivered.
This led to one of the most unexpectedly warm and fuzzy bromance moments ever: Harvey apologized to Cahill for breaking his jaw and admitted he knew Sean was trying to do what was best for both of them when he took the (bad) deal. Then, they joked about how, last time they parted ways, Cahill vowed he never wanted to see Harvey’s face again.
WHY. Harvey came back to the office, pride restored, to celebrate with Donna…only to be punched in the gut by the reality that life is far too short: Harvey’s mother had died of a sudden heart attack.
So much for the big win.
The shock and grief written all over Harvey’s face was far too much to handle—especially when it came after finally breathing a sigh of relief for the state of his career. Then, there was poor Donna, approaching him as one would approach a wounded animal because even with as secure as the Darvey relationship is, there was no telling how Harvey would react to being comforted in this situation: Would he accept it or lash out? Thankfully, Harvey welcomed Donna’s support; and SUITS ended with Darvey holding each other while they wept. (And no one holding me while I was too numb to even cry.)
This twist was just…utterly awful. Solid from a storytelling standpoint, yet awful. Devastating and awful.
Harvey spent all those years being angry with Lily and feeling abandoned by her; they made amends, and she even “met” Donna over the phone. Then, there was the touching “I love you, Mom” and sitting together quietly at the end of “Scenic Route,” only for tragedy to strike.
Losing a parent can break anyone; but to see it happen to Harvey Specter, after everything he’s dealt with in regards to loss and this relationship…I just…What a way to (almost) end SUITS. Sometimes, even with much already said—and more to say below—there are just no words for what a person has to go through. This is one of those times. And the worst part in all of this? Is in knowing that, for as bad as this is, some folks have it a lot worse.
For a series about the importance of family, SUITS sure knows how to put a huge professional win, like taking down Malik, in perspective: It’s empty compared with even a second more spent with someone you love.
Feelings I’d have if I had any feeling left in my body after that
- Why, Korsh, why????
- Just. Why.
- And seriously, if Lily had to die suddenly, why did it have to be in the same way as Sutter? Get more creative, folks! How about a wreck? Oh, wait. Mike’s parents. Ummm…How about just not.
- Louis was looking at “L” names, and it’s Jewish tradition to name your baby after a loved one who has died. Lily just died. So, I guess Louis and Sheila are going to taint the name of Harvey’s mother by putting her name in their mouths. I hate that I think this; I hate it even more that I’m probably right.
- And I guess Sheila and Louis are going to steal the Darvey wedding, too, huh? Gross.
- “I know you’re not a real attorney, so I’m going to spell it out for you: He’s using you because he knows I’m going to beat him.” Harvey to Faye? Or Harvey to Mike, way back when? SUITS says the first; I say I bet the second happened at some point, too.
- I’ve known Amy Acker was phenomenal since ANGEL, but the way she threw herself into every single bit of Esther’s story in “Prisoner’s Dilemma” was on another level.
- Also, I’m offended that no one at SUITS thought to give Acker/Esther the line, “I am not the damsel in distress. I am not some case!”
- The SUITS writing team deserves recognition for just how on-point everything she did say was, though. When I saw we were heading in the #MeToo direction, I was worried about whether or not this series, especially with its usual comic-relief character involved, could handle it. I’m beyond relieved to say I was wrong to have those doubts.
- “The thing is, you hear about this type of thing happening—you know it does—but you always think it happens to other people, not the people that you love.”Ahhh, to be so privileged.
- “And you wondered: was it your fault? Was it something you did or said?” If society could stop conditioning women to think like this, and allowing the courts to reinforce it, that’d be fabulous. I know. Too much to ask. See also: Every rape case ever, even the ones where the guilt was about as clear as it gets.
- Ok but Mike Ross was badass enough to represent himself. You mean to tell me The Harvey Specter isn’t? Please.
- “Esther, times have changed.” “I’m not so sure they have.” I’m Team Esther here. There may be some change, but it’s not enough. At all.
- “I know what we’re up against, but I can’t have you doubting me on this.” As if she’d ever. Also, if this wasn’t the weirdest, yet most satisfying, call back to “Intent,” then I don’t know what is.
- It took three women he loved and respected—Sam, Katrina, and his own sister, the victim—to give Louis enough of a clue about what women experience in the workplace (and elsewhere, obviously). And he’s one of the good ones. So, imagine what it’s like with those other kinds of guys…Yeah…
- “Pat me on the back later, Harvey, it’s what needed to be done.” I think that’s Darvey code for “let’s have a massage and victory sex after all of this is over.”
- “Look at his track record. Mike Ross went to prison for him; Jessica Pearson lost her license for him. He manipulates people.” What a small-minded, piece-of-trash excuse for an interpretation of SUITS.
- “I’m not seeing Harvey tonight. He’s too busy kicking your ass.” Ok, but hear me out: The concept of both.
- SUITS timeline befuddlement time! This episode claimed the Sutter case was two years ago. So, season six was two years ago, making the whole, “thank you for 12 years” thing from the fifth season at least that long ago…But also, “12” years was mentioned in the ninth season premiere. Sure, Aaron.
- “But you know what I’m going to say now, huh?” Something about you never wanting to see my face again.” “Something like that. Want to grab a beer?” “Let me take a raincheck. I’ve got a little errand to run.” “Go get him, Harvey.” Marvey whomst.
- Gabriel Macht and Sarah Rafferty in that last scene. Enough said. (Not really, but…)
- But really: Why, Korsh, why???????????????? WHY. JUST. WHY.
- I’m still numb and empty from all of this, even after previewing the episode late Monday night.
- Next time I want to take a deep dive into a character in a series’ final season, remind me that it’s just going to make the final gut-punches that much worse. SUITS, you’ve destroyed me through Harvey. Forever.
SUITS’ final season continues on Wednesday, September 18, at 9/8c.