In “Cats, Ballet, Harvey Specter,” SUITS explored what friendship might mean for various pairings of characters. As Katrina Bennett and Brian Altman worked toward becoming the series’ new dream team, Katrina became aware of the possibility for something more (and something dangerous). At the same time, Donna Paulsen found herself in the unlikely position of bonding with Samantha Wheeler; and Harvey’s friendship with Louis Litt faced one of its rockiest moments yet.
Not “just” friends? Katrina Bennet had already proven that she could manage people, but her promotion to senior partner still hadn’t gone through by the time “Cats, Ballet, Harvey Specter” opened. Instead, Louis brought Katrina a new case, which he swore would actually do the trick. (Do we trust him? Meh. It’s SUITS, so…probably not.)
Katrina asked her new best friend, Craig from Degrassi Brian Altman, to help her with the case; but he was confused as to why she’d even want his help since she was more than capable of winning on her own.
(Hint: It was him that Katrina wanted.)
All Katrina needed to get her bff on board was the magic of Donna: “Let’s just say Donna once said that you make everyone around you better, and I need to be at my best on this case.” But, as the two young lawyers tried to solve a stock exchange problem for their client, Mr. Ford, it became obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes that there was something more going on. Two friends could certainly share dinner while working late — they could even joke around while they did — but something Donna saw in the characters’ interaction just wasn’t quite platonic.
The chemistry between Katrina and Brian was undeniable. But, as Katrina knew, Brian was a married man — with a baby, no less. So, when it was time to order Indian takeout and work all night for the second night in a row, Katrina did the noble thing and told Brian to take off. The next day, he thanked his “just friend” for sending him home, where he was able to watch a favorite film with his wife.
And then there was this horribly awkward moment in which the two characters repeatedly talked about what “friends” do, thanks to which, Craig Brian felt the need to ask if he was Katrina’s first friend.
No, sweetie. You’re just the first one she’s had feelings for who was completely off-limits…But thank you for being the “oblivious male” poster child.
New friends? One area where SUITS has repeatedly failed is in the lack of a storyline for Donna Paulsen that has been completely unrelated to any man’s destiny. Not so in “Cats, Ballet, Harvey Specter.” Although Donna did initially take the opportunity to help out her friend’s charity for at-risk girls to Alex Williams, he was too “slammed.” Instead, it was Samantha Wheeler’s chance to work with Zane Specter Litt’s resident queen COO.
Given that their first encounters — yes, plural — were far from positive, it took a lot for Sam and Donna to warm up to one another. In fact, Donna’s first instinct was to basically tell the other woman “thanks, but no thanks” when she offered her services. For Donna, this charity was far too important to work with someone whom she didn’t trust; but Sam swore that the cause was close to her heart. Since she doubted Donna would believe her, she said Donna could just take her word that “a little birdy” asked her to lend a hand.
The birdy in question was a slightly meddlesome Alex Williams, who also forked up a $5 million donation to the charity in question.
Later, Donna took what she thought was a solo trip to the charity’s fundraising Gala; but Sam also made an appearance, giving the two women their first chance to talk as equals and potential gal pals. Donna gave the oftentimes dishonest lawyer credit for simply showing up and showing interest, and then the two women bonded over their plans to eat the shit out of some shrimp cocktail.
There was also a lot of flirting. There’s really nothing else that we can call it. It seems as if one Samantha Wheeler is interested in Donna Paulsen, and honestly? Who could blame her? (Narrator: No blame was found.)
The next morning at the office, Donna showed up with coffee for two, but there was already trouble in paradise: Sam had found a problem with the charity’s fundraising habits, so she was convinced that Donna’s friend, Peggy, was “up to something shady.” Donna didn’t want to believe that Peggy could do anything to take money away from those little girls, but she was at least willing to look into it. All Sam had to do was let her work her magic before doing any “fixing.”
Sam promised she leave well enough alone until Donna had a chance to talk to Peggy; but, of course, that’s just not how Ms. Wheeler operates. She did some digging, which resulted in Peggy’s firing and could very easily have ended with death by Donna Glare. After Donna nearly murdered Sam with a few well-placed words, it was time for a round of Donna versus Alex, which ended with Donna having to come to the hard realization that she was taking things too personally.
Thanks to more of Alex Williams’ matchmaking, Sam and Donna met up later to apologize to one another. Then, just like Michelle Ross and Harriet Specter recently did with a trashy landlord, Damantha — bad shipper name? Probably — served justice to James Davenport, the charity’s slimy monster of a CEO. They were even able get Peggy reinstated — in a higher position: Davenport’s.
As the most recent chapter of SUITS closed out, Sam even approached Donna with promises of finally telling her full story. Putting the pieces together between previous episodes and this one, it seems as if the legend of Samantha Wheeler was born to cover up something rough during her younger years. Who could better than Donna Paulsen to be the first person in the work family to get to actually know the real person? You guessed it! No one.
But I’m warning everyone: Donna can have all the whisky, martinis, and rosé with Sam she wants…but the scotch dates, as well as the strawberries and whipped cream, are still all for Harvey.
Larvey goes to couples’ counseling. Yes, you read that right! Couples’ counseling! For Larvey!
Let’s back it up and get some background.
As we’ve constantly mentioned here, the best part of SUITS’ eight seasons has been Harvey Specter’s journey. A big part of that story has been about Harvey’s rocky, yet undeniable, friendship with Louis Litt. The two men have been rivals since day one, but they’ve also had each other’s backs when it’s mattered the most…until now.
After bringing Katrina her big case, Louis had “to go deliver some more shitty news to someone who’s going to be less understanding.” That someone was Harvey, and the news was that he was losing McKernon Motors — his oldest client — and there was nothing he could do about it. In the middle of that conversation, Louis’ client, Joan Walsh, showed up for a surprise meeting.
But, well. Louis couldn’t do his job because he had to run off to schtupp Sheila.
Harvey was…not happy (he shouldn’t have been) to have all of the firm’s messes dumped in his lap, especially when he was in the middle of dealing with some very damaging personal business. Despite his best efforts in “Good Mudding,” Harvey’s brother was still going to get divorced; and it was bringing back all of Harvey’s insecurities. Worse yet, it was bringing back all of Harvey’s “take my feelings out on Louis because I don’t know how to handle them” patterns.
Joan Walsh’s problem was some whiny, 16-year-old internet “star” who had allegedly broken out due to Joan’s product…And literally no one cares about any of that.
When Louis returned to the office, expecting some bad jokes from Harvey before the two friends could move on, he was met with an attack instead. Dr. Lipschitz’s view was that it sounded like — for once — Harvey may be in the wrong; but regardless of where the blame may lie, something had to be done to work on the relationship before it completely collapsed.
At this point, Louis said some gross, heteronormative crap that was probably supposed to have been funny: “Oh, my God, I’m in a relationship with Harvey? Can I be the boy? Scratch that. I don’t give a shit. I’m in a relationship with Harvey.”
Um. They’re both “the boy.”
At any rate, Louis was able to convince Dr. Lipschitz to see himself and his partner in a joint session; but the appointment did not go as Louis had hoped. At first, Harvey didn’t even want to make an appointment, but his wife Donna talked some sense into him about his recent behavior, which changed his mind. Then, in Lipschitz’s office, Harvey took forever to open up; when he did, he unloaded years’ worth of his frustrations over Louis’ jealousy. He even accused Louis of wanting to have a baby just to get the upper hand for once.
After Louis stormed off, Lipschitz told a clearly hurt Harvey that he needed to work on himself. Harvey begrudgingly agreed, so the therapist secured Louis’ (reluctant) blessing to start seeing his partner one-on-one. Ahhh, professional boundaries!
And here was the big heartbreaker of SUITS season 8’s seventh episode: “My family’s falling apart, and at the same time, I’m getting it rubbed in my face that Louis’ family is growing.” Dr. Lipschitz, an actually professional and competent therapist (unlike some people), managed to get Harvey to see that he was wrong — Louis wasn’t rubbing anything in his face — but Harvey was still afraid that his friend wouldn’t forgive him or, worse yet, wouldn’t be there for him when he needed someone.
Lipchitz pressed to know why Harvey felt that way, and with the floodgates already open, it was time to drown SUITS viewers in feelings: “Because they leave! Everyone leaves. Mike. Rachel. Jessica. My sister-in-law. Everyone.”
This is the most real thing SUITS has ever had come out of a character’s mouth, and thank the tv gods it was Harvey who had the chance to tell such a devastating truth. After just 20 minutes with Lipschitz, Harvey made more progress than he had made in a long time. He found Louis, apologized, and had one of those dorky Larvey moments that everyone loves.
…but no, Louis, Harvey’s not better at therapy than you are. He literally once thought he was “cured” enough to be “in love” with his quack doctor.
With just the appropriate amount of Harvey admitting that he and Louis were “brothers from another mother,” followed by idle threats and destruction of Litt’s dictaphone (RIP), it was time for Team Larvey to go grab a couple of drinks. Maybe they’d be lucky enough to run into Damantha and get sloshed together.
If only.
Thoughts for our friends.
- The title of this episode included “ballet.” Amanda Schull, who plays Katrina Bennett, was originally a professional ballet dancer and was known for her role in CENTER STAGE — a film about ballet. Ball dropped on the chance to be meta, SUITS. Ball. Dropped.
- Here’s a ball that wasn’t dropped: Schull’s chance to shine. That moment when Katrina absolutely lost it over learning of the countersuit? Amazing. And oh, that awkward inner conflict over Brian…priceless.
- This was Sarah Rafferty’s episode, though. Not only did she deliver on the sassy indignation when she found out that Alex had told Sam about her charity case, but in each and every one of Donna’s arguments with the other characters, Rafferty brought just the right amount of escalation. Donna’s journey took her down a road that saw her grappling with whether or not she knew her friend the way she thought she did, guilt over said friend’s firing, outrage at her coworkers’ apparent backstabbing behavior, self-doubt, self-confidence, and just about every other conflicting emotion possible. Not to mention, she was pretty stunning in that gala dress.
- Was it a missed opportunity to keep Harvey away from Donna when she was all dressed up? On some level, certainly. But overall, considering what his character was working through and taking into account Donna’s usual role as someone who only exists as part of men’s stories, SUITS took the right path in pairing her with Sam. Female friendships were once such a vital part of this series, and it’s nice to see that there’s still commitment to those kinds of relationships here.
- Ok, we lied. This wasn’t just Rafferty’s episode. It was also Macht’s for the second week in a row. Just keep bringing me that broken version of Harvey, SUITS. And just keep watching your leading man kill it.
- “Because you’re looking at two pissed off women who know exactly what you did and how to prove it.” Hell hath no fury, and I’m disgustingly here for it.
- “But I also know that the heart doesn’t always listen to what the brain says it would never do.” Was Donna talking about that time she kissed Harvey when he was in a relationship, what she wants to do with Harvey in spite of her her no coworkers rule, cheating on Harvey with Samantha….or just Katrina’s situation with Brian? The world will almost surely never know.
- “If every 16-year-old girl filed suit every time she wasn’t happy with what she saw in the mirror, our legal system would grind to a halt.” Sadly, this is a lifelong problem for a lot of us…But yeah, it’s worse at 16. Can confirm.
- “I don’t know about you, but not all the cocktails I had last night were shrimp.” This is too, easy, but. Did you have any of Harvey’s cock or tails?
- Katrina has never heard of THE BREAKFAST CLUB. This characterization as “too driven, has no personal life, send help” is starting to get scary.
- “And then I got really sad. And then I got really sad and called you. Now, fix it.” If only it worked that way.
- ”Did you come to show me how good you look all dressed up?”
“What if I came to see how you look all dressed up?” (Can relate, btw.)
“Miss Wheeler, are you flirting with me?”
“And how would that make you feel if I was?”
“Are you kidding? I went to theatre camp.”
Direct from notes: “WTF HAPPENED HERE.” Also, shoutout to Louis Litt: Both Samantha and Donna are “the girl” here, you tool. - “Our what needs what?”
“You heard me. We’re in a relationship, and it needs tending.”
“Then, break up with me and go out with somebody else because I’m busy.”
…with Donna. - So, what are friends for? Let’s see: They support you when you’re trying to reach your goals, to the point where it feels like they’re sharing those victories with you (Katrina and Brian). They trust you enough to share their deepest truths, and they care enough to listen (Damantha); they believe in you, even when there’s evidence that they shouldn’t (Donna and Peggy). And sometimes, they even forgive you when they see that the reason you’re being a complete ass is because you’re hurting (Larvey). Of course, it’s more complicated than that; but it’s a start.
Don’t miss the next new episode of SUITS on Wednesday, August 29, at 9/8c on USA.