Two weeks into the return of Suits and I thought this second episode was much better than the first, personally. There were a lot of faces from the past and Harvey, Mike and Jessica all had great stories in this episode.
I still have some issues with the way they are choosing to tell Mike’s prison story but I do like the idea behind it. Harvey and Mike are now both paying a personal cost for their past and continued relationship and it is going to test their bond with one another.
Meanwhile everyone at PSL is learning that they truly lack power in a world where power is everything. The scandal of Mike’s fraud has taken away any power they had as a firm or individual lawyers and Harvey and Rachel learn they are powerless to influence the prison system outside of prison and Mike learns the same inside.
But more on that along with the rest of my review of Suits 6x02 - Accounts Payable below the cut…
I really feel like only half the cast was utilized well in this episode. I think that Mike’s prison storyline is going to hurt the screen time of some of our beloved characters because Mike is so isolated. So this season instead of a cast of six it feels more like a cast of nine with time going to the characters of Frank Gallo, Kevin Miller and Julius Rowe (Malcolm Jamal-Warner’s character’s name according to imdb. Have they even said his name yet? I had to look it up). I’m not sure how I feel about that yet, I have to see how the season continues to unfold.
Anyway, let me break down the characters in this episode with some of my thoughts.
First let me say that it was great to see Robert Zane, Jack Soloff and Sean Cahill again. It did feel a little like we won’t be seeing much of those characters again, however, except for perhaps Cahill. The scenes with Zane and Soloff very much felt like Jessica tying up loose ends from last season but maybe the show will surprise me and they’ll play a bigger part later down the road.
Frank Gallo - This character continues to know just which buttons to press and so far he’s doing a fairly good job creating havoc for Mike and Harvey. I do wish the show hadn’t gone the extra step to make him a murderer as Harvey revealed in his talk with Mike. I think he was plenty threat enough without that extra layer that sort of seemed a step too far to me. This isn’t Law and Order, Mike and Harvey don’t need to be dealing with someone willing to murder. It just seemed too out of the box for Suits. He was dangerous enough with his revenge scheme and making Mike’s life miserable for the tone of the show.
Julius Rowe - I don’t really know how I feel about his character yet. I think he’ll be an ally eventually for Mike but right now he just seems to be there to give Mike someone else to play off of. I think part of my hesitation is that I don’t fully agree with his assessment of Mike in the first episode nor his attitude dealing with Mike in this second episode. If he’s there to serve the function of showing how helpless a person in his position really is in a prison, it’s being much better done on the show Orange in the New Black. If he’s there simply for Mike to have a sounding board, I’m not sure with the new cellmate we really need that. If he’s there to show that not everyone thinks Mike is a special snowflake, I’m not sure I agree with that either. The show has spent five seasons selling us on the idea that Mike is special so I’m not sure the purpose of contradicting that now through the Julius Rowe character while simultaneously showing Harvey fighting to get Mike special consideration on the outside that other prisoners would never get. Even with Harvey’s current inability to do something, Mike is still not just a normal prisoner for that fact that Harvey won’t stop fighting for him and pulling strings for him. If he really is there to rehabilitate Mike, does Mike need rehabilitating? He knew what he was doing was wrong. He accepted responsibility. Mike is always going to be one of if not the smartest person in the room so there’s no way to take that away from him because it’s always going to be the truth given his mind and the way it retains information. So what can Mike change about himself? All of this to say I’m still not sure what Julius Rowe’s character is suppose to show us. I’m on the fence on this character but I do think Malcolm Jamal-Warner is doing a great job in the role. I just need the show to use the character in a better way.
Kevin Miller - I actually really like this character and think he is the best new addition to the cast. He seems like a good guy who’s trying his best in an impossible situation, unless this show is trying to fake us out and he has some secret agenda but I don’t think that’s the case. When the chips were down he came through for Mike and did the right thing. I also find it interesting to see that while Harvey is trying and failing to save Mike outside of prison, Kevin managed to save Mike inside. I can’t believe I’m going to say this because it hurts my Marvey loving heart so much but right now Mike is going to have a much better chance of survival in prison with Kevin by his side than with Harvey. I feel like this episode very much set that up and that Mike and Kevin will be watching each other‘s backs considering he just made an enemy of Gallo too. It’ll be interesting to see how Mike creating a bond with Kevin with interfere with his relationship with Harvey and how Harvey will react since Harvey has never done well with the idea of Mike partnering up with someone else.
Gretchen - It was so nice to see Gretchen again and I loved her interactions with Jessica. I like that she had no problem stepping into the reception desk. She’s the type of women I believe could run half an office single handedly so I find it believable that she would easily take on two jobs.
Louis - Louis was there. He tried. I don’t really have anything to say about him this week. He was really pushed to the side in this episode. The only purpose he really served was to get beat in court and show how powerless the firm is against other lawyers right now.
Donna - I loved the scene between Donna and Rachel in the start of this episode. It is very much a Donna thing to do to pull strings to get Rachel in to see Mike earlier. I love that she’s looking out for Rachel. The scenes and friendship between these ladies are some of the best moments for them both.
That said, I cringed about the whole black in my heart thing. I know it was suppose to be funny but I didn’t really find it that at all. I thought it was in poor taste and offensive but that’s just a personal opinion. I did like that Gretchen at least called her on it but still I think that should have all been left on the cutting room floor.
I also found the scene with Harvey when Donna comes in to tell him that he’ll never forgive himself if something happens with Mike unnecessary. This show is at an interesting junction in this relationship. The more self aware and in touch with his emotions Harvey has become the less he needs Donna telling him these things which has always been her main purpose in his life before in a lot of ways. Harvey doesn’t need Donna’s emotional guidance anymore. That scene of the two of them tonight felt like it was just there to have a moment between them and nothing more. Harvey’s face when Rachel was yelling at him and his reaction afterwards before Donna even said anything told us that he already knew he’d never forgive himself. They have outgrown their relationship and as much as the show tells us Donna is Harvey’s emotional support system it is showing us something different. Mike was the one who supported him last season and got him through his panic attacks. This season when he’s distraught and missing Mike he turned to Rachel not Donna because she understands him better right now. So really Donna hasn’t been Harvey’s emotional support for a long time and I feel like this show needs to find a new dynamic between these two characters because right now scenes like the one in this episode are really unnecessary and pointless. Donna seems to be talking at Harvey and telling him things he’s already realized instead of talking with him anymore. Keeping their relationship in limbo worked the first few seasons because Harvey was still so closed off and emotionally unavailable but trying to return to their old dynamic isn’t working for me anymore because Harvey has grown too much. They need to redefine their friendship and their purpose in each other’s life.
Rachel - Rachel this episode was okay. I didn’t love her or dislike her. I was indifferent. To be completely honest I forgot all about her when I first wrote this review and had to go back and write her section in after I realized it as I neared the end, so I guess that says more than I can about my impression of her this episode. She's very basic and reacting exactly how a grieving fiancée who's other half went to prison would react and she still lacks her own storyline because everything is about Mike. Hopefully that will change next week. I'm not going to hold my breath but I'm still hoping.
The one point I did like was when she tried to threaten the prison guard at the front desk and she basically laughed in her face if only because it shows how powerless she is to do anything for Mike on the outside or to even get into see him. She is at the mercy of the system and for someone who likes control as much as Rachel does that won’t be easy on her.
Jessica - Jessica had a great episode once again. Her main story this episode seemed to be one of righting wrongs and making amends. I liked that she went to Robert Zane with the money for Soloff and tried to do right by both men while extending an olive branch.
The speech Jessica gave last episode about the way she ran things because she felt as a woman she had to do things that way and her weariness over it really showed in her actions in this episode. She doesn’t want to be hard as nails and take no prisoner anymore. Like she said, she’d much rather have friends. Besides, she is Jessica Pearson, she can kick ass and still be nice. She just has to figure out how and this episode showed her on her first steps of that journey of finding a way to be softer and still run a firm and be respected. I’m excited to see where her character goes from here.
Also, out of all the characters she seemed to handle her lack of power the best. She begged Zane when she had to and made herself vulnerable in a very sincere way because she understands that she holds no cards anymore. I would have thought she would have struggled the most with her power being taken away but in some ways it seems almost like a relief to her and I think a part of her is relishing a fresh start.
There is one thing, however that bothers me a little both in this episode and the last with her and Louis. Harvey keeps taking all the blame for hiring Mike and putting them all in this position and while Harvey definitely deserves most of it, I don’t think he deserves all of it. Jessica and Louis both used Mike for their own personal gain after discovering he was a fraud. They kept him at the firm and profited off of him and knew the risks if he was ever found out. Without Mike Louis would have never made name partner and Jessica would have lost the firm at least twice over, once to Hardman and once to Darby which were both situations in which Mike was vital to thwarting their takeovers. In other words, Jessica and Louis played with the same fire Harvey did and while Harvey may have lit the match neither one of them ever snuffed out the flame. They both kept it well fueled. I would like to see both of them take some responsibility for that instead of laying it all on Harvey.
Mike - I have very mixed feelings about Mike. I really feel like this show is writing him too naïve and innocent and generally out of character some just in order to make this storyline about being in prison work. If this was Mike back in season one, I’d buy it more but even then I’d still have issues. Remember the guy who managed to identify and avoid the undercover cops while carrying a briefcase full of weed because of a novel he read when he was eleven in the pilot? Fast forward six seasons later and it’s like Mike has never read a prison story or seen a prison movie. I can count on one hand the number of prison movies I’ve seen and I still am more savvy than Mike at this point. And I know they are trying to sell that reading novels and seeing prison movies is different than living it but it’s not working for me at all. Mike isn’t this naïve. He just isn’t. He hasn’t been for a long time. He knows the guards are corrupt. He knows that the prison system is broken in this country. Are you trying to tell me he hasn’t seen the news or read a newspaper? Why is he expecting things to be fair on the inside? I strongly dislike the “dumbing down” of this character to try to tell this story.
That said, I did like that he at least learned his lesson some on not being too trusting and wasn’t quick to jump into trusting Kevin, his real cellmate. Kevin earned Mike’s trust through his actions and I think there will be an interesting relationship that might form there. I’m excited to see more of this dynamic.
As far as Mike and Gallo go, I thought after the fight and before Harvey interfered he had found a decent balance in dealing with Gallo. He was trying to stay stoic and not give him any reaction while also showing strength. It didn’t work but part of that was out of his control. At the least I appreciated that Mike tried not to involve Harvey in dealing with Gallo at first and since I have a feeling that Harvey trying to get Cahill to move Gallo is going to backfire spectacularly on Mike, I can’t help but think he might have been right. He knows Harvey and Rachel are his weakness because of how much he loves them and he tried to protect them the best way he knew how going forward by keeping them out of it as much as possible now that Gallo knows about them both.
I have a lot to say about Mike and Harvey’s interactions so I’m giving them their own section at the end of the review because it’s easier to cover both of them at once then try to break it up between Mike and Harvey’s separate sections.
Harvey - Harvey had a rough episode. He’s trying and failing and that isn’t something Harvey is used to doing. He failed to really help Mike and like I just said above, I sincerely doubt that Cahill is going to come through for him with Gallo. It was interesting to see a Harvey that is operating without holding all the cards for once. He’s used to coming from a powerful firm with a lot of favors owed him and the whole fraud thing with Mike has destroyed almost all of that influence he once used so freely. He’s at a disadvantage and Cahill’s character highlighted that. He now is going to have to start owing favors instead of being the one they are owed to and that isn’t something Harvey is going to do well with going forward.
The dynamic between him and Rachel continues to be interesting one to me this season. These are the two people who love Mike most and they are connected through his absence in a way they never have been before. They understand each other through missing Mike and worrying about Mike more so than anyone else can. The scene where Harvey got off the phone with Mike to try to protect her and her yelling at him and then the scene where she came into apologize both showed that they are going to go through a lot of ups and downs together trying to get through Mike’s time in prison. Just like Kevin seems to be there to help Mike get through prison, Rachel and Harvey very much appear to be each other’s support system to get through the same thing. That Harvey is willing to be that for Rachel and let Rachel be that for him so far shows a lot of character growth for Harvey and shows how much he’s changed and is more able to let people in.
I thought the scene where Harvey lost his cool with Gallo showed both good and bad sides of Harvey. Good because it shows how fiercely he’ll protect Mike and how even the threat of harming him caused Harvey to totally lose it. Bad because it showed how Harvey is still quick to fall back on violence and anger when someone he loves is being threatened and he made the situation worse, something he even realized and apologized to Mike for later on.
The scene where he got the phone call from prison was also a great understated scene that showed Harvey’s fear for Mike without going over the top. He thought for a second this was the prison telling him Mike was seriously hurt or dead and he struggled before you could see the relief when he heard Mike’s voice. This situation with Gallo is going to keep Harvey up more nights than not worrying and is only driving the stakes higher of making sure he gets Mike out as soon as possible.
Finally the scene at the end was one of Macht’s best when we learned the value of that hideous painting hanging on the wall and why Harvey of all people kept it all these years. As if Harvey didn’t already have issue upon issue revolving around his mother he had to sacrifice the one good piece of her he had left in order to ensure the firm's survival. If we never meet Harvey’s mother it will be a shame because there is a lot to play there between a much older Harvey confronting her again.
Harvey and Mike - After a lack of scenes in the first episode, it was great to have them back together in this episode and I loved their scenes together, even if they were tense ones. Somehow whenever these two fight it only shows even more how much they love each other since they are usually fighting about trying to protect one another.
Speaking of which, I like that Mike told Harvey to back off because he’s on the inside and he has to deal with all of this Gallo stuff and Harvey isn’t. No matter how much Harvey thinks he’s helping, he screwed Mike over in the worst possible way in this episode by letting Gallo know that Mike means every bit as much to Harvey as Gallo was counting on. He didn’t just point Gallo even stronger in Mike’s direction, he painted a gigantic target on Mike’s back and Mike was right to be upset with Harvey. Harvey loves Mike and he’ll do anything for him and I don’t think Mike is trying to dismiss that but he is trying to make it clear that right now, Harvey is hurting him, not helping him. No matter what Harvey thinks is right at the end of the day Harvey gets to go home and crawl into bed in his safe loft and Mike has to live with the consequences of Harvey’s actions in a very unsafe environment. For once Harvey has to let Mike have the lead on this because ultimately Harvey can’t protect him inside that prison. Mike needs to be able to make his own decisions and have Harvey honor them whether he agrees or not because Mike and only Mike lives with the immediate consequences. Mike needs Harvey’s support not his guilt and right now Harvey is acting out of a lot of guilt that is working against Mike.
Which leads me to the other side of things, which is Harvey drowning once again in his guilt over Mike being in prison and him being powerless to run to his rescue. I liked, by the way, that in this episode when Rachel was yelling at Harvey they dropped the pretense of pretending Mike went to prison to protect everyone because let’s be real, it was always about protecting Harvey. There are only two people Mike would have willingly taken a two year prison deal in order to protect and not rolled the dice with the jury and Gibbs was only going after one of those two, Harvey. Rachel knows this, Mike knows this and Harvey most definitely knows this because he tried to do the same for Mike. Which is why as much as Mike is locked inside a prison, Harvey is in his own form of prison as long as Mike is there. Every time the phone rings is now laced with the fear that something happened to Mike and this is the call. Harvey can’t live with anything happening to Mike. If something happens to Mike at the hands of Gallo, someone targeting Mike because of Harvey specifically, he really won’t be able to live with it. That’s why he went to Cahill even after Mike asked him not to do anything. I noticed by the way that Harvey was very specific when Mike made him promise to only say he wouldn’t go to the warden. He was already planning to try something and he didn’t want to break his word with Mike so he talked his way around it. And he talked Cahill into trying to move Gallo in exchange of owing him a favor down the road. Harvey can’t sit powerless on the sidelines on this one and I truly think he’s going to regret that when things get worse for Mike before they get better.
One other small thing I noticed in this episode, when Harvey found out about Mike he didn’t hesitate at all to clear his schedule, something someone trying to hold onto a dying firm shouldn’t be doing. Harvey has made his priorities very clear this season, Mike comes before anything else.
The last thing I wanted to say about Harvey and Mike was something I mentioned at the very start of my review. I think it’s intriguing that this season so far has been set up to really test their relationship and their bond because both of them are paying dearly for having the other in their life. At the end of last season they both said they would do it all over again and now the show is putting that to the test. Mike’s life is literally in danger in prison because of his relationship with Harvey. What should have been a manageable two year prison sentence had Mike just kept his head down has now become a daily course in survival through absolutely no fault of his own and only because of Harvey. On the flipside Harvey has lost his firm, his power, the last happy piece of his mother and his peace of mind because of his relationship with Mike so far this season. And we are only in episode two. Things will get so much worse for both of them before they get better. So at the end of this whole ordeal will both of them say it was still worth it no matter how much they love each other?
I’m pretty sure the answer is yes but it won’t be an easy road for either of them.
So those are my thoughts on the second episode. I did like this episode better than the first but I still am not crazy about this season. Nothing about this feels like the Suits we all love. I find a lot of the humor missing it's mark and there is a lack of balance between the prison storyline and the firm. Having Mike at the mercy of a murderer with a vendetta against Harvey makes it hard to care about whether or not the others are upset over things happening at the firm. They aren't of equal importance or priority and the only thing the show has done right for me in striking this balance is by Harvey making it clear he feels the same and dropping everything happening with the firm to go to Mike when he's worried. Still, I find I'm more willing to give this season a chance to find a way to strike a better balance this week than I was last week.
As always, thanks for taking the time to read all this! See you next week!
