Another week and another solid episode. This season is finally hitting its stride after a very rocky start. There are still some things I’m not crazy about in this episode but overall I enjoyed it. Plus it was nice to see Gretchen and Robert Zane back and Neal McDonough as Sean Cahill continues to be one of my favorite things about this season. Can we keep him? Can’t he become a regular next season?
The parallels this episode drew between their two main plots and the way time is ticking for both Harvey and Mike in getting Mike out and Rachel and Jessica in freeing an innocent man worked really well and kept things moving. I also thought this episode did a good job of pulling Louis and Donna out from their isolated island and into the main action some.
For the most part this episode did a lot right but there are also some missteps for me still but more on that and the rest of my review of Suits Episode 6x07 - Shake The Trees under the cut.
Louis - Louis and Donna for me were both sort of a tale of two plots, one of which I really enjoyed and the other of which I just didn’t. I loved that when Harvey went to him and said he needed him the minute he said it was for Mike that was all Louis needed to hear. He dropped everything and went straight to work. Louis was serious last season when he said Mike was family and he would do anything for Mike. Louis delving into his expertise to chase down the smoking gun was a nice reminder of what he does best. He’s good with numbers and he’s thorough. I’ll even give him credit for accepting Stu’s apology gracefully although I wasn’t thrilled with how that happened. His protectiveness over Donna was a nice moment too. Louis can be petty and immature but he does really care about all of them and it’s nice when the show lets him show that. So all of those were great Louis moments in this episode.
The not so great for me continues to be the Tara storyline. I did enjoy Gretchen telling him she was a professional and she didn’t have time for his love life. I love that Gretchen calls these people on how unprofessional they are from time to time. But I still don’t like this whole Tara romance plot line. I didn’t like how they got here and I definitely don’t like where they are going with it. Louis cannot do an open relationship. He has neither the maturity, communication skills or ability to share that an open relationship would require. So that being what Tara is offering him already makes me not like where this is headed. Unless next episode is Louis turning her down this is all headed for disaster.
Donna - Same with Louis above, this episode had both great and not so great Donna elements for me. I loved her phone conversation with Mike and how willing she was to do what he needed. I always enjoyed their friendship and I feel like it got lost the last couple of seasons so I’m glad to see it back in scenes like the one in this episode. Donna is really great when they let her have these moments whether it’s with Mike, Rachel or Louis even like at the end when she brought him the dinner place for his date where she gets to be a good friend. It reminds us of how warm Donna can be and that she is a really good person to have in your corner.
On the contrary, I didn’t enjoy Donna waltzing in and demanding Stu do exactly what she tells him to do because she’s “Donna” and he, someone running his own business, should just roll over for her and he does because she’s “Donna” and she says so. I’m over the “I’m Donna and I’m awesome” shtick. Because it’s just that, it’s superficial, never backed up with anything real and worked in season one but it’s five seasons on now and it’s the least interesting part of Donna to me. If it still works for you, great. It just doesn‘t for me anymore.
In the neutral column for me with Donna was her revealing that she and her boyfriend, that has only been mentioned two times prior to this I believe, are done. I know I was meant to feel sorry for Donna but it’s hard to do when we’ve never heard anything about him, saw them together, heard about them together, have any sort of investment in their relationship. The reason I’m staying neutral is because if this is a set up to meeting him and Donna’s storyline going somewhere then I’m all onboard. If this was just them dumping the mostly nonexistent boyfriend because the writers decided they didn’t want to do anything with him then this goes back to the problem I mentioned last review of Donna’s potential storylines coming and going without any rhyme or reason.
Jessica - Jessica mentoring Rachel is everything I’ve wanted for so many seasons now so I’m so happy that it is happening. Jessica has this wealth of knowledge and we’ve never got to see her really share beyond the occasional advice she’s given here or there. I love that she is finally really working with Rachel and giving her advice and sharing with her. The scene I loved best though was her coming back to the office after Gretchen called her about the victim’s father showing up to check on Rachel. Jessica’s offer to take her for drinks very much felt like their relationship evolved a little this episode into the beginnings of the type of relationship Harvey and Mike have and I’m so excited to see where they go with these two from here.
Rachel - This storyline this season continues to be the best thing that has ever happened to Rachel’s character. I enjoyed her struggling with the difficulties of working cases like these both from the anger of Bailey and the victim’s father. Her and Gretchen had a particularly nice moment when Gretchen came to a visibly shaken Rachel’s rescue and protected her. Rachel is learning the hard way that doing what you think is right isn’t always rewarding or easy. It showed some of her strength that she didn’t run out of the office after the confrontation no matter how shaken she was and went right back to working on the case.
But the best thing for me about Rachel in this episode was her going to ask her father for help. Her issues with her father and her fears about him not ever seeing her as a real lawyer or having to ask him to help her and not being able to stand on her own have been touched on many times before. Jessica making her confront those fears by telling her that as a lawyer sometimes they need to ask for help was a great moment of character growth. The subsequent scene with Robert Zane, who makes every episode better when he shows up, where he dismisses her having to ask a favor because she’s his daughter and her reiterating that she wasn’t there as his daughter but as a fellow lawyer was a huge moment for her. You could see she impressed her father and she earned the respect she’s always wanted from him because he took her up on her offer of owing him one now. I really hope we get to see him come to collect at some point lawyer to lawyer because that would really complete their journey to equals as lawyers.
Of course in the end that favor didn’t end up getting her what she needed since the witness she was in pursuit of is dead but I’m sure that her fight is far from over. She isn’t going to give up that easily.
Mike - I’ll admit that Mike was on my last nerve this episode for the most part. I love that he’s compassionate but there is a limit. Harvey is killing himself trying to get Mike out of prison and Mike is still asking for more. He’s lucky Harvey got him a deal at all. Not only that but Mike is keeping stuff from Harvey and running around trying to get more deals for Kevin and his wife. Kevin, who by the way, doesn’t even want Mike’s help. So just be selfish and take your deal, Mike! You don’t need to save everyone!
Seriously, I’ve enjoyed the Kevin and Mike relationship up until this episode but that’s been tested now. I think the problem is that they are trying to pit Mike and Kevin’s new found friendship against Mike and Harvey and that is never going to stand up. We’ve been invested in Mike and Harvey’s relationship for six years, the few episodes of Kevin and Mike bonding aren’t enough to test that. All in all a lot of the stuff this episode seemed like they were just treading water with Mike’s storyline in prison while they advanced what was happening with Harvey’s out of prison but I wish they had found a less annoying and less frustrating way to do it.
Speaking of frustrating, I was perfectly happy when this show dropped the Gallo stuff for the most part and I’m not happy with it being picked back up because I think they have done a poor job with the threat of Gallo. Look, this show isn’t Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead. Mike isn’t going to be killed by Gallo or even seriously injured. At the end of the day we all know this and the only way a character that we all know will be fine can be put in danger on a show and have it mean anything is if the show succeeds in making us believe that the character and the characters around that character believe that they are really in danger. This show did a decent job of that when Gallo was first introduced. Harvey and Mike legitimately believed that Gallo was a serious threat and acted accordingly but since they neutralized him a few episodes back neither Mike nor Harvey have acted like Gallo is any real danger to Mike. All of the tension from this storyline has disappeared. If they wanted to bring Gallo back as a threat at the end of this season again they needed to keep Mike scared of him during all these episodes. Instead Mike hasn’t acted like Gallo is a threat in at least three episodes now. In this episode he even went into a room alone with him, even if he did look around for a second before doing it. There is no tension left here to exploit because the show let it go and I don’t think they can sufficiently build it back up in a way that makes this storyline pack any sort of punch anymore.
I did however like Mike’s moment with Donna on the phone and him remembering her birthday down to the exact days was really sweet.
And his incredulous outburst at finding out Harvey was colluding with Cahill amused me because hasn’t Mike figured out yet that Harvey will do anything for him?
Harvey - I think the Harvey and Cahill friendship is gone and that makes me sad. I’ve been enjoying their mutual admiration society these past few episodes. That said, I get it. Harvey was promised that Cahill would get Mike out for him, Harvey basically handed Cahill his entire case and now Cahill isn’t going to deliver his Mike back to him. It was a raw deal.
Harvey is kind of getting a raw deal all around right now. Cahill is fighting him, Mike is fighting him and he’s running himself into the ground doing everything he can to get Mike out, give Cahill all the evidence Cahill couldn’t find himself and still pretend to be Sutter’s attorney. In other words, Harvey is keeping all the balls in the air right now and all he wants is someone to lend him one hand.
That last scene where Cahill tells him the deal is off and Harvey looked like he was going to cry while he pleaded for Cahill to fix it and get Mike his deal back was the saddest moment of the episode for me. Harvey isn’t going to be able to survive Mike staying in prison another two years. That said, much like I’m sure Rachel isn’t done fighting her case, Harvey is far from done either. He’s already proven that he will scorch the Earth to get Mike out if that’s what is necessary and Cahill just lit a fire under him. No more Mr. Nice Harvey. If I was a betting girl I’d say that he’s going to do everything he can to destroy Cahill’s case and his star witness so that Cahill needs Mike and the deal is back on. Harvey tried playing nice with Cahill, now he’s going to do whatever it takes.
One last thing, there was an interesting moment when Cahill said to Harvey that he wasn’t going to let Sutter continue to hurt people just so Mike could have his deal back that reminded me of the same sort of moment Harvey had last season with Gibbs where she said he should have come to her with the info he tried to use to leverage Mike out of prison for the right reasons. Cahill tried to appeal to Harvey in the same manner and both times Harvey proved he doesn’t care about that. He doesn’t necessarily care about doing what is right, like putting Sutter away or taking down a company responsible for murder, he only cares about how using the right thing benefits him and it was interesting to see that revisited this episode.
So those were my thoughts on the episode. I’m going to miss my Cahill and Harvey friendship but I’m kind of interested to see how badly Harvey destroys Cahill now. He’s keeping him from Mike and that has never worked out well for anyone. I’m also interested in what Rachel and Jessica’s next move is and to see how they turn their case around. Like I said above, after a slow start these last two episodes have really picked up the pace of the season and I’m actually back to looking forward to Suits every week!
As always, thanks for taking the time to read my review! See you next week!
