SUITS Summer Finale Advance Episode Review

SUITS
Season 1 Summer Finale Advance Episode Review
“Dogfight” Airing September 8, 2011 at 10 PM EST on USA Network
September 8, 2011
By Valerie Leung

Lawyers – we love to hate’em and hate to love’em.  Still, they make for great television if done properly.  Amidst the flood of lawyer shows, I was a little dubious when USA hit us this summer with yet another show about lawyers, but with the “Characters Welcome” brand filter, SUITS was almost certain to bring something a little different to the table.  Cue Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), a slick “closer” in a prestigious New York law firm, who prefers to win cases by one-upping his adversaries outside than inside a courtroom; and his sidekick Mike Ross (Patrick J Adams), a con-man with a photographic memory who never went to law school but has passed the Bar. “Two lawyers. One degree.”

Only a handful of people know the truth about Mike and throughout the season his past always threatened to catch up with him.  Last week, we got a glimpse into Harvey’s past in the form of his former mentor, Cameron Dennis (Gary Cole), the District Attorney who taught him “never go to court. It’s not about caring, it’s about winning.” It turns out Cameron, a District Attorney with a reputation for putting the bad guys away, didn’t always practice law by the book, leading Harvey to revisit his old cases when he worked as Cameron’s Assistant DA.

Dogfight picks up where we left off last week when Harvey realized one of the men he had helped put in prison 12 years ago was innocent.  With evidence previously buried by Cameron, Harvey is determined to bring justice to the men who were guilty of the crime.   With Cameron now gone, Harvey returns to the courtroom with Mike to re-open the case and challenge the new DA (Chi McBride).  With his trademark smirk and confidence, Harvey is convinced he can make the little evidence that he has work in his favor.  Of course, things are never that easy and Harvey and Mike are forced to find ways outside the law, with a few references to Mississippi Burning thrown in, to help win their case.  As much as Harvey always insisted that Mike never get emotionally attached to his cases or his clients, we know he has a heart and a conscience.

This season finale might as well have been titled “Second Chances” or “Redemption”.  The trial is not just about giving an innocent man a second chance to prove his innocence – it is about Harvey getting a second chance to redeem himself to right a wrong (my guilty pleasure is always watching sure-footed characters admit they are wrong); Trevor (Tom Lipinski) returns after cleaning himself up looking for a second chance with his childhood best friend and at the same time hoping for a second chance with his ex-girlfriend, Jenny (Vanessa Ray).

The Harvey-Mike bromance aside, we have all been keen to see where Mike’s romantic life will lead him.  It was love at first sight from the moment he met paralegal extraordinaire, Rachel (Meghan Markle), but then there was the forbidden pining for Jenny.  With Trevor out of the way, Jenny and Mike finally got together, but for fans of Mike-Rachel, don’t despair – we have not seen the end of this complicated love triangle.

As much as I love the men in SUITS (I admit, Rick Hoffman, as the devilishly fantastic Louis Litt, always reminds me of the neglected middle child who is always trying to get the attention and approval of his mother, never fails to make me laugh out loud in all his scenes), they would be nothing without the smart, beautiful, and fiercely loyal women who work with them.  Donna (Sarah Rafferty) is Harvey’s gatekeeper and confidante.  Her loyalty saved Harvey from prosecution when Cameron was being investigated, at the risk of not only losing her career but also losing Harvey’s trust.  And as smart as Harvey is, he would never have been where he is today without the support of his boss, Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres), whose job is not only to settle disputes for her clients but more importantly, to make sure her two star recruits, Harvey and Louis, play nice.

A few of my favorite moments and lessons learnt from the finale to wrap up this very fine freshman year:

Without giving away the ending, the question remains for Mike: will he be found out?