Suits Season 3, Episode 3: "Unfinished Business" Recap/Review
I'm SO BEHIND on Suits recaps, but I finished my last final this morning and now I am done with school for a couple weeks, so yay, more time to spend on word-vomiting about scheming lawyers in fabulous suits and teenage werewolves and their human friends. Let's start dishing on the former, yeah?
Try as I might, I don't like Katrina. Although, I'm pretty sure that's the point. She has all of the ambitious, cut-throat, sneaky deviousness that most/all lawyers must have, but without the charm and charisma and general social skills that allows people like Harvey, or Mike, and especially Jessica, to get away with what they do. At the same time, though, on this show, you know that every time someone treats someone else like shit, it's going to bite them in the ass in a big way; something tells me that Katrina is no exception. Harvey (and by extension, Donna and Mike) have enough shit coming their way from Jessica when Harvey's deal with Darby inevitably gets out, (or worse, even MORE people find out that Mike's a fraud) so the last thing they need is petty revenge stunts from Katrina, too. So, let's get moving, I've got three different recaps cooking right now that needed to be done, like, FOREVER ago, so we don't have time to waste!
Previously, on Suits: Katrina Bennett managed to weasel around and manipulate Harvey into hiring her, and Mike got pissed at her for taking credit for other associates' ideas and lording her "5th year associate" status in everyone's face. Rachel and Donna got into a pretty serious fight regarding Mike's little secret. Harvey was super butthurt at Mike for his betrayal last season, and told Louis he could have Mike as a personal associate because he was done with their relationship. But, naturally, Harvey then reneged on it the second after Mike agreed to work for Louis, which broke his little heart. Jessica halfheartedly tried to make things right with Harvey after their fight about Darby. Ava Hessington wanted to bribe people to get out of a bribery charge, but eventually Harvey got her a plea deal; though, with one caveat from Cameron Dennis-- she must plead guilty instead of no contest to get it. Jessica urged Harvey to advise her to take the deal, though Harvey didn't want to, with a warning that she will do anything to win if people screw her over. And finally, Harvey made a deal with Darby behind Jessica's back-- if he wins the Hessington case, Darby has to back him for managing partner, because he wants to take Jessica's job.
Rachel looks like a million bucks in one of her classy skirt-blouse combos, and is teasing Mike by reaching up on her tiptoes to try to get some bran bars off the tippy-top shelf, while twangy rock music plays in the background. Eventually, he gets up and helps her, as an excuse to get closer to her, and asks her what time she's coming over. Rachel would rather have their rendezvous at her place, though, because she still has a little residual PTSD from seeing Tess in a bed-sheet in his bedroom last season after she and Mike had a bunch of grief sex.
Mike helps himself to a bran bar, but Louis swoops in out of nowhere and smacks it out of his hands, informing him that bran bars are banned for first years, since the quartermaster can make arbitrary rules like that, I guess. Louis isn't actually speaking to Mike right now, though, since he's still butthurt over Mike choosing Harvey over him last episode. Louis instead asks Rachel to ask Mike to pass him the non-dairy creamer, and then compares it to Mike (fake, full of chemicals, etc, rather than genuine, good, and delivering on its promises) When Rachel asks him why he even drinks it, then, he reminds them that he's lactose intolerant, as if he doesn't talk about his food issues all the damn time. I'm pretty sure even I have all his allergies memorized at this point, since he brings it up so fucking often.
When Louis returns to his office, he finds Harvey waiting for him with a big box of files. Louis automatically rejects his non-existent apology, but Harvey's clearly not there to apologize, because Harvey. Actually, Harvey is there to give Louis the Hessington Oil case, because since the bribery thing is settled, their job is now to help fight the takeover-attempt on her CEO position. Louis is so not here for Harvey's sloppy-seconds, but Harvey assures him that Louis should take the case because he's the financial whiz, and he wanted Louis to know that he knows it. Louis seems satisfied enough with the flattery, and tells him to leave the box. Also, I just noticed that Louis has a framed picture of himself on his desk, which is both hilarious and awesome.
Before Harvey leaves, he turns back to suggest that maybe Louis find a rebound associate. "Come on! You have him file a few interrogatories, pick up your dry-cleaning, then you cut him loose!" Louis: "Just like that, no strings attached?" When Harvey explains that better men than him have done it (ie: Harvey), Louis forgets his pissiness completely and they gossip a bit about Harvey's seven-day fling with an associate. "Yeah, but Harvey, I don't just want a superficial relationship, you know, I want a true mentee! Someone I can take to the gun club, or mudding, or to the Origami Festival!" Harvey tries to swallow his internal laughter as he reassures Louis that the right one will come eventually, but as he leaves Louis' office, he can't help but mutter, "Origami Festival? Oh my GOD," under his breath. Hee!
Rachel has found Donna in the filing room, where she's doing a little hip-bump/elbow-slam maneuver to get the copier to work. The ladies apologize for their little spat by referencing that wonderful night last season where they went out pretending to be "Harriet Specter" and "Michelle Ross" or whatever at the bars, and it's truly adorable. Rachel asks if Donna and Mike are cool, now, and Donna is like, "Do you really think Harvey had that emotional epiphany on his own? Please." Rachel brings up the fact that Mike still thinks Donna hates him, but Donna explains that she's been holding off on telling him that she forgives him so that way he keeps trying to win her over by buying her mocha lattes. Nicely played, girl! Rachel suggests that maybe Donna should let Mike know anyway, and then leaves to return to work.
Ava has invited Harvey to lunch, because she's sticking around New York while they deal with the takeover attempt by Tony Gianapolis, the majority shareholder. (I'm sure I butchered that spelling, but I can't seem to find any clues anywhere. Plus, this is coming from the girl who spelled Ava "Eva" for like two weeks until realizing I was wrong. Whoops!) Harvey informs her that her case has been reassigned, and assures her that the lawyer is great, but Ava's not really surprised, because she's actually here to hire Harvey to work for her, due to the fact that he shares her love of scheming and whatnot. Harvey is flattered, but politely turns her down, because we all know he's after his name on the door at Pearson Darby. Plus, he likes having many clients, and would probably kill himself if he had to deal with Ava's shit day in and day out.
Of course, Cameron Dennis has to show up at the restaurant and ruin everything by arresting Ava in the middle of their lunch, but not before wheedling Harvey a bit more for kicks. On what charges was she arrested, you ask? Conspiracy to commit murder! YIKES. I had a feeling he was hiding something but I wasn't expecting it to be that crazy! Jinkies!
Harvey has followed Cameron back to his office, wherever that is, where he gets the story from Cameron on what happened: the foreign colonel that Ava bribed ended up killing six people on the land that Hessington Oil owned. Harvey proclaims this to be bullshit, but it gets worse--the six people who were killed were protesting the oil pipeline that Hessington Oil was getting ready to build, so that's a pretty good motive to kill them, wouldn't you think? Harvey's brain is short-circuting in the face of being played in the way that he has, and yells that they had a deal, but Cameron's whole "non-negotiable" condition that she plead guilty was just a play to get her to admit to bribery so he could now use THAT charge to tie her to these murders. "And you didn't see it coming, and there's nothing you can do about it." Jesus, this guy is like a 12 year old, isn't he? Harvey's beyond pissed, as you can imagine. TITLE CARD!
Downstairs on the ground floor, Mike meets up with Harvey and is immediately like, "What can I do?" Harvey figures that Cameron's first move will be denying Ava bail, so Mike's job is to figure out how to get around that. Harvey preemptively orders Mike not to speak one word about his moral opposition to defending someone accused of murder, but surprisingly, Mike has no qualms about it. Harvey is impressed, so he lets Mike come with him to talk to Ava. Mike's like, "Yeah! Butch and Sundance are back!" Harvey's not down with that analogy, though, because he believes himself to be both Butch AND Sundance, and believes Mike to be neither. On that note, though, Harvey quips, "Speaking of Butch and Sundance, let's go start a knife fight."
Meanwhile, at Pearson Darby, Louis has his dictaphone out and is barking some random orders for Norma when Katrina Bennett waltzes in with some numbers she crunched regarding the Hessington Oil case, in which she's now desperately trying to get involved, because of course she is. She's wearing a gray suit with a ridiculous frilly blouse under it and looks kind of crazy, tbh. He asks her why he should hire her to be his personal associate, but she has no interest in that, since as she always reminds us, she's a 5th year associate, not a newbie first year, and she doesn't want to be anyone's personal anything. However, she claims she's a good lawyer, and she knows Louis is good, and is willing to work with him so that they can both win. He seems almost interested, quipping "Oh, like the relationship between a phytoplankton and a whale!" Katrina is like, "Uh, I don't really like the sound of that TBH, but since I'm kissing your ass for this job, I'll humor you." Louis is tired of being used by underlings, though, so he rejects her offer and shoos her away.
Mike gets to question Ava, who doesn't seem to appreciate his tone one bit, while Harvey watches wearily. During Mike's interrogation, we learn that she supposedly knew about the demonstrations and that people died in the midst of them, but she claims to have had no idea they were the leaders of the protests or that they were murdered by the colonel. When Mike brings up that it happened on her land, she reminds him that Hessington Oil owns tons of land around the world, and this particular plot is in a "volatile country" with lots of violence and death as it is. (They never specify where exactly this happened, but I think it's safe to assume it's in the Middle East/northern Africa somewhere where civil wars and generalized tensions have been going on for years.) Mike points out that she's suggesting that it's just a coincidence that six people who opposed her company's business practices were murdered on her land by a colonel who she paid off, but she explains that it was reported as a "combat incident," not a murder. Naturally, Mike gets lawyer-y about it, like, "Okay first you said you didn't know anything and now you know it was reported as a combat incident? Which is it?"
Ava's 100% done by this point, and glares at Harvey in a silent order to back her up. Harvey assures her that Mike is just doing his job, so she turns back to Mike and levels with him: "Well, Mike, every death in that country is reported as a 'combat incident.' And, for your information, there were thousands of people opposed to my pipeline." Harvey informs her that they don't need any more information right now, so Ava asks Mike to give her and Harvey some privacy, which he does, after looking to Harvey for approval. After he has left, Ava's goes in on Harvey for insisting that she take Cameron's plea deal, which only pushed her into an even bigger mess than she was already in in the first place. To be fair to Ava, guilty or not, this shit is still mostly because Cameron has a grudge against Harvey, so I kind of feel for her.
Harvey does make a legitimate point when he brings up the fact that he had no knowledge of the murders until she got arrested, and had she informed him earlier, he most definitely would have done things differently. She swears that she had no idea either, because she's innocent, but Harvey reiterates that they're not questioning her like this to judge her or to accuse her of anything, they just NEED to know every single detail of everything Cameron knows so they can figure out how to best protect her. He warns her that Cameron is going to come at her a million times harder than Mike was just moments ago, and it's going to get ugly if they're not prepared. She asks if he thinks she's guilty, and he's like, "That's irrelevant, because I honestly don't give a fuck either way, as long as you tell me everything you know about what happened so we can win." She maintains that she has no idea what all the evidence is because she knows as much as he does, and asks again if he thinks she's guilty, because his answer is important to her. "Do you want a lawyer who thinks you're innocent and loses, or a lawyer who doesn't want to know and wins." She says that he knows the answer to that, so he retorts, "Then don't ask me that question again, because after I win this and you're free, what I think won't matter." She seems slightly mollified, but still pretty furious.
Walking back to the office, Mike asks Harvey what Ava wanted to talk to him about. He jokes that she wanted to know if Mike was single, and sends him back to the office. Mike is bummed, because he wanted Harvey to come back too so they could get lunch, which is apparently a foreign concept for Harvey. Harvey asks, "Like what?" and Mike is all, "I don't know, maybe steak or something?" Hee! Harvey correctly guesses that Mike misses Louis, and asks if they are going to go mudding again. Mike begins to totally regret having this conversation, but Harvey promises that when this case is over, they can talk about lunch or dinner or whatever. Of course, he's just joshing, and hops into his Lexus, driven by Ray. "Butch and Sundance are back?" Mike asks, as Harvey drives away. Oh, Mike.
Donna is conveniently away from her desk, so Katrina takes the opportunity to slyly creep into Harvey's office to leave a file on his desk. Unfortunately for her, Mike catches her and start bickering immediately. He asks what she's doing, and she tries to play coy, but he knows how she is, and points out that she doesn't have any cases with Harvey. "I will when he sees this!" She yells with glee. Mike tries to snag the file from her, but she yanks it out of reach. "No, you're not taking credit for my ideas again! Harvey's gonna know I built this airplane." Mike's like, "Hate to break it to ya, sweets, but you're too late-- Harvey and I are back together, so scram!" Katrina claims she's not trying to take his position from him, but Mike begs to differ, and informs her that he's in charge of all of Harvey's cases. "What I know is that I'm the A-Team, and you're the B-Team, so you can leave the folder, or you can take it with you, but if you're looking to ride some partner's coattails, you're going to have to go somewhere else." BOOM!
Not to be outdone, Katrina has some shade to throw as well. "Well, the 'B-Team' worked at the D.A.'s office and came up with a defense strategy based on a specific knowledge of Cameron Dennis. The 'A-Team' quotes him movies. Let's see who Harvey does and doesn't value." She's about to confidently strut away, but get's blocked in by Donna, who is here to kill her buzz. "Mike is Harvey's guy. When he tells you he's speaking for Harvey, he's speaking for Harvey. Please don't come into this office when I'm away from my desk again?" Mike is shocked at Donna going to bat for him, since he thinks she still hates him, but she's like, "Please keep the delicious coffee coming, and we're good."
In the hallway, Jessica and Harvey are walking to Harvey's office together while Jessica curses Cameron Dennis for playing them big-time. When Harvey admits he should have seen it coming, she actually acknowledges that it's more her fault than his, because Harvey didn't want to take the deal in the first place; she was the one who told him that they already won and made him tell Ava to take it. She asks what they're doing about it, and he surprises her by explaining that he's working on her defense while Mike tries to work around the bail thing. Jessica is pretty pleased to hear that he and Mike are a team again. "What's the point of having a right arm without a right hand?" Harvey replies, but brings up that Mike threatened her, for which she's usually not quick to forgive. She retorts that neither is he, and they join Mike in Harvey's office.
Mike is awkward with Jessica at first, because, as with Donna, he thinks she's still mad at him, but she declares that they're good. "When you work with tigers, every once and a while, they're gonna take a swipe at you. I like working with tigers. Of course, when they get out of hand, you have to put them down." Oh girl, you don't know the half of it. They talk about what to do about the bail situation. Mike thinks that they should use the bail hearing to double-cross Cameron in the same way the bribery deal double-crossed them, and both Harvey and Jessica seem pretty partial to the idea.
At the bail hearing, Cameron is explaining to the judge why Ava shouldn't be granted bail; basically, his argument is that this isn't bribery or corporate fraud, it's actual murder, so he thinks it's a no-brainer. Harvey counters that Ava isn't going anywhere, and has a business across the pond to run to boot. Cameron turns the discussion to her business practices, and brings up the bribery thing. Harvey's like, "I'm glad you brought that up!" and explains that eighty-seven people who were accused of this crime were allowed bail by Cameron when he was the DA. Cameron argues that those "gangbangers" didn't have the resources Ava has, so Harvey cuts the bullshit. "You allowed bail because you didn't give a damn about those guys, and this is personal. It's why you took the case, it's why you hid a witness, and it's why you negotiated a settlement in bad faith." Word! This whole time, Cameron's just been smirking like the gross guy he is, and the judge is like, "JFC already, stop talking and meet me in my office."
As they follow her into the office, she tells Harvey that if he's going to bring serious accusations like that, he better have receipts. Harvey quotes Cameron's little, "I gotcha and you didn't see it coming" speech, which Cameron doesn't even try to deny. Judge is WAY over this entire situation, and awesomely schools them on the fact that court isn't the place for their petty grudges. Cameron tries to justify his actions by bring up Ava's bribery of the colonel of the army that ended up killing those people. However, Harvey turns the tables on him again, and brings up the fact Cameron tipped off a corporate raider (Tony Gianapolis, who is now trying to take over the company) to the bribery charges so he could take advantage of the chaos and bid on the company. This seems to catch the judge's attention, so she asks for the story, which, of course, Harvey is more than happy to give her. Between that and the fact that Dennis has no evidence against Ava, Harvey wants her to not only not have to pay bail, but he also wants the judge to throw out the case altogether. "Well, I'm not going to do that," Judge Lady replies. "But I'll tell you something, Mr. Dennis, I am setting bail at $1. And if you don't have any evidence, I'm going to take his motion for summary judgement, rule in his favor, and this case will be over before it even starts." Ohhhh yeah! You go, judge-lady!
Outside Pearson Darby, a guy in a fancy suit gets out of a fancy car and enters the building. He swaggers down the hall and fist-bumps some of the dudes he passes. When he gets to Harvey's office, he sees Donna bending over at her desk, wearing a gorgeous periwinkle dress that fits her PERFECTLY, and is like, "Bloody hell!" Ah, he's a Brit. There is so many cases of dudes staring at employees' asses in this episode! Donna totally heard him, but pretends not to see him until he tries to go into Harvey's office without consulting her first, clearing her throat and calling, "Uh, excuse me, do you not see me sitting here?" They get into a banter-off, and it's cute, and the guy is all charming and everything and Donna is melting into a puddle the more they talk. The guy's name is Stephen Huntley, and he's one of Darby's senior partners. While they were talking, Donna discretely texted Harvey to let him know what's up, so he eventually comes up to his office to cock-block Donna.
Harvey immediately identifies Stephen as Darby's "fixer," who is here to hijack his case. Naturally, Harvey's offended at the suggestion that his case needs fixing, so he quickly puts the kibosh on that whole operation. Stephen confirms that he is a fixer, but assures him that he has no interest in hijacking his case-- he claims he didn't even know about the murder charges until his plane touched down at JFK. Harvey doesn't think that matters much, so Stephen tries to change the topic from Ava's bombshell to Harvey's bombshell, ie: Donna. He compares her body to Liz Hurley, adding that she has Margaret Thatcher's sass. Apparently, Harvey and Stephen both dated Liz Hurley, once upon a time (in 1998 and 1999, respectively), so they sort of bond over that for a moment before Harvey reveals that Donna can hear every word that they say in the office. I love her shameless eavesdropping, I would totally do the same thing, were I in her position.
Harvey's kind of busy with murder charges and whatnot, and asks that Stephen cut the bullshit and tell him why he's really here. Apparently, he came for a Cultural Integration seminar or some shit; he claims the merger has been in transition for two weeks and it's a delicate process to deal with, and he knows that Harvey is a person that people listen to, so he'd like Harvey to use that power to get people to listen to him, too. "I don't pave the way for people, people pave the way for me," Harvey snits, and Stephen correctly assumes that he's better off staying out of Harvey's way, so he heads out of the office just as Harvey calls out a "Welcome to New York!"
Later, Jessica approaches Harvey in the hall again, to ask if he met Stephen, and then informs him that Stephen brought the first dividend checks of the merger along with him. Harvey's first check was $500,000, which is what he paid to buy in. Jessica sasses him,"Wasn't such a bad idea after all!" and smiles, because she thinks they're back on the same team. He wants to know how much Jessica made, and guesses a bunch of numbers until she finally hints that it's around $4.5 million. (Or that's at least what she wants him to think, whether it's actually more or less than that is anyone's guess.) He asks her if Stephen is actually there for Cultural Integration, but she doesn't think so-- apparently, Stephen is to Darby what Harvey is to Jessica, and since Jessica wouldn't send Harvey all the way to London to hand out checks and do a dumb seminar, she thinks there's got to be something else going on. She wants him to figure out what it is.
Donna's already on it, though, and reveals that while cultural integration is only a week long, Stephen has a hotel suite booked for a month. Harvey's like, "How/why do you already know this? I was just told to look into it like one second ago!" Donna, totally busted, mumbles, "I anticipated Jessica's needs? I anticipated your needs?" Harvey chuckles and tells her that she anticipated her own needs, which shuts her up pretty quickly.
Katrina has a stack of files and her phone cradled in her arms, and wanders over to Mike's cubicle to ask if they can talk. Mike's not really interested, obviously, but Katrina confesses that this sort of thing is hard for her, but she wants to figure out how they can coexist together. She knows they keep "knocking horns," as she puts it, and admits that while she knows why she's out in the cold, she doesn't know how to get back in again. At least she's out of that hideous frilly blouse, and instead wearing a beige dress that matches her personality. (Sorry, I don't know why I irrationally hate her, but hate her I do.)
Mike basically tells her to stay away from him, so she drops the nice act. She claims she's trying to apologize, and angrily retorts that he doesn't have to be a dick. Mike's like, "I'm a dick? You're the one who treats everyone below your station like shit." Katrina correctly deduces that this is about "his little girlfriend," but since he and Rachel are still on the DL at work, Mike has to pretend they're not together and declares the conversation over. She taunts him, all, "Haha, you knew exactly who I was talking about and your defensiveness tells me everything I need to do!" before she skulks off to wherever she came from.
Harvey has invited Stephen to lunch, where he thanks Stephen for the check. He smiles and says he thought Harvey might be cheered up a little by it, and Harvey reveals that he has a gift for Stephen too-- he paid his hotel bill and took the liberty of checking him out, too. Harvey then drops the act and explains that if he's not going to tell him what he's doing here, he doesn't need to be here at all. Stephen nonchalantly fills his water glass, and shrugs. "Well, it's going to make it extremely difficult for me to help you take over the firm from Jessica." OH SHITTTT.
Harvey looks stunned, so Stephen exposits that he knows about his deal with Darby, and he was actually sent in to help him win. Harvey is skeptical, and asks what's to stop him from taking the firm over for himself, but Stevie-boy doesn't actually care to have his name on the door. He maintains that he's only here to assist him, and basically tells him that he knows Harvey is too smart to turn down his help. (Uh, have you met Harvey? Impulsively burning bridges is kind of his thing.) Harvey correctly deduces that his help isn't exactly free, but it's not going to cost anything serious; he mentions that Harvey's car club has a pair of 1956 Porsche Vistas, and Stephen wants to race him in them.
Their deal is interrupted by slimey Cameron Dennis again, who has just stopped in to inform Harvey that he has five witnesses who can place the colonel at the site of the murders, and hands over the evidence as required by law before exiting as quickly as he came. Harvey's pissed off now, so he takes it out on Stephen by refusing his help, and adds that he doesn't trust him before he leaves for the office. Way to project your Cameron-induced inferiority complex on the guy who wants to help you, dude. (That's not to say that I trust him, though, because if my supernatural teen dramas have taught me anything, it's that new characters are shady until proven otherwise.)
Mike visits Rachel in her office, and she confesses that she suggested that Donna forgive Mike for his being extorted or whatever. Mike realizes that that is why she stood up for him with Katrina, and he explains the story to her, including when Katrina came back later to apologize. Rachel is understandably sympathetic regarding his dislike of her, which leads Mike to make his own confession about having to deny their relationship to her earlier. Rachel looks a little bummed, and dips her toe into the "Let's discuss the state of our relationship" pool. He senses her worry and disappointment and topples some stuff off her desk. Under the guise of picking them up, he kneels down to take her hand and asks, "Rachel Elizabeth Zane, will you be my girlfriend?" She accepts, of course, because while he may be a dumbass, he's an adorable and clever one, and I know better than anyone that those types are hard to resist. Adorable and clever assholes are kind of my type-- just ask my boyfriend.
Their love-induced buzz is totally killed, however, when Rachel is emailed a video; it's an animation of a crying baby with Mike's face photoshopped onto it. Apparently, Katrina took a page from Louis' book too, and recorded Mike's conversation from earlier, and used snippets of it in the video. They're both infuriated, until they realize that the video is on like, every computer at the firm, which is when their rage hits critical mass.
Louis is watching the video from his own office, and Katrina is sitting on his couch, explaining that now Mike's the fool, not Louis. She makes her plea to work with him, since she put herself on a limb for him, and now she can't take it back-- if he doesn't hire her, she'll basically be done at this firm. Uh, hate to break it to you, lady, but you're the one who took the risk! If you get fired or otherwise excluded from big cases as a result, that's on you. Louis remains silent, so she takes that as her cue to go away.
Back in Rachel's office, she states, "This is war!" "And I am taking no prisoners," Mike adds angrily. Rachel is afraid he'll tell her to stay out of it, and informs him that he's crazy if he thinks she's not going to help him. He's like, "DUH, I need you!" She asks what he wants to do, but their pranks have to wait, because Harvey needs to see Mike. After he leaves, Rachel starts to brainstorm for ideas and gets to researching online.
Harvey and Mike are at Ava's office, where she's lamenting the disaster she's managed to make of everything. Harvey assures her that it's going away, and Mike adds that they were able to connect three of the five witnesses to a guerrilla faction within the last five years, which will help them paint a picture of a fire-fight between rebel groups, especially considering that's how they were reported in the first place. Ava points out that they can still all place the colonel at the place of the murders, and isn't comforted by Mike's promise that with a little more time, they can dig up more information on them.
Ava doesn't want to throw the witnesses down in court, though; as usual, she wants to buy off the witnesses so they never make it to court in the first place. Harvey is like, "Again, I really don't think bribery is the answer, here, considering that's how you got here in the first place." She's like, "Well, if we do it your way, there's still a verdict, but my way won't, so ha!" Mike corrects her, "Only if we don't get caught!" That advice does nothing to deter her, and she just demands that they not get caught. Yeah
Harvey nips this in the bud right away, and she reminds him that he claimed he would do anything to win. When Mike reminds her that what she's proposing is a crime, she doesn't see the problem. "A crime to get me out of a crime I didn't commit!" She can tell that Harvey doesn't believe that she's innocent, because if he did, he wouldn't be objecting to her plan. Harvey stands his ground and refuses to bribe the witnesses, so she fires them and tells them she'll find someone who will. Oh, Jesus.
Mike and Rachel are working on their payback prank against Katrina, which apparently involves pictures stolen from her private Facebook page. Harvey is still grumpy from being fired, and gets pissy with Mike about not working on Ava's case. He's like, "What case? We got fired, dude, did you forget?" Harvey insists that they stay on it, because he's anticipating Cameron waiting in the wings for her to start bribing people, and when she does, her new lawyer will shit his pants when he realizes what he's up against. Which, of course, will result in Ava rehiring Harvey and Mike, who will have to bail her out of yet another bribery charge. Ava sounds very much not worth the effort or the money, don't you think? Anyway, Mike gets the picture and goes back to work, but Harvey stops him for one last order: let his thing with Katrina go so he can focus on their murder case.
Jessica runs into Harvey, and she taunts him about getting fired. He is adamant that it is only a temporary firing, and Jessica hopes so, adding that she also hopes he's still working on the case anyway. Harvey is appalled once again at the suggestion that he's not doing his job, and Jessica just rolls her eyes. "I'd be humble if I got fired. If I ever got fired." Harvey's anger is about to reach critical mass at this point, because it feels like he's just been handed one body-blow after another all episode long.
Katrina is going through files or something in her office, which I don't get because she claims she doesn't actually have any cases yet, and Harvey just can't take his own advice when he passes by her office. He pops in and starts off by stating that while he doesn't know what the current state of the D.A.'s office is, he knows that if he pulled what she pulled on someone he was working with there, he would be done. Which means that Katrina is done, too. "You have no idea what the story is between me and Mike," she counters, but it's Harvey, so he doesn't give a fuck, and tells her as much. She tries a different approach. "You hired me, and then you hung me out to dry. You don't give me cases, you don't give me your word. What am I supposed to do?"
Harvey reminds her of how and why she got hired, and basically puts the blame on her for expecting more than that. (Didn't she blackmail him or something? I don't remember why she got hired, I just remember that she's the worst.) "You know how I got here, which is why I know you're not going to fire me," she threatens, but Harvey can do her worse than being fired. "When I said you're done here, I mean that your future at this firm is over, because you will never be anything more than you are right now. And, if you ever do anything like that to Mike Ross again? I don't give a shit what our deal was, you'll be gone." Zing! This episode is just so full of shade, I love it. It's a good thing she enjoys being a fifth-year associate so much, eh?
Of course, Rachel was right outside Katrina's office helping an associate, so she heard every word of Harvey's speech, so her first instinct is to run straight to Mike to tell him about it. She tells him they can stop the prank now, because Harvey fully laid her out for them. Mike thinks they should still do it anyway, even against Harvey's wishes, and they go back and forth about what Harvey would do to them if they did it anyway. Rachel ends it with, "What's he going to do, slap us with a lawsuit?" Which obviously is the key to Mike's Dawning-Realization-Of-The-Week! He's so happy he almost kisses her, then realizes they're at work and there are people around, so they settle on a high-five before he skips away to find Harvey.
"We don't need to bribe the witnesses, we need them to sue us," Mike explains to Harvey. Foreign nationals are allowed to bring civil suits against Americans in civil court, so all they do is get them to sue Ava, and then settle out of court. It's still a payoff, but it's legal, so they don't have to worry about extra bribery charges and Cameron won't be able to subpoena them.
They need a legitimate claim so it won't be end up considered bribery, and decide on emotional distress and PTSD. Harvey orders Mike to find them a lawyer not employed with the firm to represent them, but Mike already has someone in mind, they just need to figure out a way to get them to sue them. Harvey's main concern is getting to Ava before she bribes someone and inevitably gets caught, though, so they need to hurry. Before they leave, Mike brings up what Harvey said to Katrina, and Harvey confesses that he wasn't going to, but when he saw her, he couldn't help himself. Mike hilariously pats him on the shoulder and is like, "It's cool, just don't do it again," because he likes being the grown-up for once, and Harvey just rolls his eyes before he notices Stephen, who is walking Ava out of the building. He spits, "Son of a bitch!" before racing after them.
Harvey follows Stephen outside, where he's loading Ava into her car. He goes in on him, but Stephen explains that while he did meet with her, he actually advised her that bribing the witnesses would be counterproductive, and he eventually convinced her to stick with Harvey and Mike. "Harvey, listen, you don't have to trust me, but Darby does," Stephen assures him, and since Darby wants this to be a win, so does Stephen, ie: they're all on the same side. Harvey asks if this means he's going to owe him one, but Stephen reminds him that he's going to be paid in the form of a car race with him.
Back upstairs, Harvey updates Jessica on the Ava situation, and informs her that Stephen's here on Darby's orders to help. Jessica asks if Harvey believes him, and Harvey lies he has no reason not to, since he got him rehired by Ava. He reveals that Mike is over getting her to sign the papers, which makes Jessica assume he's got somewhere else to be. "Blonde or brunette?" It's not a lady-date, though, but instead a man-date in order to repay a debt.
Mike is over at Ava's office, where she admits that she's pretty impressed with him, especially now that Harvey has told her that this was all his idea. She tells him it's obvious that he trusts him, and Mike replies that he likes to think that's true. She wants to know if Harvey thinks she's guilty, because she just cannot let it go, but Mike tries to sidestep the question. "I have no idea whether Harvey thinks you had those people murdered or not. But even if I did, I wouldn't tell you, because Harvey wouldn't want me to." She backs off a little, because she seems to respect his relationship with Harvey, but she wants to know what Mike believes, too. Harvey wouldn't want him to tell Ava that either, and he tells her so before he gathers up the papers to head back to the office.
Donna has just left work for the night when Stephen pulls up in the 1956 Porshe Vista from Harvey's car club. Donna assumes that he won the race, but actually, he lost, which he thinks is a good thing in this case, because if Harvey thinks he won, then he won't get jealous when Stephen takes Donna out for a night on the town. She assures him Harvey has nothing to get jealous about, but warns him that smooth moves and a slick car aren't enough to get her. He knows better than that, though, and has kindly procured tickets to Macbeth for that reason, because he knows she's a theater-buff. She claims she's already seen it, but he thinks not. "Not with me, not in the front-row, and certainly not with Daniel Day-Lewis." When he speeds away in his car, Donna just stares for a beat before sing-songing, "I'm in trouble," under her breath. Oooooh, this should be interesting!
Katrina is still working in her office, although again, she makes it seem like she has no work to do ever, so IDK if she's just surfing Facebook or what. Louis swings by with the box of files for the Hessington Oil case, and instructs her to study and summarize them; and reluctantly welcomes her to Team Litt. Aw, Louis, WHYYY? You can do so much better. She thanks him, and he seems pretty pleased to have someone appreciate his kindness for once, but humbly shrugs it off.
Mike returns to Harvey's office to drop off the signed papers, and give him the news that good old Harold, who works for Allison Holt now, will be handling the cases of the witnesses, since he owed Mike a favor for getting him the job. Harvey seems pretty pleased, and sips his scotch as he asks Mike what he said to Ava, since she was obviously going to ask him whether he and Harvey thought she was innocent or not. Mike recaps their conversation for him, and Harvey seems satisfied with his answer, and pours Mike a glass. When Harvey asks Mike what he thinks about Ava's innocence, Mike replies that he feels the same way that he knows Harvey feels, which is that she totally did it. He brings up the fact that this is the first time they've ever had drinks together. Harvey knows it, and clarifies that this isn't a celebratory drink, it's a "We need to talk" drink-- he admits that he made a deal with Darby to back him in a bid to be managing partner of the firm. Mike doesn't say anything, he just stares into his glass, but the music asks the question he's dying to ask for him: "Where do we go from here?"
So guys, what did you think? Do you trust this Stephen guy? What tricks do you think Cameron has up his sleeves? I'm interested to hear what you think! As always, screencaps for this recap are from this Screencapped.net album.
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Try as I might, I don't like Katrina. Although, I'm pretty sure that's the point. She has all of the ambitious, cut-throat, sneaky deviousness that most/all lawyers must have, but without the charm and charisma and general social skills that allows people like Harvey, or Mike, and especially Jessica, to get away with what they do. At the same time, though, on this show, you know that every time someone treats someone else like shit, it's going to bite them in the ass in a big way; something tells me that Katrina is no exception. Harvey (and by extension, Donna and Mike) have enough shit coming their way from Jessica when Harvey's deal with Darby inevitably gets out, (or worse, even MORE people find out that Mike's a fraud) so the last thing they need is petty revenge stunts from Katrina, too. So, let's get moving, I've got three different recaps cooking right now that needed to be done, like, FOREVER ago, so we don't have time to waste!
Previously, on Suits: Katrina Bennett managed to weasel around and manipulate Harvey into hiring her, and Mike got pissed at her for taking credit for other associates' ideas and lording her "5th year associate" status in everyone's face. Rachel and Donna got into a pretty serious fight regarding Mike's little secret. Harvey was super butthurt at Mike for his betrayal last season, and told Louis he could have Mike as a personal associate because he was done with their relationship. But, naturally, Harvey then reneged on it the second after Mike agreed to work for Louis, which broke his little heart. Jessica halfheartedly tried to make things right with Harvey after their fight about Darby. Ava Hessington wanted to bribe people to get out of a bribery charge, but eventually Harvey got her a plea deal; though, with one caveat from Cameron Dennis-- she must plead guilty instead of no contest to get it. Jessica urged Harvey to advise her to take the deal, though Harvey didn't want to, with a warning that she will do anything to win if people screw her over. And finally, Harvey made a deal with Darby behind Jessica's back-- if he wins the Hessington case, Darby has to back him for managing partner, because he wants to take Jessica's job.
Rachel looks like a million bucks in one of her classy skirt-blouse combos, and is teasing Mike by reaching up on her tiptoes to try to get some bran bars off the tippy-top shelf, while twangy rock music plays in the background. Eventually, he gets up and helps her, as an excuse to get closer to her, and asks her what time she's coming over. Rachel would rather have their rendezvous at her place, though, because she still has a little residual PTSD from seeing Tess in a bed-sheet in his bedroom last season after she and Mike had a bunch of grief sex.
Mike helps himself to a bran bar, but Louis swoops in out of nowhere and smacks it out of his hands, informing him that bran bars are banned for first years, since the quartermaster can make arbitrary rules like that, I guess. Louis isn't actually speaking to Mike right now, though, since he's still butthurt over Mike choosing Harvey over him last episode. Louis instead asks Rachel to ask Mike to pass him the non-dairy creamer, and then compares it to Mike (fake, full of chemicals, etc, rather than genuine, good, and delivering on its promises) When Rachel asks him why he even drinks it, then, he reminds them that he's lactose intolerant, as if he doesn't talk about his food issues all the damn time. I'm pretty sure even I have all his allergies memorized at this point, since he brings it up so fucking often.
When Louis returns to his office, he finds Harvey waiting for him with a big box of files. Louis automatically rejects his non-existent apology, but Harvey's clearly not there to apologize, because Harvey. Actually, Harvey is there to give Louis the Hessington Oil case, because since the bribery thing is settled, their job is now to help fight the takeover-attempt on her CEO position. Louis is so not here for Harvey's sloppy-seconds, but Harvey assures him that Louis should take the case because he's the financial whiz, and he wanted Louis to know that he knows it. Louis seems satisfied enough with the flattery, and tells him to leave the box. Also, I just noticed that Louis has a framed picture of himself on his desk, which is both hilarious and awesome.
Before Harvey leaves, he turns back to suggest that maybe Louis find a rebound associate. "Come on! You have him file a few interrogatories, pick up your dry-cleaning, then you cut him loose!" Louis: "Just like that, no strings attached?" When Harvey explains that better men than him have done it (ie: Harvey), Louis forgets his pissiness completely and they gossip a bit about Harvey's seven-day fling with an associate. "Yeah, but Harvey, I don't just want a superficial relationship, you know, I want a true mentee! Someone I can take to the gun club, or mudding, or to the Origami Festival!" Harvey tries to swallow his internal laughter as he reassures Louis that the right one will come eventually, but as he leaves Louis' office, he can't help but mutter, "Origami Festival? Oh my GOD," under his breath. Hee!
Rachel has found Donna in the filing room, where she's doing a little hip-bump/elbow-slam maneuver to get the copier to work. The ladies apologize for their little spat by referencing that wonderful night last season where they went out pretending to be "Harriet Specter" and "Michelle Ross" or whatever at the bars, and it's truly adorable. Rachel asks if Donna and Mike are cool, now, and Donna is like, "Do you really think Harvey had that emotional epiphany on his own? Please." Rachel brings up the fact that Mike still thinks Donna hates him, but Donna explains that she's been holding off on telling him that she forgives him so that way he keeps trying to win her over by buying her mocha lattes. Nicely played, girl! Rachel suggests that maybe Donna should let Mike know anyway, and then leaves to return to work.
Ava has invited Harvey to lunch, because she's sticking around New York while they deal with the takeover attempt by Tony Gianapolis, the majority shareholder. (I'm sure I butchered that spelling, but I can't seem to find any clues anywhere. Plus, this is coming from the girl who spelled Ava "Eva" for like two weeks until realizing I was wrong. Whoops!) Harvey informs her that her case has been reassigned, and assures her that the lawyer is great, but Ava's not really surprised, because she's actually here to hire Harvey to work for her, due to the fact that he shares her love of scheming and whatnot. Harvey is flattered, but politely turns her down, because we all know he's after his name on the door at Pearson Darby. Plus, he likes having many clients, and would probably kill himself if he had to deal with Ava's shit day in and day out.
Of course, Cameron Dennis has to show up at the restaurant and ruin everything by arresting Ava in the middle of their lunch, but not before wheedling Harvey a bit more for kicks. On what charges was she arrested, you ask? Conspiracy to commit murder! YIKES. I had a feeling he was hiding something but I wasn't expecting it to be that crazy! Jinkies!
Harvey has followed Cameron back to his office, wherever that is, where he gets the story from Cameron on what happened: the foreign colonel that Ava bribed ended up killing six people on the land that Hessington Oil owned. Harvey proclaims this to be bullshit, but it gets worse--the six people who were killed were protesting the oil pipeline that Hessington Oil was getting ready to build, so that's a pretty good motive to kill them, wouldn't you think? Harvey's brain is short-circuting in the face of being played in the way that he has, and yells that they had a deal, but Cameron's whole "non-negotiable" condition that she plead guilty was just a play to get her to admit to bribery so he could now use THAT charge to tie her to these murders. "And you didn't see it coming, and there's nothing you can do about it." Jesus, this guy is like a 12 year old, isn't he? Harvey's beyond pissed, as you can imagine. TITLE CARD!
Downstairs on the ground floor, Mike meets up with Harvey and is immediately like, "What can I do?" Harvey figures that Cameron's first move will be denying Ava bail, so Mike's job is to figure out how to get around that. Harvey preemptively orders Mike not to speak one word about his moral opposition to defending someone accused of murder, but surprisingly, Mike has no qualms about it. Harvey is impressed, so he lets Mike come with him to talk to Ava. Mike's like, "Yeah! Butch and Sundance are back!" Harvey's not down with that analogy, though, because he believes himself to be both Butch AND Sundance, and believes Mike to be neither. On that note, though, Harvey quips, "Speaking of Butch and Sundance, let's go start a knife fight."
Meanwhile, at Pearson Darby, Louis has his dictaphone out and is barking some random orders for Norma when Katrina Bennett waltzes in with some numbers she crunched regarding the Hessington Oil case, in which she's now desperately trying to get involved, because of course she is. She's wearing a gray suit with a ridiculous frilly blouse under it and looks kind of crazy, tbh. He asks her why he should hire her to be his personal associate, but she has no interest in that, since as she always reminds us, she's a 5th year associate, not a newbie first year, and she doesn't want to be anyone's personal anything. However, she claims she's a good lawyer, and she knows Louis is good, and is willing to work with him so that they can both win. He seems almost interested, quipping "Oh, like the relationship between a phytoplankton and a whale!" Katrina is like, "Uh, I don't really like the sound of that TBH, but since I'm kissing your ass for this job, I'll humor you." Louis is tired of being used by underlings, though, so he rejects her offer and shoos her away.
Mike gets to question Ava, who doesn't seem to appreciate his tone one bit, while Harvey watches wearily. During Mike's interrogation, we learn that she supposedly knew about the demonstrations and that people died in the midst of them, but she claims to have had no idea they were the leaders of the protests or that they were murdered by the colonel. When Mike brings up that it happened on her land, she reminds him that Hessington Oil owns tons of land around the world, and this particular plot is in a "volatile country" with lots of violence and death as it is. (They never specify where exactly this happened, but I think it's safe to assume it's in the Middle East/northern Africa somewhere where civil wars and generalized tensions have been going on for years.) Mike points out that she's suggesting that it's just a coincidence that six people who opposed her company's business practices were murdered on her land by a colonel who she paid off, but she explains that it was reported as a "combat incident," not a murder. Naturally, Mike gets lawyer-y about it, like, "Okay first you said you didn't know anything and now you know it was reported as a combat incident? Which is it?"
Ava's 100% done by this point, and glares at Harvey in a silent order to back her up. Harvey assures her that Mike is just doing his job, so she turns back to Mike and levels with him: "Well, Mike, every death in that country is reported as a 'combat incident.' And, for your information, there were thousands of people opposed to my pipeline." Harvey informs her that they don't need any more information right now, so Ava asks Mike to give her and Harvey some privacy, which he does, after looking to Harvey for approval. After he has left, Ava's goes in on Harvey for insisting that she take Cameron's plea deal, which only pushed her into an even bigger mess than she was already in in the first place. To be fair to Ava, guilty or not, this shit is still mostly because Cameron has a grudge against Harvey, so I kind of feel for her.
Harvey does make a legitimate point when he brings up the fact that he had no knowledge of the murders until she got arrested, and had she informed him earlier, he most definitely would have done things differently. She swears that she had no idea either, because she's innocent, but Harvey reiterates that they're not questioning her like this to judge her or to accuse her of anything, they just NEED to know every single detail of everything Cameron knows so they can figure out how to best protect her. He warns her that Cameron is going to come at her a million times harder than Mike was just moments ago, and it's going to get ugly if they're not prepared. She asks if he thinks she's guilty, and he's like, "That's irrelevant, because I honestly don't give a fuck either way, as long as you tell me everything you know about what happened so we can win." She maintains that she has no idea what all the evidence is because she knows as much as he does, and asks again if he thinks she's guilty, because his answer is important to her. "Do you want a lawyer who thinks you're innocent and loses, or a lawyer who doesn't want to know and wins." She says that he knows the answer to that, so he retorts, "Then don't ask me that question again, because after I win this and you're free, what I think won't matter." She seems slightly mollified, but still pretty furious.
Walking back to the office, Mike asks Harvey what Ava wanted to talk to him about. He jokes that she wanted to know if Mike was single, and sends him back to the office. Mike is bummed, because he wanted Harvey to come back too so they could get lunch, which is apparently a foreign concept for Harvey. Harvey asks, "Like what?" and Mike is all, "I don't know, maybe steak or something?" Hee! Harvey correctly guesses that Mike misses Louis, and asks if they are going to go mudding again. Mike begins to totally regret having this conversation, but Harvey promises that when this case is over, they can talk about lunch or dinner or whatever. Of course, he's just joshing, and hops into his Lexus, driven by Ray. "Butch and Sundance are back?" Mike asks, as Harvey drives away. Oh, Mike.
Donna is conveniently away from her desk, so Katrina takes the opportunity to slyly creep into Harvey's office to leave a file on his desk. Unfortunately for her, Mike catches her and start bickering immediately. He asks what she's doing, and she tries to play coy, but he knows how she is, and points out that she doesn't have any cases with Harvey. "I will when he sees this!" She yells with glee. Mike tries to snag the file from her, but she yanks it out of reach. "No, you're not taking credit for my ideas again! Harvey's gonna know I built this airplane." Mike's like, "Hate to break it to ya, sweets, but you're too late-- Harvey and I are back together, so scram!" Katrina claims she's not trying to take his position from him, but Mike begs to differ, and informs her that he's in charge of all of Harvey's cases. "What I know is that I'm the A-Team, and you're the B-Team, so you can leave the folder, or you can take it with you, but if you're looking to ride some partner's coattails, you're going to have to go somewhere else." BOOM!
Not to be outdone, Katrina has some shade to throw as well. "Well, the 'B-Team' worked at the D.A.'s office and came up with a defense strategy based on a specific knowledge of Cameron Dennis. The 'A-Team' quotes him movies. Let's see who Harvey does and doesn't value." She's about to confidently strut away, but get's blocked in by Donna, who is here to kill her buzz. "Mike is Harvey's guy. When he tells you he's speaking for Harvey, he's speaking for Harvey. Please don't come into this office when I'm away from my desk again?" Mike is shocked at Donna going to bat for him, since he thinks she still hates him, but she's like, "Please keep the delicious coffee coming, and we're good."
In the hallway, Jessica and Harvey are walking to Harvey's office together while Jessica curses Cameron Dennis for playing them big-time. When Harvey admits he should have seen it coming, she actually acknowledges that it's more her fault than his, because Harvey didn't want to take the deal in the first place; she was the one who told him that they already won and made him tell Ava to take it. She asks what they're doing about it, and he surprises her by explaining that he's working on her defense while Mike tries to work around the bail thing. Jessica is pretty pleased to hear that he and Mike are a team again. "What's the point of having a right arm without a right hand?" Harvey replies, but brings up that Mike threatened her, for which she's usually not quick to forgive. She retorts that neither is he, and they join Mike in Harvey's office.
Mike is awkward with Jessica at first, because, as with Donna, he thinks she's still mad at him, but she declares that they're good. "When you work with tigers, every once and a while, they're gonna take a swipe at you. I like working with tigers. Of course, when they get out of hand, you have to put them down." Oh girl, you don't know the half of it. They talk about what to do about the bail situation. Mike thinks that they should use the bail hearing to double-cross Cameron in the same way the bribery deal double-crossed them, and both Harvey and Jessica seem pretty partial to the idea.
At the bail hearing, Cameron is explaining to the judge why Ava shouldn't be granted bail; basically, his argument is that this isn't bribery or corporate fraud, it's actual murder, so he thinks it's a no-brainer. Harvey counters that Ava isn't going anywhere, and has a business across the pond to run to boot. Cameron turns the discussion to her business practices, and brings up the bribery thing. Harvey's like, "I'm glad you brought that up!" and explains that eighty-seven people who were accused of this crime were allowed bail by Cameron when he was the DA. Cameron argues that those "gangbangers" didn't have the resources Ava has, so Harvey cuts the bullshit. "You allowed bail because you didn't give a damn about those guys, and this is personal. It's why you took the case, it's why you hid a witness, and it's why you negotiated a settlement in bad faith." Word! This whole time, Cameron's just been smirking like the gross guy he is, and the judge is like, "JFC already, stop talking and meet me in my office."
As they follow her into the office, she tells Harvey that if he's going to bring serious accusations like that, he better have receipts. Harvey quotes Cameron's little, "I gotcha and you didn't see it coming" speech, which Cameron doesn't even try to deny. Judge is WAY over this entire situation, and awesomely schools them on the fact that court isn't the place for their petty grudges. Cameron tries to justify his actions by bring up Ava's bribery of the colonel of the army that ended up killing those people. However, Harvey turns the tables on him again, and brings up the fact Cameron tipped off a corporate raider (Tony Gianapolis, who is now trying to take over the company) to the bribery charges so he could take advantage of the chaos and bid on the company. This seems to catch the judge's attention, so she asks for the story, which, of course, Harvey is more than happy to give her. Between that and the fact that Dennis has no evidence against Ava, Harvey wants her to not only not have to pay bail, but he also wants the judge to throw out the case altogether. "Well, I'm not going to do that," Judge Lady replies. "But I'll tell you something, Mr. Dennis, I am setting bail at $1. And if you don't have any evidence, I'm going to take his motion for summary judgement, rule in his favor, and this case will be over before it even starts." Ohhhh yeah! You go, judge-lady!
Outside Pearson Darby, a guy in a fancy suit gets out of a fancy car and enters the building. He swaggers down the hall and fist-bumps some of the dudes he passes. When he gets to Harvey's office, he sees Donna bending over at her desk, wearing a gorgeous periwinkle dress that fits her PERFECTLY, and is like, "Bloody hell!" Ah, he's a Brit. There is so many cases of dudes staring at employees' asses in this episode! Donna totally heard him, but pretends not to see him until he tries to go into Harvey's office without consulting her first, clearing her throat and calling, "Uh, excuse me, do you not see me sitting here?" They get into a banter-off, and it's cute, and the guy is all charming and everything and Donna is melting into a puddle the more they talk. The guy's name is Stephen Huntley, and he's one of Darby's senior partners. While they were talking, Donna discretely texted Harvey to let him know what's up, so he eventually comes up to his office to cock-block Donna.
Harvey immediately identifies Stephen as Darby's "fixer," who is here to hijack his case. Naturally, Harvey's offended at the suggestion that his case needs fixing, so he quickly puts the kibosh on that whole operation. Stephen confirms that he is a fixer, but assures him that he has no interest in hijacking his case-- he claims he didn't even know about the murder charges until his plane touched down at JFK. Harvey doesn't think that matters much, so Stephen tries to change the topic from Ava's bombshell to Harvey's bombshell, ie: Donna. He compares her body to Liz Hurley, adding that she has Margaret Thatcher's sass. Apparently, Harvey and Stephen both dated Liz Hurley, once upon a time (in 1998 and 1999, respectively), so they sort of bond over that for a moment before Harvey reveals that Donna can hear every word that they say in the office. I love her shameless eavesdropping, I would totally do the same thing, were I in her position.
Harvey's kind of busy with murder charges and whatnot, and asks that Stephen cut the bullshit and tell him why he's really here. Apparently, he came for a Cultural Integration seminar or some shit; he claims the merger has been in transition for two weeks and it's a delicate process to deal with, and he knows that Harvey is a person that people listen to, so he'd like Harvey to use that power to get people to listen to him, too. "I don't pave the way for people, people pave the way for me," Harvey snits, and Stephen correctly assumes that he's better off staying out of Harvey's way, so he heads out of the office just as Harvey calls out a "Welcome to New York!"
Later, Jessica approaches Harvey in the hall again, to ask if he met Stephen, and then informs him that Stephen brought the first dividend checks of the merger along with him. Harvey's first check was $500,000, which is what he paid to buy in. Jessica sasses him,"Wasn't such a bad idea after all!" and smiles, because she thinks they're back on the same team. He wants to know how much Jessica made, and guesses a bunch of numbers until she finally hints that it's around $4.5 million. (Or that's at least what she wants him to think, whether it's actually more or less than that is anyone's guess.) He asks her if Stephen is actually there for Cultural Integration, but she doesn't think so-- apparently, Stephen is to Darby what Harvey is to Jessica, and since Jessica wouldn't send Harvey all the way to London to hand out checks and do a dumb seminar, she thinks there's got to be something else going on. She wants him to figure out what it is.
Donna's already on it, though, and reveals that while cultural integration is only a week long, Stephen has a hotel suite booked for a month. Harvey's like, "How/why do you already know this? I was just told to look into it like one second ago!" Donna, totally busted, mumbles, "I anticipated Jessica's needs? I anticipated your needs?" Harvey chuckles and tells her that she anticipated her own needs, which shuts her up pretty quickly.
Katrina has a stack of files and her phone cradled in her arms, and wanders over to Mike's cubicle to ask if they can talk. Mike's not really interested, obviously, but Katrina confesses that this sort of thing is hard for her, but she wants to figure out how they can coexist together. She knows they keep "knocking horns," as she puts it, and admits that while she knows why she's out in the cold, she doesn't know how to get back in again. At least she's out of that hideous frilly blouse, and instead wearing a beige dress that matches her personality. (Sorry, I don't know why I irrationally hate her, but hate her I do.)
Mike basically tells her to stay away from him, so she drops the nice act. She claims she's trying to apologize, and angrily retorts that he doesn't have to be a dick. Mike's like, "I'm a dick? You're the one who treats everyone below your station like shit." Katrina correctly deduces that this is about "his little girlfriend," but since he and Rachel are still on the DL at work, Mike has to pretend they're not together and declares the conversation over. She taunts him, all, "Haha, you knew exactly who I was talking about and your defensiveness tells me everything I need to do!" before she skulks off to wherever she came from.
Harvey has invited Stephen to lunch, where he thanks Stephen for the check. He smiles and says he thought Harvey might be cheered up a little by it, and Harvey reveals that he has a gift for Stephen too-- he paid his hotel bill and took the liberty of checking him out, too. Harvey then drops the act and explains that if he's not going to tell him what he's doing here, he doesn't need to be here at all. Stephen nonchalantly fills his water glass, and shrugs. "Well, it's going to make it extremely difficult for me to help you take over the firm from Jessica." OH SHITTTT.
Harvey looks stunned, so Stephen exposits that he knows about his deal with Darby, and he was actually sent in to help him win. Harvey is skeptical, and asks what's to stop him from taking the firm over for himself, but Stevie-boy doesn't actually care to have his name on the door. He maintains that he's only here to assist him, and basically tells him that he knows Harvey is too smart to turn down his help. (Uh, have you met Harvey? Impulsively burning bridges is kind of his thing.) Harvey correctly deduces that his help isn't exactly free, but it's not going to cost anything serious; he mentions that Harvey's car club has a pair of 1956 Porsche Vistas, and Stephen wants to race him in them.
Their deal is interrupted by slimey Cameron Dennis again, who has just stopped in to inform Harvey that he has five witnesses who can place the colonel at the site of the murders, and hands over the evidence as required by law before exiting as quickly as he came. Harvey's pissed off now, so he takes it out on Stephen by refusing his help, and adds that he doesn't trust him before he leaves for the office. Way to project your Cameron-induced inferiority complex on the guy who wants to help you, dude. (That's not to say that I trust him, though, because if my supernatural teen dramas have taught me anything, it's that new characters are shady until proven otherwise.)
Mike visits Rachel in her office, and she confesses that she suggested that Donna forgive Mike for his being extorted or whatever. Mike realizes that that is why she stood up for him with Katrina, and he explains the story to her, including when Katrina came back later to apologize. Rachel is understandably sympathetic regarding his dislike of her, which leads Mike to make his own confession about having to deny their relationship to her earlier. Rachel looks a little bummed, and dips her toe into the "Let's discuss the state of our relationship" pool. He senses her worry and disappointment and topples some stuff off her desk. Under the guise of picking them up, he kneels down to take her hand and asks, "Rachel Elizabeth Zane, will you be my girlfriend?" She accepts, of course, because while he may be a dumbass, he's an adorable and clever one, and I know better than anyone that those types are hard to resist. Adorable and clever assholes are kind of my type-- just ask my boyfriend.
Their love-induced buzz is totally killed, however, when Rachel is emailed a video; it's an animation of a crying baby with Mike's face photoshopped onto it. Apparently, Katrina took a page from Louis' book too, and recorded Mike's conversation from earlier, and used snippets of it in the video. They're both infuriated, until they realize that the video is on like, every computer at the firm, which is when their rage hits critical mass.
Louis is watching the video from his own office, and Katrina is sitting on his couch, explaining that now Mike's the fool, not Louis. She makes her plea to work with him, since she put herself on a limb for him, and now she can't take it back-- if he doesn't hire her, she'll basically be done at this firm. Uh, hate to break it to you, lady, but you're the one who took the risk! If you get fired or otherwise excluded from big cases as a result, that's on you. Louis remains silent, so she takes that as her cue to go away.
Back in Rachel's office, she states, "This is war!" "And I am taking no prisoners," Mike adds angrily. Rachel is afraid he'll tell her to stay out of it, and informs him that he's crazy if he thinks she's not going to help him. He's like, "DUH, I need you!" She asks what he wants to do, but their pranks have to wait, because Harvey needs to see Mike. After he leaves, Rachel starts to brainstorm for ideas and gets to researching online.
Harvey and Mike are at Ava's office, where she's lamenting the disaster she's managed to make of everything. Harvey assures her that it's going away, and Mike adds that they were able to connect three of the five witnesses to a guerrilla faction within the last five years, which will help them paint a picture of a fire-fight between rebel groups, especially considering that's how they were reported in the first place. Ava points out that they can still all place the colonel at the place of the murders, and isn't comforted by Mike's promise that with a little more time, they can dig up more information on them.
Ava doesn't want to throw the witnesses down in court, though; as usual, she wants to buy off the witnesses so they never make it to court in the first place. Harvey is like, "Again, I really don't think bribery is the answer, here, considering that's how you got here in the first place." She's like, "Well, if we do it your way, there's still a verdict, but my way won't, so ha!" Mike corrects her, "Only if we don't get caught!" That advice does nothing to deter her, and she just demands that they not get caught. Yeah
Harvey nips this in the bud right away, and she reminds him that he claimed he would do anything to win. When Mike reminds her that what she's proposing is a crime, she doesn't see the problem. "A crime to get me out of a crime I didn't commit!" She can tell that Harvey doesn't believe that she's innocent, because if he did, he wouldn't be objecting to her plan. Harvey stands his ground and refuses to bribe the witnesses, so she fires them and tells them she'll find someone who will. Oh, Jesus.
Mike and Rachel are working on their payback prank against Katrina, which apparently involves pictures stolen from her private Facebook page. Harvey is still grumpy from being fired, and gets pissy with Mike about not working on Ava's case. He's like, "What case? We got fired, dude, did you forget?" Harvey insists that they stay on it, because he's anticipating Cameron waiting in the wings for her to start bribing people, and when she does, her new lawyer will shit his pants when he realizes what he's up against. Which, of course, will result in Ava rehiring Harvey and Mike, who will have to bail her out of yet another bribery charge. Ava sounds very much not worth the effort or the money, don't you think? Anyway, Mike gets the picture and goes back to work, but Harvey stops him for one last order: let his thing with Katrina go so he can focus on their murder case.
Jessica runs into Harvey, and she taunts him about getting fired. He is adamant that it is only a temporary firing, and Jessica hopes so, adding that she also hopes he's still working on the case anyway. Harvey is appalled once again at the suggestion that he's not doing his job, and Jessica just rolls her eyes. "I'd be humble if I got fired. If I ever got fired." Harvey's anger is about to reach critical mass at this point, because it feels like he's just been handed one body-blow after another all episode long.
Katrina is going through files or something in her office, which I don't get because she claims she doesn't actually have any cases yet, and Harvey just can't take his own advice when he passes by her office. He pops in and starts off by stating that while he doesn't know what the current state of the D.A.'s office is, he knows that if he pulled what she pulled on someone he was working with there, he would be done. Which means that Katrina is done, too. "You have no idea what the story is between me and Mike," she counters, but it's Harvey, so he doesn't give a fuck, and tells her as much. She tries a different approach. "You hired me, and then you hung me out to dry. You don't give me cases, you don't give me your word. What am I supposed to do?"
Harvey reminds her of how and why she got hired, and basically puts the blame on her for expecting more than that. (Didn't she blackmail him or something? I don't remember why she got hired, I just remember that she's the worst.) "You know how I got here, which is why I know you're not going to fire me," she threatens, but Harvey can do her worse than being fired. "When I said you're done here, I mean that your future at this firm is over, because you will never be anything more than you are right now. And, if you ever do anything like that to Mike Ross again? I don't give a shit what our deal was, you'll be gone." Zing! This episode is just so full of shade, I love it. It's a good thing she enjoys being a fifth-year associate so much, eh?
Of course, Rachel was right outside Katrina's office helping an associate, so she heard every word of Harvey's speech, so her first instinct is to run straight to Mike to tell him about it. She tells him they can stop the prank now, because Harvey fully laid her out for them. Mike thinks they should still do it anyway, even against Harvey's wishes, and they go back and forth about what Harvey would do to them if they did it anyway. Rachel ends it with, "What's he going to do, slap us with a lawsuit?" Which obviously is the key to Mike's Dawning-Realization-Of-The-Week! He's so happy he almost kisses her, then realizes they're at work and there are people around, so they settle on a high-five before he skips away to find Harvey.
"We don't need to bribe the witnesses, we need them to sue us," Mike explains to Harvey. Foreign nationals are allowed to bring civil suits against Americans in civil court, so all they do is get them to sue Ava, and then settle out of court. It's still a payoff, but it's legal, so they don't have to worry about extra bribery charges and Cameron won't be able to subpoena them.
They need a legitimate claim so it won't be end up considered bribery, and decide on emotional distress and PTSD. Harvey orders Mike to find them a lawyer not employed with the firm to represent them, but Mike already has someone in mind, they just need to figure out a way to get them to sue them. Harvey's main concern is getting to Ava before she bribes someone and inevitably gets caught, though, so they need to hurry. Before they leave, Mike brings up what Harvey said to Katrina, and Harvey confesses that he wasn't going to, but when he saw her, he couldn't help himself. Mike hilariously pats him on the shoulder and is like, "It's cool, just don't do it again," because he likes being the grown-up for once, and Harvey just rolls his eyes before he notices Stephen, who is walking Ava out of the building. He spits, "Son of a bitch!" before racing after them.
Harvey follows Stephen outside, where he's loading Ava into her car. He goes in on him, but Stephen explains that while he did meet with her, he actually advised her that bribing the witnesses would be counterproductive, and he eventually convinced her to stick with Harvey and Mike. "Harvey, listen, you don't have to trust me, but Darby does," Stephen assures him, and since Darby wants this to be a win, so does Stephen, ie: they're all on the same side. Harvey asks if this means he's going to owe him one, but Stephen reminds him that he's going to be paid in the form of a car race with him.
Back upstairs, Harvey updates Jessica on the Ava situation, and informs her that Stephen's here on Darby's orders to help. Jessica asks if Harvey believes him, and Harvey lies he has no reason not to, since he got him rehired by Ava. He reveals that Mike is over getting her to sign the papers, which makes Jessica assume he's got somewhere else to be. "Blonde or brunette?" It's not a lady-date, though, but instead a man-date in order to repay a debt.
Mike is over at Ava's office, where she admits that she's pretty impressed with him, especially now that Harvey has told her that this was all his idea. She tells him it's obvious that he trusts him, and Mike replies that he likes to think that's true. She wants to know if Harvey thinks she's guilty, because she just cannot let it go, but Mike tries to sidestep the question. "I have no idea whether Harvey thinks you had those people murdered or not. But even if I did, I wouldn't tell you, because Harvey wouldn't want me to." She backs off a little, because she seems to respect his relationship with Harvey, but she wants to know what Mike believes, too. Harvey wouldn't want him to tell Ava that either, and he tells her so before he gathers up the papers to head back to the office.
Donna has just left work for the night when Stephen pulls up in the 1956 Porshe Vista from Harvey's car club. Donna assumes that he won the race, but actually, he lost, which he thinks is a good thing in this case, because if Harvey thinks he won, then he won't get jealous when Stephen takes Donna out for a night on the town. She assures him Harvey has nothing to get jealous about, but warns him that smooth moves and a slick car aren't enough to get her. He knows better than that, though, and has kindly procured tickets to Macbeth for that reason, because he knows she's a theater-buff. She claims she's already seen it, but he thinks not. "Not with me, not in the front-row, and certainly not with Daniel Day-Lewis." When he speeds away in his car, Donna just stares for a beat before sing-songing, "I'm in trouble," under her breath. Oooooh, this should be interesting!
Katrina is still working in her office, although again, she makes it seem like she has no work to do ever, so IDK if she's just surfing Facebook or what. Louis swings by with the box of files for the Hessington Oil case, and instructs her to study and summarize them; and reluctantly welcomes her to Team Litt. Aw, Louis, WHYYY? You can do so much better. She thanks him, and he seems pretty pleased to have someone appreciate his kindness for once, but humbly shrugs it off.
Mike returns to Harvey's office to drop off the signed papers, and give him the news that good old Harold, who works for Allison Holt now, will be handling the cases of the witnesses, since he owed Mike a favor for getting him the job. Harvey seems pretty pleased, and sips his scotch as he asks Mike what he said to Ava, since she was obviously going to ask him whether he and Harvey thought she was innocent or not. Mike recaps their conversation for him, and Harvey seems satisfied with his answer, and pours Mike a glass. When Harvey asks Mike what he thinks about Ava's innocence, Mike replies that he feels the same way that he knows Harvey feels, which is that she totally did it. He brings up the fact that this is the first time they've ever had drinks together. Harvey knows it, and clarifies that this isn't a celebratory drink, it's a "We need to talk" drink-- he admits that he made a deal with Darby to back him in a bid to be managing partner of the firm. Mike doesn't say anything, he just stares into his glass, but the music asks the question he's dying to ask for him: "Where do we go from here?"
So guys, what did you think? Do you trust this Stephen guy? What tricks do you think Cameron has up his sleeves? I'm interested to hear what you think! As always, screencaps for this recap are from this Screencapped.net album.
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Nice Post
ReplyDeleteLoved your review of "Suits" Season 3, Episode 3! Your analysis of the character dynamics and plot twists was spot on. It’s always a pleasure to read your thoughts on the series. Can’t wait for your next episode recap!
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