Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) and Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht). |
NOTE: Spoilers follow!
In June of
2011, Suits premiered on USA, and it
initially seemed like the perfect, airy sort of show for the summer. Patrick J.
Adams starred as Mike Ross, a 20-something with a photographic memory that was
pretending that he had graduated from Harvard Law School. He was hired by a
prestigious law firm, with the heavies at it being the uber-slick Harvey
Specter (Gabriel Macht), the measured Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres, a.k.a. Zoe
Washburne) and the petty Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman).
The early
seasons of the show focused on individual court cases, with the longest arcs
being a couple episodes. There was always the tension of Mike’s secret being
revealed, but for the most part, things were kept light and the focus was kept
on the power of his memory and persuasion. Sarah Rafferty as Donna Paulsen and
Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane also helped out the ensemble, as Harvey’s legal
secretary and Mike’s love interest, respectively.
However, the
show has been paralyzed in its last two seasons because it has almost entirely
been focused on The Drama that Mike’s secret causes. Yes, that tension has
always hung in the air, but since having 30+ episodes now focused on it just
seems somewhat ridiculous. Harvey, Jessica and Louis are all wholly-consumed
with covering for Mike, since they’ve profited from his legal knowledge and
photographic memory.
To the show’s
credit, they haven’t done the Homeland thing
and come up with a magical solution to allow Mike to wiggle out of not having a
law degree. Unfortunately, it has created a morose slog that’s just not
entertaining to watch. What’s the appeal in watching characters we’ve bonded
with for four years being torn down and emotional tortured for an entire
season?
The fifth
season just finished with an episode on March 2. In the season finale, Mike
admits that he’s not a lawyer and takes two years in prison, covering for
Harvey, who had tried repeatedly to take the sentence instead of Mike. The
cascade effect is that the law firm Mike was working for – Pearson Specter Litt
– is essentially shutdown, as most of the associates flee for other firms. Mike
taking the prison term leaves his relationship with Rachel completely up in the
air, since they were to be married. Also, Rachel’s dad is Bunk from The Wire, although he’s mostly just
playing a stern authority figure and lawyer on the show.
The show has
already been renewed for a sixth season, likely to premiere sometime later this
year. I’ll likely keep watching, because I have no idea where the hell they can
go from here. However, I have a similar feeling of dread with it as I did going
into the final season of Glee, where
I’ve lost so much faith in their ability to stick the landing here. (And by the
way – There hasn’t been an announcement that the sixth season will be the last,
so incredibly, they might try to keep things going for who knows how long.)
The photo is a common promotional image used
by USA for the show.
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