This week’s episode of Suits was a Louis-centric adventure featuring laughs, tension, and more laughs.
Starting out strong, the third episode of Suits drives Sheila (Rachael Harris) and Louis (Rick Hoffman) apart yet again. Having been demoted in the previous episode, Louis is tense and ashamed. Despite all of her attempts to comfort her fiancé, Sheila fails to help Louis, and he begins to spiral out of control— something the audience is very familiar with. Trying to get Louis to see that the Specter Litt Wheeler Williams firm is not the only place he belongs, she gets him a judgeship. He is tempted to accept the position because he feels unwanted by his firm; he catches Donna (Sarah Rafferty) and Harvey (Gabriel Macht) laughing at Louis’ phone call to Donna—which goes unanswered—on their date. Of course, this turns out not to be the case, as Harvey and Donna were laughing at a joke that Harvey made.
Although he is infuriated at Donna and Harvey, he has a humorous dream where he fights against Special Master Richardson (Denise Crosby) in court. Harvey is every single member of the jury,and Alex (Dulé Hill), Donna, and Samantha (Katherine Heigl) cheer him on the courtroom sidelines. A bit confused by the dream, he goes to his therapist, Dr. Lipschitz (Ray Proscia), for dream interpretation. With his therapist’s help, Louis realizes the firm is the only place he truly feels at home aside from Sheila’s arms. Unfortunately, Donna and Harvey’s mockery really hurt him, so he decides he will take the judgeship anyways. He goes to tell Harvey, and Harvey asks why. After explaining his reasons, Harvey is flabbergasted and explains why they were laughing and the problem is resolved. Louis keeps his position.
On the other side of the firm, we see many other things happen. Samantha eats dinner with Alex’s family—the dinner was so warm and welcoming that she searches for her biological parents. Harvey duels with Faye, and Katrina confronts an ambitious associate. The events were heartwarming, tense, and thrilling, but ultimately, overshadowed by the Louis story and made unmemorable.
For the most part, the most exciting thing was an inside look at Donna and Harvey’s love life—from the early morning office banter to their date night. To me, this episode falls flat and underperforms. Even though we get to see many different things, from more tension with the special master and the firm to Louis’ dilemma, nothing was truly eye-catching and Suits reverted to a predictable script.
Louis’ meltdown was expected but unnecessary. Despite it happening nearly every season, viewers have seen him go through difficulties and go through them with his therapist throughout many episodes. He, for a lot of the newer seasons, thought rationally and grew as a character. In this episode, we are presented with a Louis who acts like a child, thinking that his friends are insulting him despite showing their unwavering loyalty for nine years. He responds dramatically, trying to take a job elsewhere because he feels neglected, instead of talking it through like he learned.
Overall, the episode felt lacking. Although there were plenty of the components typical of a Suits episode present—the humor, tension, and old movie references, there was something missing. While it was exciting to watch the relationships develop between characters, we do not see the plot moving forward. There needed to be an extra push, some kind of advancement in the story line. Unlike other seasons, Suits’ season nine is limited to ten episodes. Each episode should have some sort of event which moves the plot forward. Unfortunately, it wasn’t there this time around.
Watch Suits live with me at 9/8c on USA Network or catch up with the previous episodes on the Suits website.
