This may be the best episode of Suits’ ninth season. This week, viewers buckled up as they explore family and its value at the firm in the form of Donna (Sarah Rafferty) and Harvey’s (Gabriel Macht) relationship. They also got to see great performances by Sarah Rafferty and Katherine Heigl.
The episode opened with a Donna and Harvey scene, where we get to see yet another morning shared between the two. Donna speaks to her father, Jim (Derek McGrath), and learns that he is coming into the city for a few days. Wanting to make the most of it, she tries to convince Harvey to come to lunch with her and her father. Unfortunately, Harvey and Jim don’t have a great relationship—with Harvey having threatened and squabbled with the man several times throughout the show’s run. He declines the request because he thinks that even if Jim is happy for his daughter, the two men will butt heads if they see each other.
Without missing a single beat, Harvey is right, as per usual. The rest of the Donna and Harvey story for this episode details Jim’s disapproval of Harvey and the latter’s attempts to win his partner’s parental approval. Lily Specter (Brynn Thayer) makes a surprise appearance through a phone call with Harvey, and our favorite closer grapples with understanding other people’s emotions, which ties into what’s happening back at Specter Litt Wheeler Williams.
At the firm, things get tense. Alex’s (Dulé Hill) former colleague, Craig (Brian Hallisay), pays him a visit, throwing fans back to the Masterson Construction case of season seven. To recap, Masterson Construction framed Alex for conspiracy, and he was forced to participate in the scandal in order to protect his family. Threatening to blackmail Alex with this information, Craig demanded that he convince Samantha (Katherine Heigl) take a weaker deal in her case against him. Afraid it will hurt him and his family, Alex begged Sam to take the deal. Luckily, Sam is one of the few people in the firm who still has her head on her shoulders, and she figured out a way to get Alex out of it.
Even more, Faye Richardson (Denise Crosby) causes more problems for the firm. She somehow finds out that Donna and Harvey are in a relationship, and in an attempt to “resolve” the conflict of interest, tells Donna that she must sacrifice her vote. Of course, Donna, who has worked tirelessly for the firm, rejects giving up her vote, and it takes all the partners along with Katrina (Amanda Schull) to get Faye to see the importance of Donna’s voice.
Finally, to wrap up the episode, we get to see a heartwarming scene between Donna and Harvey, where the two discuss marriage. Donna also meets Lily through the phone. Although I could go into great detail about this scene, I think it’s best you see this yourself:
Fans across Twitter, along with the Suits Twitter account, screamed with joy. It’s all the Darvey fandom wanted for the past eight years—something that seemed straight out of a dream, and they couldn’t stop watching it. Admittedly, I rewatched it a few times myself!
Overall, this episode exceeded expectations, after the letdown that was episode three. With massive character development this season from Harvey to the team-up of the firm leaders, it was a feel-good episode with a lot of heart and soul. Despite the budding relationship and different cast members, it truly felt like it was from showrunner Aaron Korsh’s supposed Golden Age of Suits—the earlier seasons.
Watch Suits live with me at 9/8c on USA Network or catch up with the previous episodes on the Suits website.
