So, season 2 of Suits just wrapped and I'm looking for something in one of the episodes, so I think I might start writing some recap/review posts for some of them.




We open panning over NYC and into an office the likes of which we'll never see again b/c the pilot was filmed in Vancouver NYC and the show films in Toronto, but that's beside the point. A bunch of people who look like they've all been at work for about five hours after they thought they were going home are waving papers at each other and having animated conversations.

Except one guy, who looks pained by all of this as he walks in slo-mo through the room. He enters an office where a black woman sits reading a file. He says that the client is here and wants to know about his deal.

The woman says: Go get Harvey.

The man leaves.

Cut to a back-room poker game where we see a guy in shirtsleeves and a guy in a dark pinstripe suit playing. 'Sleeves places his bet and 'Stripe goes all in as his phone chirps. A message from someone named 'Jessica Pearson' that only says 'I need you'. Needless to say, he leaves the game.

Now, if you've never seen this show, you might think this guy has a date or a wife or a really needy boss. None of those are the case. He has an amazing boss who has called him in to clean up a mess. You see, this guy, is Harvey Specter, Jr. Partner at Pearson Hardman, a prestigious law firm in Manhattan. And his boss? Jessica Pearson - the black woman from earlier - who brings in her 'closer' to make sure this deal goes according to plan.


Now we have a room full of people hunched over desks scribbling furiously... except for one guy in a ball cap who's spinning his pencil around his thumb, looking bored. The proctor declares time is up and all the folks rush out of the room. The proctor thinks he's seen ball cap guy before and keeps his test separate, so 'cap guy acts fast when someone knocks some booklets on the floor and buries his booklet in the stack before darting out of the room and finding someone convenient to give his cap to.

Two things about this scene: 1 - I don't recall from the LSAT if you turn in your own booklet/answer sheet or if they come around and pick it up, but 2 - I know for sure that the proctor doesn't leave the goddamned room while there are still people IN the room! (Okay, yes, I know, he has to chase 'cap down the hall to establish a point, but still!)

Anyway - ball cap guy is a cheater - he takes the LSAT for people so they can get better scores than they figure they'd get on their own. I get it, really, b/c it's a stupidly hard test (yes, I've taken it; no, I didn't get anywhere near a 175 - I fucking wish!), but the cheating thing? Yeah - someone's gonna get caught someday and rat out someone else. It's a cycle.

This guy - he's Mike Ross. He claims here, sitting on his BFF's floor playing video games and eating last week's cheeseburgers, that he needs to 'get his shit together', b/c he almost got caught. His BFF - who we learn is named Trevor - offers him a job in the drug trade. No, he's not a pharmaceutical rep, he's a pot dealer. (and a dumbass) Mike declines as Trevor's girlfriend walks in. Trevor's GF who doesn't know that Trevor deals pot for a living, she thinks he's a software guru. It's in this scene that we also first learn of Mike's incredibly awesome memory. He remembers shit that anyone else would likely forget in a week.

So, ten minutes in, we've met most of the key players... and they're interesting people.

Especially since when next we see Harvey and Jessica, they're celebrating closing a deal and she's bragging about him to the waitress who, when Harvey hits on her and flashes a big bright smile, gets in his face and tells him there's not a chance in hell she's going out with him. He looks rather chagrined, especially as Jessica says 'I guess you're not the best closer this city's ever seen.'

But Harvey knows something Jessica doesn't - that 'Lisa' (the waitress) is definitely going out with him. B/c the next thing we see is this view of an awesome condo (that we'll never see again, b/c of aforementioned location change) with a balcony right off a very open bedroom with floor to ceiling windows. Lisa is kneeling on the bed and manages to talk Harvey into coming back to bed for a bit, despite the fact that he's already dressed like he's two steps away from walking out the door. Who needs the gym, right?


Mike goes to see his grandmother - who isn't an idiot and knows he smokes weed. She tells him she wants him to stop doing drugs and to start living up to his potential.

Louis is whining about being told that Harvey is better at being a lawyer than he is. Who's Louis? He's the guy from the beginning who was told to go *get* Harvey. He's also a Jr. Partner in the firm that Harvey picks on pretty regularly. Louis is cranky b/c Harvey's getting promoted to Sr. Partner before him.

Mike, finding out that his grandmother needs more care, has to move her to a different facility or find a way to come up with $25k. So, he decides to work for Trevor. And all he has to do is deliver a briefcase to a hotel room. Sounds simple, right? Too bad it's a set-up and Trevor can't warn him.

Well, wouldn't you know, that Mike's delivery and Harvey's associate interviews are happening in the same hotel. And, we get our first look at Donna - Harvey's fucking awesomely amazing legal secretary:

Donna: *calls for Rick Sorkin about 4 times*
Mike: *runs up toward the door*
Donna: "Rick Sorkin?" *Mike gives her a look* "Excuse me, Mr. Sorkin. You are five minutes late, is there a reason why I should let you in?"
Mike: *makes confused faces* "I'm just trying to ditch the cops, okay. I don't really care if you let me in or not."

Thus, Mike and Harvey meet for the first time and go toe-to-toe quoting legal text at each other, b/c Mike's passed the Bar exam, b/c he likes to read and once he reads something, he understands and never forgets it. That's an impressive skill I'm sure tons of people would love to have. However, can you imagine having all of that shit stuck in your brain forever? That's a LOT of information to keep in there and have access to at any point in time. How has Mike not lost his marbles?

Anyway, Harvey says he can't hire Mike b/c Mike's not a lawyer and says he'll 'make sure Serpico isn't around' - kicking off a long tradition of movie quotes and references that will be seen throughout the series. (It's actually pretty awesome.) But, when Harvey sees the crowd of bland 'douche' candidates sitting outside, he decides to hire Mike instead. This is also the 3rd time since the episode started where someone has used the word 'goddamn'.

Obviously Pearson Hardman gets a hefty remodel between eps 1 & 2, b/c the reception area looks nothing like this ever again and well, they lose 2 elevators and the marble-like walls. Serious downgrade. Wow. (location change) [[update: b/c I watched later eps shortly after this and nope - same basic reception area and same # of elevators, the camera angles are just weird ]]

Anyway, it's time for Mike's orientation and he meets Rachel Zane, paralegal, who is *not* interested and makes sure to tell him that before they even get started. She tells him about the partners and whatnot and shows him to his cubicle in what is affectionately known as 'the bullpen' - aka: where all the junior associates sit. She thinks he hasn't been paying attention because he hasn't taken any notes. So, he proves her wrong with his freak brain tricks.

Meanwhile, this happens (actually, it happens in the middle of the above part, but eh):

Harvey: Excuse me, why are you scratching off the 'senior' off my door? *alarmed by this development*
Maint guy: *deadpan* I got a work-order to take it off.
Harvey: Who issued the work order? *still annoyed*
Maint guy: *deadpan* My supervisor.
Harvey: Why did he issue the work-order? *this isn't funny*
Maint guy: *deadpan* If I knew that, I'd be his supervisor.
Harvey: You seem to be enjoying yourself. *grumble*
Maint guy: *deadpan* I haven't enjoyed myself since 2004.
Harvey: Donna! *FML*

So, Harvey's losing his promotion b/c he lied to a client and got caught, so now he's going to fire Mike b/c if he gets found out about that, he's in even bigger trouble. But wait! Mike says that if Harvey shoves him under the bus, he's bringing Harvey along for the ride... oops! It works, and Harvey uses the same trick on Jessica.

Sidenote about Harvey's office: I am *so* glad they changed it, b/c in the pilot, it looks overly pretentious. And I don't know that his record collection is there.

Anyway - Jessica agrees to Harvey's threat, but demands he take on a pro bono case - that he doesn't want, but agrees to so he can keep his promotion. He passes the case to Mike, who goes to meet the client. Harvey is noshing on a hot dog from a street vendor while Mike tells him about the case. This is important... at least as a fandom trope. It's a bit of a theme for a while.


Another exchange btwn Harvey and Donna - proving how awesome Donna is:

H: Donna... I need the...
D: *hands him whatever it is he needs*
H: Also, I didn't have a chance to...
D: *hands him a coffee*
H: Marry me?
D: I took care of that too. We've been married for the last seven years.
H: Excellent.

Ok, bit of a back up here, there's a scene where Mike comes home to find Trevor on his couch; it ends with him kicking Trevor out, but that's not what this is about. Somehow, Mike's apartment is nearly *identical* from the pilot to every other ep we see it in. Right down to the panda picture and the weird lamp above it. This is pretty much the only thing the same from pilot to later eps. [[from commentary on the DVDs - the crew actually recreated Mike's NYC apt in Toronto, all the way down to commissioning a copy of the panda thing on the wall - no, I am not kidding.]]

Mike and Rachel do research for Harvey's motion, then Harvey even takes Mike with him to the motion hearing so he can watch the Harvard attorney in action being awesome. As a result, Mike gets gifted with a small conference room full of boxes, each full of files. He gets through them all in one night, then drops onto Harvey's couch (which is, incidentally, right in front of his record collection - trust me, it's important).

Right, so, Louis makes Mike take a drug test... b/c Louis is an asshole and Harvey needs Mike to grill a witness before a deposition. Things go badly and Mike quits b/c he's afraid of getting fired.

Which leads to the first of many, many scenes in bathrooms on this show - Harvey confronts Louis about firing someone to scare Mike and Louis is all 'hahaha - no dude, that kid works in the mailroom'. Of course, this gives Harvey an idea. So he goes to see the witness to fix his case.

Mike, meanwhile, talks to Grammy, then dumps the briefcase on Trevor, takes 6 of Trevor's $2k suits and opens the briefcase to make sure Jenny sees the pot.

Mike and Harvey take their new awesome evidence and go to court to kick some serious ass and make their client very very happy.

And - Harvey's not a wuss. =)


'bad word' count:
- goddamn - 4
(we don't get 'shit' until later) -- [[correction, Mike actually does say this once in this ep (there might be another)... but this fucker's 90mins long, so if I missed something, I'm not surprised.]]


The rest of these won't be nearly this long. The first episode is 2hrs (aired w/ commercials)... but it's still awesome.

I don't know if I'll do all the episodes, since my wrist is acting up and I need to put the brace on it, but if anyone wants a quirky recap of any episode in particular, let me know. =)



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