Based on the latest “Suits,” this week’s season finale should be an interesting bout of law warfare. This episode picks up shortly after the events of “He’s Back.” Pearson Hardman is attempting to fight the outrageous lawsuit from former partner, Daniel Hardman (David Costabile).
At the same time, Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams), Rachel Zane (Meghan Markle) and the rest of the firm are trying to find a breakthrough with the Folsom Food case.
Just as the firm is bracing for the next legal attack, an old flame from Harvey Specter’s past returns to apparently steal clients from Pearson Hardman. However, her motives and actions are not what they appear on the surface. The firm she represents has considerable assets at their disposal.
This makes it all too enticing for Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres) to consider teaming-up with the overseas firm. A potential merger would give Pearson Hardman the resources to finally get rid of the trouble of Daniel Hardman and then some. This episode has pushed loyalties to the absolute brink and it should make the season finale all the more captivating.
This episode was a bit different than its predecessors in a few ways. For one, Harvey and Rachel were essentially the central focus of this episode. While Harvey dealt with the reappearance of a romantic interest, Rachel continued her path towards Harvard.
“Normandy” may well be Markle’s best performance as Rachel Zane to date. Rachel displays a wide array of emotions in this episode as she goes from elation to despair. Markle makes it seem effortless and it is nice to see the writers doing more with Rachel’s character.
Meanwhile, Macht was back to being “good old Harvey” in this episode. Fan reaction to the softer side of Harvey shown in the episode “Blind- Sided” ranged from mixed to terrible. It appears that Aaron Korsh and the writers got the memo, and Harvey is back to being the tough-guy lawyer.
This time he gets to butt heads with an equally tough lawyer named Dana Scott (Abigail Spencer). It was quite a bit of fun to see the female equivalence of Harvey in this episode. The chemistry Macht and Spencer share on screen is most likely what long-time fans picture as the ideal romantic partner for Harvey.
Although the episode did take place on Valentine’s Day, Kosh and the writers were wise enough to not devote this show entirely to romance. That being said, the writers continue to tease the Donna-Harvey romance that some fans so desperately want.
They also did somewhat tease the potential for a Dana-Harvey relationship, but there were bigger issues at stake here. Harvey has, at times, disagreed with Jessica as to the future of the firm. In this episode, that disagreement was taken to a different level.
Not only is there some considerable strife between Harvey and Jessica, but there is other disconnect at the firm, as well. In this episode, Mike finds himself at odds with a recently hired attorney named Katrina Bennett (Amanda Schull). Katrina is a fiery fifth-year who does not take no for an answer. On top of that, Katrina is highly intelligent and quicker to the punch than Mike.
These situations present quite an issue for the firm. As it stands, the season finale could feature not a single clean getaway for anyone. Mike’s situation as an unlicensed lawyer could rear its ugly head this upcoming Thursday. At this point, Mike is nearly disposable with the presence of Katrina.
On top of that, there could be a literal splitting of hairs at Pearson Hardman. There is a clear tension in every scene that has been heightened with each action. Once again, the cast is doing a terrific job with the material presented by Kosh and his team of writers.
On a technical level, “Normandy” is on par with each preceding episode. The director and editors know their product by now, and there is a formula they follow. For now, that story-telling structure is working. However, some slight changes could be necessary in order to keep it fresh for the forthcoming third season.
