‘Suits’ Season 2 Finale Review: This is War

Suits has been the one show I’ve relied on to be awesome week after week so finally having an episode that I absolutely hate is not the end of the world. The score is still 27 fantastic episodes to 1 bad one. However, the fact that the bad episode was the season finale and the point of it was to set up storylines for next season worries me a little. But let’s set that aside for now and talk about why I hated “War.”

The second half of the season and a big part of the first has been the war between Harvey and Jessica and Daniel Hardman. To be honest, I was getting tired of it, but I think the last episode was the end of Hardman. However, I still miss the episodic aspect of the show. I rarely say this because I believe serialized TV is a million times better than episodic, but Suits is a show that benefits from episodic because they always had really interesting cases. But lately, the only case is who is going to try to merge with the firm this week and it has gotten stale.

Last week, Jessica made it clear to Harvey that she was going to merge with the British guy’s firm and there was nothing he could do about that. Harvey basically replied with ‘Challenge Accepted’ and went to find a way to stop the merger from happening. He doesn’t trust Scottie, he doesn’t trust the British guy and he doesn’t understand why Jessica is so adamant to find outside help when they’ve worked together so well all this time. So began the war and somewhere along the way the 30 Seconds to Mars song got stuck in my head so “It’s the moment of truth…”

The Soldier

At the beginning of the episode, Mike was in Jessica’s office and she was asking him to side with her against Harvey. Mike said that Harvey would never forgive him and Jessica made it clear he didn’t have a choice. It wasn’t until later on in the episode that we learned what was actually going on. Basically, Harvey had Mike trying to find loopholes in the argument against the British guy and Harvey was willing to bend the law to get what he wanted, which was an extreme move. Mike was doing what Harvey asked him to because they were a team and he believed in him and Jessica decided to crush that. She threatened to send Mike to prison if he didn’t make the argument disappear.

The Civilian

I liked Scottie the first time she showed up and I thought the airplane scene between her and Harvey was all kinds of hot, but now she needs to go back where she came from. It’s always a weird chess match between her and Harvey and you never quite know what she wants or if she’s being real. This week, we learned that she’s in love with Harvey and just wants a chance. But instead of being honest, she continued to play games and he continued not to trust her. At the end of the episode, Harvey went to bat for her to get her job back and the British guy asked Harvey if he wanted her in the London office or the New York office. Harvey didn’t answer, but I really hope she has to stay across the pond.

The Martyr

Scottie never would have tried to help Harvey if it wasn’t for Donna. Guys, I don’t understand Donna. She denies that she’s in love with Harvey, but I have to assume that she is and she just wants what’s best for him. But Donna is what’s best for him, obviously, so having her be the one to give Scottie a pep talk and tell her how to fix what was wrong was really, really selfless and awesome and pure Donna. Seriously though, no one is here for Scottie and Harvey. Donna also had a talk with Harvey about not fighting for love or letting people go too easily and he (rudely) asked if he was referring to her. Then he admitted that he has a huge problem with the fact that Scottie let him be the other man because of what happened to his mother. Harvey is so broken emotionally.

The Victim

It’s no secret that I don’t like Rachel. It bothers me that she is so quick to judge other people and hold things against them, but she was ready to pay someone to take the LSAT for her. She also admitted that she went after a married man so I’m not sure where her moral high horse comes from. This week, she was obsessed with her Harvard rejection and she was angry that she’d gotten rejected because of Louis. She decided that she was going to go over Girl-Louis’s head and asked Mike to sign a letter for her. Mike obviously couldn’t since there was that whole thing where he didn’t go to Harvard, so he went to Louis and learned the whole story. He told Louis that he needed to tell Rachel the truth.

The Leader

Harvey was a mess in this episode. He was determined to stop the merger and made side deals with both the British guy (I guess I should learn his name) and Jessica. If he beat the British guy in court, the merger was off and Jessica would put his name on the door. If he lost, the merger remained in place and Harvey had to accept it and his name would not be going on the door. Harvey repeatedly tried to reason with Jessica, but she was not having it. She also blocked him every step of the way so it was pretty obvious all along that Harvey was going to lose.

The Pariah

Poor Louis is never allowed to win. This week, he met his British counterpart and the two started a strange rivalry that eventually led to friendship. But it came at a cost. Each man was supposed to make a list that showed weaknesses or something like that. Once they became buddies, they agreed not to put each other’s name on their respective lists. But Louis went ahead and did it anyway since this was a war. He assumed the other guy did too, but Donna told him that he’d left Louis’s name off. Again, poor Louis is painted as the bad guy, even though he is one of the best people in the firm.

The Victor

Jessica, on the other hand, is the worst. She got what she wanted. Harvey lost, he’s not getting his name on the door and he can’t quit so she gets to show him his place. Seriously, she’s the worst. Harvey’s methods might not always be pleasant, but he’s the entire reason she still has a firm so the fact that she set him up to lose, made him humble himself to the British dude AND broke up Harvey and Mike’s bromance earns her a special place in hell.

The Moment to Fight…

Here’s the take away from the episode: Harvey fired Mike, Jessica told him that he wasn’t fired, but it really doesn’t matter because Harvey and Mike are broken and Mike knows that Harvey will probably never forgive him or trust him again. Harvey does not get his name on the door, we’re stuck with the British guy and an overly smug Jessica (die in a fire, please), Louis feels guilty for hurting Rachel and for sabotaging his British counterpart, Donna is probably in love with Harvey and is stuck in a position where she has to help him have a relationship with someone else and then there was the final Mike and Rachel scene.

Rachel was furious that Mike didn’t sign her letter (always the victim; let me get the tiny violin) and Mike actually yelled at her (which was awesome) and pointed out that he’d had the worst day ever, he’d lost everyone he loved (he listed Harvey, you guys!) and he said he couldn’t lose her too, not now. I guess that was Mike admitting that he loved Rachel? Anyway, that wasn’t enough for her. She wanted the truth. So Mike blurted out that he’d never gone to Harvard. Rachel slapped him. Then she slapped him again. Then, in what can only be described as soft-core porn, the two went at it right there in the file room.

Okay, then. I’m sure you can deduce my Rachel hatred makes it hard for me to be a fan of them, but if I was a fan of them, I would be really offended that the first time they were together is basically angry, hate sex. That doesn’t really scream true love to me. Since Suits likes to share people with Pretty Little Liars, can we please get Troian Bellisario on this show? She deserves a role on a good show and Mike deserves a love interest that is not the (second) worst.

So that’s the end of Season 2 and I don’t really like what was set up for Season 3. But I’m going to hope that the writers have some surprises in store because I’m not ready to lose another show I love. If nothing else, Suits will always win for having the best opening. And now you’re singing the theme song. You’re welcome. See you next season…