‘Suits’ Review: ‘Two in the Knees’ (Mike vs. Harvey Round 3)

Last week on Suits, Mike managed to outmaneuver Harvey by convincing Gillis to put up the money for his workers’ pension fund. Doing so cost Gillis his dream of an expansion, but Mike’s passionate plea convinced him to keep fighting for the company, even if it meant weakening his war chest and losing the expansion. We all knew that victory would not last long.

“Two in the Knees” had Logan out for blood, specifically Mike’s blood, and he wanted Harvey to deliver it to him or he’d do it himself. Harvey attempted to do what Harvey Specter does best – he came up with his own plan to win, one that would not cause Mike to take a direct hit. Unfortunately, aside from Donna, the person who knows Harvey’s best tactics is Mike and he used his knowledge of Harvey’s playbook to stop the lawyer from strong arming a bank into cutting off their funding.

Naturally, Logan had a fit and Harvey called him out for making it personal because of Rachel. Logan turned around and called Harvey out for not going after his surrogate son (how dare you, sir). Once again, Logan threatened to hire a private investigator to dig around in Mike’s closet, which left Harvey and Donna worried (how cute are the Harvey/Donna talks this season? Always here for them). They couldn’t risk Mike’s secret coming out so Harvey had another idea.

He went to Gillis and exposed Mike’s past connection to drugs (Gillis’ son died because of drugs so this is a major sticking point for him). At first, Gillis didn’t believe him and called Harvey some choice names, which Harvey agreed with, but stuck to his story. Gillis confronted Mike and didn’t really give him a chance to explain once he found out Harvey’s information was true (as viewers, we know there’s more to the story, but facts are facts). Gillis was done with Mike (Was he overly judge-y? On the one hand, his son died so his grief is raw, but on the other, is Mike’s past really any of his business?).

Mike was livid and went to confront Harvey and here is where things got really ugly. Harvey did Mike a favor, but instead of having a rational conversation about it or warning him ahead of time like Donna had suggested, Harvey lorded it over Mike that he’d saved his ass and basically Mike would be nothing without him. Here’s the thing. Harvey is correct. Yes, Mike is a smart man, but he screwed up his life more than once (remember Trevor?). If it wasn’t for Harvey, Mike never would have had a chance at a somewhat legitimate life and career.

However, Mike is a person with feelings and he respects and loves Harvey so Harvey really should have found a better way to talk to him instead of coming off like an arrogant jackass (and I’m saying this as someone who loves Harvey best). So naturally Mike reacted like anyone would in that situation and he lashed out at Harvey. Thanks to his coffee chats with his surrogate mother Donna, Mike knew that Harvey had been trying to buy his father’s master recordings – and Mike got his hands on them first. Talk about a low blow, but in Mike’s eyes, Harvey made it personal first (regardless, it was time to curl up in the fetal position at this point).

Donna felt super guilty, but Harvey told her that it wasn’t her fault. She realized he was right and gave him another much-needed speech about why he can’t treat Mike like dirt and expect a thank you. Logan was still breathing down his neck to get Mike to drop out of the race so Harvey was going to attempt to talk to him again, but Donna convinced him that he was not the right person for the job this time. So Harvey went to Rachel (is anyone else enjoying their interaction this season as much as I am?). He had the civil, respectful conversation with her that he should have had with Mike in the first place and she agreed to talk some sense into him.

But there was another problem. Earlier in the episode, Mike had asked Rachel about her relationship with Logan. She admitted that she’d loved him, but she was the one who had ended things. Mike ran his own investigation on Logan and came across Rachel’s deposition in his divorce proceedings – where she testified that he’d ended things because he still loved his wife. Mike was hurt that she lied, but Rachel explained that she’d told him the truth. After things ended, Logan wanted to try again with his wife and he’d asked her to help him and she did. Mike was troubled that she’d loved Logan enough to do that (can’t blame him on this one), but Rachel assured him that was in the past and now she loved Mike.

After all that, Rachel couldn’t ask Mike to back down so she went to see Logan. Rachel reminded him that he owed her and she wanted him to stop making it personal against Mike. He agreed. It was a good scene and I’m still trying to figure out where this story is headed. Rachel is obviously in love with Mike, but seeing Logan again is bringing up a lot of old memories for her – ones that she is internalizing since she can’t really talk to Mike about them (or Logan). This combined with Mike’s jealousy and Logan’s desire to win might come between them, but the question is whether or not it could lead to a permanent break.

Rachel returned to Harvey and told him that she got Logan to back down. She also presented him with a box from Mike with his father’s recordings (aw). Harvey is obviously proud of Mike and it drives me crazy that he can’t just say that to him, even if they are on opposite sides. Harvey knew letting Mike go was the right decision for everyone, but he doesn’t know how to move forward because heaven forbid he admit his feelings and that just makes things more strained between the two. It’s frustrating to watch and it makes me want to knock their heads together and lock them in a room with Donna guarding the door until they sort out their differences and come out with BFF necklaces. Is that really too much to ask, show?

Before we wrap this up, let’s talk about the other plot of the episode: Jeff letting Louis believe that he was in love with him so that he could use Louis to get closer to Jessica. First, the dialogue and the innuendos in this episode were hilarious. Donna and Louis discussing why Jeff might think Louis was gay made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes. And I loved seeing Jessica agree to help because she didn’t want to hurt Louis’ feelings when he came to her and asked for her to help him out by helping Jeff out.

Unfortunately, Jeff was playing Louis the whole time and Louis found out and then he was hurt, angry and sad. That is not okay. I just want to wrap Louis in a blanket and protect him from the world because I hate seeing him get hurt. He really thought Jeff just wanted to be his friend with no strings attached. And the sad part is that I do think Jeff likes Louis, but now Louis won’t trust him or anyone else and why does this keep happening? Louis seriously deserves better.

Jessica and Jeff did work together well and he tried to convince her that a relationship was still possible, but she didn’t want to risk her career. I feel bad for Jessica because she is in a terrible position, but I think she’s making the right choice. I’m also still not convinced that Malone is trustworthy. He just seems too good to be true and now that the SEC has officially started going after Pearson Specter clients, we’re probably going to find out more information about him since it’s time for Jeff to step up and earn his money.

As frustrating as things are, I’m really enjoying this season of Suits so far. Everyone is bringing their A-game and even though I’m not normally a fan of focusing on one case for multiple episodes, the personal stakes surrounding this one have kept it intriguing. I like that things are moving fast and all of our main characters are being utilized. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Sadly, we have to wait two weeks for the next episode, but in the meantime, feel free to hit the comments and share your thoughts and theories with us. Did you enjoy the episode? Are you Team Harvey or Team Mike? Does Rachel still have feelings for Logan? Do you get a shady vibe from Jeff? Let us know!