‘Suits’ Review: ‘Conflict of Interest’ leads to rising tension at Pearson Darby

War has come to Suits once more. Last night’s “Conflict of Interest” brought out the competitive spirit (not that it takes much) in the lawyers at Pearson Darby. Harvey and Mike are defending Ava Hessington in a murder trial while it has fallen on Louis (and his new associate Katrina) to keep Hessington Oil afloat. Jessica and Darby came down on opposite sides. But who won the battle?

First, is anyone else as tired as I am of this Ava Hessington case? Michelle Fairley is fabulous, but this case is taking over the show and I’m over it. That being said, there was a great twist last night that I didn’t see coming. But before we get into that, let’s go over the strategies that brought on the conflict of interest.

Team Litt set up a press conference for Ava, but Team Harvey was not okay with that because Cameron could and would use anything she had to say against her like he was already doing with her admission to bribery. Jessica sided with Team Harvey, but then she sided with Team Litt when Louis pointed out that they could remove Ava as CEO and solve their issues. Team Harvey was not pleased and reminded Jessica that Darby would not be okay with ousting Ava.

Jessica went to see Darby to try and reason with him, but he was not happy that she’d used company funds to fly to his location instead of calling him and he adamantly told her that Ava was not to be removed as CEO. Jessica doesn’t like to be told what to do so she had one of her cloak and dagger middle of the night meetings with Louis and told him without telling him that he could do what needed to be done to have Ava removed.

But here comes the twist. Harvey and Mike were grilling Ava at a mock deposition so they could make her see what it would be like to face Cameron in court. Ava’s voice quivered as she told them how terrible she felt about the murders and how she’d given the families money and planned to shut the whole thing down. For the first time ever, Ava showed emotion and it was clear to everyone that she was innocent. Harvey and Mike were stunned and clearly felt bad about thinking she was a murderer.

Mike spent a lot of the episode working with Katrina; mostly as a way for Team Harvey and Team Litt to keep an eye on one another. But in the episode’s second most surprising turn of events, Katrina turned out to have a human side. Like Mike and Harvey, the instant she saw the deposition video and realized Ava wasn’t guilty; she wanted to stop the takeover attempt. Louis did too, but they had a bigger problem. Jessica was not really interested in Ava’s guilt or innocence; she just wanted to find a way to stick it to Darby.

Ava ended up paying the price. Harvey gave her permission to speak to her board and give them an impassioned plea, but the vote was moved up and Ava missed her chance. She was furious because the company still planned to keep Pearson Darby as legal counsel so she felt like they’d gone behind her back, even though Harvey insisted that he hadn’t. But he knew who had.

Harvey and Jessica had a mini showdown in her office. Harvey thought that she was doing it to spite him, but then he realized she was doing it to spite Darby. He correctly pointed out all of the reasons this was Jessica’s fault for getting into bed with the other firm in the first place. Jessica obviously regrets it, but does she regret it enough to find a way out of the deal. And if she does, will she be able to before Harvey wins the case and puts his deal into effect?

Elsewhere, Donna started a fling with British Harvey. I’m not against Donna having a love interest because I feel like if Donna and Harvey ever happen it’ll be in the last episode of the series, but British Harvey is dull. Queen Donna deserves so much better (like the real thing). But I have a feeling this ‘arrangement’, as Donna put it, is happening to eventually cause some conflict for Donna and Harvey. She went to tell him about it, but he was too angry at Jessica and got snippier when she mentioned she’d made copies for British Harvey so needless to say she didn’t spill the beans about their liaisons.

As for Rachel, to quote one of our staff members, she was kind of useless last night. Her purpose seemed to be to give Donna a sounding board so the audience would know what was happening with British Harvey and then she had a little moment of jealousy when she saw Mike and Katrina (speaking of, is anyone else ready to board this ship? Assuming Katrina isn’t playing everyone and actually does have a heart, I could totally be here for those two happening). In the meantime, Mike and Rachel exchanged sappy sentiments of love.

So there you have it. Next week will bring more Ava (sigh) and renewed fighting between Jessica/Darby and more tension between Harvey and Donna. What do you guys think? Will Harvey take over? Will Jessica find a way to win? Do you like British Harvey? Hit the comments and let us know.