‘Suits’ Midseason Finale Review: The Key to the Kingdom

Before we talk about the amazing midseason finale of Suits that aired last night, I want to take a moment to give kudos to the USA Network promo department. They cleverly focused on the ‘what did Mike do now?’ angle of the episode to get people talking and speculating about what the hour would bring without casting the slightest hint of suspicion on the true focus of “This is Rome.” And in the age of internet spoilers ruining surprises, that kind of impressiveness needs to be acknowledged.

Now that we’ve established that, let’s gush over the episode because it was basically everything and then some. Last week, we were left with a broken Louis asking the name partners to take care of his home and this week, we had a desperate Louis attempting to pick up the pieces of his life. Harvey, Mike, Donna and Rachel all wanted to help and they did their best from packing up Louis’ desk to getting him jobs at other firms. Katrina helped too, risking her job in order to give Louis an idea to get around his partnership agreement that forbid him from taking his clients with him.

Unfortunately, their best efforts led from one dead end to the next. Louis wanted to stay in New York so he rejected the first job Harvey got him. Sheila didn’t want to be a consolation prize so he declined the job in Boston as well. Joining Mr. Zane’s firm seemed to be the best option and Louis managed to steal one of Harvey’s clients to get him in the door, which angered Harvey and Jessica, who blamed Mike (and this is where the promo came from – one of the briefest scenes in the episode). Harvey and Mike came up with a plan to get the client back and that left Louis with nothing to offer once again (it also had Jessica connect the dots to Katrina and tell her to resign or get fired).

All hope seems lost, right? Here comes one of the beautiful parts of the episode. First, Mike went to Louis to warn him that they’d taken the client back. He wanted to tell him himself and he wanted to try and spend time with him, asking questions about his personal belongings from his office. Meanwhile, Harvey went to Zane and asked him to take Louis on as a senior partner anyway because he’s family and he wants to help him. Mike and Harvey headed out for a dinner date afterward, filled with bromance and teasing – basically the greatest thing ever. And that’s when everything went to hell in the blink of an eye and I never saw it coming.

Louis showed up at Harvey’s office and found only Donna there. He seemed a little rattled, but also, oddly calm, as he started talking to Donna about the key Mike had questioned – not once, but twice. Basically, it was a Harvard tradition (insert a bunch of fancy Latin words here that mean academic honors). Mike should have known what it was, but he didn’t. Donna caught on quick and reminded Louis that he’d been down this road before, but he wanted to call Shelia and verify. Donna stopped him and that’s when Louis lost it and got downright scary (someone get Rick Hoffman an Emmy). He got right in Donna’s face and spoke of betrayal and how he expected it from the others, but not from her and Donna tried to apologize with tears in her eyes (get Sarah Rafferty an Emmy too). Louis refused to hear it.

Donna managed to pick up the phone and warn Jessica before Louis arrived in her office. Louis exploded and let Jessica have it for treating him like dirt while covering up the fact that she let Harvey hire a fraud. He wanted to see her in handcuffs and wanted her to admit that she was a liar and a hypocrite and apologize. Jessica took in every word, but she never backed down once (yes, get Gina Torres as Emmy too, please). Jessica stated that she was a liar and a hypocrite, but she flat out refused to apologize because she wasn’t and she didn’t want Louis to have the satisfaction. This right here is exactly why I will always defend Jessica (except that ugly time where she was anti-Harvey). She knows she makes bad choices sometimes and unfair ones, but she’s not sorry because she’s worked her ass off to get where she is and she’s not going to risk her position for anyone.

Jessica demanded to know what Louis wanted because she knew it wasn’t about turning her in or the cops would have been called already. I think we all knew where this was going at this point, but I still got chills when Louis slowly barked out the words: Pearson. Specter. Litt. That is how you end a midseason finale and give fans something to talk about until it’s time for the show to come back in the winter (so far away!). This entire season has been building toward this moment and I still never suspected it– that is good TV, people.

It’s probably a safe bet that Jessica is going to give into Louis’ demands, but everything has changed now. We’ve finally seen Harvey fighting for Louis (something I’ve wanted for so long) and now Louis feels so betrayed that he doesn’t believe Harvey or Donna or Mike or anyone ever cared about him and that hurts because they very much do. But they’re not going to appreciate the whole blackmail thing so there will be tension and ugliness everywhere and I imagine everyone is going to expect someone else to stab him or her in the back at any moment.

Not only that, but Louis wanted to be named partner so badly and he’s probably going to get it, but at what price? He didn’t earn it and Jessica and Harvey will not respect him for his bullying and blackmail tactics. Maybe he’ll be okay with that at first because he’s so angry and hurt, but eventually, real Louis, the one who cares deeply about other people, will resurface and he’s going to feel terrible about how tainted his victory is. Or maybe he won’t and Louis will just be hard and emotionless going forward and that would be tragic.

Even though there were a few episodes that were not my favorite, season four has been solid and the last five weeks of the show have been some of its best work ever – the story, the acting, everything. I can’t wait to see where they go from here and what the writers have planned for the final six episodes of the season. In the meantime, hit the comments and share your thoughts and theories with us. We’ll see you back here in the winter!