‘Suits’ Review: ‘Exposure’ Reveals an Unintentional Betrayal

After Suits gave us everything we wanted last week (Mike back at the firm! Mike and Harvey returning to bromance mode! Louis saving the day!), our excitement levels were pretty high for the latest installment, “Exposure.” Not only did the episode fully live up to our expectations – it managed to surpass them. And it left us wishing for a time machine to next week after that ending.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Mike’s first day back at Pearson Specter brought various reactions. Harvey showed up early for work, Jessica remained unhappy with the decision to rehire Mike, Donna advised Rachel to give Mike the space he’d asked for (and she revealed her ‘I slept with Harvey’ secret), Katrina relayed to Mike what Louis had given up for him and Louis told Mike that he didn’t want anything in return, only to throw a fit when Mike wouldn’t drop everything for him…so just a typical day at the office, right?

Except for the pesky fact that Sean Cahill arrived with a search warrant and gave ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ a smug speech about how he’d outsmarted them. Unimpressed, Jessica and Harvey returned the favor by getting the search warrant immediately overturned. But Jessica knew Cahill wouldn’t stop and it didn’t matter that Mike and Harvey were innocent of colluding – she ordered them to do exactly that and find a way to put this mess to bed once and for all.

Unfortunately, neither man knew they had a bigger problem – Louis’ shady deal with Forstman. Katrina and Louis buried the paperwork that proved Louis embezzled money, but Louis tried to get Forstman to undo the deal. He had no interest in doing that, but he did offer to sign another piece of paper that would put Harvey at fault instead of Louis. Obviously Louis would never do that, but he started to panic as the walls closed in on him. He received a brief reprieve when Mike explained that Cahill only wanted the communications between Mike and Harvey so Louis’ files would not be included.

But that relief turned out to be short-lived. Cahill went to Logan, who was all too happy to sign a release in exchange for immunity and stick it to Harvey and Mike in the process. So the lawyers came up with a new plan – since they didn’t have anything to hide (as far as they knew), they decided to turn all the files over to Cahill and slap him with a malicious prosecution charge so that he’d be in big trouble when he turned up nothing. Katrina filled Louis in and she offered him a forged document to replace the shady one. He wouldn’t be framing Harvey, but it was still illegal, just less of a crime than the one Louis actually committed (ouch).

Mike noticed that something was wrong with Louis, who immediately denied it. Mike went to Harvey (and Donna, who was listening from her desk) and relayed his suspicions that he believed Louis had done something wrong. Harvey tried to dismiss it because Louis doesn’t do illegal things, but Mike insisted and pointed out the evidence, including how desperately Louis insisted he not work for Forstman. Harvey went to talk to Louis, but his office was empty. Meanwhile, Louis turned up outside Harvey’s office, but also found it empty (side note: how did they miss each other?). Louis went to Jessica’s office then and after a heavy moment of silence, confessed that he’d made a mistake.

Did anyone else completely stop breathing for the last two minutes of the episode? I’ve been worried about Louis ever since he made that fateful deal with Forstman and the way this episode brought the tension to a head was incredible. I knew Louis wouldn’t betray Harvey or use the fake document Katrina provided (I did fear she’d do something on her own). But I also didn’t expect him to confess (again, I feared the worst – Cahill finding the truth and hauling Louis off in handcuffs). And now we have to wait an entire week to see what’s going to happen next and that seems like cruel and unusual punishment.

A few more quick notes on the episode: bringing up Donna and Harvey’s past and then having Donna skip out on a work night with Harvey for a date? Either the show is trying to kill us by reminding us that we can’t have nice things or they’re planning on picking up the Harvey/Donna romance thread again. Let’s just file that under things I need as much as air. So until proven otherwise, I’m going to assume that this is deliberate and will lead to something other than just me cursing the show for dangling their potential in front of us and snatching it away.

Then there’s Mike and Rachel. I’ve slowly become Team Rachel over the seasons, but I had secondhand embarrassment for her today when she didn’t listen to Donna and kept trying to get Mike to pay attention to her (girl, have some dignity, please). Mike’s anger is 100 percent justified and I had to side eye Rachel when she brought up Tess because the difference? They were not in a relationship at the time. Yes, they were dancing around each other and their feelings, but now they’re living together and Rachel kissed someone else so she doesn’t have a lot of ground stand on here.

But it seems like Mike wants to try again anyway and I’m surprisingly okay with that. I don’t want to see unnecessary drama when there’s already so much happening. Plus, I think that this is a reflection of how much Mike has grown this season, which is something I’ve wanted for a long time. Of course things probably won’t be as cutesy as they were before, but that’s okay too because relationships are messy.

One last thing – I loved the scene where Mike went to see Jessica and she didn’t hide her disdain for the situation. Mike pointed out the good things, she continued to side eye him and he basically told her that he didn’t care because he belonged there. Jessica kept her mouth shut, but I think she might have a tad more respect for him after that. Jessica likes it when people are straight shooters and while I can’t blame her for being apprehensive because of the whole fraud thing, if she truly didn’t want Mike there, he wouldn’t be there.

Next week (so far away!), we get to witness the fallout of Louis’ confession. I’m sure Harvey and Jessica are not going to be happy with him, but I truly hope they stand behind him and everyone finds a way to help. That’s what I’ve wanted since Louis made this deal, but I didn’t expect it to come out on this grand scale – and that’s what makes this show so good. Four seasons and it still finds ways to surprise me and I love it.

Check out the preview below and then hit the comments and tell us what you think. Did you enjoy the episode? Are you worried for Louis? Did you love seeing Harvey and Mike in their vests (or is that just me…)? Do you think Mike forgave Rachel too fast? Are Harvey and Donna going to happen again (lie to me if you have to)? Share your thoughts and theories with us!