Suits, 3x01 -- "The Arrangement"

“There are two things in this firm that I hold very sacred: my uni-balls and my raspberry bran bars.” -- Louis Litt

Harvey Specter is preparing to make a hell of a move this season in Pearson Hardman Pearson Darby, as he begins a battle against Jessica for Managing Partner in the firm. His arrogance has never been his strongest suit -- after all, how often does he feel the need to remind everyone that he never loses? -- but now it seems he’s taking it to a whole new level. He’s always wanted more power in the firm, perceiving himself in previous seasons to be equal to Jessica in a way that he in fact never really was. Last season’s finale forewarned that a struggle between Harvey and Jessica was looming on the horizon. (Daniel Hardman, you’ll remember, predicted this very early on.) Just minutes before this bomb was dropped, we watched him tear apart Mike for forsaking his loyalty to Harvey. And now as Harvey sets the opening stages of his coup against Jessica, you can’t help but wonder why it seems his own loyalties have completely vanished.

Meanwhile, Rachel can’t seem to make up her own damn mind with Mike. One minute it’s “me or the job” and the next she’s in bed with him. “Who knew honesty would be the best policy? Oh wait, everyone,” she quips as she and Mike lay together. But is his honesty really enough in this case? And should it be? For years, Rachel has strived to become a lawyer at Pearson Hardman (now Pearson Darby, but whatever). She finally passed the LSATs and was so confident in her acceptance to Harvard that it absolutely crushed her when she received her rejection letter. When she learns Mike’s big secret, she’s initially furious -- not just at him, but at the unfairness of a world in which a liar and a fraud like Mike can rise in the firm she’s had her heart set on forever, while she has to struggle to even keep her foot in the door. She told Mike to quit and stop all the lies. Instead, he gets rewarded with a brand new office (which he soon relinquishes, but that’s beside the point). I don’t buy it for a second that she ever would have gotten over it as quickly as she did. Knowing Rachel’s character leading up to this moment, she naturally would have been angry for at least a few more weeks. For that matter, I don’t even truly believe this is anywhere near done. Now that she knows Mike’s secret, she holds all the cards. With one angry rant to the wrong person, even just a slip of the tongue to someone like Louis, could bring down Mike, Harvey, Jessica, and all of Pearson Darby with them. I predict we haven’t seen the end of this. Not in the least. 

Harvey is fighting for more power. Rachel holds more power than she may even realize. All Jessica and Mike can really do in their respective situations is to wait for the next move and retaliate accordingly. Last season, Pearson Hardman went to war and came out victorious. But who can win when Pearson Darby is at war with itself?

Random Notes:

• Louis Litt is at once the best and worst person on this show. He tends to weasel around in the background, causing chaos so he can swoop in and save the day from his own destruction. Now, it’s all finally come to bite him in the ass. Just when I start to become overly annoyed with his silly squabbles with Nesbitt, the entire thing spins around on itself. He’s lost his dear associates. I look forward to seeing where this storyline goes from here. 

• Not enough Donna. Sweet, hilarious, beautiful Donna. Every scene should have some Donna.

• It’s ironic and hilarious that two actors from Game of Thrones -- Conleth Hill and Michelle Fairley -- now find themselves as pawns in yet another power struggle, this time over at Pearson Darby instead of Westeros.

• I hate, hate, hate opening dream sequences. Just stop. That is all.

My Grade: B+