Suits, 3x04 -- "Conflict of Interest"

This week on Suits, we have a conflict of interest between Harvey and Louis. On the one hand, Harvey is representing Ava Hessington in her charges of conspiracy to commit murder. On the other, Louis represents Hessington Oil in their hostile takeover. In order for Louis to win his case, he needs Ava to step down as CEO of the company, which Harvey refuses to allow. Ultimately, Ava manages to convince everyone that she is in fact innocent of the charges against her, but it’s too late -- she’s been voted out. Meanwhile, Jessica stands back, pulling all the strings, manipulating the situation and garnering Hessington Oil as a personal client. 

This was a frustrating episode to me for several reasons. The biggest problem I had is not with something that actually happened, but rather with something that did not happen at all. Last week concluded with Harvey revealing to Mike his plan to overthrow Jessica. This week, we get... absolutely nothing. Mike has no reaction, no opinion, nothing to say at all about it. Nothing good, nothing bad. Just a whole lotta nothin’. Why? I find it hard to believe that Mike would have zero to say on this matter. It just feels like an oversight from the writers, to be completely honest. It feels like they might be holding his reaction off for a while, but for what reason, I can’t for the life of me figure out. Going into this episode, I was most excited to see Mike’s reaction. I feel very disappointed.

I’m not a big fan of Donna’s affair with Stephen. I can’t say that I’m “frustrated” by this storyline because that wouldn’t be fair. Really, the main complaint I have is that I love Donna so much and seeing her flirt with someone who isn’t Harvey kills me. As fun as it is to watch Donna flirting with Stephen, it hurts my heart. Because Donna is such a fun and lovable character, I’ve been more invested in Donna/Harvey than I ever was in Mike/Rachel. 

Which brings me to my final frustration this week -- Rachel getting jealous over Katrina was absolutely absurd. This season, Rachel has been given little-to-no material outside of her relationship with Mike. I miss the Rachel that yearned to be a lawyer and fought so hard to get into Harvard. I miss the Rachel that worked hard and maintained her convictions. She’s become a swoony love-stricken teenage girl, and she needs to be reverted back to her old ways, and fast. The cheesy “I love you” exchanged between her and Mike immediately following her ridiculous act of jealous isn’t enough anymore.

Notes:

• Louis and Katrina: “What just happened to him?” “He got Litt up.” “Damn straight.”
• I know Michelle Fairley is a great actress, but what her deposition scene really that great that she so adamantly convinced everyone that she is innocent of the murder charges? It was almost jarring how immediately everyone suddenly pulled a complete 180-turn and believes her now.
• Gina Torres had an excellent scene at the close of the episode. Man, I would hate to be on the receiving end of that wrath.
• They really ran that The Wire reference into the ground, didn’t they? The first time was fun, the second and third, however, was just too much.

My Grade: B