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Advance Review: Suits, S1, E1 – “Pilot”

  • By

  • June 22, 2011

  • 5 mins to read

Airdate: Thursday, June 23, 2011, 10:00 pm ET/PT only on USA

Rating: ★★★★★

L-R, Gina Torres as Jessica Pearson, Rick Hoffmann as Louis Litt, Meghan Markle as Rachel Lane, Gabriel Macht as Harvey Specter, Patrick Adams as Mike Ross -- Photo by: Frank Ockenfels/USA Network

USA’s tagline is “Characters Welcome,” and its new series Suits certainly has the requisite characters. After watching the series premiere, I think it’s safe to say USA has another hit on its hands with these guys.

The series revolves around a high-stakes Manhattan corporate law firm where attorney Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht, Love and Other Drugs) takes a risky move in hiring Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams, Lost) as his Harvard-graduated junior associate. The problem is Ross never went to law school, let alone Harvard, but has passed the bar due to his photographic memory. Now they have to maintain this secret so neither one loses their job.

Specter interviewing Ross

While Specter and Ross don’t have a bromance like the lead characters in TNT’s new hit, Franklin & Bash, their relationship is fun and the characters are interesting. Macht and Adams play off each other very well.  I’m already invested in the show because of these two characters and anxious to learn more about them. While Specter is somewhat of a jerk, albeit a nice one, he is more of a mentor for Ross than a buddy. And although Specter makes it clear from the get-go that he’s the man, Ross makes it evident he’s got as much to offer as Specter does. As a matter of fact, in the pilot, Ross is the one who grabs my attention the most.

Suits’ other characters include Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman, Samantha Who), Specter’s arch-nemesis; Rachel Lane (Meghan Markle, CSI Miami), the firm’s best paralegal; Harvey’s secretary, Donna (Sarah Rafferty, Brothers & Sisters), who has a small but enjoyable role; and Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres, Gossip Girl), Pearson Hardman’s managing partner, who’s friendly by nature, yet not afraid to call the shots.

The series starts off giving us a bit of background for the characters, including Ross, who caught a bad break early on, which is why he never went to law school. He was raised by his grandmother after his parents died unexpectedly. Since I don’t want to give anything away, I won’t tell you how he ends up working at Pearson Hardman. I will tell you I went through a range of emotions watching his road to Pearson Hardman evolve.

We don’t know too much about Specter, other than he has a very high opinion of himself and he’s known as “the Closer,” yet he’s not the smarmy kind of character one might expect with someone as brilliant and self-assured as he is.

Jessica and Specter sharing a celebratory drink on his promotion

Jessica is stunningly beautiful and a force to be reckoned with. She’s strong, highly intelligent, persuasive and compelling. Judging by how she dresses to meet a client, she’s a female who knows how to use her femininity to get what she wants when necessary.

Louis Litt is in charge of the associates and he’s as mean as they come in dealing with them. He also fashions himself better than Specter and is royally pissed when Pearson promotes Specter to senior partner. I suspect we’ll be treated to plenty of adversarial scenes between Litt and Specter, especially where it concerns Ross. Note: Hoffman is no stranger to playing the arch-nemesis – he was the D.A. in The Practice from 1997 to 2004.

Paralegal Rachel is highly intelligent – so intelligent all the attorneys at the firm depend on her to do the legal research necessary to win cases. So why isn’t she a lawyer too? She’s no good at testing, proven by her dreadful LSAT scores. It looks to me like a romance between her and Ross might be on the horizon, even though she initially rejects his advances.

The case this week involves a woman who has accused her former boss of sexual harassment. Of course, it’s a she-said/he-said case and I love watching how Specter and Ross handle the case and the banter that follows.

Ross: “So are we a team now?

Specter: “I wouldn’t move my things into Wayne Manor just yet.”

Ross: “So, what? Are you Batman now?”

Suits grabbed me from the opening scene and kept me interested and amused throughout the entire hour. I thoroughly enjoyed the show. The writing is sharp and witty and the characters perfectly acted. While the show has a serious undertone to it, it’s lighthearted enough to make this a very pleasant and enjoyable show, fitting perfectly into USA’s network of characters.

I highly recommend you tune in to Suits for the series premiere, Thursday, June 23 at 10:00 pm ET/PT on USA – the network where characters are welcome.

Photos © USA Network. All rights reserved.

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Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!

Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!