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Got Your Back. Retrospective: Suits – “Unfinished Business”

Season 3, Episode 3

Air Date: Tuesday, July 30, 2013, 10/9c on USA

Rating: ★★★★★

 

“Yeah, baby! Butch and Sundance are back!” – Mike

Butch and Sundance

Despite Harvey (Gabriel Macht) and Mike (Patrick J. Adams) getting back together, I still have concerns because being together does not always mean being forgiven. I had a list of things I wanted to see play out to get things back on track, and happily, “Unfinished Business” is the perfect title to a terrific episode. Throughout the episode I was able to mark off everything on my ‘want’ list.

To begin, there’s the lingering question of how Louis (Rick Hoffman) will handle Mike’s rejection. We quickly realize Louis isn’t taking it well and I was worried we would see more of a pissy Louis. But thankfully, Harvey steps in, offering Louis something by way of a case, which, for lawyers of this caliber, means respect.

Harvey: “You’re better suited to beat him back than I am.”

Louis: “You think I don’t know that?”

Harvey: “I know you know it. I want you to know I know it.”

Louis has always craved Harvey’s respect and it’s nice to see Harvey give it in a way that feels genuine. Taking Mike back was nothing personal against Louis and I love the last line above because it’s Harvey’s way of telling Louis he indeed respects him.

Then, there is Harvey and Mike’s relationship. Not only are they working together again, their relationship seems even stronger now. There is a line in “I Want You to Want Me” when Mike tells Harvey, “I actually like working for Louis; he makes me feel like I’m working with him, not for him.” Harvey must have listened because Harvey gives an element of respect to Mike that we haven’t seen before. By the end of “Unfinished Business,” Mike is clearly working with Harvey, not for him as evidenced in an exchange between Harvey and Jessica (Gina Torres):

Jessica: “So, you’re back with him?”

Harvey: “What’s the point of having a right arm without a right hand?”

This sets up a meaningful scene among Mike, Jessica, and Harvey that is long overdue. Since last season, these three have gone behind each other’s backs so much, they lost track of things. It’s nice to see them calmly taking a collective deep breath and acknowledging they are on the same team. How long this will last is a whole other issue, especially with Harvey planning to oust Jessica from her managing partner position.

Katrina doing what she does best

Katrina (Amanda Schull), who has been missing for several episodes, returns; it seems like she only appears in episodes where the writers need someone to be a bitch. I haven’t liked Katrina since her first appearance, and never felt her character fit into the Suits world. Seeing her up to her usual childish antics again annoyed the crap out of me until something happened I did not expect to see — the other characters became fed up as well.

It is no surprise to see Mike confronting Katrina but I loved when Katrina turns around and Donna is right there, sticking up for Mike and scolding Katrina by saying, “Katrina, Mike is Harvey’s guy. When he tells you he is speaking for Harvey, he’s speaking for Harvey.”

It is such a powerful moment because not only does it put Katrina in her place, it sends Mike a message as to where he stands after all of the turmoil with both Harvey and Donna.

Katrina steps it up and does something to embarrass Mike in front of the entire firm. But as Mike plots his revenge, Harvey steps in, telling him, “I need you to let it go.” Surprisingly, Harvey then goes to Katrina’s office and lets her have it. What makes it even more profound, though, is Rachel overhears and rushes to tell Mike.

Rachel: “Remember that thing we were going to do to Katrina? We don’t need to do it anymore.”

Mike: “What are you talking about?”

Rachel: “Harvey just did it.”

Mike: “He went to talk to her?”

Rachel: “He laid her out.”

I thought what Harvey did was great because he’s always been big on loyalty, although it’s usually loyalty to him. While it’s nice to see Katrina knocked down a peg, I doubt she is totally out of the picture given she’s joining Team Litt. It will be interesting to see the dynamic between the two sides.

“Unfinished Business” is a great Suits episode. It resolves a lot of the tension over the past few episodes. Plus, I really enjoyed the new level of respect shown to Mike. We also met Stephen Huntley (Max Beesley), a sort of “British Harvey” if you will, who supposedly wants to help Harvey. Huntley’s true motives are yet to be seen, though. There seems to be a calm at Pearson Darby but given Harvey’s intention to take over the firm, I have a feeling things are about to get rocky once again.

 

For more on the show, go to http://www.usanetwork.com/series/suits/.

Follow Suits on Twitter, as well as some of the cast: <Mike> Patrick J Adams, <Harvey> Gabriel Macht, <Rachel> Meghan Markle, and <Louis> Rick Hoffman.

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Photos: © 2013 USA Network, LLC, a division of NBC Universal. All Rights Reserved.

 

Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.

Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.