Poor Louis; the sad sack who will always be his own worst enemy. Louis, on the outside looking in on an interoffice war, tries to gain an ally/support/recognition/something from Hardman. But Louis is trying too hard as always; so Hardman requests Mike Ross for assistance when Louis makes up that Mike is working on something with him. So now, he must try and collect Mike to help with his case.
After Harvey’s pride is hurt over Mike mocks his record collection (which looks sick), Harvey hands over Mike to Louis based on a bet, but not before Mike conveniently expositions all the necessary details for a case Harvey did four years ago. It must be convenient for the writers to have a character who can give the information to a complex plot in a few lines.
Basically, Harvey represented a company that may or may have not been responsible for the murder of a man. They did or did not fix their necessary products and that man died. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. What’s important is that Harvey meets his old rival Travis Tanner, who is out to get money for the wronged family and to settle a personal point with Harvey. Tanner claims to have found a missing memo essential to the case that Harvey either buried. Tanner is set to sue Harvey and the firm. Enough exposition for you?
It Looks Bad, It Is Bad
It looks bad; the fraud charges may clear, but burying evidence is damning to Harvey’s reputation (especially since he has been accused of it before, I believe). Though we know Harvey, it feels like Harvey was in a coverup to anyone else.
Pulling his resources together, Donna spends most of the episode looking for a document that shouldn’t exist. Meanwhile, Harvey attempts to band together with his former clients to fight the lawsuits but ends up fired. He doesn’t seem too broken up about it because now he won’t have to worry about pesky lawyer things, like attorney-client privilege.
Even though Mike is building a buddy-buddy relationship with Harvey, he manages to find how the company had no evidence of wrong doing: provide no paper trail. Mysteriously, the same reports the company kept turning out mysteriously stopped, and that employee is on permanent paid leave. That sounds like the best thing in the world, honestly. Except, she knows she is responsible for killing that man because the company fixed its future products not its past ones.
Harvey must legally say he knows about the coverup in the company, but he wouldn’t be the Harvey Specter if he didn’t take a little pleasure in conjuring some vengeance.
So this document , the catalyst for the reopening of this case and investigation, the document we’ve spent all episode worrying about doesn’t exist. Tanner, with a vendetta against Harvey, may have wrote it just to further incriminate Harvey’s reputation. He seems like a slick lawyer who may have very well been likable had he been named Harvey Specter. But alas, he just comes off as a tool, one we will be dealing with next week.
A New Buddy Bud Buds
Louis’ case is far more interesting to me than Harvey’s episode because I actually understand it since it straightforward. A company who sells ‘Liquid Water’ is being sued for advertising that drinking their water will increase IQ. Is this a knockoff of Smart Water? To which I say, awesome! That stuff tastes the same as other water and I live in industrialized, East Coast City. (To those of you who don’t know, that means it tastes funny).
Captain of mixed metaphors thy name is Louis. Louis commands Mike to do enough work for a team of ten and that Mike should not have sex during the case as it weakens the legs and tires them out. “If I ask you to wipe out a village, you say how high.” Louis. You have a degree in law. You should at least be able to straighten out your metaphors.
Since Liquid Water–the name of the company that is most definitely not a likeness to SmartWater– is not settling, Mike is assigned to do even more paperwork to drown the other side in paperwork. Yet, this pays off during the deposition of a Liquid Water employee.
Though Louis’ philosophy is different from Harvey’s, going to trial will win the case. I like that though Harvey may be the natural schmoozer, Louis seems to think more practically like a lawyer; I think it is equally important for Mike’s tutelage to be exposed to both men as attorneys.
During the deposition, Mike finally sees Louis in action as a great lawyer, using emotion to relate to the man under deposition and using strategies different than that of Harvey. Mike finally gets that this is a man who will work hard but is always overlooked by superiors and everyone alike.
Even though the two like working with one another, they haven’t the pop culture chemistry resident bros Harvey and Mike do. Yet, Louis seems to forget that he ‘poisoned the well.’ Like, he forgot that all last season he was the villain in Mike’s new life. But the water isn’t poisoned to Louis, it is under the bridge. For now and to what end though?
Well, Louis believes it to be under enough to extend help to Harvey, which he flatly denies because he does not trust Louis. Louis is still himself, however, so he can’t not try and get ahead or get dirt to record Mike and Harvey secretly talking secrets; that clever dog.
The Settlement
Though the company has settle to the wrong family (I know, unspecific, but they don’t matter to us–Harvey and his problems are what we wonder about). Tanner and his firm are still coming after Harvey and the firm for fraud. Then, Hardman enters, angry that Harvey and Jessica actively conspired not to tell him. Because he is a FOUNDING partner. Sometimes, with scenes like these, it is difficult for me to determine if Hardman is as bad as Jessica and Harvey say he could be. He is providing legitimate grounds for them to tell him what has been going on but they refuse to trust him.
Hardman offers that the trio band together, don superhero costumes and work together in harmony to save the firm. Okay, I actually find Hardman’s offer to be sincere here. Interestingly, Hardman could be a decent guy/lawyer/whoever but will probably descend because of this war that might not need to happen. Jessica and Harvey may very well be creating the same monster that may not have ever existed.
Elsewhere, Donna, spending so much time in the records room, finds that missing document. That never existed. With her signature. The implications of this are being left for next week’s episode.
Alright, that recap seemed more recappy than snarky and snappy, but I was distracted by Nice Louis and pointless scenes with Rachel in it. So what did you think of tonight’s episode? Did you like the potential and possible bromance between Mike and Louis or do they work better as adversaries? What of the new developments with Donna and Harvey’s relationship for next week’s episode? Does anyone care about Rachel that much? What did you think of the episode as a whole?
Emily E. Steck
Contributing Writer
(Image courtesy of USA)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
