On this episode of Suits, “Accounts Payable,” Mike’s conflict with Frank Gallo escalates as Harvey tries to intervene, Jessica goes to Robert Zane for help and Harvey reveals to Mike the real reason behind Frank’s vendetta.
Mike didn’t exactly have a restful first night in prison after being duped by Frank who uses Rachel to goad him into a fight during breakfast.
What We Have is a Failure to Communicate
Julius Rowe is impressed that Mike has managed to get his first violation in less than 24 hours. Mike explains that Frank paid off a guard, posed as his roommate and threatened to hand out pictures of Rachel to the entire prison population; Frank claimed to have some naughty selfies of Rachel. But Frank set Mike up again, there were no pics.
Mike insists that Frank paid off a guard, and Rowe needs to do something about it. Rowe has no power when it comes to the guards. All he has to do is teach Mike to handle the B.S. life throws his way without making his situation worse. Mike questions how in the hell he’s supposed to do that.
Rowe informs Mike that their meeting is to determine if Mike is even worth rehabilitating. If he isn’t, he’ll never see Rowe again, and another incident will land him in solitary for a month. Rowe suggests Mike go back to his cell and think long and hard about what he wants to accomplish during his two-year stay.
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All or Nothing
At the firm, Harvey and Jessica find the office full of staff. Louis has taken it upon himself to hire movie extras to pose as associates, paralegals and support staff. He figures that an empty office won’t look good when it comes to the settlement meeting. Jessica has to clue Louis in that they’re using the threat of bankruptcy in the meeting, and if the offices are filled, it kills that plan. Louis immediately fires the entire crew.
The threesome present a united front when they meet with the attorney for the plaintiffs, Arlene. She thinks she’s got the upper hand, figuring Pearson Lecter Litt don’t want to spend six months in court talking about how they hired a fraud. Jessica agrees and presents Arlene with their offer of $10 million dollars.
Arlene may have thought this was a jumping off point for negotiations, but her hopes are quickly dashed. Harvey, Louis and Jessica explain that the money is from the partner buy-in fund, and it’s the only cash they have. Once the partners learn they’re using it to settle, they’re going to come after it. Arlene has an hour to sign on the dotted line.
Arlene is righteously indignant, pointing out that Pearson Specter Litt knowingly defrauded their clients and made a mockery of the legal system. And she has no intention of letting them get away with it.
Harvey admits they messed up, and they’re paying for it, but he’s fed up with people acting as if Mike Ross screwed them over. Mike gave his heart and soul to every client he had, and if those cases were reopened, they’d end up exactly in the same place. And just like that, negotiations come to a close.
Visiting Hours
Rachel gets some good news from Donna. Rachel was devastated to learn that because she wasn’t technically a family member, she’d have to wait a month to see her sweetie. Donna pulled some strings and got Rachel on the list. But when she arrives at Danbury, she’s informed that Mike won’t be receiving visitors (Thanks to his fight with Frank). His privileges have been suspended for two weeks.
Rachel tries to pass herself off as Mike’s attorney and when that fails, she tries threats and intimidation. That’s a no-go as well. It’s hard to rattle someone who worked in a maximum security prison for ten years.
A frantic Rachel tells Donna and Harvey about Mike’s fight. Harvey reassures Rachel that this is actually good news. It means Mike fought back. You don’t lose visitation if you get jumped. The prison has an obligation to let her know if Mike’s in the infirmary, and since they didn’t, Mike held his own. Harvey promises to make some calls and figure out what’s up, but it’s going to take some time, and Rachel has to be patient. (It’s already a bit tiresome watching Rachel unravel every five seconds, and everybody having to coddle her and hold her hand. Here’s hoping she stops whining very soon.)
Harvey put his game face on for Rachel, but he confesses to Donna that for Mike to lose visitation, he would have had to start the fight. He drops everything, so he can head to the prison and figure out what the hell is going on with his golden boy.
Threats and Promises
When Harvey arrives, Mike isn’t happy to see him. Mikey has already become hardened by his one day in prison. Harvey wants to know what happened, but Mike doesn’t want to divulge the details, fearing Harvey will try to handle it for him. Harvey argues that maybe he should handle things since Mike’s too stupid not to piss someone off the first day.
Mike reveals the person who’s pissed is Frank Gallo, and the person he’s mad at is Harvey. Harvey remembers Frank, he put him away for racketeering. That doesn’t land a guy in Danbury. Harvey says a guy like Frank is there because of good behavior, and bad behavior can get him out. Harvey readies to mount his white horse, eager to go tattle to the warden and get Frank out in a week.
This is exactly what Mike was afraid of. The guards are corrupt, and if Harvey goes to the warden, it’s going to get back to Gallo. Then he’ll come after Mike twice as hard. Harvey figures a week of Gallo payback beats two years, and if they’ve got a chance to get the guy out, he’s going to take it. Mike reveals that Gallo has Rachel’s phone number, and Harvey figures that just proves his point. But Mike is determined to take care of himself. He makes Harvey promise to stay out of it.
Gallo is a connected guy on the inside. He times it so he’s outside in the yard as Harvey heads out to his car. He dangled the bait, and Harvey bit. Gallo figures Harvey owes him 13 years and payment is going to come in the form of Harvey wondering every time his phone rings if Mike’s never coming out.
Harvey may be pretty and look great in a suit, but he’s fairly badass (boxing is his work out of choice). Gallo isn’t safe from Harvey’s wrath just because he’s behind bars. Harvey threatens to put a bounty on his head. If that doesn’t work, Harvey will wait till Gallo gets out and kill the guy himself. Harvey instructs Gallo to never even look at Mike again.
Jack Soloff Goes After Jessica
Jessica may have emerged from settlement negotiations victorious, but her problems are far from over. Jack Soloff confronts her about using the buy-in money, and he’s planning on suing her, personally. Jessica’s not easily rattled, and she figures the law’s on her side on this one. But Soloff took that job with Robert Zane, and he does have an army of lawyers at his disposal. He’s willing to drag the suit out for as long as it takes, so either Jessica can give them their money back or go out of business.
From Bad to Worse
Mike may have a potential ally after all. His actual cellmate, Kevin Miller (Erik Palladino), feels badly about letting Frank pull one over on him. Mike wants Kevin to snitch on Frank and tell the powers that be that Frank paid the guards to have them switch. Kevin refuses. He’s not interested in getting on Frank’s bad side, and we all know that snitches dig ditches.
Harvey’s conversation with Frank only threw fuel on an already raging fire. Frank makes it clear to Mike that there will come a time when nobody is looking, and when it does, all the vicious threats that Harvey made aren’t going to save Mike.
Jessica has another one of her infamous talks with Robert Zane who swears he’s got nothing to do with Jack coming after her money. Jessica points out Robert does have the power to stop him, but Robert’s not in the habit of telling his brand new employees what they can and cannot do. A very humble Jessica asks Robert to help her out, because if he doesn’t, she’s dead in the water.
Mike calls Harvey to A) tear him a new one for threatening Gallo and B) let Harvey know that he’s managed to make the situation even worse. The dressing down gets cut short because Rachel is waiting in Harvey’s office for an update, and Harvey has to come up with a credible lie to keep her from going over the edge.
Harvey Calls In a Favor
Harvey says the whole thing with Mike was a mix up. She can’t wait to go see him, but Harvey tells her Mike asked that she give him a few weeks to adjust. This confuses Rachel who has received about 50 texts from Mike (Frank) stating how he can’t wait to see her. She demands to know what’s going on, and Harvey has no choice but to tell her the truth. Rachel holds Harvey responsible for Mike’s well-being. He went to prison to protect Harvey, so Harvey better figure out how to reciprocate. If he doesn’t and something happens to Mike, Rachel will never forgive him. Not only that, but Harvey will never forgive himself.
Harvey goes to Sean Cahill asking for a favor. He wants Sean to move Frank to another prison, but Sean claims he doesn’t have the authority. Harvey says that as a federal prosecutor, Sean can get the authority. (Is it just me, or has Harvey become unattractively impotent lately?)
Harvey figures Sean owes him, but Sean’s a bit miffed that Harvey would play that card when he knew Mike was a fraud. Harvey reminds Sean that Mike helped him take down Forstman and Woodall and put him on the map. Despite Harvey losing his cool, Sean agrees to see what he can do, but Harvey will owe him in return. And don’t doubt the guy will come to collect.
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A Desperate Soloff is a Dangerous Soloff
Per Jessica’s request, Robert Zane put the kibosh on Soloff’s reparations plan which is why the former Pearson Specter Litt partner comes to Jessica looking for a handout. He can’t afford Zane’s buy-in. Whatever it is that Hardman had on him (we never found out the specifics) Soloff did it because he needed the money. So now he wants Jessica to give him his money back out of her pocketbook. Even if Jessica wanted to help Soloff, she can’t. If she gives him the money, she’s piercing the corporate veil that’s protecting the firm from the other partners suing her for their money as well. Soloff promises they won’t find out, but Jessica can’t take that chance. A desperate Soloff means trouble.
Louis and Arlene go before the judge ready to settle the class-action suit. Louis, who really doesn’t know how to read the room, actually tries to ask Arlene out and is swiftly rebuffed. As if getting shot down isn’t bad enough, Louis gets blindsided by the arrival of A. Elliot Stemple. Stemple represents Rothman Insurance, a company not included in the suit. He’s got some evidence that may bring the entire settlement to a screeching halt.
Litt knows Soloff put Stemple up to this, and when Louis proves it, the judge will throw Stemple’s ass in jail. Stemple sees things going another way. The judge is going to certify that Stemple’s client is a member of the class, and when that happens, Stemple will kill the deal, and the money goes back to the partners they took it from.
Biding Time
Harvey goes to see Mike and tells him Sean Cahill is going to help send Gallo back to wherever he came from. Mike senses Harvey is holding out on him, and Harvey admits that he put Gallo away for racketeering, but that’s not what the guy really did. They had him for conspiracy to commit murder, but the police misplaced vital evidence, so Harvey went after him for the lesser charge instead. Harvey used every trick he had in his playbook to add 15 years to Gallo’s sentence; three crimes that would have added five years at the most.
Harvey suggests that Mike keep a low profile until Gallo is transferred. But since it is prison, and there aren’t many places to hide, Mike decides to go another way. He goes to see Rowe and tells him he wants a job, preferably one around as many people as possible, stating he’s less likely to get in trouble that way. Unfortunately, Mike will be in the kitchen and around lots of knives.
This Time It’s Personal
Louis tells Jessica and Harvey how Stemple ambushed him. Rothman Insurance is technically part of the class because Mike took one meeting with the client, Soloff told him about it. Harvey refuses to give into blackmail. Stemple doesn’t care about Jessica or Louis, he wants to get in a room with Harvey and watch him bleed. Harvey got them in this mess, and he’s going to get them out. Jessica instructs Harvey to keep his cool, pay off Stemple and throw his ass out of the building.
Negotiations with Stemple don’t go as planned. He’s not interested in money, he wants a piece of Harvey in the form of the duck painting hanging on the wall. Harvey’s had it as long as Stemple has known him, and a guy like Harvey doesn’t have a tacky painting like that unless it means everything to him. Harvey refuses, and Stemple keeps increasing the payoff until he hits $20 million. Stemple isn’t bluffing, and Harvey has to fold.
The painting was the one happy memory Harvey had of his mother before their relationship went to hell.
Gallo is determined, and he does get Mike alone, but just as Mike is about to get a serious hurting put on him, a guard intervenes. Obviously not one on Gallo’s payroll. It’s going to be a very long week for Mike. It also appears that Kevin risked his own ass to save Mike’s.
Jessica winds up coming through for Jack. She figures she got him into this mess, and she should get him out. The older she gets, the more she’d rather have friends than enemies.
Suits airs Wednesdays at 9pm on USA.
(Photo courtesy of USA)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Jennifer has worked as a freelance writer in the entertainment field since 2012. In addition to currently writing feature articles for Screen Rant, Jennifer has contributed content ranging from recaps to listicles to reviews for BuddyTV, PopMatters, TVRage, TVOvermind, and Tell-Tale TV. Links to some of Jennifer’s reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes.
