On this episode of Suits, “Brooklyn Housing,” Mike continues his work on the prison case and crosses paths with Frank Gallo, Harvey confides in Louis about Paula and Donna intervenes when Harvey tries to bring on a new employee.
Mike just can’t seem to avoid living life on the edge, so he’s back to lying to everyone about working with Oliver on the class-action suit against the prison. Mike and Oliver meet with one of their plaintiffs, Marc Stevens. Marc was two months from being released when he got jumped by some guy he didn’t even know. The result was two years tacked on to his sentence. Mike thinks Marc is holding back because when he was in prison, he knew the name of everyone on his cell block. Marc says he was instructed by the guards to eat dinner in a different block the night he was attacked. Mike believes the whole thing was a set up.
A Matter of Trust
In spite of Paula’s continued misgivings that her involvement with Harvey just doesn’t feel quite right, the two are still an item. However, things are about to get stickier because Paula’s dealing with a lawsuit involving an ex-partner, and Harvey wants to help. Well, technically, Harvey wants Louis to help. Paula wants to handle it herself, but we all know Harvey won’t let it go.
Harvey goes to Louis and tells him his psychiatrist is being sued, and he doesn’t trust the lawyer handling the case and wants Louis to intervene. Louis doesn’t understand why Harvey doesn’t do it himself since Paula is no longer his therapist. Harvey has no choice but to admit he’s dating Paula. Louis warns Harvey that if anyone finds out he’s dating his therapist, she could lose her license. Harvey assures Louis that they didn’t start dating until after the official waiting period. Louis agrees to go talk to her. He also wants to know if Donna has any idea about the romance (she doesn’t), and Harvey instructs Louis to keep it that way.
Louis meets with Paula who still has no interest in his help. When Louis questions why, Paula admits there are some things going on with the lawsuit that she doesn’t want Harvey to know. Louis promises Paula that as her attorney, Harvey would never hear about them from him. He wins her over, but this has “shit show” written all over it.
The man suing Paula wasn’t just her business partner, they were romantically involved. He ended things and broke her heart. She gave him everything he wanted in the partnership just to be rid of him, but some of their group patients didn’t respond well to his treatment, so they started coming to see her. Paula knew it was a violation of their agreement, but the people were hurting. Louis gives Paula his word that what they’ve discussed will stay between them.
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Once a Liar….
After some digging, Oliver can’t find a connection with the guards, but he does find a link between the fights. Out of the 20 cases they have so far, the fights have been with a total of only four inmates. Oliver has singled out one guy, JaMarcus Collins. JaMarcus is serving a 10 year sentence, and his block is just one over from Chris Reyes and Marc Stevens. Oliver has arranged for him and Mike to pay JaMarcus a visit.
Harvey’s trying to land a new client, and he needs Mike. Mike says he can’t go because he’s got a meeting with Oliver about the Brooklyn Housing Authority. Harvey reminds Mike he just did a pro bono case, and this isn’t part of their deal. Mike says he put this in motion weeks ago, not realizing Harvey was going to give him another pro bono (Harvey offered Mike a case as a peace offering for dropping the prison case.)
Harvey lets Mike off the hook, but he wants Mike to wrap up whatever he’s doing with Oliver quickly. Harvey didn’t bring Mike back for him to not be there when he needs him.
Because She’s Donna
Donna checks in with Louis to make sure things are still copacetic between him and Harvey. They all pulled together to fight off Bratton, and she wants things to continue moving in the right direction. She saw the two men huddled together in Louis’ office, and it raised a red flag. Louis reassures Donna that he and Harvey are fine and tells her she doesn’t need to worry. But Donna can’t help herself, especially since Louis’ mental state is still…fragile following his break up, and the slightest thing can set him off. Louis begins to reveal to Donna that he and Harvey are on such good terms, Louis is representing Harvey’s GF but remembers he’s supposed to be keeping it on the DL.
Donna senses something is up, so Louis confesses he’s handling a personal matter for Harvey, and if she trusts him at all, she’ll take Louis at his word that he and Harvey are on good terms.
New Cases, Old Faces
Holly Cromwell asks Harvey for a job. Legit corporate head hunting isn’t cutting it, and since Harvey is the reason she’s out of the corporate espionage game, she wants Harvey to hire her as an in-house consultant. Harvey isn’t interested in making room on the payroll for someone whose only job is crossing lines (Because we all know Harvey NEVER crosses lines himself. Hypocrisy really doesn’t suit Mr. Specter.)
The client Harvey is trying to woo had his design for solar panels stolen by a competitor, Lockwood Energy. Harvey goes to see the head of Lockwood who predictably denies stealing any technology. Harvey gives the man an ultimatum: hand over the product now or lose his company later. The man says Harvey is a shakedown artist without any evidence to support his claims. Harvey lets the man know he’s giving him a chance to make things right before facing a felony fraud conviction.
Oliver and Mike speak to JaMarcus who tells them nobody has ever asked him to pick a fight with anybody. When a new guy comes into the block, he’s just supposed to teach them a lesson. Two years ago, JaMarcus got in a fight, and thought for sure he’d be thrown into solitary, but he got a brand new PlayStation on his bunk instead. Oliver wants JaMarcus to testify, but unless he and Mike can shave some time off his sentence, JaMarcus isn’t going to sing.
Mike and Oliver can’t find a paper trail proving the prison rewarded inmates for picking fights. The other three inmates aren’t even close to parole, so they can’t dangle that carrot. And the prison, Brunswick, has a system of randomly assigning changes. Mike suggests that they start looking outside of Brunswick. The company that owns Brunswick, Reform Corp, owns eight other prisons, and if they’re pulling shady crap at one, they’re pulling shady crap at the others. And maybe one of them isn’t as good at covering their tracks.
Donna continues to be a pretty crappy COO. She runs to Harvey, questioning if everything is okay between him and Louis. Louis told her he was handling a private matter for him but wouldn’t say what. And she just spotted them huddled together again (Does Donna have anything better to do? Her snooping used to be endearing, but it’s quickly becoming annoying.) Harvey says he and Louis were having a strategy meeting, so she doesn’t need to get involved.
Donna insists she wasn’t trying to get involved (lie) but wanted to let Harvey know that his newest potential client, Rick Dunn, is waiting in his office. Harvey snaps out Donna for not coming to get him sooner, and she reminds him that she’s no longer his secretary, she’s COO.
Dunn wants to know what happened with Lockwood. Harvey says they denied everything, insisting they developed the technology on their own. Dunn wants results, and Harvey tries to explain it will take more than one meeting. Dunn reveals that following Harvey’s ambush, Lockwood announced they’re moving up their launch by a month. Harvey is convinced it’s a bluff and has no doubt Lockwood will never go to market with Dunn’s product. Dunn is pissed, and if Harvey doesn’t deliver ASAP, he’s going to spread the word that the only thing Harvey is good at is making promises he can’t keep.
One of the eight prisons owned by Reform Corp is Lambert where Frank Gallo is serving his time. Mike figures Gallo’s chumminess with the guards at his previous prison means he knows about the conspiracy to extend inmates’ sentences, so Reform Corp can turn a profit. Gallo wants Mike to get him out — no excuses.
The Smoking Gun
Louis has a settlement meeting with Paula’s old partner, Dr. Manning, and his attorney. Louis is kicking butt right up until Manning brings up Paula sleeping with patients. Manning knows all about Paula and Harvey. According to Manning, Harvey and Paula didn’t wait until the mandatory waiting period elapsed before they started dating.
An indignant Louis accuses Paula of lying, and an equally indignant Paula swears she didn’t. Louis lets her know that Manning is threatening to report her to the Ethics Board. The only defense against what Manning is trying to do is the truth, so Louis wants to know what Paula is holding back.
Harvey decides to get Holly Cromwell’s help with the Lockwood case. But Cromwell says Lockwood didn’t steal anything. There are only six people capable of that kind of work, and if one of them did it, she’d know. Harvey is certain they got it somehow, and he wants Holly to figure it out. This is an audition for Holly. If she makes the information he needs appear, so does a job for her.
Mike tells Oliver that they have to find a way to get Gallo out early. Oliver puts the pieces together and figures out Gallo tried to kill Mike. He’s not eager to put Gallo back on the street, but Mike is willing to do what he has to in order to prevent any more inmates winding up like Chris Reyes. Oliver’s seen Mike do a lot of things no other lawyer can do, and he’s convinced Mike is smart enough to get Gallo to take something other than parole.
Donna learns that Harvey wants to bring on Holly Cromwell, and she thinks it’s a mistake. Harvey believes it’s his call, but Donna reminds him again that she’s not just his secretary. She’s COO, and he made her that for a reason. She knows people, and it’s reckless to hire someone who betrayed her employer the first chance she got.
Harvey made Holly a promise, and he doesn’t want to go back on it now. Donna suggests that maybe Harvey stop offering jobs to non-lawyers. Harvey says it worked out well with her, and Donna reminds him that she had to prove her loyalty first. Harvey agrees not to hire Holly, but he tasks Donna with being the one to tell her.
Paula meets with Holly, and she doesn’t pull any punches. Holly betrayed the men she preyed on, and the only time PSL had an interaction with her, Holly turned on her employer. Holly suggests that Donna bring that up with Harvey, since he’s the one who put her in that position. It was the first and last time she did anything like that, and she lost her livelihood because of it. This little nuggets of intel comes as a complete surprise to Donna.
Holly hands over the information Harvey needs for his case, and Donna questions how Holly got it. She gives a speech about being an artist, but basically, she’s just a master at subterfuge. Holly kept her word, and she obviously expects Harvey to do the same.
Rachel lets Mike know that he might want to take some time off from the clinic. Harvey’s been looking for him, and it’s kind of a slap in the face after Harvey was nice enough to make a deal with Mike in the first place. Harvey brought Mike back for a reason, and it was so Mike would be there when Harvey needs him. Mike promises to take a break from the clinic once the BHP case is over.
Mike decides to make Gallo part of the lawsuit which means when he’s released, he’ll have a tidy sum of money waiting for him if they win the case. This is supposed to be incentive to get Gallo to testify without letting him out. Gallo makes a pretty sweet living on the inside, but Mike has one card left to play — Gallo has a daughter. The two are estranged, but the woman isn’t doing well, and the money could really change her life.
Gallo admits to working for the prison. It was great at first, but then he realized it was like working for the mob, there’s no way out. He tried to quit and got beaten up by five of his so-called friends. Mike wants names and for Gallo to go on record. Gallo isn’t about to make it easy for Mike. He wants an advance on the settlement up front.
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Pants on Fire
Louis goes to the mat with Manning who cheated on Paula for two months. He’s been trying to get Paula back and has been stalking her for a year. It turns out Manning is creepy and kind of pathetic — two things Louis can relate to. Manning drops the suit.
Mike may be successfully fooling Rachel and Harvey, but Nathan knows what’s up. He knew Mike would go back on the agreement. He doesn’t care because it’s a way to stick it to Harvey. If they win the case, the law clinic gets the credit. If Mike gets caught, they’ll drop the case.
The jig is up at home, too. Rachel came by the clinic to bring Mike dinner, and Oliver is as bad a liar as he is an attorney. Rachel will love Mike no matter what, but she does think that he deserves to get fired for betraying Harvey’s trust. She questions what Mike’s word is worth because soon, it’s not going to be worth anything at all.
Harvey knows Paula was screwing her ex-partner but he doesn’t care, Holly decides not to come to work for PSL after all and Donna knows something is up with Harvey.
Will Harvey forgive Mike when he finds out? Should he? Is there something pathological about Mike’s need to lie all the time? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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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.
