Suits Review: It’s ‘High’ Noon at Pearson Hardman

It’s here! Suits delivers a packed summer season finale episode in ‘High Noon.’ The vote on who should be managing partner at Pearson Hardman could have been something the entire episode led up to, but instead we learn very quickly that Daniel wins the vote. This means Louis chose Daniel over Jessica (and Harvey). Meanwhile, Mike is dealing with the loss of his grandmother. Oh, and while we are mercilessly teased about it, we still do not know what Harvey and Donna do with that can opener!

After Daniel is voted managing partner, he invites Harvey into his office to discuss the future. Daniel is not concerned about Jessica, as he predicts she will deal with the hit in a classy manner. He wants to make sure Harvey has no interest in going elsewhere, but that is exactly what Harvey initially has in mind. When Daniel has Harvey move out of his office, Harvey states simply: “I’m coming for you.”

Jessica does not support Harvey’s proposal to leave the firm. It is charming that the two of them are so loyal that they discuss leaving or staying as a joint venture. If they were to leave Pearson Hardman, their non-compete clauses would prohibit them from practicing law for a full year. Harvey, somewhat sarcastically, suggests teaching or traveling. Jessica declares that one should not make major life decisions when reeling from a loss.

Cut to Mike making a major decision while reeling from a loss. Despite staying clean for a long time, Mike decides to buy some weed. He remains at the office even when Rachel encourages him to leave. She is concerned that he is not attempting to deal with his grief. However, when he ends up losing his temper and yelling at Harvey in front of the whole office, Harvey sends him home.

While Mike gets stoned at his apartment, Harvey tries to remain calm during his interactions with Louis. It seems particularly challenging for him to do so when he doesn’t have Mike to bounce ideas off of and ease the tension. After snapping at Donna for not finishing a project fast enough, she retorts, “I’m sorry I don’t have a photographic memory, but my brain is already too busy being awesome.” We missed you, Donna!

Proving herself to be a very supportive friend, Rachel gets Mike up and organized for his grandmother’s funeral. He is reluctant to say anything for the service. Rachel is in the middle of trying to talk him into it when we are introduced to a girl from Mike’s past, Tess (guest star Elisabeth Hower). Between both girls encouraging him, Mike agrees to speak. It is very sad to hear him talk about his grandmother and how she was his only family.

After the funeral, Rachel returns to work. Mike and Tess go to Mike’s apartment, where they reminisce until one thing leads to another and they kiss. Their passionate moment is short-lived when Tess mentions she is married. Mike immediately ends it and tells her to leave.

Guest star Elisabeth Hower as Tess. Photo: Christos Kalohoridis © USA

Mike’s next visitor is a much more welcome sight. Harvey informs Mike that by sending him home, he didn’t mean for Mike not to come back. Harvey says he knew about Mike’s grandmother, and that he respected Mike’s inability to deal with the pain by keeping him busy. In an unexpected turn of events, the two friends get high together. This leads to some serious talk about Harvey’s difficult childhood, as well as some fun moments as they deal with the munchies and ‘cotton mouth’. Even stoned, Harvey still admonishes Mike for not hanging up his suit jacket. Some things never change.

Before too long, the two of them decide it would be great to go to the firm and leave their mark on Louis’s office (hint: it would involve Mike drinking three orange Gatorades first). Once they arrive, they find Louis snooping around Harvey’s office. An enraged Harvey shoves Louis against the wall, but Mike stops him before he punches Louis.

Between that and the verbal lashing he receives from Donna, it is not a terribly fun episode for Louis (not that we’re too sympathetic). Donna calls him out for betraying his team. She says he used to have people, but after his betrayal he has no one. The only good thing about moving offices, according to Donna, is that she will be farther away from Louis’s smug face. She also notes that she would never leave Harvey to work for Louis, but we could have guessed that one.

After the Louis confrontation, Harvey has a light bulb moment about Daniel and the CM memo that got Donna in such trouble. He guesses that Daniel was behind all of it and that Donna never made a mistake after all. Together, Harvey and Mike wander the quiet office after dark and try to put together the pieces. Considering their altered state of mind, the work they accomplish is quite impressive.

Jessica agrees when they bring it to her the following day, but needs proof. In an attempt to gain information from Tanner, Harvey meets him at the boxing gym, as usual (does that guy live there?). They engage in a mild, composed fight until Tanner admits that the memo was a fraud. He leaves before Harvey can convince him to come forward with more information.

When Louis excitedly shows Daniel something he needs authorization to pursue, it is clear it can only mean bad news. Daniel appears impressed, which is even more worrying. It turns out that Louis smelled pot on Harvey the previous night and gains Daniel’s permission to ask Harvey for a drug test.

Harvey refuses to take the test, which means he has to stand for a hearing and potentially be fired. Jessica and Harvey use the meeting as an opportunity to expose Daniel. They struggle with this until Mike appears with a signed affidavit from Daniel’s old client, proving that Daniel knew about the problems with the CM case. He advised his client to bury the information and cut a deal anyway. Fortunately, no one asks to see the affidavit, which it turns out actually has Mike’s signature on it.

Mike and Harvey have the opportunity to play with their friendship more in this episode. Photo: Christos Kalohoridis © USA

Daniel still denies everything and asks everyone to vote on whether or not Harvey should be fired. The vote is in Harvey’s favour. Jessica then calls for a vote to dismiss Daniel, which is a success. Even Mike, who isn’t allowed to vote, raises his hand. Louis also votes in support of Jessica and Harvey both times.

In return for waiving his claim, Daniel asks Jessica to sign a confidentiality agreement. He states that this is not the last page of the story. Interestingly, he also warns her that one day Harvey will pull moves like this on her. Doubtful.

If you were proud of Mike for ending his kiss with Tess after finding out she was married, you may want to hold off on that praise. He later invites her to his apartment, and they are in bed together when Rachel knocks on the door. Mike and Rachel shared a brief kiss earlier, but Rachel thought it was the wrong time. She seems to have a change of heart, so the look on her face when she sees Tess bundled up in Mike’s blanket is devastating.

Randomly bringing in a new character in the finale and having her ruin a major relationship seems odd. Mike and Rachel have been steadily rebuilding their relationship. She was a huge source of comfort and support to him during the loss of his grandmother. It is upsetting to see it play out the way it did, but if everything ended well, what would Suits be able to tease us with during the break?

Louis finishes this episode on the outside looking in, just as before. Maybe he will finally find a way to fit in with his peers. Donna and Harvey’s relationship remains something of a mystery we have yet to explore. Jessica regained her power very quickly, but positions like that are never stable. So far Mike’s lack of law school education has been a well-kept secret, but when do those kinds of secrets ever stay hidden? These are all things to ponder as we wait for our favourite ‘suits’ to grace our screens again. What do you think will happen when Suits returns?