Suits Recap: Season 4 Episode 14 

This episodes of Suits was shocking in that nobody annoyed me excessively. I don’t think I’ve felt like this about the lawyers at Pearson, Specter, and Litt (PSL) since the idyllic days of season one and two.

We begin with Professor Gerard (who I just realized is played by actor Gabriel Macht’s father, Stephen) tasking Mike with the job of looking into a fired whistleblower at Liberty Rail, who claims he knows the real reason why the trains derailed. If he can prove that Liberty Rail knew something was at fault prior to the accident, they’ll be able to get a higher settlement for the affected victims. In bringing Mike the case, Gerard also notifies him that he knows about his “secret”. If we started a drinking game based on the number of people who know that Mike isn’t a real lawyer, we’d all be comatose under the table by now. Harvey informs Mike that PSL don’t take whistleblower cases but Mike, being Mike, decides to forge ahead anyway.

Jessica and Jeff are still going strong (surprisingly) and Jeff asks Jessica to take a vacation with him to Paris. Jessica is unwilling to leave the office for any extended time however and Jeff pulls out all the stops to win her over. This includes telling her he’s fallen in love with her and also involves him making peace with our favorite insecure, kitty-loving lawyer, Louis.

Louis’ newest bugbear is that the telephones at PSL are still being answered “Pearson Specter” rather than “Pearson, Specter, and Litt.” He decides to terrorize the receptionists into complying, as he feels disrespected. Absolutely nothing new to see here folks…. Jeff admits that he paid off the receptionists to purposely omit Louis’ name from the greeting and he takes Louis out for drinks as a way to make amends and to curry favor with Jessica.

While drinking with Jeff, Louis accidentally lets slip that he lied to Jeff about the reason he was made partner. Jeff summarily breaks up with Jessica (who’s agreed to go to Paris with him) just as she arrives at his front door to confess to her lies. I was just getting on board with these two so I hope these crazy kids can get it together and soon.

Mike’s whistleblower in the Liberty Rail case informs him that the heat sensors on the trains were faulty and the company knew about this problem before the actual derailment. He points to the fact that they secretly replaced the sensors after the accident as proof and if Mike can access the work order, he’ll have all the evidence he needs in the settlement hearing. Although Harvey thinks they can ask for at least 400 million in compensation from Liberty Rail, Mike decides to go for 40 million and an admission of guilt instead. This is clearly because of his parents’ history and I really hope the writers soon find another driving motivation for some of Mike’s actions rather than his dead parents.

Liberty Rail refuses to hand over the report showing the work on the heat sensors were done after the accident and their lawyer Evan Smith (Tricia Helfer) also drops the bombshell that Mike’s whistleblower is a professional whistleblower who has been responsible for 4 other lawsuits. Donna, reminding us all why we loved her at the beginning of the series, steps in and manages to get Mike the report he needs through fraudulent means. With the evidence he needs, Mike finally gets Liberty Rail to agree to his terms. However, he and Harvey are barely allowed a celebration before Harvey receives a visit from Evan Smith who brings with her evidence that Donna stole the vital report illegally. Therefore the terms of the settlement are null and void and Evan informs Harvey that she’ll be reporting both him and Mike to the DA.

Thus the spectre of Mike’s “secret” once again looms large over the future of Pearson, Specter, and Litt. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I really don’t understand why these people continue to bend over backwards for this entitled fake lawyer. Aside from the fact that we’d no longer have a show to watch, I’d cut my losses and run. Donna takes center stage next week as we deal with the fall out from the case. I can’t wait.

written by Altius Tendo