Suits Review: Denial (Season 5 Episode 1)

Wasn’t that a great way to start the season?

Wasn’t it?

The season premiere of Suits, entitled “Denial,” is enthralling. Not only does it lay out the feel and ground for the rest of the season — or at least the first nine episodes — it gives us everything we love about this show, and so much more. Harvey being a great lawyer, Donna being Donna, Mike being Harvey’s surrogate son, and of course, lawyer drama.

The backdrop of this episode is exactly that. Harvey being a lawyer. The Harvey we know, and love, and maybe even admire, being his badass self. It’s the little things woven into the case that brings out the real issue.

Donna left Harvey.

Gabriel Macht plays a distressed, tired, defeated Harvey to the tee. And Patrick J Adams plays a more confident, yet worried (and sometimes irritated) Mike flawlessly. These two characters and actors have some of the best chemistry out there, and their bromance in such a heavy episode made me smile.

The episode flips between Harvey’s therapy session and flashbacks since the day Donna left. When the season four finale aired, I remember understanding Donna’s decision to leave. Harvey couldn’t just hold her at arm’s length, refusing to talk about his feelings after declaring he loved her. But now? For some reason, after everything they’ve been through, it just doesn’t make any sense to me. It seems petty, what Donna is doing. It doesn’t seem like her character, but maybe that’s the point; everyone can only take so much.

We get to see the repercussions of that; of Donna leaving, and Harvey being the stubborn man that is, not stopping her.

And that, everyone, is my favorite part. For four years, Harvey’s been the man. He’s been confident — to the point where it could be considered cocky. He’s been rude and obnoxious, and just all around, the perfect lawyer. But, he’s always had Donna to reel him back in whenever he got in over his head.

So, to see him completely start to spiral out of control — showing up to meetings late, and losing his cool with Mike and Rachel, is so much fun to see. It’s nice that Harvey has a weakness too, and sometimes, he doesn’t always have his stuff together.

But what really got to me were the therapy sessions. It’s revealed that Harvey has panic attacks, and is numb with fear that they’ll happen again. The fact that Donna leaving is making Harvey physically ill insinuates way more than I think any of their flirty banter ever did. And every single time someone mentions getting a replacement secretary, Harvey’s flat out refusal to believe that Donna is really gone — it hits you right in the feels.

Denial.

Just as my heart started to crumble, watching Harvey ask Donna for the replacement list, Harvey does the unexpected. He goes to the washroom, making me think he’d throw up again after another panic attack, and flushes his pills down the toilet. Watching a triumphant Harvey walk out of there, and take Mike to a Nets game and gift him a copy of Bride’s magazine, made me happy for him. Because I love how much he can accomplish on sheer willpower.

It took him six weeks to get over Donna leaving him. That seemed like a decent amount of time, and now, I cannot wait to see how the rest of the season will play out. Will Donna come back somehow? Or will they keep them apart for a while? If they are apart, will they still be hostile with each other or, could they start dating now? Personally, I want Louis’ redemption to come from him telling Donna to go back to Harvey. I think that’d be a nice “aww” moment.

Either way, season five has set a whole different tone from its previous seasons. Many have complained that Suits has become repetitive, and I feel like this whole Donna situation has thrown it off its usual path. I cannot wait to see what happens next.

What did you think of the season premiere of Suits? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Suits airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on USA.

Smriti Jasra

Smriti (a.k.a Sim) is a TV and comic book enthusiast, and has been since the days of Angel and Alias. She watches over 20 shows a week, and her perfect idea of a date is sitting on a couch with some pizza, while having the ultimate debate of Marvel vs. DC. When she’s not live-tweeting her favorite shows or working at her day job, she’s usually writing fan-fiction. Her favorite shows include: Arrow, The 100, Suits, The Flash and Kingdom. Follow her on Twitter: @simjasra