Suits Review: Bad Man (Season 7 Episode 12)

While Harvey scrambles to help Jessica with a difficult favor, Mike finds himself going up against Oliver, and Louis continues to figure out how to deal with his feelings for Sheila.

It’s a lot of ground to cover on Suits Season 7 Episode 12, “Bad Man,” but as is often the case, the focus on character development is what takes center stage, that’s where the great stuff happens.

Let’s start with the Harvey / Donna / Paula part of this episode, though. If you’re feeling frustrated by all of this, you’re not alone. I am too.

Even if Harvey and Donna don’t eventually end up together, it’s hard to feel anything good about Harvey’s relationship with Paula. Their relationship feels unnatural and stems from everything Harvey needed from her as her therapist.

Paula’s smart enough to see that there’s something between Harvey and Donna, so of course, when she learns the truth, it’s a blow.

Harvey’s sincere when he tells Paula he likes Donna being part of his life, that she’s important, and he wants to be honest about it. What I don’t buy is how quickly Paula seems to be willing to move on from it, at least at that moment.

As he’s dealing with all of that, Harvey also has to face letting go of something more. Jessica calls with a favor, and Harvey can’t refuse after everything that’s happened.

But what she’s asking isn’t easy — she wants an enormous sum of money in an offshore account, and there’s exactly one way Harvey can figure to make that happen without getting into trouble.

In doing something good for his mentor, he has to compromise his father’s legacy. Letting go of that — of his father’s music being able to live on — is painful. We see how this is connected to Harvey’s childhood, and it’s just one more thing from his past that he’s losing. One more good memory.

Remember the painting? That was a good memory he had of his mother, and he’s lost that too. The letting go is perhaps healthy, but I’m curious to see how these losses are going to affect Harvey in the long run.

He does what he has to do for Jessica, which also shows the importance of that connection. And I can’t help but imagine that money is going to have something to do with what we’ll see from Jessica on the upcoming spinoff.

Oh, and did you catch the new sign on the wall? It’s officially just Specter Litt now, which feels bittersweet. After all, it feels like the natural progression of things for Harvey’s name end up first.

Meanwhile, Mike is off being Mike, but he’s definitely showing growth. When Oliver comes to him for help, he’s hesitant, but agrees.

He still wants to do the right thing and is struggling between corporate law and the kind of law he always wanted, even though he does have some of that balance now at the firm, it’s hard for him to turn away from someone in need — and even harder for him to turn away from Oliver.

Because in this situation, Mike is the mentor, and that makes things complicated. It also leaves room for Mike to show that he still has some naivete to grow out of.

Oliver has been a great addition to Mike’s story because it’s allowed us to see these other parts of Mike’s character. Rachel even points out that Mike seems proud because Oliver is turning out to be just like him.

Luckily, it’s resolved in a positive way. Though at first, it looks like Oliver is going to win his case, Mike winds up with enough leverage to win. Even though that doesn’t turn out well for Oliver, though, Oliver has won something — respect from Mike. Plus, it turned out to be a learning experience for him.

By the way, I love that this is another case that allows Rachel and Mike to work together and succeed. They make a great team.

Oddly, my least favorite part of all of this is Louis figuring out what to do about Sheila. I say oddly because any chance to focus on Louis and learn more about his character is usually something that stands out. But this Shiela business is getting old already.

Sheila is manipulating him, he’s letting her, and he’s compromising his own happiness to do it. I’m dying for something, anything, to happen to break this cycle with her and allow him to move on, one way or another.

I will say this — the young Louis flashbacks? Excellent. It’s nice to see a bit of Louis’s early life. And that casting is amazing — the actor is Estaban Dager, and he embodies a younger, more hopeful Louis Litt perfectly.

What did you think of this episode of Suits? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Suits airs Wednesdays at 9/8c.

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