Suits Season Finale Review: Harvey (Season 8 Episode 16)
Everything was heading toward this moment.
There’s a lot to break down on Suits Season 8 Episode 16, “Harvey,” but let’s just start with the end. Because after eight seasons and a whole lot of back and forth, Harvey and Donna finally take a step toward something more.
This really has been the slowest of slow burns.
Harvey’s decision to go see Donna comes as he listens to Samantha talk about love and wanting to share her day with someone.
For a moment, it seems like those two could understand each other, but Harvey’s mind is instantly somewhere else.
What follows feels much like a scene from a romantic movie as Harvey literally runs to get to Donna. And when she opens the door, they don’t need to speak. They’re both on the same page. Finally.
We get a steamy, passionate scene between the two of them that offers a really satisfying conclusion to the season. It’s perhaps one of the best scenes like this I’ve seen in a while, and I think that’s because of the history these two characters share.
And there’s a chemistry between the two actors that’s unmatched.
If anything else, this episode proves that the boundaries they had been putting up to avoid being together were causing more problems than solving them.
Perhaps some clarity of what they are to each other will make for smoother operation at the firm. In this case, at least, Donna’s choice to tell Thomas about the client was because of clouded judgment, and Harvey’s choices came from a similar place.
Honestly, how many more outsiders needed to swoop in to explain to Harvey or Donna that they loved the other person? It’s a sigh of relief at this point to see them take this next step.
The timing is good, too, as it is near the end of the series. I’ve mostly always wanted to see these two wind up together, but I didn’t want was for the series to focus on that too heavily. Waiting until the penultimate season of the series feels like the right move.
But also: freaking finally, you guys.
What leads up to all of this is complicated, to say the least. It’s Donna’s fault that everyone is in the position they’re in, particularly Harvey having his career on the line.
Thomas sees a red flag right away when Harvey goes to him wanting to focus on protecting Donna rather than the firm or his own career. It’s so obvious to the viewer that it’s almost hard to see, but for Thomas, it’s so clear there’s more going on between Harvey and Donna, even if they don’t realize it.
Our villain, Hardman is back and he’s the one causing problems, which feels a bit circular, to say the least.
What’s unique is the solution. What has felt like an insignificant part of the story this season becomes the most important when Zane decides to sacrifice himself for everyone else.
He does that to atone for his sins. For years, he’s been carrying the burden of what he did for Samantha years ago — which caused a man to be killed.
This would all pack more of a punch had more time been dedicated to Zane’s feelings and the history between him and Samantha, but still, it works. And it’s surprising as hell.
At this point, I have little faith that Harvey and Robert are ever going to go eat a burger together, though.
Harvey’s lost after everything is said and done with the hearing. Zane turns him down for the burger, and Alex is also going home to be with his own family. Which brings us back to Harvey and Samantha, commiserating over how they’d both lost their mentors just before Harvey realizes who he should be focused on.
Of course, he feels empty at that moment. There’s someone he wants to share things with. It’s always Donna.
One last thought on this is the episode title itself. Donna took a bold step to work out her feelings with Harvey by kissing him suddenly — though he was in a relationship at the time — on Suits Season 7 Episode 10, “Donna.”
Harvey’s the one who makes the bold move on this episode, which is named for his own character. This absolutely should have been a clue that something was going to happen between the two of them, somehow.
I do hope this is permanent since we’re looking at only ten more episodes of the series. But for now, I have to say, I’m quite satisfied with this episode as a season finale.
What did you think of this episode of Suits? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Suits will return this summer for its ninth and final season on USA.
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Ashley Bissette Sumerel
Ashley Bissette Sumerel is a television and film critic living in Wilmington, North Carolina. She is editor-in-chief of Tell-Tale TV as well as Eulalie Magazine. Ashley has also written for outlets such as Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, and Insider. Ashley has been a member of the Critics Choice Association since 2017 and is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic. In addition to her work as an editor and critic, Ashley teaches Entertainment Journalism, Composition, and Literature at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.