Episode Title: “She’s Mine”
Writer: Paul Redford
Director: Anton Cropper
The title of this week’s episode, “She’s Mine” could refer to the brewing tension between Harvey (Gabriel Macht) and Stephen (Max Beesley) over Donna (Sarah Rafferty) or Louis’ (Rick Hoffman) attachment to Mikado. That’s because we spend the episode following two intense legal battles, one involving an oil baroness accused of murder-for-oil and the other involving a cat.
The Eva Hessington saga continues in this episode, but it’s Louis’ “lawsuit” demanding custody of Nigel’s cat, Mikado that makes this hour excellent. “Suits” knows how to be funny when it wants to and what’s funnier than a mock trail involving two grown men fighting over a cat named after an opera?
When Nigel (Adam Godley) returns early from his trip, Louis is reluctant to hand over Mikado. That reluctance quickly turns into refusal, as Louis insists Mikado is happier with him than she was with the globetrotting, Nigel. He recruits Rachel (Meghan Markle) to the cause, who at first insists Louis return Mikado to her rightful owner. But before you know it, the aspiring lawyer is representing Louis in a mock trail before the associates to win custody of the prized feline.
As the trial gets underway, Nigel plots to make Louis look like an unfit cat daddy by highlighting his tough love tactics when he was overseeing the associates. He even goes so far as to bring Harold in as a surprise witness. But if Rachel didn’t impress Stamford in her interview, her dismantling of Harold’s testimony sure would. If she can win custody of a cat in a fake trial, Rachel’s definitely ready for the big time at Pearson Darby Specter.
Rachel and Louis score the win, but Nigel offers to give the associates back in exchange for Mikado. It’s a tough decision for Louis but a bit of Vulcan wisdom helps him make his choice as he tells Rachel, “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” He decides to take Nigel up on his offer. And as Rachel points out, Mikado is after all, Nigel’s cat.
It’s a feel good episode for both Louis and Rachel; which is a nice reprieve from all the nastiness surrounding everyone else. The kitty drama settled, Louis surprises Rachel with her acceptance letter from Columbia. Does this mean Mike (Patrick J. Adams) doesn’t have to worry about her leaving him for Stanford?
Back to the Eva Hessington case, it looked like Harvey had it in the bag until Stephen went ahead and reached out to Colonel Morega, the military leader Eva allegedly paid to murder those opposing a pipeline, leading Cameron Dennis right to him. Now, Harvey’s mad because Stephen’s screwing Donna and his case.
But the case really puts the focus on Jessica’s (Gina Torres) issues with Harvey. After his confession about plotting with Darby to have her removed, only to change his mind, Jessica can’t help but see parallels in the Hessington Oil case. She insists Harvey and Mike go after Eva’s “number two,” Nick Howell. But Mike suggests the move is just a product of her misplaced anger towards Harvey.
Really, it’s all just a big mess that hits sore spots in both Harvey and Jessica and Donna and Stephen’s relationships. But like always, it’s the clear-headed, mostly-not-emotionally-invested, Mike who sorts it out. He pays Cameron Dennis (Gary Cole) a visit and sneaks a peak at some sensitive documents – documents that suggest Howell did have something to do with ordering the murders. But the real coup comes when Mike learns that it was Stephen who ordered Morega to make the hits.
It turns out Stephen and the Colonel were old rugby teammates in college. When Eva was having trouble with her pipeline, Darby had Stephen make a call to Morega who then called Nick. It’s a bombshell, alright and enough to make Harvey burst into the men’s room to make good on his threat to kick Stephen’s ass if he got involved in the case, again.
And so by the end of the episode, we’ve got some major moves on the board. For starters, Donna and Stephen are done; which is fine because Stephen is probably going to jail. Jessica and Harvey finally agree that the merger really was a bad idea, but that’s probably going to go away because of the whole murder thing.
On the one hand, we’re left to wonder if the events of this season really matter if things go back to normal. Yes, Harvey’s name is on the door and we do have confirmation of his past with Donna. But where does this leave the firm? On the other hand, if Darby and his cronies really are out of the picture, Harvey and Jessica could take things in some interesting new directions, both as colleagues and occasional combatants.
