Episode Title: “Endgame”
Writer: Justin Peacock
Director: Michael Smith
Previously on “Suits:”
Just a few weeks ago it would have been hard to imagine Jessica (Gina Torres) referring to Harvey (Gabriel Macht) as “family,” as her ace attorney constantly took his insubordination to new levels. And yet here we are and all of it makes perfect sense.
A big theme throughout the Eva Hessington murder trial saga has been defending the wrongly accused. Eva may have done some shady things (like say, bribe witnesses?), but she’s no murderer. And Jessica’s made some questionable moves of her own, like getting in bed with Darby just as soon as she rid herself of Hardman. But that doesn’t mean she deserves to be ousted from her own firm.
Harvey is keenly aware of both women’s respective innocence and he’s trying to do right by both. Though she’s still sore from the betrayal, it’s Darby (Conleth Hill) who shows Jessica the light through his relationship with Eva. We learn that Darby’s fiercely protective way with Eva stems from her acting as his girlfriend while he and her father were in a secret relationship. But despite his concern for her, Eva has to pull the truth out of Darby while Harvey willingly came clean about his plan to undermine Jessica.
Amends are made as Harvey and Jessica apologize and then strategize about how to get Cameron Dennis (Gary Cole) to move the barrel of his gun away from Eva and toward Stephen, who ordered Colonel Morega to commit the murders. The bulldog DA is about to make a mistake and how better to stop him than pointing out the last one he made.
Mike (Patrick J. Adams) approaches Clifford Danner, the innocent man Harvey and Cameron put in jail for twelve years. Mike arranges a meeting between Clifford and Cameron, but the DA is still hell bent on putting Eva away for the sake of a win. It’s not until Darby offers himself up that Cameron finally comes around. Darby gets probation and must testify at Stephen’s trial. Oh and one little detail in the deal he didn’t see coming: he can no longer practice law in the United States.
That one little detail takes care of the whole merger mess and puts Jessica and Harvey back in control of the firm. Seeing as he was so protective of Eva, it’s a little surprising Darby didn’t offer himself up sooner as things were looking pretty grim for his beloved “beard.”
As for Stephen, Harvey lets Donna (Sarah Rafferty) do the honors of letting him know he’s being charged with murder. The all-knowing Donna struggles with the fact that she didn’t see Stephen for who he really is. Earlier in the episode, Stephen calls Donna a hypocrite for making a living off the kind of big corporate baddie cases Harvey takes. He has a point which Donna seems slightly shaken by. We’ve seen Donna have to reel Harvey in when he’s about to take things too far, but he’s not a murderer.
Of course it’s disappointing to see Donna’s whirlwind romance come to such a nasty end, but it may have put her back in touch her feelings for Harvey and the same can probably be said for him. Their relationship isn’t of the “will they? won’t they?” variety, but more like “they have, when will they again?”
While Harvey and Jessica make nice, save Eva and screw Darby and Stephen, Louis (Rick Hoffman) goes after Harold (Max Topplin) for testifying against him during the Mikado trial. Rachel (Meghan Markle) and Louis make for a fun comedic duo and we see a lot of them in this episode as she tries to keep Louis in line. And though he wasn’t that funny during his time at the firm, Harold makes up for it in this episode as Louis goes after the “pasty Norwegian Carrot Top” with all he’s got. The two go back and forth over a lawsuit Harold filed against one of Louis’ client, but it’s Rachel who gets to the bottom of it. Louis tells her he considers Harold to be his failure, a failure that brings back traumatic gym class memories. Rachel points out that Harold is in fact doing quite well, thanks to Louis and he decides to back off. And now that he’s back in charge of the associates, there are plenty of ripe first years to abuse/mentor.
“Endgame” finds a way to wrap up both the Eva Hessington trial and the regretted merger in the same pretty package. And though it might seem a little too easy, it’s a relief to have both these storylines come to a conclusion. Harvey and Jessica make a great team and thus the idea of a break up at this point wasn’t a fun one to get used to. Thankfully, they’ve moved past it, but Darby hasn’t left the building just yet. Surely, Harvey and Jessica are in for one last battle with the British and with Louis in on the action, it will indeed be “Littastic.”
