The sharply dressed lawyers are back for a third season, as Suits returns to Dave on Thursday 30th January at 9:00pm. Season two ended with a merging of law-firms, creating what is now ‘Pearson-Darby’, much to Harvey’s (Gabriel Macht) disgust. Episode one made it clear that much of the new season will focus on Harvey’s struggle to come to terms with the firm’s new management.
As well as introducing the developing relationships between new colleagues, the new episode presented a new case for Harvey and co. to tackle, namely Hessington Oil. Rather than giving viewers an idea of what exactly Eva Hessington’s (Michelle Fairley) company has allegedly done, the show’s writers (Aaron Korsh) chose to focus on Pearson-Darby’s opposition and the return of Cameron Dennis (Gary Cole). Although this is initially slightly confusing, it brought some intrigue to the events that unfolded. Also, newly introduced character, Eva Hessington, injected more ‘Britishness’ into the show and it was interesting to see how she dealt with Harvey’s signature persuasiveness.
Mike (Patrick J. Adams) and Rachel’s (Meghan Markle) blossoming relationship was also at the forefront of the episode and it was interesting to see how Meghan Markle’s character would react to Mike admitting that he is not a qualified lawyer in the final scene of season two. Although Rachel seemed to forgive him relatively quickly, it is good to have Mike forming a relationship with someone outside of the world of work, especially after the death of his grandmother. It will be interesting to see how they deal with work and home-life clashing as the season progresses.
The vengeful plotting between Louis (Rick Hoffman) and Nigel (Adam Godley), that carried over from season two, was enjoyable and contrasted the serious elements of the episode. Their childish behaviour added comedy to the episode and showed what Louis treasures about his job and conveyed a different side to personality. It will be amusing to see Louis interact with someone so similar throughout the season but the new episode did not make it clear how much of a role Nigel will have throughout the coming weeks.
However, this episode lacked something that has made the show and characters so appealing. The playful interactions between Mike and Harvey, that have been a key element of the show over the past couple of years, were missing. There were no film related anecdotes and no jokes at each others expense. Although this is probably the only logical way the writers could continue the fallout from the previous season, it certainly felt like something important was missing in this episode. However, it will surely return in the coming episodes as the show wouldn’t be the same without it.
In short, although the first episode was enjoyable, it felt like it was only setting up the plot lines for the remainder of the season. Also, Harvey and Mike’s faltering friendship meant an element of the show’s charm was missing.
7/10
