SUITS REVIEW: Harvey and Louis at War in “Compensation”

By Lewis Richards

Wednesday night’s Suits episode “compensation” served as a secondary premiere in the in the sense that it hinted which potential story arcs we will follow over the course of the season ahead, something episode 1 didn’t have the chance to do last week. While we were happy to see the catastrophic fallout of season 4 take center stage in the premiere, we were intrigued to see some solid story directions taking shape this week.

The episode begins with Robert and Rachel Zane spending some father daughter time together at a restaurant. Rachel becomes impatient with her father trying to “control” her. Robert insists that Rachel looks over a pre-nuptial agreement that he has had put together, much to her dismay.

A happy looking Mike meets his old colleagues Jimmy and Harold at a bar for a celebratory drink. After a few jokes at Harold’s expense Jimmy gifts Mike with a “do-gooder” case, the type of case that allows Mike to do his work and help people who need it. At this point Mike isn’t aware that the case carries more sentimental weight than Jimmy makes out.

Back at Pearson Specter Litt the tension is unbearable as Harvey and Donna cross paths. They proceed with small talk before Harvey coldly confirms to Donna he is replacing her that very same day and leaves abruptly.

Harvey begins by interviewing a beautiful blonde who comes across eerily similar to Donna with her level of confidence, He is unimpressed and seems determined to not fall for the same trick twice. Harvey cuts the interviewing process short (as we know he loves to do) by skipping the queue of other beautiful women to pick an older larger lady named Gretchen. As Gretchen later points out Harvey supposedly does this to protect himself from future heartbreak. Harvey later enjoys a moment with Gretchen when she proves that he has made a good decision by hiring her. Harvey is pleasantly surprised and expresses this with a rare sincere smile.

A heart warming conversation between Jessica and Rachel leads to the realization that her controlling father is just protective.  Regardless of that fact, however, Rachel will not be forced into signing anything. Mike decides to break the news to Robert in person. He respects that Rachel is defying him out of love and not out of spite for her father’s misguided efforts. Mike also has an ulterior motive for visiting Robert which can hopefully benefit both parties.

Louis continues to be his own worst enemy as his plot to get Harvey on team Litt goes horrendously wrong, this triggers a chain of unfortunate events which escalates into a declaration of war!

One thing we definitely know is that the dust has nowhere near settled in the battle for Donna. Jessica is going to have her hands full as the Pearson Specter Litt family prepares for another sibling-esque rivalry.

It will be interesting to see how far her tolerance of their conflict reaches as she literally threatens to “slap the taste” out of both Harvey and Louis.