We’ve really, really missed you.
Of course, the entirety of the firm whose name I can’t even remember at this point could somehow be considered part of the proverbial we, though it’s obvious that the one person who’s missed you the most was your quasi-brother, (or was that quasi-father?) Harvey Spinchter.
Yeah, okay, it wasn’t that good a joke.
But the banter, oh, the banter in “If the Shoe Fits.” How I’d missed it. Sometimes, after so long, and especially after a few seasons where it feels like we’ve only been watching because of the possibility of Darvey, it’s easy to forget that we started watching this show because of Harvey and Mike.
Imagine that, we can watch a show for many reasons, and we can care both about a possible romance, and two men who love each other, be it as brothers, or as a pseudo-father son, however you want to qualify it.
So let’s go into Mike’s return, what that means for Harvey and the firm, and Samantha, once again, crossing a line she shouldn’t, as we discuss “If the Shoe Fits”:
SAMANTHA VS MIKE
This isn’t even a hard decision, so I’m a little baffled as to why Suits would pit them against each other in “If The Shoe Fits.” I’ve had my Mike issues over the years, but on average, how many people would pick Samantha? Not even Harvey would, not really. He wouldn’t throw her to the wolves, because that’s not who he is, but he isn’t exactly her biggest fan right now, and I can’t say I blame him.
Because the thing is, for Harvey, Samantha is a co-worker, a friend, a partner …and Mike is family. Mike is the man he very literally risked his career over and over for. Mike is the man who would rather go to jail than betray Harvey. Their relationship was the backbone of this show for so long, and we can’t just wave that away, and neither can Harvey.
And it’s not even such a huge deal, it’s just a case, if Samantha hadn’t gotten involved one of them would have won, and that would have been it. No personal hard feelings, Mike gets back on the plane and they continue loving each other from afar.
Now, however, there’s an issue. Now, however, feelings have been brought into the forefront. Because yes, Mike cares about his client, but he mostly cares that Harvey isn’t sticking up for him. And yes, Harvey cares about Samantha, but he mostly cares that Mike can’t see that Harvey isn’t picking Samantha just because he won’t throw her to the wolves.
And yet, such a big story-line is left dangling at the end of “If The Shoe Fits.” Mike leaves, and he and Harvey never get to talk again, never get to fully make up. That’s …weird, to put it one way. Especially for a final season.
Is that it? Is that how the show is going to leave the one relationship Suits was built on? I’ll bet a lot on the answer to that being no. Somehow, someway, what’s coming in the back half of the season will lead back to Mike, even if don’t get Patrick back. And considering how well Suits has done with Darvey this season, I gotta believe they will do right by other relationship we’ve always cared about in this show.
YOU’RE FIRED
Look, if Suits is expecting me to feel bad for Samantha right now, they’ve got another thing coming. Do I like Faye? No. But have you heard the saying forewarned is forearmed? This has never applied to anyone as much as it applies to Samantha right now.
There are rules in life, and they exist for a reason. Sometimes, I can understand that these people feel the need to skirt the rules for the good of the client, or to protect each other, but Samantha has, ever since she was introduced, consistently acted as someone who doesn’t respect the rules because she thinks she’s smarter than the people who made them.
She thinks she knows better.
And hey, sometimes she might be right, but that doesn’t mean she should go through life being forgiven for every transgression and it certainly doesn’t mean that when she screwed over Mike and Harvey, I’m going to feel bad that Faye caught her doing the one thing she’d been warned not to do over and over.
Hell, I thought Harvey would be the one dumb enough to cross lines, but I should have seen what happened in “If the Shoe Fits” coming.
Because that is who Samantha is, who the writers have made her out to be. And there’s many a rant about how that’s giving Harvey a benefit they don’t give Samantha in me, I promise. In many respects, the show has tried to mold her into the female Harvey Specter, but as much as Harvey cares about winning for the sake of winning, Harvey usually doesn’t cross the line (as much as he might skirt it) to hold it over someone, or to say he won. He does it to protect people he cares about.
Samantha did it to win, plain and simple. She didn’t even care if that win cost Harvey, and she certainly didn’t care if Mike had a point. And worst of all, she didn’t even care if about the possibility of getting caught, which should have been the number one thing in her mind.
Does that make her a bad character? No. She’s always been a really interesting character – and there’s a lot to be a said about a woman who just wants to win, no matter the damn consequences – but when a show writers a male and female characters to be exactly the same except in situations like this, they better be ready to frame her ruthlessness as a good thing.
I’m not sure I trust them to, though.
What comes next for her and for the firm with the ever changing name? I’m starting to reach the point where I don’t care, as long as Harvey and Donna are together and happy (THEY’RE ENGAGED, THEY’RE ENGAGED), and Harvey and Mike make up. Happily ever after doesn’t have to be this place, and this firm, after all. Big words, I know, but that’s where we are.
Things I think I think:
- He got the, and I quote “stupid yellow tomatoes.”
- Survivor? Really?
- “You’ve gone soft”? Nah, I think he has actually always been soft.
- Neither of you has ever actually watched Survivor, right? The joke should have been about getting voted off the Island!
- Sheila’s fears are, in many ways, the fears of every working mother.
- “A real friend needs to enjoy the shame in person.”
- We are Mike Ross and Mike Ross is us when it comes to the Darvey of it all.
- Mike vs. Harvey is a dicey prospect when Mike learned all his tricks FROM Harvey.
- “Whatever else Mike Ross is, he’s just as good as you and me.”
- Harvey’s like a proud papa.
- I have never liked Katrina more than when she was leaving those voicemails.
- “I might be the same old Mike, but you’re not the same old Harvey.”
- Well, I’d argue you’re not the same old Mike, either.
- “Anything that could get us disbarred or put in jail is off limits.”
- Such sweet talk between two idiots who always cross the line.
- Donna is right, Mike is family.
- That whole thing about how Katrina needs to develop a relationship with herself first hit me hard.
- Hahahaha babysit Rachel.
- OMG did you just say new second fiddle?
- “I’m exactly where I wanna be.”
- Awww.
- Don’t make me pick between Samantha and Mike, Suits. I’ll pick and it won’t even be hard.
- “You do this, you wish your problems were Faye.”
- We all knew that was gonna end badly, right?
- Mike’s WHOLE I CARE ABOUT YOU.
- I have heart palpitations.
- *shakes Sam*
- My decision to side-eye you at the beginning of this episode feels completely justified now.
- I don’t even CARE that you were fired.
- Okay, I do, but I’m mad. I need some time. Ask me next week.
- Also, please don’t let this be the last we see of Harvey and Mike together. Please, Suits. I’m begging you.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of “If the Shoe Fits”? Share with us in the comments below!
Suits airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on USA Network.