Harvey Specter & Mike Ross Will Always Be Our Batman & Robin — Suits LA Can’t Change That

Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) returns in Suits LA Season 1 Episode 4 “Batman Returns,” and that should be a cause for celebration. In some ways, even, it most definitely is. Macht is as great as ever at managing that special blend of earned confidence and the heart underneath. Just like he always did on the original Suits, Macht draws a viewer in and makes the most out of every second. Of course, his obvious skill makes the already-bland performance of his scene partner all the more glaringly not up to the task. Even so, to say that hearing that particular Harvey Specter cadence coming out of the man’s mouth after all these years is an emotional experience for someone who followed the original series and — somewhat surprisingly — connected with him above all others is, if anything, an understatement.

Throw in the fact that this is Baseball!Harvey, all casual-like, talking about Batman, even boasting about how smooth Macallan 25 is at one point (RIP to his known adoration for Macallan 18, apparently), and it truly feels like coming home. Or, well, it should feel that way. Instead, there’s this bizarre emotional whiplash throughout the two scenes Macht has in Suits LA Season 1 Episode 4. Because, yeah, he’s here. He’s doing very Harvey Specter things. (Although, saying “crap” instead of sh— also feels kinda weird. Dude hails from a show with a mean of 15 sh—s per episode, but network standards or whatever. So, eh. Forgivable.) We’re here for that!

At the same time, though, this is also…not a believable way to bring Harvey back. In fact, it stings. Because, first of all, while Suits was never great about timelines (12* years, anyone?), if it’s only been five years since Harvey left the DA’s office, the likelihood of him being this open with someone else is…not great. Or, we could always just throw away a nine-season arc of growth that began with meeting the Robin to Harvey’s Batman and say, “yeah, Harvey was always this guy.” Which, look, deep down, he was always that guy! But the softer side was underneath a lot of pain. It was not particularly present until the hand of fate dumped some super-brained fool with a case full o’ weed in his office.

That, of course, is where the major problems really start to come in. The likelihood of Harvey being like, “go get ’em, Batman” to anyone else, whatsoever, ain’t great. Even having him argue with Ted, both at the baseball game and at the bar, over who’s Batman feels disrespectful. That’s a very Mike and Harvey argument. Especially when we get to the “you can be Robin” line at the end of the bar scene. It’s another case of failing to realize, much less honor, the original characters and their dynamic. Par for the course at this point with this spinoff, but it still feels rather like a punch to the face with something hard. (A toaster, perhaps?)

Nostalgia can be a good thing. When a beloved actor makes a guest appearance as a beloved character in a spinoff of a beloved series, giving a nod to the audience is generally quite welcome. But you can’t just say, “well, this frequent conversation between these two central characters can just be recreated with my new guy and the main old one.” That’s not how real relationships work. Each friendship is unique — ridiculous inside jokes with one friend do not work with another. The same should be true for the lovable Marvey goofiness.

Obviously, nobody knew way back when that there would ever be a Suits LA or a Ted Black, so retconning the past to say Harvey played baseball with this guy isn’t a problem. In fact, it works really well, given each character’s backstory and fans’ love of Baseball!Harvey. The rewrites should stop there, though. Making a character who was notoriously closed off and protective of himself, close to very few people, suddenly have had a significant enough friendship with Ted to be such a calming, helpful presence while making those same nerdy Batman/Robin arguments, though? That’s too far.

And no, putting the “you’re the closest thing to Batman that I’ve ever seen” words in Harvey’s mouth still doesn’t convince us of anything of the sort about the character. Someone, preferably the person actually playing Ted, needs to show us that. Pretty sure that’s never going to happen, though, because he’s notoriously not up to the task. And if these first four episodes have shown us anything in the writing department, nobody else seems to be up to the task either.

Anyway.

But did we mention that Gabriel Macht is grossly underrated? Because he is. And that little smile at Ted’s offensive plot device brother is as charming and swoon-worthy as ever. Here’s hoping the modern-day portion of Macht’s three-episode arc will make more sense because we really have missed him. But, as Harvey himself says, “there’s only one Batman.” And it’s him. Not the new guy. As a corollary, there’s also only one Robin. That’s Mike Ross. Not the new guy.

…for what it’s worth, Ted being Superman is also a bad reference. Remember that one time Louis gave Mike that whole speech about Harvey being Superman? When they were in the bullpen together, Harvey was a loner who Louis couldn’t get through to. Until Mike. (Rewatch Suits Season 3 Episode 1, ‘The Arrangement’ if you don’t remember!) That, of course, brings us back to the timeline issues here. But whatever. Who cares about existing canon, when you can twist and disrespect it for the sake of trying to force people to love something that clearly can’t stand on its own merits?

As much as this next part may sound snarky, though, it isn’t: We still really are grateful that Harvey Specter is on our screens again. If we have to mute all the dialogue and only sit, frozen and emo, as just we look at him, so be it. Not like Macht’s ever been hard on the eyes, anyway.

Harvey Specter will be here for two more episodes of Suits LA, which airs Sundays at 9/8c on NBC. Let’s hope those last two episodes are more worthy.

MORE: Read our reaction to the initial news of Macht’s return and our Suits LA review.

Agree? Disagree? What did you think of seeing Gabriel Macht back as Harvey in Suits LA Season 1 Episode 4? Leave us a comment!