Suits season 7, episode 11 recap: Hard Truths

Suits returned and wasted no time tackling the cliffhangers from the mid-season finale. What would come of “the kiss” and how will the firm deal with Jessica’s disbarment?

Returning from a six month (5 year) hiatus, Suits picks up right where it left off. In the previous episode, “Donna,” it became clear that Jessica was going to need to leave the firm officially. Harvey and Louis now must figure out how to allow her to get the money that should be entitled to her before she is disbarred and unable to get said money.

At the same time, Harvey has to deal with the fact that Donna just kissed him knowing that he is in a relationship. After years of nearly crossing the line on the show, one of them finally did.

What is to become of Mike and Rachel? They’ve been putting the wedding off for a long time, and with the final six episodes of season 7 being their last on the show, they need to either walk down the aisle or separate.

Harvey

After the kiss Harvey is clearly not himself. When he gets home he is surprised to see Paula waiting for him. He seems somewhat depressed and Paula, being a psychologist, notices. When she asks him if he’s ok, Harvey asks her to move in with him. She’s surprised by the suddenness of the request and says that she’d rather wait. She’s rushed things before and doesn’t want to do that again.

 Mike

Mike and Alex

Back at the office, Alex thanks Mike for keeping him out of jail and offers him a case. A dairy company they represent is up against a trucking company over products that spoiled during shipping.

Mike and Rachel

After accepting the case, Mike finds Rachel doing her own paralegal work. They reminisce about the times when Mike would have Rachel doing all of his paralegal work before Mike asks her to join him on the case. She turns him down, telling him that she’s swamped and Mike is clearly disappointed.

Donna and Harvey

When Donna and Harvey see each other again the tension is clear. Harvey demands that Donna promise it won’t ever happen again. They move away from the subject quickly but Donna says that she wants to hire a name partner. Harvey, still upset tells Donna to leave hiring lawyers to him. When Louis shows up to talk about their Jessica plan Harvey excuses Donna from the room saying. “This is a name partner conversation.”

The Jessica problem

With Donna now out of the room Louis and Harvey come to the conclusion that their best option is to dissolve the firm and restructure. The problem is that they dissolved the firm two years ago so they need one of the older partners to sign off on the move. They immediately rule out two of them and decide that the guy they’re going to work to convince is Stanley Gordon.

Stanley Gordon

Harvey ends up being the one to approach Stanley Gordon to see what he wants in exchange for his signing off on their plan to dissolve the firm. He mentions that he was ripped off by World Health Relief and either wants his money back or what they promised him (his name on a building.)

Mike’s case

At the negotiating table, the trucking company realizes Mike is not playing games rather quickly. They try to cite a clause in their contract that protects them against being sued for spoiled products based on “Acts of God” but Mike points out that an act of God needs to be a singular event, which this was not. He asks them to pay 90 million and they come back with 30. Mike rejects the offer and leaves the table.

Later, Alex approaches Mike asking why he turned down the fair offer of 30 million. Mike says that it came too easily which means they’re hiding something and he wants to find it out. They argue over there not needing to always be “more there” and that the dairy company doesn’t want to ruin the relationship with the shipping company.

Rachel’s take

When Mike tells Rachel about Alex she actually take Alex’s side. Mike leaves the room disappointed because he went to her for support and now he feels like she is second-guessing him too.

Donna: The interview and the kiss

Donna and Louis

After being shot down by Harvey, Donna gets Louis to approve her going ahead with interviewing a candidate for a Senior Partner position.

Donna and Harvey

When Harvey comes in, Donna tells him that they’re either going to interview the candidate, or have the uncomfortable conversation they’ve been avoiding. Harvey opts for the interview but uses that time to embarrass Donna and tell the candidate to accept the other offer he was considering.

After the interview, Donna chases Harvey down and forces him to talk to her. During the discussion they call each other selfish. Harvey feels that where they stood was always clear and Donna says it was always blurry. She kissed him because she needed to know.

She says that she didn’t feel anything but Harvey can’t say the same. It then comes out that Harvey never told Paula that he and Donna slept together in the past either.

He walks away after telling Donna that he can’t trust her judgement.

Donna and Louis

Later, when Donna tells Louis about how Harvey acted in the interview she finally tells him about the kiss. Louis tells her that what she did was wrong and she has to apologize. When she tries to equate it to what Louis did with Sheila, he explains that Sheila asked him to do that and he still feels guilty about it.

Conclusions

Mike’s case

Mike and Rachel

After telling he was wrong before Rachel shows up to tell Mike not to take the offer he was about to agree to. She looked into the case and Mike was right. The trucking company has been dumping 20% of the dairy company’s product (according to Department of Transportation reports), essentially scamming their partners. Mike tells them to tell the other company they look forward to continuing to work together, and to pay $120 million. The alternative is that Mike exposes the scam and they are investigated by the SEC. Of course, they agree.

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Alex and Mike

Later in the episode, Alex approaches Mike to apologize for questioning his judgement. Mike admits that Rachel solved the case and they exchange jokes but end the episode back on friendly terms.

The Jessica situation

Stanley Gordon

Before Harvey gets Stanley to sign off on their dissolution of the company, Stanley figures out what’s going on with Jessica. He now tells Harvey that he wants back in at the firm since she’s headed out and he won’t sign until his name is on the wall. This despite the fact that Harvey got him what he initially asked for.

Louis, however, comes up with another solution. Because he knows Gordon just wants to hurt Jessica, he proposes that they publicly shame Jessica instead. Harvey doesn’t want to go along with it but when Louis comes back with the agreement in hand, Harvey signs. Jessica has already said she’ll go along with whatever Harvey agrees to.

At the end of the episode we hear the statement read aloud. In it, Jessica is referred to as selfish, unethical, and reckless. The statement ends with Harvey saying that they’re looking forward to bringing this disgraceful chapter of their firm’s history to a close.

Harvey and Donna

Eventually, Donna and Harvey clear the air. They acknowledge that they need to be able to share the hard truths and are able to move forward. Which leads to two, potentially major, developments.

Big Developments

Mike and Rachel

First, we have to resolve the Mike and Rachel story and only have six episodes to do it. At the end of this episode, Mike suggests that he and Rachel do more cases together. Rachel, however, suggests that they instead spend time planning their wedding. She says that they have been putting off the wedding for long enough and Mike agrees.

Mike’s Future

Now that Harvey and Donna are able to speak, Harvey asks Donna for some big advice. He’s thinking about making Mike a Senior Partner and wants her opinion. She shoots it down without hesitation saying that he made him a lawyer before he was ready, and he’s not ready to be a Senior Partner.

Next: Suits can survive losing Mike and Rachel. Here's why

Harvey and Paula

In this episode Harvey waits until two days after the kiss to tell Paula about it. She realizes that the kissed happened right before he asked her to move in and hates that the kiss made him react that way. She tells him she’s upset that he feels he has to hide his relationship with Donna from her.

At the end of the episode, after resolving things with Donna, Harvey decides to confess again. This time, he tells Paula that he and Donna slept together years ago. At the end of the episode Paula is left speechless and that is where we left it.

Suits returns next Wednesday at 9/8 Central on USA Network.