Suits: LA isn’t the show fans hoped it’d be, but there could be time for NBC to shift it up!
Hopes were high for Suits: LA. With the original USA Network show finding new success on Netflix, a revival show seemed a perfect idea. Sadly, with five episodes down, it’s time to face the fact that Suits: LA simply isn’t working. The factors are plentiful, but here are the key reasons why the show is in trouble and how NBC can fix it!
Ted isn’t a fun character in Suits: LA
It is fun to see Stephen Amell outside of Arrow but his Ted character isn’t working out. He’s supposed to be a top prosecutor turned entertainment/defense lawyer, but he’s not that good of an attorney in either part. He makes too many mistakes, so it's hard to buy people trusting him, and he's a lousy boss.
The entire push of the first episodes is Ted doesn’t get how abrasive he comes off to others and is pretty obnoxious. It’s supposed to present him as flawed and learning but Amell can’t quite sell that. Too often, Ted acts like he’s the victim in things and is downright whiny rather than the charmer Harvey Specter was.
And the bit of him imagining the ghost of his late brother is a cheap plot device that doesn’t connect either. It’s not a good thing to have a lead character who’s the biggest jerk around and Suits: LA trying to present him in a heroic light makes it worse.
We don’t get the character relationships
The heart of Suits was always the wonderful friendship between Mike and Harvey, along with their connections to the rest of the office. The character bonds made that show work so well, but LA doesn’t do that. The key mistake was that we barely got to see Ted and Stuart (Josh McDermitt) together when Stuart betrayed Ted to start his own firm. So we get a lot of talk of them as best friends, but it doesn’t connect without seeing that first.
There was potential for Rick (Bryan Greenberg) to stick with Ted, but instead, he jumps right to Stuart, and their dynamic doesn’t work either. That’s without Ted’s ex Samantha (Rachelle Goulding) being too stand-offish. Splitting up these characters so soon robbed the show of potential drama.
The banter between Ted and Amanda (Maggie Grace) is cliche, and Erica (Lex Scott Davis) seems a bit lost, too. The series simply lacks the character chemistry that made the original show shine and without that, the series lacks some flavor.
The flashbacks are dragging
Suits had flashbacks now and then, which could be good for building on the past. Suits: LA goes overboard with every episode featuring extensive flashbacks to how a murder trial in New York led to the end of Ted and Samantha’s relationship and why he left the DA’s office.
Having them spread out over multiple episodes doesn’t enhance the story, it just makes this subplot more aggravating and distracting. The writers may want to add mystery to what happened, but it doesn’t function because you simply don’t care about it too much. One extensive flashback or explanation could be more effective than wasting half an episode on long-ago events. This isn’t Lost, we don’t need every key aspect of a character’s journey detailed in full when one episode-long flashback could easily tell the story and then move on.
The key murder trial is boring
Suits was never about major criminal cases but smaller ones that worked well. Suits: LA has the major plot of Ted defending a movie producer accused of murdering his partner. It’s a story that would be okay for a standard legal drama yet doesn’t fit the Suits motif.
Not helping is that the case itself is just boring. The “twists” are out of a poor Law & Order episode and having this somehow be what decides the fate of the firm is silly. Dropping this entire plotline would have been a better move for the series.
Where’s the fun in Suits: LA?
Suits fans still remember Pearson, the short-lived spinoff of Gina Torres’s character. The key reason it failed was that it changed too much from Suits, turning Jessica from a fun lawyer to a cliche political operator and playing it all too seriously. Suits: LA is making the same mistakes.
There are some mild fun touches in the show. There’s how Erica wants to be a top entertainment lawyer but barely knows anything about movies or TV shows. There are moments like Patton Oswalt and Brian Baumgartner arguing about going from comedic roles to serious dramas. Yet those are only brief flashes of fun amid the drama.
The attempts at comedy can be bad like Ted’s dream of getting with a couple of ladies. It plays far too seriously, from the flashbacks to the battle for the firm treated as a life and death struggle and lacks all the charm that made Suits so special.
So with all that said, is there a chance that Suits: LA can turn it around? Here’s a few ways how!
Suits: LA needs to drop the flashbacks and murder trial
As noted, the flashbacks to Ted’s past are far too distracting and eat up too much screen time. Drop those by simply flat out telling us what happened to Ted, and moving on is the best thing for viewers.
Also, a good move will be getting off this murder trial, which has never been as important as the show thinks it is. It feels like a completely different legal show than the other plotlines and a drag on the storytelling. The show can push new plotlines and more compelling fare with these two moves alone, as getting rid of these dual anchors weighs the series down.
Get Ted and Stuart back together
Having the main players split across two firms is another aspect of the show that is not working. We’re supposed to empathize with Ted but it’s hard when the show puts a focus on Stuart and Rick trying to succeed. Thus, perhaps it’s a good idea to drop the “split firms” motif.
It could be some sort of crisis that forces Ted and Stuart to partner up again. That could be a fun dynamic as they have to overcome their bad blood and perhaps rediscover their old friendship. Given we’ve barely seen this supposed bond on screen as it is, having it redevelop can feel fresher. It’s also a way for Rick to get more spotlight as he’s not caught between two warring ex-partners but sees both as his mentors.
It’s so strange the series kicked off tearing the pair apart before we got to know them and seeing them try to be partners again sounds more compelling as a story and character device than separation.
More light-hearted fare in Suits: LA
The show’s serious tone is different from the original Suits and not in a good way. The parts that work touch on lighter fare from trying to help Enrico Colantoni in an odd case to Erica’s banter with assistant Leah. Having that lighter tone (and not as bad comedy) is more in the spirit of Suits than watching Ted wrestle with mobsters and going against the DA in a murder case and needed to spark the show.
Really use the L.A. setting
If you set a show in Los Angeles, you should use it a lot more than Suits does. New York fits the original series as a vibrant and exciting city while Suits: LA hasn’t used its location as much as it should. For a show set in L.A. and packed with celebrities, we haven’t had much in the way of real entertainment law cases. That’s only scratching the surface of what an L.A.-set show can do.
Think of the potential of using sports teams, nightclubs, politics, eccentric rich folks, and more. Send Ted to the beach to meet a client or touch on the effects of wildfires in a lawsuit. It’s not just celebrities, the series should be getting more mileage out of Los Angeles than just the title.
Make it a real Suits show
We have had a cameo from Gabriel Macht and we’ll be getting Louis Litt dropping in soon. Those connections to the original Suits are good but it’s not just guest stars we need. We also need the drive and aura that made Suits so watchable. We need cases that aren’t massive high stakes, just a fun challenge for the characters and having them banter throughout.
We can get some romantic teases for Ted and other women, more interdynamics of the employees and even stuff like the interns for this firm. It’s also important to remember Suits rarely actually stepped into the courtroom; it was more boardroom deals and meetings, which felt better.
Most importantly of all, it has to be fun. That’s lacking from Suits: LA as the network shift tries to make it another NBC show and it’s not working out. There’s still time to change it, smooth out the parts that aren’t working, and make it a real Suits show, but NBC better work fast if they want Suits: LA to be a hit.
Suits: LA airs Sundays at 9/8c on NBC.