TV Review: Suits Season 3 Episode 13 "Moot Point"

Suits is back. It was awesome.

There were multiple epic showdowns, which is how I'll talk about the episode. They can be broken down as such: Harvey vs. Archibald Eliot Stemple, and Scottie vs. Louis.

The main battle happened to be Harvey vs. his old rival Archibald. It all started when Mike goes to Donna to find the perfect gift for Harvey for helping him keep his secret from Louis.

That came in the form of a case against Archibald, who beat Harvey 3 times. Not only that, he had avoided Harvey for years after to keep his solid record against him. Naturally, Harvey jumped at the chance.

Suits by design glosses over cases. That isn't a jab against them, I and I'm sure many others would prefer it this way. It's the style that makes kids who first watch this or any doctor show want to be the profession they see on TV. It's natural to have that reaction (hello, 2007 me and House M.D.), but it's also unrealistic. Anyone who has been in a hospital or a courtroom knows things happen much slower. For every exciting moment, there are long boring moments as well. So we prefer the highlights, which Suits usually covers.

Tonight was no exception. All you need to know was that the case involved a computer company (represented by Archibald), and a microprocessor company (Harvey and Mike). It was a classic battle watching Archibald one up Harvey every waking moment.

It was an interesting character for a lot of reasons.

For one, Archibald is never portrayed as superior to Harvey, rather that for whatever reason he just thinks one step ahead of him. Jessica's analogy of the math geek beating her in tennis pretty much confirmed that.

Archibald whispers to Harvey and Mike off camera that he'll rig independent data in his favor which makes Mike and Harvey bluff to the judge in order to get the data from him.

They put the analyst on the stand who says that the processors both companies use have virtually identical performances. This gives Archibald the opening to file a patent infringement suit, claiming the product was stolen from Harvey's client.

That wouldn't be the only time Archibald baited Harvey. Mike finds information on a piece their client makes that Archibald was after all along. He knew the camera wouldn't pick up his threat of fudging the data, and knew Harvey would bluff for the real data, allowing him to bring the patent infringement lawsuit on.

Then he would be able to see the product he wanted and figure out how it was made.

Harvey and Mike drop this on him, getting the best of him for the first time.

They offer a huge settlement for the microprocessor company, and force Archibald to have his large company admit wrongdoing, or he'd face corporate espionage charges.

There was a nice poignant moment with Mike talking to Jessica after. Jessica explains that a NY Law magazine wants to interview the lawyers who won the case, and that Mike has to take his name off and be no where near the case when it happens. After saying he already covered his tracks, Mike then turns to Jessica and asks her "this is how it's always going to be, isn't it?" It's a very revealing moment for the character, where he realizes no matter how much good work he does, no one outside of the firm or Rachel will ever really know about it.

This is compounded by Rachel being oblivious to this fact in an apartment scene later. She didn't do much this episode besides move their furniture into their new place. That's okay though.

Scottie vs. Louis is the other major battle that goes down. It was initiated by Scottie, who picks a fight with Louis using the rationale that if she won she wouldn't be seen as just the new senior partner who was sleeping with Harvey.

Similar to Archibald vs. Harvey, she got the best of Louis early on by faking emails between Louis and his associate Katrina.

That all changed when Louis faked charges with the FTC against the company Scottie wanted to use with the case she took lead on. Which leads to this awesome exchange.

Scottie: You're really a dick.

Louis: I'm Moby god damn Dick, and you just swam in my waters.

Scottie ends up getting the best of him in the end, using a provision in the bylaws that he wrote stating he can't make amendments and he has to let Scottie take the lead on her case.

She poured it on by telling Louis she was the one responsible for sending Nigel after him, the British Louis, who did battle with him the first half of the season who was with Darby's firm in London.

Can I take a moment to give props to Rick Hoffman who plays Louis? He usually nails it, but this episode he especially did.

The writing was there to give him an opportunity to express a huge range of emotions with Louis, and he absolutely crushed it.

The most sensitive moment came when he admits to Harvey that he found out why Scottie picked a fight with him, and that he won't recover from it but she will. This leads to him asking for Harvey to get his case back for him.

Initially refusing, Harvey asks if he was asking because of their new friendship, or because of the favor Louis did for Harvey by dropping his investigation into Mike. Louis admits it's a favor he's calling in.

Naturally, what he did for Harvey by not looking into Mike was big enough that Harvey had no choice but to agree. This leads to a fight with Scottie, who can't understand what Louis could have possibly done for Harvey that would make Harvey demand she give the case back to him.

After Harvey refuses to tell her what the favor was, the old wound of lawyers vs. boyfriend and girlfriend between Harvey and Scottie gets opened up again.

This is why Suits has such a great premise. When it all comes down to it, if your premise doesn't have a ripple effect through your storytelling you're A) Not telling the story right and/or B) Don't have a compelling premise.

By Harvey having to protect Mike no matter what, he's forced to compromise his relationship with the closest female character to him on the show outside of Donna.

It almost broke Mike and Rachel permanently, it's exciting to see Harvey and Scottie's relationship come onto the chopping block again.

Scottie better stay though, god damn it. She's awesome.

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