Suits

It’s time for Mike to take control of his defense, and he starts by putting the mother of his recently-deceased former client Clifford Danner on the stand. In an emotionally-charged moment, Clifford’s mother talks about how Mike was the only lawyer who would help someone like Clifford.

As time runs out before the trial, Mike wants to represent himself while Harvey wants to lead the charge. To decide the issue, Harvey challenges Mike to a winner takes all showdown.

Mike and Harvey get the judge to order U.S. Attorney Anita Gibbs to hand over her discovery, but the tradeoff is that the trial is set for only two weeks away. And Gibbs continues to keep them on the defensive, attempting to bully Rachel into making a deal by threatening to ruin her future as a lawyer.

How can you say someone is loyal to a fault when that person is Donna Paulsen? Unfortunately, we learn through a series of flashbacks that Harvey’s level-redheaded assistant (and, again, YAY for Donna going back to Harvey) has always had a blind spot for her father.

Little time has elapsed since Mike Ross’ escort from Pearson Specter Litt for conspiracy to commit fraud. In fact, it has only been a couple of hours before we meet Assistant U.S. Attorney Anita Gibbs, a ruthless prosecutor who is determined to put Mike away for a very long time.

With Forstman’s promise hanging over his head, Harvey clears his day for an emergency meeting with Dr. Agard. While Harvey fears that his resignation will cause the House of Pearson Specter Litt to crumble, it’s an episode from his past that Dr. Agard is more interested in: the time that Harvey chose to reveal his mother’s infidelity to his father.

Harvey manages do narrowly dodge a suspension with a split vote, but the partners are soon blindsided by an even bigger threat waiting in the wings: Daniel Hardman. With Jack Soloff in his pocket and a billion-dollar client paying his bills, the former name partner finally makes his play to get his foot back in the door. And while Jessica, Harvey and Louis make a show of solidarity in the face of his strong-arm tactics, Hardman can taste the discontent in the halls of his old firm, and it isn’t long before he’s put a few cracks in their unified front.

In the wake of Harvey and Louis’s devastating fight, Donna and Jessica step in to diffuse the tension. While Donna tries to talk Louis down from a lawsuit, Jessica orders Harvey to take two weeks vacation. But with Louis furious and Harvey unrepentant, there may be no cooling the situation.

It seems the worm has turned when Jack Soloff comes to Mike looking to make amends with a case perfectly suited to the young associate’s hedge fund background. Of course, Mike is less than eager to work with the man who so recently stabbed both him and Louis in the back on the Fletcher Engines deal, but with word of that debacle sweeping the firm (and the town) and Daniel Hardman back on the radar, Jessica makes it clear that she can’t afford for Mike to not get close with Soloff.

With the financial compensation structure issue put to bed, Jessica asks Louis to steer clear of Jack Soloff for a while and, above all, to try to keep his pettiness in check. A tall order for Louis, to be sure, but he soon gets to prove his new commitment to harmony when Dominic Barone returns with a personal request – he wants Louis and Mike to help him put a handshake deal through to buy Rangetech, an old friend’s company whose electric battery technology will ensure that McKernan Motors stays viable well into the future. Louis claims he’ll put his ego aside, but Mike is skeptical that the normally prickly attorney can be a team player.

Harvey’s fragile mindstate takes another hit when his nights are interrupted by a dream of Donna in bed with a familiar face – his old nemesis, Travis Tanner. Ever stubborn, Harvey won’t admit that thoughts of Donna are robbing him of sleep. Of course, his therapist knows he’s lying. The question is, why?

Louis’s very lovely, very successful sister arrives at Pearson Specter Litt in search of an attorney to handle her divorce – but she doesn’t want her brother, she wants Harvey. Taken aback at first, Louis eventually agrees to try and convince Harvey to take his sister’s case. And though bad blood still simmers between the name partners, Harvey finds himself caving when Louis appeals to his soft spot for familial loyalty.

Harvey attempts to bury the hatchet with Jack Soloff at Jessica’s behest, but when Jack throws Harvey’s overtures of friendship back in his face, Harvey decides to poach one of the power-hungry partner’s clients to teach him his place.

Familial tensions flare when Robert Zane presents Rachel with a prenup for Mike to sign. At the same time, Harvey begins the hunt for a new legal secretary and deals with an old client who wants to sell his multi-million dollar sneaker company for a third of its value.

It’s a new day at Pearson, Specter, Litt, and as much as Harvey may want to pretend everything will go back to normal, the truth is that Donna is leaving him to go work for Louis. Never one to embrace change, Harvey tries to go about business as usual, but it soon becomes clear that the shake up has him off his game, so much so that he’s seeing a shrink.