Jessica can slap the taste out of as many people as she likes, it isn’t going to change the fact that she was unable to keep a lid on the one thing that’s been brewing on Suits since the end of the season four finale: civil war. Forget about your Iron Mans and Captain Americas because, right now, all that matters are the dueling parties of the Pearson Specter Litt law firm. But what makes the early days of this war special? Why is what Suits did this week so praise worthy that it deserves an entire review devoted simply to its structure? It’s because this week was the true season premiere of Suits Season Five that we didn’t see last week.
“Denial” may have kicked off the latest run of episodes of the USA series, but it was most certainly not a season premiere… at least in the traditional sense. Instead of pushing plot, the episode instead chose to push character. Why does that matter? Because now that we’ve spent the last week digesting the fact that Harvey’s come to terms with his new circumstances – those circumstances being the loss of Donna as his secretary – we must now watch as he goes to war without her in order to save the one person he’s never been able to save without her: himself.
It was a risky choice to place so much focus on Harvey in the previous episode that it took away screentime for anyone else not playing benefit to the A storyline. However, it’s a move that – in season five – is entirely appreciated. It’s something different and unique and comes to us from a place of disorientation. Instead of being handed a show that may try to make similar moves too early, Suits knows the time it has left is limited. If we’re in season five, it’s hard to imagine the show making it to 2018/2019 without a series conclusion.
Right now, we’re in the meat of the program's second half, and you don’t get to keep playing set up while also ringing the same bells in act two that you rung in act one. But how do you progress things without blowing up the show too soon? By focusing attention on a singular character for a beat. Then, once you do, the subsequent moments that affect the ensemble as a whole have that much more weight added to them because its entire dynamic has changed all because we, the audience, have learned just one extra thing about the anchoring character of the group – that extra thing in this case being Harvey in therapy for his anxiety.
Harvey and Louis have done battle in the past, and Louis has made hasty decisions before that he would later go on to regret, but in this case, he’s essentially now being forced into a battle he doesn’t want to have. Harvey needs a war. He needs a conflict that will allow him the excuse to remove his focus away from Donna… but as we see in the final scene of the episode, that’s easier said than done. Harvey could have made the stakes of his new battle the sanctity of Louis’ job, but instead, he’s made it the sanctity of Donna’s. In his mind, to save Donna, he must force her into a situation that will lead to her coming back whether she likes it or not, and that plan starts with striking a blow against the person that “stole” her away in the first place.
This is the episode that sets our summer arc in motion. This is the episode that changes the status quo. This is the episode that we can truly call our season premiere. What we got last week was a bridge. It was an emotional plank to float on while trying to swim to the shore of a new season after having our ship demolished at the hands of emotional pirates equipped with a canon that would make Jack Sparrow blush. Thankfully, though, that plank that was “Denial” was the safety net we needed to make it to the sandy beaches of “Compensation” just in time to fall victim to a firefight threatening to inflict far more mortal damage before all is said and done.
Suits airs Wednesday at 10/9c on USA
