Suits - Recap: Hug Him Back

Episode 14 of Season 3 of Suits, “Heartburn,” brought a terrifying health scare to the firm, prompting all those shaken up to start thinking about their lives and futures. While Rachel (Meghan Markle) focused on cashing in an old debt, Mike (Patrick J. Adams) continued to obsess over the glass ceiling that will cripple his future forever. Meanwhile, Donna (Sarah Rafferty) attempted to help Harvey (Gabriel Macht) to make nice with Scottie, and Louis (Rick Hoffman) made a spontaneous decision that began in love and ended in heartbreak. Here is the Recap and Review of Season 3 Episode 14 of Suits, “Heartburn”!

To kick off the recap, Episode 14 focused mainly on the ripple effect of Louis Litt’s tragic heart attack. Having grown accustomed to commuting to work following weekends in Boston with Sheila (Rachael Harris), Louis’ newly acquired sense of nonchalance initially seemed refreshing and healthy; however, handling all of his business while maintaining the fun and games led to his stress-induced heart attack in the middle of court. Granted, it was very nice to see Louis in action in the courtroom again, if only for a moment. I was sure Suits was going to simply have him screw up and blame his relationship, but they certainly took it a step further. Once Jessica (Gina Torres) announced the depressing news to Louis’ friends and the firm, everyone’s true colors came out, and they were super supportive! Donna insisted on breaking Louis’ “no visitors” policy in favor of taking to his hospital bedside. Meanwhile, Harvey even began looking back on moments from their days as rival associates, burdening himself with the guilt of, say, sending a young Louis flowers to set off his allergies.

USA "Suits"

Mostly, the unhealthy workload was to blame for this health crisis, and the pleas of both Donna and Sheila to quit taking on too many stressful tasks at once eventually drove Louis to give in. At this point in Episode 14, we witnessed three great conversations between Louis and his people that resulted from his newly refreshed lease on life. First, a bare-assed Louis spontaneously proposed to Sheila at the hospital in a great romantic moment for the two. Who would have thought that Louis and Sheila would be the first engagement among the Suits couples? Having said that, my initial instincts told me that this would only lead to someone spilling the beans about Louis snooping through the Harvard filing system behind Sheila’s back. Again, I was incorrect, thankfully (kind of)! Next, Louis returned to the world of the suits and promptly asked Harvey to be his best man. It was a great moment of endearing insecurity for Litt that ended with Harvey graciously accepting the honor. Lastly, perhaps my favorite encounter following Louis’ speedy recovery was his conversation with Jessica, who gifted him a framed photo of their team enjoying themselves on a work trip. Louis is quite the dancer, but we probably could have guessed that. More importantly, Jessica reminded Louis that, at Pearson Specter, the years have turned them into a family.

Meanwhile, Mike and Harvey juggled the shock of Louis’ heart attack with the return of Tony Giannopoulos, who, of course, agreed to take Harvey and Louis on as his personal lawyers at the close of the first half of Season 3. Giannopoulos is kind of a scummy guy, though, and he doesn’t like when his right-hand men get to big and powerful. Basically, his initial issue was his desire to crush one of his own, who was looking to break away for more freedom, back into submission. Mike suggested that Giannopoulos simply separate this small piece of his company into an individual one under his own control, thus granting freedom while still solving everybody else’s problems. Even Giannopoulos’ second-in-command, Jonathan, couldn’t deny that Mike’s scheme made perfect sense. Giannopoulos, however, would settle for nothing less than domination.

USA "Suits"

More importantly, this issue with Giannopoulos actually played into the arc for Mike that began last week. As Jessica explained to Harvey, Mike always knew about the glass ceiling over his career as a lawyer, but now he really knows. Mike had a bit of an attitude to begin with, one that Harvey attempted to quash with some praise for his good work, but it wasn’t until Jonathan appeared solo and looking for Louis that Mike put his own ideas into action. Jonathan loved Mike’s suggestion of separating the companies, and he too was looking to secretly and smoothly break away from Giannopoulos’ dictatorship at their business; however, with Louis not around, Mike “off the record” handled the situation by offering a personal tip. To get out of their non-compete, the same set of rules that chained the last man to Giannopoulos, he could snoop around for a loophole in a ruling from the Michigan Court of Appeals. Basically, Mike handed a new opponent of their client, Giannopoulos, an exit plan because it was the right thing to do and because Mike was in quite the foul mood this week.

Harvey, needless to say, was not pleased with Mike’s behavior and promptly called him out on his reckless decision to help Jonathan in Louis’ name. It was clear as crystal that Mike did this to make a point about his value and to lash out. Now, it was up to Mike to right his perceived “wrong.” In the end, there was a loophole for the loophole. Jonathan’s algorithm, a ten-year creation that technically belonged to Giannopoulos’ company, was his life’s work and what made him valuable. If Giannopoulos claimed that this man tried to take “intellectual property,” he’d never work again, let alone would he be able to take his creation with him. One of the better dramatic scenes during Episode 14 occurred when Jonathan later sideswiped Mike on the street, thanking him for forever chaining him to the desk of the awful Tony Giannopoulos and ruining his chance for a free future. Mike knows about this all too well, of course. Though Harvey was eventually the one to force Mike to fix this initial error, it was also a classic Harvey Specter moment when he previously reminded Giannopoulos that acting like a brat won’t fly with him as his top-notch lawyer. Harvey doesn’t do temper tantrums.

USA "Suits"

Rachel’s quest to remind Jessica that she’d agreed to pay for her law school began as another stressful dramatic arc but ended on an uplifting note. Jessica did not recall ever hearing from Louis Litt that Rachel was to be rehired at Pearson Specter with the added perk of full tuition paid. In fact, it seemed Louis might have duped Rachel upon orchestrating her return. If you recall, Rachel was wrongly fired as an accused traitor then rehired back with a 10% raise. Unfortunately, it seemed Rachel would have to scrap together the money for school, something that was also promised to her, on her own. That is, until she thought up the idea to covertly corner Louis with a version of his own story without actually reminding Louis that this was, indeed, their actual agreement. You see, Rachel didn’t want to upset Louis post-heart attack, so she wasn’t too keen on the idea of simply being upfront and calling him out. Instead, she spoke of her “friend” who was most likely fooled by “some guy.” Louis, in the end, sided with “some guy” and made Rachel look incredibly stupid in the process. In the end, however, a little help from Donna pointed her towards the solution… Harvey. Rachel did a fantastic job of renegotiating a new contract with Jessica, using the fact that Jessica had fronted Harvey his advance to pay for law school as well. This was, clearly, an investment that paid off, and Harvey was there all the while to laugh at Rachel’s clever success. Rachel will spend the summer proving herself as a lawyer for the firm as well, something she is seriously looking forward to doing.

USA "Suits"

Episode 14 came to two significant moments of closure. First, it’s important to note that it seemed the one issue in Louis new engagement was in selecting a living location. New York is Louis home and the home of Pearson Specter. Boston, on the other hand, is the location of Sheila’s love, Harvard. In the end, Sheila agreed to move to New York to support Louis. These people are, of course, his true family. Unfortunately, something else came up to shatter everything. It seems the two never spoke of children, something Sheila doesn’t even want to consider. Louis refused to compromise, and it seems this power couple finally came to a crashing and sad end. Donna was there to lend a shoulder to cry on, though this mostly ended up simply prompting her to put the pressure on Harvey to call Scottie to apologize for hurting her.

To close the recap, Mike visited Harvey as a total wreck following his devastating blow to Jonathan. There is no way out for Mike as a lawyer except to head to the minor leagues in some podunk town that wouldn’t recognize him for his connections to Jessica and Harvey. Mike, of course, could never leave the big time; however, he also never expected to turn things around with Jonathan. Mike couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d destroyed a man’s future potential, so he again concocted the scheme for Jonathan to use his initial idea, the plan to separate into a smaller company under a big umbrella. Needless to say, Giannopoulos didn’t go for this the first time, but Jonathan was a different case. This is a man who loves his work and needs to love his job to be at his best. Giannopoulos knows how beneficial that is. In the end, it totally worked, and Jonathan repaid Mike by offering him a new position working as massive investment banker. As Jonathan put it, this career would make working as a lawyer at Pearson Specter look like the minor leagues!

What did you think of Suits Season 3 Episode 14, “Heartburn”? Will Mike take the job or stay at Pearson Specter? Did Louis really screw over Rachel? Is this the true end for Louis and Sheila?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Suits Season 3 Episode 14, “Heartburn”!