Suits - Summer Finale Recap: Who Learned Mike's Secret?

Episode 10 of Season 3 of Suits, the Summer Finale, “Stay,” saw all of our favorite Pearson Darby Specter employees juggling Ava Hessington’s lawsuit with their own personal dramas. It seemed these romantic paths each happened to reach a breaking point just as Suits heads into its hiatus until Season 3 kicks back up again this winter. That isn’t to say that things ever seemed forced or gratuitous. In fact, doesn’t it make sense that these complicated love lives would reach their boiling points just as massive targets were placed on the backs of everyone at this firm? When everything you know is put on the line, you tend to grasp firmly to what’s truly important. Here is my Recap and Review of Suits Season 3 Episode 10, the Summer Finale, “Stay”!

Oddly enough, Episode 10 featured the most trying legal situation of Season 3 thus far, yet as Harvey (Gabriel Macht) and Mike (Patrick J. Adams) faced the wrath of Ava Hessington (Michelle Fairley), most of our attention was focused on the trials and tribulations of their love lives. Harvey and Scottie (Abigail Spencer) had become mostly about respecting their history up until this point. There might have always been some romantic tension and chemistry left there, but for the most part, their ongoing relationship has always seemed to me to be more so about getting to a place of truth rather than rekindling things. The episode opened with Harvey’s attempt to wrangle Scottie over to his side in order to split ways with Darby without having to throw her to the dogs as well. Scottie, refusing to betray Darby after ten years of fighting for his team, put Harvey in a tough predicament. Throughout the episode, Harvey would attempt to keep things as professional as possible, but when Scottie’s career and reputation would be repeatedly threatened, the man seemed to begin to crack a bit.

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First, Jessica (Gina Torres) would pressure Harvey to fight behind Scottie’s back in an attempt to coerce Ava into targeting Darby in exchange for their testimony against his firm. Unfortunately for Harvey, Ava’s new representation had his own ulterior motives. Tanner (Eric Close) was back in the picture this week, folks. With an 0 for 2 record in Harvey’s favor, Tanner leapt at the opportunity to represent Ava, who’d refused to even consider Harvey’s offer to begin with. Later, the time would come for Harvey, Jessica, and a newly prepped Scottie to deal with the virtual firing squad that Tanner would bring to their first deposition. Ava stopped in moments before, probing Harvey for any glimmer of an apology. Specter, refusing to acknowledge any sort of personal blame for Ava’s recent issues, only seemed to anger Hessington more. In truth, Harvey’s personal rivalry with Cameron Dennis did nothing to help Ava, even arguably causing the murder trial to begin with. Meanwhile, Jessica had attempted to brief Scottie on Tanner’s obnoxious and borderline inappropriate means of getting under the skin of others. The deposition was brutal, to say the least, as everything from cheating rumors to Harvey’s torrid and tumultuous history with Scottie was drudged up in an attempt to get their blood boiling. This would serve as merely a taste of things to come, but as you’ll come to learn, most of the legal happenings this week merely served as a means to fuel some awesome romantic drama.

Mike and Rachel, in the meantime, continued their struggle with Rachel’s current Columbia vs. Stanford dilemma. Mike found himself hurt over Zane’s decision to remove their personal relationship from the equation. When drawing up a list of pros and cons, the words “I love you” seemed to matter much more so to Mike. Rachel, on the other hand, found herself frustrated over Mike’s suffocating prying and refusal to let her come to a decision on her own terms and with some sufficient space. No matter, though, a bigger problem would be dropped in their laps that would be a true game changer. More on this later in the recap!

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First, some of my favorite moments this week came in the form of personal conversations between Mike and Harvey. At least, Mike would attempt to turn to his mentor for advice, yet would end up finding more answers in Harvey’s refusal to budge and lack of vulnerability than in Specter’s own words. Realizing that in continuing to act as he’d been behaving, he’d push Rachel away, and in living like Harvey, he’d shut her out, Mike did indeed give Zane her space for a mere moment there. That is, until Jessica threw the couple a curveball. Catching sight of the sparks between the two, Jessica managed to weasel the truth out of a flabbergasted Donna (Sarah Rafferty) before dropping by Mike’s apartment with a whopper of a choice for him to make. Before discussing that, let’s just take a moment to enjoy the memory of Jessica in Mike Ross’ apartment, shall we? Mike was then handed an affidavit for Rachel to sign, one that would link her to the secret as well. If Mike refused to force his girlfriend to sign the paper, a form that would essentially banish her to Stanford regardless, he’d lose his job. Remember, Rachel is the daughter of Robert Zane, and Jessica is not one to mess around or take chances when it comes to her firm. Her firm is her whole world, so I completely understood this.

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Meanwhile, Tanner continued to drag Scottie through the mud during his next deposition. When an affidavit from Stephen Huntley (Max Beesley) revealed that Scottie was indeed tied to the sanctioned murders as well, it was none other than Donna who’d come to her rescue. Using Mike’s help, Donna weaseled her way into a meeting with Stephen where she begged him to right his wrongs once and for all by freeing Scottie of his accusations. Stephen admitted to lying to save his own skin, using ambiguous wording in his affidavit in an attempt to throw her under the bus. Donna would have left disappointed, but the room in which she met with Stephen was bugged to record any and all conversations. She got what she went there for, in more ways than one.

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Harvey, needless to say, was pleased with Donna’s work, but another conversation with Tanner, one in which Harvey questioned his truly vindictive motives, revealed that he’d stop at nothing to ruin Scottie’s career. The purpose, of course, would be to wreck Harvey emotionally in the process. That evening, Harvey had a moment alone with Scottie in his office where he’d attempt convince her to see things his way one last time. Scottie, still distraught over Harvey’s betrayals, initially refused to budge; however, Harvey finally began to break. After he’d admitted how much he truly cared for Scottie, she agreed to sign with tears in her eyes. I loved the little detail of Gabriel Macht's voice cracking a bit there!

Scottie and Harvey might have had a breakthrough, but it didn’t seem as though Ava Hessington was willing to budge at all. Continuing to blame Harvey as much as she did Darby, the following day’s deposition didn’t seem to start off on the right foot. Yet, it seemed as though Harvey’s slight breakthrough with Scottie had opened the floodgates. Well, at least enough to get him to shut off the camera and offer a sincere apology to Ava for any damage he’d done. Tanner knew he’d been defeated when Ava seemed to get a kick out of Harvey’s “Call your mother” line that marked his win! That was that, everybody. All it took was an apology from Harvey to shut the whole case down. As I said previously, the case was nipped in the bud so quickly that it began to dawn on me that most of this was here merely to stoke the flames of the relationships tied to it. That evening, Harvey would cook a casual dinner for Scottie at his place before talk would turn to business, yet again. Scottie, frustrated that Harvey still harped on work, refused to join the Pearson Specter team. Before storming out, Harvey would grab her arm, pulling her back to him, and finally letting her into his life. Thus, it looks like Scottie is sticking around! It’s funny, I thought Season 3 was slowly building up to a Harvey/ Donna romance, yet one single full episode’s worth of action lead to this, and I’m totally fine with it. I’m a Scottie fan, too! What can I say? It was also kind of great that Donna closed out her chapter with Stephen on her own, rather than through Harvey. Everyone’s a winner!

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Mike, meanwhile, was a frazzled and emotional wreck over his latest relationship issue. Jessica had truly thrown him for a loop. Fortunately, Rachel drummed up a clever plan. Catching Jessica off guard in her office, Rachel proposed an offer. Never sign anything unless you can get something out of it! Rachel, we’re assuming, agreed to sign the affidavit demanded by Jessica under one condition; Jessica would have to wave the "Harvard only" rule once she graduated law school. Mike was certainly ecstatic after hearing the news that his love was enough to convince her to stay in New York, even if Stanford was the better option. Still, we don’t know when he’ll learn the whole truth...

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Throughout the entirety of the Summer Finale, we’d catch up with Louis (Rick Hoffman) and Sheila (Rachael Harris), who’d been conspicuously absent from Season 3 thus far. Yet, I should have known better than to think we’d have a throwaway plotline during the finale. Episode 10 filled us in on the fact that the two had continued their special brand of comedic canoodling, but there was a purpose to this. Most of the show surrounded Sheila’s frustration over Louis’ refusal to commit to her. Louis, clueless as to why Sheila would cloak her relationship demands in business, would eventually get tipped off to the truth by a little friendly advice from Mike. Yet, would you believe, even a finely crafted formal proposal wasn’t enough to convince Sheila of Louis’ romantic prowess? In the end, Litt’s last effort, a personal romantic gesture in the offices of Harvard, surrounded by every Harvard Law student file ever, set the stage for his official invite to take things exclusive. We got to be happy for Louis, if only for a moment. When Sheila stepped out of the room, he couldn’t help but snoop through the student files in the cabinets around him. The funny thing about not going to Harvard Law, is that you never get a student file! Louis Litt just discovered Mike Ross’ secret!

What did you think of the Suits Season 3 Summer Finale, Episode 10, “Stay”? Will Louis rat Mike out, or hop on the bandwagon? Were you impressed by Rachel’s maneuver? Are you happy to see Scottie and Harvey moving forward in their relationship, or were you hoping things would get heated up with Donna sooner rather than later?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of the Suits Season 3 Summer Finale, Episode 10, “Stay”!