S07.E15: Tiny Violin / S07.E16: Goodbye

[Chicago Redshirt]

Quote

An attack against Specter Litt blindsides Harvey and Louis; Mike can't turn his back on the clinic when a class action suit overwhelms Nathan and Oliver.

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It's all hands on deck as Louis, Donna and Alex defend the firm, while Harvey aids Jessica on a case; Mike and Rachel juggle their commitments to the firm, the clinic and each other.

[Jediknight]

I liked these episodes.

They're setting up the Jessica spinoff to be a completely different type of show, which is good.

I didn't hate Mike's reason for leaving.  Makes sense that he'd want to go back to helping the little guy.  And they've definitely got it set up that Mike vs Harvey is going to be the series finale.  I'll miss Adams and Markle.

I like the addition of Robert, that's a nice twist for next season.

The clinic on the other hand, man, they are boned without Mike to bail them out.  They never showed you that the clinic has any lawyers even a third as good as Mike, they are so screwed.

The show loses Mike and Rachel, but it gains Robert, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.  Oh wait, that preview showed all that matters is that Katherine Heigl joins the cast.  Couldn't they have bumped Katrina up to regular instead?

[mwell345]

I liked these two episodes too, much more than I have liked most of Suits the past couple of seasons.  And the Jessica spinoff looks interesting.  

I actually thought this was the series finale - I did not know there was going to be a season 8.   Robert as partner will be interesting also. 

Dear Suits---- just don't make next season all about Harvey and Donna, and I'll be happy. 

[lorbeer]

5 hours ago, Jediknight said:

 Oh wait, that preview showed all that matters is that Katherine Heigl joins the cast.  Couldn't they have bumped Katrina up to regular instead?

There is already some preview? I'd actually like to see Heigl there.

[Chicago Redshirt]

As a Jessica fan, I like the notion of her getting a spin-off and enjoyed, for the most part, the portion of these episodes that was essentially a back-door pilot for that. (And I appreciated seeing stuff actually filmed in Chicago -- for instance, that was the lobby of real City Hall, a real steakhouse, the Flamingo statue). But there was an awful lot of stuff devoted to her this past season even though she "left" the show. So much so that it felt like Mike and Rachel got short-shrift. Yes, the actual wedding scenes were nice and all that, but I felt like there should have been more. Did we even get the "You may kiss the bride"?

The notion that of all the lawyers in the world, someone in Seattle wanted to start up a firm with Mike Ross (and his new wife) seems hard to swallow. Neither are licensed (presumably) in Washington, and the handwaving to be done that Mike is able to practice law in New York after being a convicted felon for falsely practicing law there should mean that he won't have an easy time with other bars. 

The notion that the former partners had a legal case against the firm for Mike's fraud when even MFing Mike managed to bounce back seems ridiculous. The notion that in particular Scottie's reputation was somehow damaged by Mike's fraud when a) she left long before he was exposed b) she left amid a backdrop where people from her firm had conspired to commit murder (or whatever the heck it was that Darby and Stephen were involved in) is worse.

Didn't miss Sokoloff, Scottie or Jeff Malone at all. Hope Jessica breaks up with Jeff and we don't have to see him as a recurring character. He is borrrrrring.

It is weird to me how Suits deals with, but doesn't deal with race. We have two prominent black attorneys in Jessica and Zane who get shafted in various ways. And Jessica's case was about low-income housing and undoubtedly many minorities getting shafted by the system. And yet, the show doesn't really make the racial subtext of all this outward text.

[TV Diva Queen]

2 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

As a Jessica fan, I like the notion of her getting a spin-off and enjoyed, for the most part, the portion of these episodes that was essentially a back-door pilot for that. (And I appreciated seeing stuff actually filmed in Chicago -- for instance, that was the lobby of real City Hall, a real steakhouse, the Flamingo statue). But there was an awful lot of stuff devoted to her this past season even though she "left" the show. So much so that it felt like Mike and Rachel got short-shrift. Yes, the actual wedding scenes were nice and all that, but I felt like there should have been more. Did we even get the "You may kiss the bride"?

The notion that of all the lawyers in the world, someone in Seattle wanted to start up a firm with Mike Ross (and his new wife) seems hard to swallow. Neither are licensed (presumably) in Washington, and the handwaving to be done that Mike is able to practice law in New York after being a convicted felon for falsely practicing law there should mean that he won't have an easy time with other bars. 

The notion that the former partners had a legal case against the firm for Mike's fraud when even MFing Mike managed to bounce back seems ridiculous. The notion that in particular Scottie's reputation was somehow damaged by Mike's fraud when a) she left long before he was exposed b) she left amid a backdrop where people from her firm had conspired to commit murder (or whatever the heck it was that Darby and Stephen were involved in) is worse.

Didn't miss Sokoloff, Scottie or Jeff Malone at all. Hope Jessica breaks up with Jeff and we don't have to see him as a recurring character. He is borrrrrring.

It is weird to me how Suits deals with, but doesn't deal with race. We have two prominent black attorneys in Jessica and Zane who get shafted in various ways. And Jessica's case was about low-income housing and undoubtedly many minorities getting shafted by the system. And yet, the show doesn't really make the racial subtext of all this outward text.

I was shocked that they were actually in Chicago and pissed that I didn't know it.  They sure do hop around alot thought and it always cracks me up. I work at Thompson Center and wish I would have known they were at City Hall, although they probably filmed after hours.  

[Carolina Girl]

3 hours ago, mwell345 said:

I actually thought this was the series finale

I did too - I had to check the DirecTV info to confirm it wasn't.    After all that about the wedding, it was almost anti-climactic.  And I had an "uh oh" moment at the end with Harvey and Donna doing that little "where ya sittin'?" at the end.  I'm like NONONONONO.....

[Vikitty]

9 hours ago, Jediknight said:

Couldn't they have bumped Katrina up to regular instead?

They did both – she’s a regular for Season 8.

I thought squishing the wedding into 5 minutes was a waste, but it was well done. The Darvey subtext in the wedding pleased me even though the slow burn continues. I won’t miss Mike or Rachel – they became terrible people along with everyone else once they got together. I was annoyed with how much the Jessica plot took over the finale. I would rather Harvey have been a guest star in her pilot rather than have her take up so much of the finale. I say that as a Jessica fan, too. 

[catrice2]

Can't wait for the new show with Jessica. So far it seems to have a different feel.  I hope they get rid of Jeff.   She had a little spark with the Mayor, or am I crazy?  I love Gina Torres and I love whomever styles her as Jessica .

Donna and Harvey have never been a good idea and I'm tired of shows pandering to the fan base on pairings.   I am also tired of the Power struggle aspect of Suits...every season has been about who is trying to take the firm instead of the case of the week, which was a successful format when it started. 

I am not interested in the show without Jessica, and as much as he gets on my nerves...Mike.  Louis has been ruined to me and Donna was always annoying to me. If they put her with Harvy I can't even imagine how much worse the character will become. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, catrice2 said:

Can't wait for the new show with Jessica. So far it seems to have a different feel.  I hope they get rid of Jeff.   She had a little spark with the Mayor, or am I crazy? 

Gina T has sparks with most people she acts against. I could see chemistry (or hate chemistry) between her and the mayor, her and the cop, her and the fixer, her and the city attorney -- pretty much everyone she acted with in these episodes but her and Jeff. 

[catrice2]

2 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Gina T has sparks with most people she acts against. I could see chemistry (or hate chemistry) between her and the mayor, her and the cop, her and the fixer, her and the city attorney -- pretty much everyone she acted with in these episodes but her and Jeff. 

How true!!! 

[bros402]

I think it would've been better for the backdoor pilot to have not been the finale - I liked it, but it felt sort of like they didn't care Markle & Adams characters. Like I didn't want the whole finale to be dedicated to the wedding or entirely "oh look mushy moments since they are leaving the show" - but it felt like Rachel was barely in the episode.

[catrice2]

I actually was disappointed that Jessica was not at the wedding, although I still fail to understand why Harvey does not understand that she lost everything because he was arrogant enough and childish enough to want to pull one over and have a secret laugh by hiring Mike and having him pretend to be a lawyer. 

 

Unpopular "ship" but I've always felt that they should have went with a Harvey/Jessica romance. 

[Slovenly Muse]

I am trying to think of a series finale that did not end with the firm responding to takeover threats by hiring/firing partners and restructuring/rebranding the firm. I guess there was the one where the firm was under threat and Mike saved it by going to prison, which I respected at the time, but really, it was fundamentally the same thing.

Even though the firm-in-danger stuff was same old, same old, the Jessica stuff was interesting enough that I might check out that spinoff, just to see what they do. For this show, however, I think this will serve as a series finale for me.

16 hours ago, bros402 said:

I think it would've been better for the backdoor pilot to have not been the finale - I liked it, but it felt sort of like they didn't care Markle & Adams characters. Like I didn't want the whole finale to be dedicated to the wedding or entirely "oh look mushy moments since they are leaving the show" - but it felt like Rachel was barely in the episode.

This SO MUCH! I didn't mind that they were sidelined a bit, but we all know the reason they are leaving the show is that Markle is becoming actual royalty, and Adams used her departure as an excuse to sneak out himself. SHE was the reason they left the show. So why was the storyline all about MIKE getting some job offer and Rachel being thrown in to that like an afterthought? All the goodbyes were about Mike, all the talk was about what Mike wanted to do, and the resolution was about Mike moving on and moving up, when in real life it's Markle who is doing that. Rachel didn't even warrant an acknowledgement that she was offered the job at the Seattle firm on her own merits. The guy made it clear the job offer was for Mike, and then included Rachel because he knew Mike wouldn't go without her. It was WEIRD. The whole thing felt like a goodbye party thrown for the wrong person. I get that Mike was a lead character from the start, but when the real-life situation is so widely known, it was very odd for the show not to actually say a proper goodbye to Markle, when we all know she's the one leaving for good. (Does Adams have another project lined up? If not, it would not surprise me at all if we saw him pop back up once or twice for a guest appearance.)

Did the producers have some sort of unresolved issues about Markle's departure? Because the subtext of this goodbye should have been, "We're happy for you, Megan!" And instead it was "We're pissed we had to write Mike out because of you!"

[Mariangella]

I didn't like the season finale one bit...

 

Too much Jessica, not enough Harvey and Mike together, the wedding was forced, them saying goodbye unnatural and too short...

 

I had a feeling they were angry on megan and patrick.

And I bet for sure somebody on the writing staff suggested to kill them off ?

 

The only good thing was that we are finaly free from that annoying Paula. I join the people not shipping Harvey and Donna, much rather see him again with Scottie!

[7-Zark-7]

On 4/27/2018 at 4:03 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

But there was an awful lot of stuff devoted to her this past season even though she "left" the show. So much so that it felt like Mike and Rachel got short-shrift.

This felt so rushed, and I don't know why. The producers had to know for some time that Markle was leaving. They had enough time to give both actors a proper send off instead of squeezing it into a show about Jessica's spin off.

On 4/27/2018 at 10:45 AM, catrice2 said:

Donna and Harvey have never been a good idea and I'm tired of shows pandering to the fan base on pairings.   I am also tired of the Power struggle aspect of Suits...every season has been about who is trying to take the firm instead of the case of the week, which was a successful format when it started. 

Donna and Harvey had their chance a few seasons ago, but it's beyond tired now, and the power dynamics of the firm are an infinity loop. Back to the cases and clients, please. On a positive note, I am glad they brought back some of the humor this season.

On 4/28/2018 at 2:23 PM, catrice2 said:

Unpopular "ship" but I've always felt that they should have went with a Harvey/Jessica romance. 

I don't know about a romance, but a couple of steaamy one nighters would have worked for me.

On 4/28/2018 at 4:56 PM, Slovenly Muse said:

Did the producers have some sort of unresolved issues about Markle's departure? Because the subtext of this goodbye should have been, "We're happy for you, Megan!" And instead it was "We're pissed we had to write Mike out because of you!"

I don't mind the storyline being largely about Mike since the bond between he and Harvey has been the premise of the show. He was the brilliant but unfocused kid making bad decisions that a successful lawyer takes under his wing. 

However, it did seem like Markle was reduced to her lowest amount of screentime of any season. Perhaps she wanted it that way, I don't know. But, I did think it was odd that she was lit so terribly this season. It's like she was constantly in shadow. This is a woman who has had hundreds of candid photos taken of her in the past few months and she's looked model perfect in all of them, but when she's in a controlled environment where people take hours to set up lights and cameras, she just happens to look like she's getting over a cold... in every scene... all season? That's hard to buy.

Edited April 30, 2018 by 7-Zark-7

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 4/28/2018 at 6:56 PM, Slovenly Muse said:

Did the producers have some sort of unresolved issues about Markle's departure? Because the subtext of this goodbye should have been, "We're happy for you, Megan!" And instead it was "We're pissed we had to write Mike out because of you!"

I assume that Patrick J. Adams wanted to go as well, rather than the writers being forced to make him go. 

There could have been a half-dozen scenarios that got rid of Rachel while keeping Mike, from simple death (disease, car accident, killing by one of the many people they've pissed off over the years) to breakup to long-distance relationship (goes to Chicago to work with Jessica) 

[Sake614]

they didn't even have to kill her off or have them break up. She could just be mentioned but not seen. Focus on Mike at work. Say that Rachel is in class or something. She does attend law school so how hard would it be? 

I was very disappointed with the rushed ending. While Jessica's spin-off looks fairly interesting, the season finale was not the time to showcase her. Especially when they knew Adams and Markle were leaving the show. I didn't need a whole episode for the wedding, but more than 5 minutest at the end would have been nice. There was plenty of time to come up with a decent story that would send both actors/characters off in a fairly realistic way. I don't believe for a minute that Mike would tell Harvey in passing that he's quitting the firm and moving to Seattle. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Jessica, police brutality in Chicago? You were trying to swim in Reddick, Boseman, & Kolstad waters. They've already called dibs on that niche.

Young Jessica looked kind of like a young Beyoncé to me. Wonder if that was deliberate.

Whoa, I think Jessica pretty much called Carrie the mayor's hoe.

The sudden wedding seemed forced to me. But at least it was a happy ending for them. I was betting that Rachel would be killed off.

"Change things from the inside." Oh, Jessica, that's like "the check's in the mail." Whatever, I guess we can look forward to Jessica engaging in the good fight from within the castle walls.

[TheRabbi]

I caught up on this show over the past week. I was set to entertain the possibility of season 8 without Mike and Rachel to see which direction the show would head, but then in the little teaser trailer they show Katherine Heigl in there demanding "I want my name on the wall by the end of the year." I rolled my eyes so far they nearly fell out. 

I'll probably watch an episode or two, but I'm so sick of the Harvey/Donna stuff, and I really hated the Louis/Shiela storyline this season as well, so I'm not sure what's left for me. 

I wonder if legal battles are this easy in real life, when our lawyers just keep bullying until they get the answer they want (Mike bullying the lead factory guy on the stand until he admitted, and Donna saving their lease by apparently hindering the views of other buildings the landlord owns?). Just a lot of stuff you need to handwave away.