S08.E05: Good Mudding

[Chicago Redshirt]

Harvey confronts his personal issues to defend his brother; Louis sacrifices for family.

[statsgirl]

I liked this one. It was nice to have an episode show where the various partners of the firm didn't spend the time trying to stab each other in the back.  Nice to see some personal story on Alex.

I also liked the resolution of Harvey's story with his brother. The wife's lawyer was ridiculous. When Harvey first went to speak to her, he hadn't taken  his brother as a client yet.

[Chicago Redshirt]

For me, my enjoyment of episodes this season seem to correlate with how Samantha is portrayed. She was fine in this one for the most part and the episode was decent, all things considered.

The Harvey plot: Gotta whine that it of course makes no sense for Harvey to represent his brother. Harvey's a corporate lawyer and not a family relations lawyer. So even though he's God's gifts to attorneys, he isn't going to know the law as well as someone who specializes in that field. And on top of it, because of his relationship to both his brother and sister-in-law, he is going to have various blinders as to what's going on. 

Putting that aside, it makes no sense why Harvey's brother would lie about the reason for the potential divorce, and in particular tell the lie that he did about infidelity, knowing that is one of Harvey's major issues. Good thing that Harvey's sister-in-law apparently sucks hard as a parent so that Harvey could force her into a solution.

The Louis plot: Still tired of Louis/Sheila shenanningans in general, but this wasn't a good look for Sheila in particular. She was pushy, invasive of his privacy, manipulative, dishing out ultimatums. Putting that on top of her past sins, I'm not sure what Louis sees in her. If she started in on me like, "Well if you aren't willing to give up mudding  to get me pregnant, maybe you're not fit to be a father," I'd have been, "Well if you're going to manipulate me into traps and not trust me, maybe you're not fit to be my wife or the mother of my child." I was curious enough to google whether mudding actually affects sperm count (didn't find anything). I sort of ship Louis/Donna, so the scene where she gave him a little mud and the World's Best Dad mug gave me some hope there.

The Samantha/Alex plot: Yeah, there's going to have to be some suspension of disbelief that Alex would entrust any level of the moral upbringing of his daughter to someone he doesn't really know or like because she's "cool." 

[l star]

Has Alex always been this awful? I’ve been trying to cut him some slack because he typically has legitimate points, but I’m over his personality. I hated that they had Samantha roll over so completely. Her interactions with Joy weren’t perfect, but they did not in any way deserve that crap he threw back. Especially since she only got involved because he asked her to, which was it’s own irritation for me. If he was so concerned, why didn’t he park Joy’s butt in a corner of his office? Instead of, you know, bringing her to work, leaving her in a communal area, and asking other busy professionals to keep an eye on her. Samantha still has some banked goodwill with me from being great with Louis last week though.

I’ve really been enjoying Donna this season. She’s always been one of my favorites, but at times in the past she’s gotten grating. This role suits her. I’m buying that she’s the glue that holds it all together. 

I’ve been enjoying Harvey too, and I appreciated a break from Robert and all their nonsense. Even a season ago I think Harvey would have handled this storyline very differently. I liked the nod to his past while still letting him get on with what needed to be done. I agreed with the outcome as well. His brother deserved to lose his wife and his comfy life, but screwing over his wife and one parenting mistake should not have cost him everything with his kids.

I’m not sure what to say about Louis. I know he’s always been eccentric and inappropriate but he was really pushing the line at the beginning with Harvey. And like Donna later, Harvey told him that. Louis just steamrolled past the objection. I was cringing.

I was cringing at Sheila and Louis some too. I think Louis needs a hardass riding him in his life. And in Sheila’s place, I would have been SO pissed off at him for going mudding too. They are just too much for me this season. I love Louis and I don’t really want him toned down, but I could use a little less of their intense crazy every episode.

Speaking of the Harvey and Louis scene, Harvey and Donna right after was easily my favorite of the episode. The dialogue of it was sexy teasing, but the way they played it was so sweet. Harvey actually seemed to catch her off guard a bit with the flirting. And the way she tilted her head to smile at him just screamed warmth, affection, and simple like to me. It was great. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

Alex has not really been treated well as a character up till  now. He has butted heads with Mike. He has had a major ethical breach as an attorney. Now he is butting heads with Samantha and talking about his quest for named partner. And when he has found himself in a jam, he has turned pretty whiny.

That said, I think he had every right to be upset at Samantha. What she asked Joy to do was eavesdropping, a crime. If someone enlisted my child to commit a crime I'd go way beyond his level of anger.

[bros402]

That sperm bank Louis went to did not look like a sperm bank.

And they have you fill out so many forms before you can make a deposit. Takes like 45 minutes, there isn't pre-registration over the phone, especially not by a random person making the appointment for you

[Joimiaroxeu]

Tomatoes? Aren't peaches (or nectarines) the obvious choice?

?Get up for the downstroke? as Louis is strutting into the fertility clinic. Clever use of a Parliament classic.

Sam finally broke out of her black and white clothing mode. It's a miracle.

[marcee]

On 8/17/2018 at 8:15 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

That said, I think he had every right to be upset at Samantha. What she asked Joy to do was eavesdropping, a crime. If someone enlisted my child to commit a crime I'd go way beyond his level of anger.

Except she didn't ask Joy to eavesdrop. She didn't enlist Joy to do anything. She was getting up to get the coffee when Joy interjected and said she'd go and then decided to hit record when she overheard some of their conversation. Granted, one could argue that Samantha manipulated her into doing what she did, but I honestly didn't see it that way. And, sure, I might've been mad were it my kid that she involved in something shady - but if I asked her to get involved, it's my own damned fault. I might tell her I was disappointed in the choices she made, thank her for her time and take the rest up with my kid. Just sayin'.

The mudding plot was stupid. The Harvey plot wasn't terrible. I hate Katheryn Heigl and want her to get off my TV screen.