‘Suits’: Louis Tries to Get the Firm Out From Under Faye’s Control (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 9, Episode 2 of Suits, “Special Master.”]
The firm has a major problem in the final season of Suits, and its name is Faye Richardson.
Denise Crosby’s character isn’t going anywhere, no matter how hard Louis (Rick Hoffman) may try (or enlist others to do so), and in fact, by the end of Wednesday’s episode, things are much, much worse for him.
But he’s not the only one dealing with something quite serious in “Special Master.” A man Samantha (Katherine Heigl) served with needs her help, and Faye’s presence isn’t the only complication when it comes to his case. And Harvey (Gabriel Macht) and Donna (Sarah Rafferty) have a Thomas (Sasha Roiz) problem.
Oh, and the most important revelation of the episode is clearly that Alex (Dulé Hill) taps.
Their home is under attack
Because of Faye’s presence, Louis doesn’t have much time to celebrate when Harvey and Donna tell him they’re together. But he does tell Donna that as thrilled as he is for her, he’s happier for Harvey. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to him, and he finally knows it,” he explains.
Instead, everyone’s focused on dealing with Faye, especially after she makes it clear that they can’t get rid of her or stop her from taking Robert’s name down, no matter how much Samantha protests. She’ll only leave once they convince her they can be trusted to not cross lines. She has the authority to fire them if they do, approve new cases, allocate resources, and anything else she sees fit.
(Shane Mahood/USA Network)
There’s no fighting her, Gretchen warns them. She worked in her firm years ago, and word is that Faye found out her husband crossed a line, stripped his name off the wall, and fired him. Someone like that won’t be easy to stop.
So, Louis turns to Benjamin to find a loophole in the Bar’s by-laws to force them to remove her, by any means necessary. “Our home is under attack, and I can’t defend it alone,” the managing partner says. When Benjamin goes to see him later and tell him he can’t access the digital copy of the by-laws, Louis reiterates he needs him to get it done.
Alex can tell that Louis needs to blow off some steam, but without his usual methods (opera, mudding) available, there’s only one thing they can do: bowl. It’s Louis’s first time, but once Alex suggests he imagine Faye’s face on the pins —taking his firm and laughing at him — he’s a natural.
After, Alex assures him that he’ll be standing when this is all over with Faye. Alex felt the same way when he first joined the firm and things weren’t what he thought they would be, but he made it through.
But no amount of de-stressing can help Louis when Faye finds out that Benjamin hacked the Bar for Louis. “That’s the problem with this place,” she tells him. “You’re a bunch of wild dogs running around defecating all over the legal standards you swore to uphold, and you can bet your ass, I’m going to put a leash on every one of you.”
In turn, Louis tries to fire Benjamin (interrupting Harvey and Donna’s conversation about the can-opener). Then Faye interrupts their conversation and points out this shows a lack of judgment. Louis walks away before she can humiliate him again.
(Christos Kalohoridis/USA Network)
So instead, Faye is waiting when he gets into the car after work. Benjamin is staying, she tells him. And as for Louis, he’s not managing partner anymore, effective immediately. She’s stripping him of his title and all the duties that go with it, and he can either accept it or resign.
Katrina’s right when she tells Alex that Louis is going to need his friends more than ever.
Honesty can only go so far
One of Faye’s first orders of business is to ask Donna to set up an exit interview with Thomas for her. Since the firm put his interests above another client’s, she doesn’t understand why he’s leaving.
Knowing Thomas won’t lie for them again, Harvey goes to convince him to stay so he doesn’t have to do the interview. The firm has done good for him, the lawyer reminds him, but he wants the chance to earn back his trust. That begins when Thomas asks who Donna is to him. “She’s the most important person in my life, Thomas, and she knows it,” Harvey answers honestly.
That accomplishes what they need. Thomas will stay with the firm, but he wants Harvey as his lawyer. Alex isn’t happy when he hears this, but there’s really nothing he can do.
However, after Thomas stops in to sign the engagement letter and has a light-hearted conversation about his stellar qualities (according to Louis) with Donna, he realizes he can’t handle it and backs out. That means he’s going to have to do that exit interview, unless Donna can get through to Faye.
(Christos Kalohoridis/USA Network)
She does, by telling her the truth. She and Thomas were in a relationship and ended things a few days ago. Asking him about it would be reopening a wound he’s trying to close. “Have you ever been in a relationship you thought would last but didn’t?” Donna asks her. “And when it ended, there was collateral damage that you never could’ve anticipated but still felt responsible for?” Faye tells her she can cancel the interview.
No man left behind
Lucas turns to Samantha to sue his former employer after he was fired. The company missed out on a Department of Defense contract, but he’s the only one who was let go from his department. She doesn’t want to worry about Faye approving the case, so Harvey tells her to claim she took it the night before.
When she meets with Lucas’ former boss, however, she learns that her friend injured another employee, missed work, and acted erratically. He liked Lucas, but he was going to fire him no matter what. Samantha realizes her friend has PTSD, and Lucas admits that his doctor wrote down he suffered from anxiety because he didn’t want the diagnosis on record.
Faye confronts her about the case, worried that if she starts to lose, she may not fight the right way. So, she refuses to let her use her expense account or the firm’s associates and resources. Samantha turns to Katrina (Amanda Schull) for help, explaining that while Lucas wanted her to stay after her four years, she got out. He did two more tours.
(Christos Kalohoridis/USA Network)
“In his head, he is still there while I wear a two thousand dollar dress and negotiate million dollar deals,” Samantha explains. Katrina agrees to help, but they have to do it on the up and up and pick a fight they can win.
That means that when Samantha doesn’t want to take a sealed $25,000 settlement offer (which would keep Lucas’s PTSD diagnosis off record), Katrina points out that her friend needs treatment.
And Samantha convinces him to get just that and agree to sign a contract stating he works for a corporation she created. He doesn’t want to take her money, but she warns him that if he doesn’t get the professional help he needs, the contract is void. He doesn’t have to handle what he’s going through alone.
Suits, Wednesdays, 9/8c, USA
