You had me at Your Honor, Your Honor. And, so it goes for anyone who finds themselves hooked on NBC’s newest law drama, Suits L.A. The show, now in its fourth episode, has found its sweet spot with the legalese coming off the screen not only taking shape, but also taking center stage, bringing a much-needed foundation to the show.
The acting, the dialogue, and even the somewhat measured action is at its best when the casework drives the storyline. It’s definitely giving me a reason to stay in this lane each week.
We jump right into the action at the start of the episode with Ted Black’s (Stephen Amell) competitor Samantha (Rachelle Goulding) dropping a new client on her new protege, Rick Dodsen (Bryan Greenberg) now settled in as Head of Entertainment for the Law Offices of Railsback Lane. While the firm name does not have the same fluid ring to it as the pre-merger Black Lane Firm, the offices are just as lush, the clients just as high profile, and the work just as unexpected, as that of its cross-town rivals.
Railsback Lane’s new client is charismatic character actor Enrico “Rico” Colantoni of Veronica Mars and Galaxy Quest fame (both of whom are named dropped as part of the plot), in what turns out to be a case of fueding neighbors. When Colantoni, playing himself, playing the victim, is arrested for vandalizing his neighbor’s hedges with a rather questionable landscaping redesign, he calls his attorney to help plead his case. If he had just not used the chainsaw, I am sure no one would have noticed.
Nevertheless, Rick, having taken an advanced read on the case file and now fully aware of the…ahem, suspect design carved into the neighbor’s petunias, sends Stuart (Josh McDermitt) to do legal intake of Rico down in lockup. In a moment he cannot unsee, Stuart, with his first look at the photo evidence, surmises that, among other things, there is more to the backstory as to why his client would have gratuitously rearranged his neighbor’s hedges to start.
Back at the new Black & Associates, Ted Black’s back-on-track entertainment law offices, the firm’s namesake and his new partner, Erica Rollins (Lex Scott Davis), must deal with a new hiccup in their most pressing case, the ongoing murder trial of noted producer Lester Thompson (Kevin Weisman) — to quickly recap, Lester is on trial for murdering his creative partner, Simon, who was also having an affair with Lester’s wife, Valerie.
The latest wrinkle in the case is that the studio bankrolling the film has uncovered that Lester may have also been taking money from the production. Reminding the producer of the morality clause in his contract, the studio is pushing to kick him off his own film.
While there is a plausible explanation on Lester’s part (explained in detail in episode 3), citing a Robin Hood-esque scenario that had the disgraced producer syphoning off the movie’s budget to pay back what his partner had actually been stealing. Sounds great in theory, but robbing Peter to pay Peter never works like you think it should.
Recognizing that this also gives Lester yet another plausible motive to do his partner in, his attorneys at Black & Associates jump in to push back on the studio to retain Lester’s name on the film. That would have been all well and good until Erica brings Ted up to speed on the firm hired to do the legal paperwork — it just so happens to be a familiar thorn in Ted’s side in one Samantha Railsback. For those keeping score at home, Samantha is Ted’s ex-girlfriend.
When Samantha threatens to release dirt on Ted’s client ahead of his murder trial if Black & Associates tries to sue to keep Lester on the film, Ted and Erica decide to workshop a good cop/bad cop scenario to get Lester to bow out on producer credits, himself. But, when Lester recounts his poignant reasons for wanting to remain, Ted refocuses his efforts to make it happen.
In a surprise turn, Lester leads the charge on moving up his trial date, in the hopes of clearing his name ahead of being removed from the film. The move puts Ted back in court to file the appropriate motions and to go toe-to-toe once again with assistant DA, Elizabeth Smith, who seems to have it out for Ted. Never fear, Ted has his own secret weapon in pro bono attorney and upstairs office tenant Amanda Stevens, played by Maggie Grace.
Amanda agrees to assist Ted with background on the assistant DA, in part, because there is definitely no love lost between the two women, due to a past beef that has been hinted at in previous episodes, though the full details of which have yet to be revealed.
Nevertheless, if the tension when Amanda makes a surprise appearance at the move-up hearing in her stunning black power suit to shed a little historical light on the ADA’s stall tactics is any indication of the fireworks to come between Amanda and Elizabeth, then I am here for it.
It is nice to finally see Grace get to fill out her role as Amanda Stevens. Though, her time onscreen up to this point has been limited, the actress, best known for Lost and the Taken film series, has demonstrated a commanding screen presence that has been both effective in conveying strength and vulnerability. It is evident that, from the early dynamics of her character playing opposite that of Amell’s, there will be more to their relationship as time moves on.
This week’s flashback to Ted’s past life in New York has the former prosecutor reliving a key moment in his high-profile mob case when Ted’s wise guy nemesis, known as Pellegrini, makes an unexpected visit to his younger brother’s place of work.
Though, Eddie was shaken by the experience, Ted would later assure his then-girlfriend, Samantha, that Eddie was never the intended target of Pellegrini’s threats. That, of course, would be Ted, who is still reeling, himself, from the mob bribing his now-deceased father. My Spidey sense tells me there is still more to come on that “Daddy-didn’t-do-right” front.
Despite both his girlfriend and brother being on edge about his work, Ted was committed more than ever to putting away the mob boss who, among other crimes, had Ted’s star witness taken out — a moment that was brought to us in living color to kick off the series in episode one.
In a follow-up trip down memory lane, we get the much-anticipated return of THE Harvey Specter, in the first of his limited-run guest appearances as Ted’s law buddy and rec league softball teammate. Harvey Specter wearing polyester pants? Who would have thunk it?
The formidable, sharp-witted attorney, played by OG Suit Gabriel Macht, serves as both a mentor and confidante to Ted in the latter’s time as a federal prosecutor. Macht is slated for appearances in additional episodes. Let’s hope when he does, we get to see more of the fire inside of Harvey that has come to define the original character.
Back in the present, Rick and Stuart wrap up their case with Rico, having done their own version of a good cop/bad cop workshop to get the actor to reveal why he had it out for his Gen Z social influencing neighbor. The answer may surprise you.
Though, NO spoilers, here. This is must-see TV for yourself.
And, as luck would have it, episode 4 of Suits L.A. is streaming now on Peacock to do just that. New episodes drop Sundays each week on NBC.
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