Suits: Play the Man

Suits: Play the Man
USA Network
August 4, 2011
Dramedy
DVD
B+

Erica Lipez's first of five Suits scripts is the best since the pilot.  It's not as funny as the first episode, but it does give witty Donna more to do.  And it compares and contrasts various relationships-- professional and/or personal.  It builds on what's come before but also brings in a new element: Harvey's long-time rival and (for lack of a better term) lover Dana Scott (Abigail Spencer, who would return fourteen times in the role).  There's a moment late in the episode where Mike says he's trying to figure out not just what kind of lawyer he'll be but what kind of person he'll be, and that resonates with the first half of the season, and for all I know the entire series.  As a side-note, I keep waiting for a show this clever to lampshade Harvey's rule that if someone does something wrong once, they've done it often in the past, because it comes up in almost every episode.

Ben Hollingsworth would be back once as Kyle Durant.  This is the only Suits episode directed by Tim Matheson, although he'll probably pop up as an actor on something at some point.