Episode Report Card M. Giant: N/A | 17 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT My Own Worst Enemy
By M. Giant | Season 3 | Episode 11 | Aired on 03.06.2014
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Things seem to be going well for our boys on the romantic front… at least at the start. Rachel accepts Mike's offer to move in with him, and is in fact fantastically supportive of what he does throughout the rest of the episode, which is to take on Pearson Specter's case against a client represented by Nick Rinaldi, the very same lawyer who screwed Mike and his grandmother out of a decent compensation for his parents' deaths. Never mind that Rinaldi is representing a widow instead of a drunk driver this time; Mike is out for blood, and he doesn't care who gets in his way. He not only demolishes an expert witness on the stand, he threatens to expose a photo of the dead husband of Rinaldi's client enjoying a toast at his daughter's wedding. Rinaldi tells Mike that he's becoming like him, and drops the bomb that Mike's dad was also drinking on the night he was killed. That's a downer, but it does get Mike to decide to try to do the right thing. And as mentioned previously, Rachel is there for him throughout.
The course of Harvey and Scottie's true love is running rather less smooth. Harvey asked her to work at the firm and be in his life, but he's still got to get Jessica on board for the former part of this plan. And Jessica will only go along with it if Scottie will pay her partnership buy-in up front. All five hundred thousand dollars of it. Naturally she balks, not convinced that Harvey isn't going to dump her and leave her jobless and half a million dollars poorer. So she and Harvey do a little jockeying, bring Michael Phelps in as a client and supposedly get Jessica to wait six months for the fee. But then it turns out that Harvey paid it himself, because he's got that kind of cash lying around. Scottie is irritated that Harvey bought her and manipulated her, and they embark on a new program of honesty that indicates this new relationship can actually last for at least one entire episode.
Oh, and you know how Louis snooped in Sheila Sazs's alumni files at Harvard and didn't find Mike Ross's among them? He confides to Donna that he suspects Mike never went to Harvard, so Donna invites Louis to call in for a copy of Mike's transcript. Which shows up, courtesy of that hacker chick from Season 1 faking one in Harvard's system, and Louis is satisfied with Mike's bona fides. Now Louis is just feeling guilty about betraying Sheila's trust, but she helps him get over it without ever finding out what he did. There's just one problem, though; Louis ultimately discovers that Mike's transcript contains an impossible grade. Maybe the hacker chick shouldn't have dropped that A+ in there.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We're starting with Rachel in the morning, slinking around Mike's apartment just wearing one of his shirts and playfully giving him shit about his old, cheap furniture. This is her way of saying she was wondering if there's anything there she could live with, which means she's taking him up on his offer to move in with him. Mike is thrilled, and then Rachel says all she's bringing is him. So Mike starts pointing out some of the tackier items that he wants to take to their new place, like a painting of a panda and a crappy old chair, making up some Grammy-related provenance about each of them. Until she catches the snap, that is. "When you lie, try less details," she advises. It's been working on the Harvard thing so far.
Across town, Harvey and Scottie are also having a romantic morning start to their day, which includes a lot of morning-after talk and Scottie mocking Harvey for the passionate way he said he wants her in her life last night. Anyway, Scottie has to go now because she got a job offer from a top-tier law firm the night before, "and I thought it might be best if I negotiate the terms of my agreement with the partner I'm not sleeping with." Harvey's like, yeah, about that?
Cut to Harvey in Jessica's office, trying to convince her that they should hire Scottie, like he already told Scottie he would. Jessica has her doubts about Harvey's reasons for wanting Scottie to join the firm, and doesn't let Harvey get away with a "none of your business" response, because it literally is. Harvey confesses that he likes-likes Scottie, which Jessica acts as supportive about as she can, but she's wondering what happens when Harvey and Scottie break up. Harvey asks, "Who says we're gonna break up?" Jessica's face is all, "Do I even have to answer it?" I think the answer to that question would be, uhhh…Merica.
The actual business of the day begins with Mike accosting Harvey in the hallway, demanding a particular case. It seems that one of Pearson Specter's clients makes a heart stent, and one of the patients who had it died so his family is suing the company. As they head into Harvey's office, Mike wants to fight the settlement, but Harvey says it's not worth the firm's time. Mike happens to mention the opposing counsel's name: Mike Rinaldi, the scumbag who screwed Mike's grandmother out of a decent settlement for his parents' deaths when he was eleven years old. Harvey gives Mike the go-ahead even before Mike is done explaining. Bros, man.