Episode Report Card M. Giant: N/A | 24 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Breaking Up Is Hard to Win
By M. Giant | Season 3 | Episode 9 | Aired on 09.10.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.It's time to hammer out the terms of the dissolution of the merger between Pearson and Darby, so the divorce metaphors are flying fast and furious. Except this is like the opposite of a divorce in that each side wants to claim more money, because the side with the most revenue gets to dictate terms. I guess. Louis volunteers to handle it, claiming that his lack of personal feelings will serve him better in the negotiations. Jessica agrees, but the secret plan is that she and Harvey will poach some of Darby's clients in the meantime, and all Louis has to do is not lock in the client allocations until that's done. Alas, Louis finds himself up against Nigel Nesbitt, who pushes Louis's buttons and ends up closing the deal before Harvey can steal Samsung. Yes, Samsung.
So now there is much scrambling to fix it. A loophole allows the Pearson side to include any increased revenues from existing clients, so Mike goes to opposing counsel in the Folsom Foods case to ask him to pay up a little more quickly. You may recall that opposing counsel in that case was Rachel's father, Robert Zane. And although Mike tells Harvey he doesn't plan to use his relationship with Rachel against Zane, that's exactly what he does. Advantage: Pearson.
But then Harvey's ex-girlfriend Scottie, who has been representing the Darby side, comes to Harvey and appeals to him to not crush her. Harvey not only trusts her, he convinces Jessica to go along with a new plan wherein the Folsom Foods payoff doesn't count. So it's a tie -- until word comes out that the firm has been fired by Hessington Oil. Advantage: Darby.
Harvey assumes that Scottie screwed him, and he intends to retaliate. Fortunately Louis, who has been desperate to redeem himself after his failure, has a plan. It involves expanding the firm's relationship with Tony Gianopolous. Which Louis already tried, but didn't have the juice to pull off himself. But with Harvey's help -- and avowed respect -- Gianopolous becomes an even bigger client than Hessington Oil ever was.
And while this is going on, Mike and Rachel have a petty fight that leads to Mike asking Rachel to move in with him. Rachel's moved, but needs some time to decide. And learning about Mike's stunt with her father doesn't tip the scales toward an affirmative response. Plus, as we learn right near the end of the episode, she's been admitted to Stanford.
Scottie comes to Harvey, pissed because he screwed her after she begged for mercy rather than calling her and asking what was up. He's still convinced that she was behind the firm's firing by Hessington Oil, until Jessica interrupts to say that was entirely the doing of Ava Hessington, who is also suing everyone for malpractice. Advantage: nobody.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Mike's up early and getting ready for work, having apparently spent the night at Rachel's apartment. She's also up, and as she hands him a cup of gourmet coffee and drops her robe, it's quickly apparent that she plans to get him up in an entirely different way. Needless to say, she is successful. Also needless to say, Mike will be arriving at work later than expected. By at least a minute or two.
Elsewhere on this early morning, Donna emerges from her apartment building to find Harvey waiting for her outside, also in a good mood. As he did last night, he's putting his car at her disposal -- as well as himself, for some breakfast and shopping. "You've been needing a new handbag," Donna points out before stepping into the car. She pauses to wonder what's up with him, and Harvey says they've both been through a lot and could use a little celebration. Donna concedes the point, and says Harvey will need more than one handbag. "Wouldn't have it any other way," he agrees.
At the office, Louis makes himself at home in Jessica's office to tell her that he wants to handle the de-merger with Darby. And he's ready to wreak vengeance on both Darby and Stephen Huntley in a way that Jessica, blinded by anger, might not be able to pull off. Speaking of which, Harvey comes in with Darby's offer, which is a low ball that's pissing both him and Jessica off. Which is exactly Louis's point. Harvey mocks the very idea of Louis handling this, saying that the Washington Generals always thought they could beat the Harlem Globetrotters. "My father played for the Washington Generals," Louis says, which is beyond perfect.
Harvey keeps digging at Louis, saying the idea's a joke, until Jessica asks for a minute with Harvey. "I am not a joke," Louis says tightly before exiting. And Jessica tells Harvey, "You can't do that any more." Now that he's a name partner, he has to show Louis respect. "I'm being dismissive to his face," Harvey argues. Jessica tells Harvey about an old partner at the firm who Jessica used to fight with, but as soon as she and Hardman took over she went and buried the hatchet with him. Harvey gets the point, recalling that that guy never voted against Jessica. Jessica also says that Louis is right…but not entirely: "I'm going to put him in as quarterback, then snap the ball to you." Because Louis doesn't get sports metaphors?
When Mike arrives at work, he and Harvey conference about the plan. It's going to involve claiming more clients as their own in order to count more revenue on their side and thus dictate certain terms of the merger, while Louis is negotiating the terms and making the other side think they're playing fair. Mike says that might be considered bad faith, which Harvey says Darby was also guilty of at the time of the merger. Mike figures out this was Jessica's idea, a question Harvey dodges in favor of discussing which client to shift to their side. Mike says they'll need a big one that just took a huge loss. Harvey says a recent winner could also work, saying that nobody cries harder at the Miss America pageant than the winner, because she'll never win again.