'Suits': S09.E05. “If the Shoe Fits”

Mike Ross’ (Patrick J. Adams) much-anticipated return to the series didn’t come without significant surprises for everyone at the New York law firm Specter Litt Wheeler Williams.

The episode opens with Donna Paulsen (Sarah Rafferty) telling Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) via a telephone call that she can’t be with him at his apartment, but she doesn’t specify why. Harvey realises the reason as he reaches his kitchen and finds Mike waiting there for him. It’s good seeing Mike back in New York since moving to Seattle with his wife, Rachel (Meghan Markle).

Meanwhile, as Harvey and Mike took into their pizza, Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman) and Sheila Sazs (Rachael Harris) role-play in full period costume the glass slipper scene from Cinderella. It’s fun that these two people would go to the effort of wearing the appropriate historically accurate costumes for their role-playing games.

Shelia losses her temper with Louis for no apparent reason that has anything to do with him personally. Despite this, he seeks out Alex Williams’ (Dulé Hill) advice because he and his wife have two children. Louis wants to know what he can do for Sheila to help her with what she’s going through. Even though Alex knows Louis has difficulty with doing nothing, that is precisely what Alex tells Louis to do.

Because Sheila lost a Harvard University donor, costing the academic establishment $50,000, Louis goes to Benjamin (David Reale) for help. Benjamin isn’t initially interested in helping Louis do anything because he attempted to fire him a few weeks earlier. When Louis explained to Benjamin that the help wasn’t for him but for Sheila, Benjamin agreed to do what he wanted. Louis has Benjamin give $50,000 to Harvard University as an anonymous donor.

When Louis returns home with a new pair of glass slippers, Sheila is there waiting for him and she knows what he’s done. Alex was right. Louis is not the type of person to sit by and do nothing. It’s not in his DNA. Sheila is furious with Louis because she believes his actions mean that he has no confidence in her ability to do her job.

Because Louis is at a loss to understand what it is that will make Sheila happy, he is left with only one option. He suggests that the two of them visit Dr. Lipschitz (Ray Proscia). It’s during this joint theory session that the issue is finally resolved. Sheila is apparently fearful that Louis wouldn’t be interested in her if she stopped being a lawyer in favour of being a full-time mother. Louis assures Sheila that he would support her regardless of whether she kept her position at the university.

Elsewhere, after a conversation with Donna, Katrina Bennett (Amanda Schull) realises she is not completely over how she feels about her former associate, Brian Altman (Jake Epstein). After repeatedly trying to leave Brian a voicemail, Katrina resorts to scripting a very stiff formal work-related voicemail which lacks any hint of a personal touch.

After Mike confronts Harvey about double-crossing his client, Harvey tries to explain that it wasn’t him that manufactured evidence to get the win. It was Samantha. Even though Samantha played dirty to get what she wanted, Harvey wasn’t about to through her under the bus for his friend.

Harvey tries to tell Samantha, even though he doesn’t agree with what she did to secure the win, he supported her move to Mike. Their discussion escalates to a full-scale argument which can be heard in most corners of the law firm. It draws the attention of Faye Richardson (Denise Crosby).

The episode closes with Richardson confronting Samantha over the manufactured evidence she used to defeat Mike. In the ninth season premiere, "Everything’s Changed," Richardson told the partners that if they crossed lines, they would be fired. With this case, Samantha couldn’t stop herself from crossing a line. Consequently, even though Richardson initially believed it was Harvey that had crossed the line, the New York State Bar’s Special Master fires Samantha.