Objection overruled: Suit up for spin-off 'Suits LA'

Can 'Suits LA' deliver the promise 'Suits' failed to live up to?

SLOUGH, ENGLAND:

If John Grisham was the author responsible for packing many a student off to law school in America, legal drama Suits was the show that said, “Step aside, Grisham, and watch how it is done.” And now, to continue the noble mission that Suits was forced to abandon after Meghan Markle bowed out to marry Prince Harry, we have the spin-off Suits LA stepping up to take the baton.

What can we expect?

Starting February 23 on American network NBC, Stephen Amell will take one giant step away from his rugged Oliver Queen look from Green Arrow and strap on a shiny suit to transform into smooth-talking lawyer Ted Black to dazzle us all with his legal brains.

Because Ted belongs to the Suits universe, it is safe to assume that not only will he be able to digest the contents of a blue folder in half a second, he will also have a steady stream of witty banter flowing from his lips at every occasion. And because a male TV lawyer is the equivalent of a female supermodel, he will be able to do all this on zero sleep and boast the body of an Olympic sprinter.

To achieve the sprinter look, Ted may occasionally be seen stepping out during work to pencil in a session at a local boxing ring – just like Gabriel Macht’s Harvey Specter did every now and then on Suits. One imagines that Ted will also somehow find the time to schedule a morning run despite also needing to shower, iron his suit and mark himself present for work at 7.30AM sharp.

There will be almost no recurring characters from the original show, so you can forget any dreams you may have harboured about watching Mike Ross’s photographic memory in action. There is also no Louis Litt, so if you want a devious wronged power-hungry colleague plotting his revenge, you are going to have to look elsewhere. However, Harvey – who is an old friend of Ted’s that nobody knew existed until this spin-off – will be reprising his role for a glorious three episodes.  

We must note at this juncture that there is never a spin-off-shaped hole in anyone’s life, as the ill-fated Joey proved so spectacularly after the curtain went down on Friends. A potent force, a spinoff is that special creation that has the power to make already dreadful television even worse. (A moment of silence now, please, for the Ashton Kutcher era of Two and a Half Men after Charlie Sheen was unceremoniously let go.) However, the promise of Suits had worn off long before Markle shook things up and went off to live her new life with Prince Harry, so perhaps there is hope yet for Suits LA. Let us take a trip down memory lane to remind ourselves how it all began.

The glamorous world of law

The New York-set Suits aired from 2011 to 2019 and worked tirelessly to persuade us that law is the most glamorous profession on earth comprising beautifully ironed outfits (although just who irons them remains a mystery) and easy-to-read blue folders.

This was the show that taught aspiring law students that lawyers have no fear of public speaking. In addition, Suits took pains to explain that the real pros spend an inordinate amount of time washing their hands in the communal bathroom, a fertile ground for conflict. They also crave a corner office with floor-to-ceiling windows, although goodness knows why because once they get it, they spend their backs to it all day. Never in the history of Suits has it occurred to any lawyer to perhaps have their desks face the window, rather than have the glare of the sun bounce off their computer monitors.

Suits also existed to teach us that just like cop show heroes are able to chase criminals on foot after leaping out of buildings or falling out of cars, lawyers can open page 1 of a blue folder and say things like, “This explains everything” – and no one does this better than the smooth-talking slick-haired Harvey Specter.

We kick off our Suits journey with Harvey being told (against his will) that he must hire an associate. Harvey approaches this task with all the enthusiasm of one who is told he needs to share his office with a mountain goat with an upset stomach. Fortunately for him, young Mike Ross with his troubled past and photographic memory crash-lands into his interview room, and the rest is history. Harvey hires Mike on the spot without bothering to inform HR or anyone else about his troubling lack of credentials – a problem that proves to be a headache for both him and Mike time and again for a large chunk of the series.

Since eye candy is mandatory in the legal world, Harvey also has his glamorous sashaying Donna Paulsen at his beck and call (women in Suits never walk; they must sashay). Mike, meanwhile, recklessly falls in love with paralegal Rachel Zane (Markle) and lives in constant fear of his dirty little secret coming out. Harvey’s archenemy Louis Litt constantly threatens to undermine everything he does and is also instrumental in having the (long overdue) brains to figure out that Mike is practising law without a licence.

Can 'Suits LA' revive the glamour?

Because American shows generally run at 20-plus episodes per season, sustaining those creative juices season after season is a near impossibility – and there is no reason Suits should have been an exception. There are only so many new ways you can create tension with a hidden secret and only so many hand-washing scenes before you start to wonder why none of these people have scabby eczema-ridden hands. By the time Markle departed to start her new life with Harry after Season 7 (leaving poor Patrick Adams, who played Mike, in the lurch by default), the original dazzle of Suits had long since worn off. Can Suits LA, with its sunshiny LA  locale, bring anything new to the table?

Perhaps we can tentatively edge towards a ‘yes’ here. Suits LA has thrown out the original premise of Suits, which had long outlived its usefulness, got on board a brand new cast, and for those who get a kick out of nostalgia, will bring back Harvey and his banter machine. To seal the deal, the new and upgraded show has been repurposed by Suits creator Aaron Kosh, so there is little danger of someone new trampling on sacred ground like a rhinoceros on a rampage. In simpler terms, Suits LA is in no danger of becoming another Joey. Amell’s Ted Black already has the corner office and the shiny suits. All he really needs to do is match Harvey Spector’s razor-sharp wit. Bring it on.

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