‘Suits LA’ Episode 9 Recap – Even Harvey Specter Can’t Prevent This Becoming Tedious

I must confess to being slightly sick of Suits LA. I feel like the writers have grossly overestimated the appeal of the Pellegrini subplot and the impact of repeated Harvey Specter cameos, and in the absence of any compelling present-day subplots, Episode 9, “Bat Signal”, is forced to lean heavily against both of these things. It isn’t enough.

Perhaps it’s just me, and mileage may, of course, vary, but it’s hard to make much of a case for the show at this point. Considering the cliffhanger ending of the previous episode was that Harvey was at least partially responsible for Ted’s inability to get Pellegrini the death penalty, it’s a little weird that it doesn’t threaten the present-day Harvey/Ted team-up. I guess having Gabriel Macht back on-screen, even for an episode or two, was the most important thing.

The good news is that I’m pretty sure the Pellegrini case is now over, and we’ve probably seen the last of Dead Eddie, so one suspects that Stuart’s David Bowie case will now take centre stage in a multi-episode arc. Yay, I guess?

You Killed Eddie, You B*stard

So, Pellegrini is out of jail. The superstar tag-team of Ted and Harvey meet him outside the gates to give away their plan to send him straight back inside, but he isn’t convinced of their ability to do so after what happened last time (and he has a point.) Ted and Harvey immediately get to work, heading to see Kevin for information on the state of Pellegrini’s operation, where Santoro, who is the guy who killed Eddie on Pellegrini’s orders, has risen to the rank of second-in-command.

The idea is to pressure Santoro into flipping on Pellegrini, revealing that he ordered the hit on Eddie in exchange for immunity. But Santoro immediately recognises this is entirely unofficial and refuses, prompting some more outside-the-box thinking, which involves a legitimate offer of immunity and a car bomb that Kevin plants. It isn’t designed to kill Santoro, only frighten him into taking the deal, but it certainly looks the part.

As it happens, Harvey doesn’t actually have the immunity deal, and Ted can’t get information on where Santoro would end up in witness protection, so the whole thing’s on very shaky ground, legally speaking. Luckily, Pellegrini helpfully shows up while Ted and Harvey are getting drinks and confesses to ordering Santoro to kill Ted, not Eddie, but enjoying the outcome anyway since the death of Ted’s brother was a much more fitting revenge. Ted records the whole thing and later convinces Santoro that he’ll rat out his witness protection identity to Pellegrini’s goons, despite not having that information, which together account for a one-two punch that lands Pellegrini back inside, and this subplot hopefully over and done with.

Harvey Has A Son – And He Might Be Named Ted

Side note, but Suits LA Episode 9 reveals that Harvey and Donna (presumably Donna, anyway) have a son. Harvey texts him multiple times – he has his number saved as “My Boy” like a loser – and Ted eventually asks him about it. Harvey jokes that his name is Ted, but he says it so reflexively before he backpedals that a part of me thinks he might actually be named Ted.

Up for debate, I guess. If you’re satisfied by this little expansion of Harvey lore, maybe let us know in the comments or something.

Troy Winbush, Gabriel Macht, and Stephen Amell in Suits LA | Image via NBC

David Bowie’s Alibi

Anyway, elsewhere in “Bat Signal”, Stuart continues to grapple with his conscience when it seems like David Bowie – why have they gone for such a jokey name in such a serious case? – might have murdered the second whistleblower, which would add a degree of personal responsibility to his moral ledger that doesn’t usually factor into the equation.

So, Suits LA Episode 9 is in large part about proving that Bowie didn’t commit murder so that Stuart can feasibly represent him, which is what makes me thinking we’re gearing up to do the whole court case thing from Stuart’s perspective instead of Ted’s, since this is very much how Lester’s case started. But we’ll have to see. In the meantime, Bowie’s alibi stands up – he can’t have murdered anyone since he was breaking into someone else’s house at the time.

That house belonged to Craig Fisher, who is a client of Erica’s, so Rick is forced to go over there and flirt with her to smooth that whole situation over. Only rarely is a show this obviously trying to find things for its cast to be doing. One can only hope that with the Pellegrini business finally in the rear-view mirror, we can move on to something that might actually be halfway compelling.