Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Suiting up for the third time
Philiana Ng reveals season three’s secrets
WE STRENGTHEN bonds that had been broken and we weaken bonds that had been strengthened,” creator/executive producer Aaron Korsh tells of the forthcoming 16 episodes of Suits season 3 which premieres on M-Net today at 7.45pm.
As the returning legal drama starts its third season, the recovering Pearson Hardman, led by Jessica (Gina Torres), has agreed to merge with a British law firm headed by Darby ( Game of Thrones’ Conleth Hill), leaving hotshot lawyer Harvey (Gabriel Macht) at a crossroads. After losing his right-hand man in Mike (Patrick J Adams), who outs his fraud status to Rachel (Meghan Markle), Harvey is forced to wade through uncharted waters as Darby and his British counterparts keep a watchful eye.
With two seasons under its belt, it is only natural that Suits heads into more complex territory.
“We explore some more darkness this year,” Korsh says.
“Going into the premiere, we had to deal with the fallout. There is a rift between Mike and Harvey; a rift between Jessica and Harvey; a big bombshell between Mike and Rachel; and Harvey’s ( decision) about Scottie (Abigail Spencer).
“The best option was to tackle them (fallouts) head-on and pick up in the aftermath of where we left off.”
Korsh previews the third season addressing repercussions of the merger, Mike and Harvey’s power struggle, the aftermath of Rachel’s discovery of Mike’s secrets and the problematic introduction of “British Harvey”.
Will the can opener be making an appearance at any point during the season?
Korsh: (Laughs) I don’t know if the can opener will be, but we cer- tainly mention a ritual. I think we see a can opener… I think we do.
Now that the characters are fully formed and the world has been well- established at this point, is there more freedom to get into darker territory and explore more serious storylines?
Whenever you get to know characters better, it’s always easier to take them further because at first, you’re establishing who they are. Once you establish who they are, you can add dimension to them, show how they’re different from who you thought they were or change and grow them. Season three allows us to do that. We strengthen bonds that had been broken, and we weaken bonds that had been strengthened.
The show now has a strong British component. Was it important for you to bring over an international element?
First of all, I speak only with a British accent all year. (Laughs) Not true. Nobody wants that. The writers came up with the idea in the room to bring Scottie back, and since we had established in season one that Scottie was working in a British law firm over there, merging with a British company came out of bringing Scottie back. Had we said that she was working in a different country’s law firm or a Texas law firm, it would have been a Texas merger.
Will there be obvious differences or ways of tackling certain cases that might affect the newly merged firm?
When we were talking about it, there was talk of how the culture of the British firm would affect the culture of our firm. There is some of that (the cultural differences) in there, but we don’t speak to it. If you just look at it as a merger with any other company, what are the conflicts that are going to arise between Edward Darby and Jessica and Harvey; Nigel and Louis; and Steven Huntley, a character that’s going to be introduced later.
Now that Darby’s at the firm, is there a possibility of Harvey aligning with him?
Harvey lost to Jessica and he’s pissed. He may think that she didn’t fight fairly, but she probably thinks he didn’t and they argue about that in episode two.
There’s a scene where they talk about that. Harvey is trying to figure out how to exist in the new regime, and he’s going to latch on to whoever he can, as best he can.
As we open up the season, Harvey’s decided to accept it, move on and go back to being Harvey and kicking ass. Jessica’s lack of belief in his acceptance is the final straw and causes him to maybe shift slight allegiance to Darby, but I think it’s more a shifting in allegiance towards himself.
I feel like Harvey has more decisions to make this season in terms of his future at the firm and in life. Is that fair?
He wants to beat the person that beat him and that’s what drives Harvey. This year he picks another fight and maybe, once things start to either go his way or not go his way, he possibly for the first time questions, is this actually what I want to be doing? And do I find myself in a situation where I don’t want to be in? And I think that happens this year for him, so in that respect, he has more decisions to make.
Mike and Harvey aren’t on the same page, but how long before they get back into each other’s good graces?
Patrick and I talked a lot during the filming of the premiere and he made a choice, instead of (having Mike) begging Harvey to forgive him like he sometimes has in the past, he’s just going to say, “Harvey, this is the situation and it’s time for you to accept it.”
What are the repercussions of Mike and Rachel’s relationship now that Mike’s secret is out?
He is pretending to be legitimate at the thing that she is trying – and unable, thus far – to be. It’s not that different than one member of a relationship telling the other they’ve had an affair, because it’s a betrayal. You might be able to forgive them, but the other person is going to keep thinking about that, so it might take some time.
What obstacles do Louis (Rick Hoffman) and Donna (Sarah Rafferty) face this year?
Both of them are affected by this merger. Louis has a major thing happen to him at the end of the premiere that is a result of the actions he took in the finale. At the same time, he’s got a lot of fun stuff moving forward, so he continues to be, in my opinion, both a lot of comedy and a lot of heartfelt drama.
Donna is affected by the merger in that Harvey takes on a big case, makes a deal with Darby at the end of the premiere and she is burdened with the knowledge. This season, “British Harvey” ( Max Beesley) comes to town and he and Donna are going to have some interactions that affect her, the firm, her relationship with Harvey and lead us to a flashback episode, in which we shed light on what happened “the other time”.
You mentioned a flashback episode. What other fun things should we expect this season?
There is an episode where Louis courts Mike, there is another mock trial. We have a lot of returning stars that we love: Gary Cole; Conleth Hill; Wendell Pierce, who plays Rachel’s father. We do meet Rachel’s family ( this season); Mike and Rachel have dinner with her family. We also have some fun Katrina (Amanda Schull) stuff. ( Game of Thrones’s Michelle Fairley also appears.)
Tell me something about the finale?
There is one major thing that happens that I believe some fans are not going to love.
Are you expecting some outcry when that development hits?
It did not occur to me until I watched it and I was like, “Oh my God,” because I don’t have a vested interest in (seeing these two characters) together. I thought, “Oh man, what are people going to say?” But what can you do? – The Hollywood Reporter