“What the hell are we gonna do when I get caught, Harvey?” – Mike
Suits, “The Shelf Life”: the legal-y part of the legal drama
- Pearson Hardman’s accounting firm, Drybeck, is run by Jessica’s friend Tory (Andrea Parker), and there’s a reciprocal relationship where the law firm is on retainer. We learn that Jessica Pearson has been asked to deal with a “trusted senior vice president” at Drybeck for which “something recently came to light about his past.”
- Turns out that Stan Jacobson (John Billingsley), Senior Vice President, Drybeck Accounting, lied on his resume about actually having a CPA license and thus is slated to get fired. A pretty awkward situation for Mike Ross and Harvey Specter, given their little arrangement and Mike’s lack of a law degree. “Relax… that’s not going to happen to you,” Harvey tells Mike.
- “No one ever questioned it before because I’m that good with numbers,” Stan tells Mike and Harvey. Turns out that Tory actually knew that Stan wasn’t an actual CPA for years. Stan “somehow” also figures out that “the same thing” also happened to someone named Paula O’Neil, who recently got fired for uncovering stuff about the firm that she wasn’t supposed to find.
- Harvey tries to convince Jessica that something bad is going on with Drybeck, but Jessica just wants him to get Stan to sign the severance agreement and get the mess off her deck.
- Mike tells Harvey that Paula O’Neil filed a wrongful termination suit that “mysteriously went away.” Harvey’s not having it and tells Mike he needs to learn that anyone can get let go no matter how valuable they, and how his habit of empathizing with clients “isn’t getting you anywhere.” “You want to work at this firm? You need to deal in facts, evidence, information that can hold up. That’s what a real lawyer does,” he adds.
- Mike and his girlfriend Jenny (also ex-girlfriend of Mike’s friend Trevor) decide to sneak into a party at The Harvard Club to get some intel they can use on the case. It seems that Drybeck also hires lots of Harvard grads as Pearson Hardman does, as Jenny is able to steal the building ID off of an attendee for Mike.
- Meanwhile, Stan tells Mike that there’s a mysterious firm called Aberdeen (also, sidenote that that’s Kurt Cobain’s hometown, located on the Pacific coast in Washington) that Drybeck is making regular payments to.
- In a classic Suits move, while Harvey had told Mike to lay off looking into Aberdeen, he gets a judge who owes him a favor to (super illegally) help him find out that Aberdeen is set to shut down, or file for dissolution as the legalese goes.
- Mike sneaks into Drybeck at night and digs through files (that somehow he magically knew how to find) but gets caught by a security guard. Harvey comes down to the building and gets Mike out of trouble because (again somehow) the guard knew enough to contact Harvey and figured he could get paid off. Also, it’s daytime now, and Mike looks remarkably fresh.
- Harvey tells Mike about the “shelf company” (see”: the episode title, “The Shelf Life”!). “Drybeck bought a shelf company 13 months ago,” he says. “It’s a corporation that exists only on paper, so its owners can hide their assets.” It’s like a shell company but give it credit history, tax returns etc. and “let it season for years.” It’s legal… but what Tory is doing with Aberdeen and other shelf companies isn’t. The bad stuff that Drybeck is supposedly up to his pretty handy wavy and not part of the story, but things move so quickly that we’re just expected to go with it.
- Stan is now brought in on a lawsuit, but this time on the side of Pearson Hardman against Drybeck to hold them accountable for their shenanigans with Aberdeen and other shelf companies.
- Mike needs to find a rationale for subpoenaing the records that he found so that they can legally bring the naughty findings in them to bear. Rachel gives Mike the answer: his ability to memorize everything he reads means he “has the files” already, and she types everything out while he dictates from memory. This is a plot point where Mike’s “superpowers” are very much superpower-y.
- Finally, The Pearson Hardman crew and Stan get the drop up on Tory, and announce that they are both severing their relationship and suing them for all its worth. “It would be impossible to represent you when we plan on suing you for every penny you’ve got,” Harvey says very Harvey-ily. Stan gets a nice line too in talking about his role in adding up the numbers: “It was easy… even if I don’t have a degree.”
- On a melancholier note, Stan assumes that he’ll now get his job back, but Harvey sets him straight that that’s not in the cards. “I never should have done it,” Stan soon tells Mike, and we know what the implications of that statement are for our guy.
- “What the hell are we gonna do when I get caught, Harvey?” an upset Mike later tells Harvey. “All you gotta do is tap out,” Harvey says rightfully, after reminding Mike and us that he likes to live on the edge with things.
Suits, “The Shelf Life”: the other fun/juicy/dramatic stuff
- We meet Charisse (Chantal Quesnelle), who is dating Louis Litt. “There was like a chemical thing that happened when our bodies touched,” Louis tells Mike, making both Mike and all of us shiver with revulsion.
- Later, at The Harvard Club party, Louis and Charisse spend a little time with Mike and Jenny (Vanessa Ray), which becomes important later.
- For reasons that remain unclear, a bunch of associates at Pearson Hardman get a hold of a security video feed show Louis getting punched and kneed in the nether region by Charisse. For additional “reasons,” Louis thinks that Mike was behind getting the footage even though he wasn’t.
- After Mike and Rachel finish typing up the files lifted from Drybeck, she tells him what an amazing mind he has and kisses him. Of course, Louis walks in on them right after and knows something’s up.
- Jenny later stops by the office to pick up Mike, which Louis takes advantage of by dropping the poison pill of mentioning Mike and “all those nights, working late with Rachel.”
Suits, “The Shelf Life”: other fun stuff
- We learn that Louis “doesn’t really drink sparkling wine.” It’s only champagne for our guy.
- We also learn that the sports memorabilia in Harvey’s office includes baseballs signed by or related to Derek Jeter, Hank Aaron, and Roger Maris.
- There’s a lot of people overhearing things they shouldn’t hear while walking around the office on Suits. Example, when Mike tells Harvey that he’d get fired if Jessica found out that he never went to Harvard… “Found out what?”
Suits, “The Shelf Life”: too good not to quote
- “Do I smell like sausage?” – Louis “No more than usual.” – Harvey
Some stats and info about Suits, “The Shelf Life”
TV SHOW – Suits
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1, Episode 10
AIRED ON – August 25th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – USA/Netflix
GENRE – Drama, Legal Dramas, Office Culture
CREATED BY – Aaron Korsh
CAST – Gabriel Macht, Rick Hoffman, Sarah Rafferty, Patrick J. Adams, Meghan Markle, Gina Torres
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.