WARNING: Spoilers for Suits LA season 1, episode 1, “Seven Days a Week and Twice on Sunday.”
Suits LA may have its version of Harvey and Mike, but their relationship is very different from that of our favorite Suits duo. As much as we all love characters like Louis and Jessica, it cannot be denied that Suits was about Harvey and Mike’s friendship. The idea of a highly successful attorney becoming a mentor figure to a prodigy lawyer who didn’t actually go to college made for a very compelling story and set Suits apart from other legal dramas and procedural shows. Whether Suits LA season 1 was going to recapture that magic remained to be seen.
Suits LA’s cast was our first indicator that the spinoff series was not going to be exactly like Suits. Arrow star Stephen Amell was cast as the lead character, Ted Black, with the show also having three other protagonists – Erica, Stuart, and Rick. From the first character descriptions to the pilot, it was only natural for Suits fans to look for similarities between these new characters and the ones from the original show. However, while there are clear parallels between Suits LA’s lawyers and our favorite characters from the previous series, their relationships are not the same at all.
Suits LA’s Ted And Rick Were Not The Harvey And Mike I Was Expecting
Rick Dodsen Is Definitely Not Our New Mike Ross
With Stephen Amell playing what appeared to be Suits LA’s version of Harvey Specter, it remained to be seen who was going to be Ted Black’s Mike Ross. One option was Josh McDermitt’s Stuart Lane, particularly because every synopsis for the new show talked about how Ted and Stuart started Black Lane Law together. However, not only was Stuart not Suits LA’s version of Mike, but he betrayed Ted Black halfway into the pilot, marking one the biggest twists in Suits LA episode 1. Another likely option was Bryan Greenberg’s Rick, originally described as Ted’s protégé.
The shock that came with Rick’s betrayal in Suits LA was an important reminder that he will not be the show’s version of Mike Ross.
Once Rick helped Ted sign Victoria Justice’s character in Suits LA’s pilot by playing the “good cop” in an elaborate play they came up with, I was even more certain that Greenberg’s character was our new Mike Ross. However, by the end of the pilot, I was not so sure anymore. Rick betrayed Ted and went to work for Stuart after seeing how far his boss was willing to go against Lane. The shock that came with Rick’s betrayal was an important reminder that he will not be Suits LA‘s version of Mike Ross.
Suits LA Doesn’t Really Need To Have Its Version Of Mike And Harvey
You Can’t Replicate What Harvey And Mike Had In The Original Show
Suits was built on Harvey and Mike’s friendship, and it is difficult to imagine a version of this universe without their dynamic. Even the original show struggled after Patrick J. Adams left Suits, with Gabriel Macht’s Batman no longer having his Robin. Therefore, it made sense for us to speculate which characters were going to be our new Harvey and Mike in Suits LA. However, in hindsight, Suits’ West Coast spinoff does not need to have its version of the original show’s dynamic duo. Mike and Harvey’s relationship cannot easily be replicated.
If Suits LA were to introduce obvious replacements for Harvey Specter and Mike Ross, we would have probably judged those characters by how closely they resembled the ones from the original series – which would not be fair. As easy as it would be for Suits LA to set up a new dynamic duo formed by a mentor and a mentee, I’m glad that the show is trying to do something different. That said, there might be an equivalent to Harvey and Mike’s relationship hiding in plain sight in Suits LA.
Ted And Erica Might Be Suits LA’s True Harvey And Mike Replacements
Ted And Erica Will Have To Work Together Against Stuart And Rick
Although many were quick to assume that Erica was going to be Suits LA’s answer to Rachel, Lex Scott Davis’ character might actually be the show’s version of Mike. A young, smart lawyer who is not afraid to play dangerous games and will have to prove themselves to their boss is a description that matches both Mike Ross and Erica Rollins. At the end of Suits LA episode 1, Ted recognizes that he would have chosen Rick but acknowledges that he believes in Erica “seven days a week and twice on Sundays.”
The title of Suits LA’s pilot being about Erica subtly implies that she will be the most important character on the show, just like Suits was initially more about Mike than it was about Harvey. If so, I’m very interested to see how Ted and Erica’s dynamic will compare to that of Harvey and Mike. Of course, Erica is already a partner at Black & Associates, which itself makes her quite different from Mike. Still, Erica and Ted seem to have a mentor-mentee relationship in Suits LA, especially because Amell’s character has had her back since she joined the firm.
