Why ‘Suits’ can’t be touched

“Suits,” which is just beginning its third on the USA networf season, might currently be the most purely entertaining series on television.

In case you've never seen it, “Suits” is a show about beautiful people, with immaculate hair and beautiful clothes, strutting through sleek offices trading witty barbs, defending the firm’s clients while power playing their way into more advantageous positions within the show’s white-shoe New York firm, Pearson Hardman.

But “Suits” is more than all that. There are no dumb or weak characters; there are only smart sharks. “You afraid of the dark?” hotshot attorney Harvey Specter, played by Gabriel Macht, asks his right-hand man, Mike Ross, played by Patrick J. Adams. “I wouldn’t be,” Ross deadpans, “if I had my Cookie Monster with me.”

Every scene and line, in Season 3 especially, shimmers with the coiled tension that comes with the clashing of strong, smart people. 

Intricate plotting, perfect characters and ever-increasing tension mark the beginning of a new chapter at the law firm. Loyal viewers know to eagerly anticipate certain recurring face-offs, which never disappoint. 

The Season 3 premiere episode, called "The Arrangement," opens with a scene that viewers just couldn't believe would actually happen. Ross wakes up after having a nightmare about Rachel Zane exposing his secret to the entire firm, confirming his fear that not a single person would accept him for who he really is: a fake, a poser, a liar. We find the lovebirds trying to come to terms with what their new relationship entails when Zane finally suggests that Ross should just quit.

The Season 3 premiere was a home run when it came to lingering cliffhangers from Season 2. All of the relationship questions were pretty much answered. 

The tumultuous, ultra competitive relationship between Louis Litt and Nigel Nesbitt, on the other hand, is still one that we will likely continue to be confused about for the duration of the entire season. I will admit that I missed the former Harvard fling with Sheila Sazs. The female equivalent of Litt needs to return. It was too good.

I have a couple of favorites rivalries, but my absolute favorite is Specter versus Litt, the boss of the firm’s associates and a human mood ring with a confident demeanor. The characters play off each other so perfectly, which show in their dialogue. (“We’re like two fingers of the same hand,” Litt told Specter during a let’s-be-friends dinner last season. “As long as I’m the index,” Specter replied.) 

In addition, the show’s emphasis on fashion, grooming, vocabulary and possessions isn’t superficial. It’s integral to the show’s worldview. All of these characters realize that studying a person's surface is akin to intuiting their depths. 

On “Suits,” the victor in a struggle is often the one who pays the closest attention to detail over the longest span of time. Cases are often decided based on all-night research sessions, with lawyers and clerks sifting through boxes of documents until they find just the right incriminating fact. Miss a small but crucial tell and they’ll end up in a smaller office, or on the street with a box in their hands.

I’ve been a “Suits” fan ever since it came out in 2011, and my love for it continues to grow with each episode. From the shift in dynamics to the integration of a slew of new characters, season 3 already promises a fresh chapter for my favorite law firm.