The first season of Suits is 12 episodes long with the premise of a newly hired law associated... who doesn't actually have a law degree. Set in a top law firm in Manhattan, it tells the story of how this rookie associate gets by in the ruthless world of lawyers. The first episode does a great job at setting up the plot and the characters. Starting with Harvey Specter, we see how he prioritizes winning cases through any means necessary. About to get a promotion to Senior Partner, he needs to hire an associate to help him. Unfortunately, Harvey is a person who looks out only for themselves, a bit rogue with an attitude, despite being talented.
On the flipside is Mike Ross, initially depicted as a person who is helping others cheat in exams. Living on the wrong side of the law, he is coerced into delivering drugs but stumbles across the interview held by Harvey for the associate role. Thanks to his amazing memory and understanding of anything he reads, he is quite the expert in law. Mike gets the role and we see that while he has the knowledge, he lacks the experience and the procedure of things. Given his first case, we see him stumble, get back up and just grind his way through. Suits also depicts (maybe with a slight exaggeration) the ruthlessness of the top tier firms where employees are expected to work long hours and get results... less they be fired immediately.
The last major character is the Junior Partner Louis, who considers himself Harvey's rival. He is depicted as sly, sleazy and petty. He also doesn't seem to do any work, constantly spending his time annoying Mike and pulling him away from Harvey, causing rifts within the workforce and making massive blunders that often makes a situation worse. Basically, he is a horrible human being that you wonder why he hasn't been fired yet. The chemistry between Harvey and Mike works well. Despite Harvey not having a caring attitude, as his fate is tied so much with Mike's, he reluctantly shows him how to do things, in his own way. Sprinkled along with good measure are bits of humor here and there which really helps in keeping the pace trickle along.
Suits reflect badly on the office environment with lawyers cheating and blackmailing their way to victory. There is a huge amount of office politics and Mike is torn in multiple directions (although his loyalty is always to Harvey). On the other hand, as Harvey is nearly always on the correct side, when he does the cheating and blackmailing against the other party to counter their unfair tactics, you get a sense of satisfaction.
Mike is a good person and it does not reflect well upon his superiors who expect him to use any means necessary and be tough in order to secure the win. While this is understandable as a lawyer, it doesn't reflect well on the level of basic human nature. Mike's memory is impressive and when it comes to regulations and law, he can regurgitate them perfectly. However, we are shown that he is still inexperienced especially when he gets blindsided by something he misses. This is where Harvey comes in, who can try and find these kinks in the armor and also immediately think on the spot on how to handle the situation.
Unfortunately, Mike keeps having his past follow him. From the fact that he didn't attend Harvard (in a firm where they only hire Harvard graduated, and him having to lie in order to get in) to his drug dealer friend. Sometimes, it feels like the drug portion of Mike's life gets in the way of the story even though Mike himself has sworn off it, it just comes back to bite him again and again . It can feel like an annoyance where this aspect of Mike's past forms the plot of the episode, when you would much rather them just focus on the law aspect.
Once half the season has passed, the structure of each episode starts to become overly familiar. In the first half, Harvey will get a case where he is at a disadvantaged and Mike will have his own problem. Then in the second half, through their combined skills and experience, they overturn the situation and win. This predictability can take away the tension at times. The final episode is a good close for the season. It presents a more personal case for Harvey and Mike to tackle. It's tense, interesting and you wonder how it will be resolved within 40 minutes. As a result, the ending can feel like it came right out of the blue in the last few minutes, and it ends on a pretty big cliffhanger.
Overall, the first season of Suits is engaging and fun. The cast is charismatic and the relationship between Mike and Harvey steadily grows over the course of the episodes. It can start to become predictable and Mike's past constantly hounding him can be annoying at time but otherwise, Suits is great.
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