Suits LA needs to learn one big lesson from Suits

As Harvey Specter said, “First impressions last. You start behind the eight ball, you’ll never get in front.” Suits LA has big, shiny shoes to fill – but it could fix its predecessor’s biggest misstep.

Nobody expected the extraordinary trajectory of Suits. After it limped to its finale in 2019, many (myself included) thought it was dead – but it was dormant. Four years later, it enjoyed an enormous resurgence on Netflix and Peacock; according to Nielsen, it was streamed for over 57 billion minutes in 2023. 

The series has a ridiculous premise. It (mostly) revolves around Mike, a pot-smoking, dropout genius with a photographic memory who stumbles into a job as an attorney’s associate; legal beatdowns, romances, and deceit ensue. It’s also brilliant; a soapy, whip-smart, and funny procedural with likable, attractive characters and easy-to-grasp arcs. 

Until it wasn’t. Suits somehow inverted Harvey Specter’s mantra: it started like this, but it ended… like this. Suits LA can’t afford to make the same mistake. 

This was Suits’ biggest mistake

USA Network

By the end of Suits, it was incredibly tiresome; labored storylines, bombast over genuine emotion, cheesier, and, most of all, rushed. Harvey marrying Donna and leaving the firm to reunite with Mike makes sense, but beyond its (low-hanging, but effective) use of Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’, it didn’t feel like a big payoff. Suddenly, it was just… over. 

Admittedly, the series’ transition from must-watch TV to perfect background viewing started long before the final season – specifically, when Mike’s secret was exposed and he went to jail. The problem wasn’t that the show’s central tension was gone – it was how feebly it navigated the consequences and fallout of that revelation within the show’s world (Louis’ reaction aside, which is one of the best TV moments ever, for my money). 

It all went slowly but surely downhill from there. Mike got out of prison early (after a tedious subplot with a violent informant), he eventually returned to Pearson Specter Litt, and then he left with Rachel (mainly because Meghan Markle married Prince Harry, but Patrick J. Adams also thought Mike’s story had run its course). 

This was all very messy – a bad omen for Seasons 8 and 9, which felt like the show grappling with its sense of purpose beyond a bog-standard legal procedural. It’s a great unifier among fans: Seasons 1-4 are spectacular, and then it gets progressively worse (even if it’s still watchable). 

Suits LA needs to know when it ends 

NBC

Suits LA has a lot to prove from the moment it airs. After all, Suits’ pilot was and remains dazzling; even now, if I catch the 30-second preview that plays on Netflix, it tempts me into a rewatch. 

However, Suits LA doesn’t necessarily have the same attention-grabbing premise from the outset. It will follow Ted Black (Stephen Amell), a former New York prosecutor who’s now working as an entertainment lawyer in – you guessed it – Los Angeles. 

When his firm hits a crisis point, he’s forced to “embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career,” according to NBC’s synopsis, all while “events from years ago slowly unravel that led Ted to leave everything behind.”

That’s a tougher sell than Suits’ plot. If it’s going to work, beyond all else, Aaron Korsh needs to have a clear beginning, middle, and end in mind. Some wiggle room is fine, especially if he’s hoping for another decade-spanning hit, but Suits coasted on a great idea until it had to think of something else – Suits LA needs to be better, or at the very least, more consistent. 

There are two reasons. Firstly, it’s already on the back foot. Some fans (like me) are intrigued by it, while others are skeptical (and even cynical) about its mere existence. 

It is fair to say its inception is in direct debt to Suits’ success on Netflix, and that doesn’t necessarily equate to interest in the spinoff (even with Harvey Specter appearing in a few episodes, written off by some viewers as nostalgia bait).

Secondly, Suits LA isn’t operating in the same market as Suits. The original series was a pre-streaming success story, airing at a time when seasons were regularly nearly 20 episodes long and dominating ratings year-round. TV was still king, and Suits was licensed to channels across the world, reinforcing its popularity even in its downtime. 

The new TV show is dropping in perhaps the most oversaturated time in television history. The streaming service boom has overwhelmed households. Every week, there are dozens of new releases that people want to watch, like Severance and Squid Game – but there simply isn’t enough time for everyone to watch everything, so cancelations have become all too common. 

It’s made people savvier – and more judgmental. Today’s viewer may take a punt on a new series, but if it doesn’t immediately scratch an itch or break through into the zeitgeist, it’s unlikely they’ll stick with it (just look at the viewing figures for The Acolyte, Rings of Power, and Skeleton Crew). 

But then again, “winners don’t make excuses when the other side plays the game.” Suits LA needs to be better than fine: it has to be good.

Before it drops, check out our breakdown of the Suits LA cast. You can also find out why Suits was canceled and what we know about Suits Season 10.

Make sure you check out what’s dropping during Dexerto’s We LOVE TV & Movies week too.