Suits LAseemingly had everything going for it. It was a continuation of the originalSuits, which grew into a streaming phenomenon, and the series even got originalSuitscreatorAaron Korshon as a showrunner. It featured a talented cast led byStephen Amell, who was no stranger to a high-profile drama after years of headliningArrow. ButSuits LAwas met withmiddling reviews from criticsand less-than-stellar ratings, eventuallyleading to its recent cancellation. Even the return ofGabriel Macht’s Harvey Spectercouldn’t help save the show. So what happened?
As someone who’s watched and loved the originalSuits,I know whySuits LAdidn’t reach the same heights as its predecessor. Back before I had Netflix or any other streaming service, I would watchSuitsalongside other USA shows likeBurn NoticeandPsych. The “Blue Skies” era of television gave me some of my favorite TV shows, rivaled only by 90s'-era syndicated sci-fi shows likeStar Trek: The Next GenerationorBabylon 5, and there are certain elements in those shows thatSuits LAis missing.
‘Suits La’ Didn’t Have the Same Dynamic as ‘Suits’
Suitslived on the dynamic between Harvey Specter and Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams); their razor-sharp banter is underlined with a genuine trust in each other. It’s one of the few things that remains the same inSuits, even as both characters see their personal and professional lives undergo massive changes. In contrast, the relationship between Amell’s Ted Black and his former partner, Stuart Lane (Josh McDermitt), is less than amicable, especially when you factor in the detail of Stuart splitting up their law firmin the very first episode of the series.
As a result, Ted and Stuart are at each other’s throats, and their dynamic is less like old friends/partners and more like bitter enemies. While I get what Korsh was trying to do by presenting a dynamic that was the opposite of Harvey and Mike’s,it would have been better if Stuart’s split from Ted had happened later in the season. That way it would have been a genuine surprise for viewers, rather than coming off as an attempt to showcase how differentSuits LAwould become from its predecessor.
In putting a rivalry rather than a partnership at the forefront,Suits LAalso forgot what madeSuitsand the rest of USA’s “Blue Sky” shows worth watching:the dynamic between characters.Psychwouldn’t work without the friendship between Shawn (James Roday Rodriguez) and Gus (Dule Hill).Burn Noticesets itself apart from other spy shows due to the wide cast of characters Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan) runs into. AndWhite Collarfeatures, in my humble opinion, one of TV’s best duos in the form of Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) and Peter Burke (Tim DeKay). Their dynamic even mirrors Harvey and Mike’s since Neal was an infamous con man and Peter was an FBI agent, yet they form a close friendship. BothPsychandWhite Collarare receiving revival series, but unlikeSuits LAthey seem to be keeping that core partnership intact.
I Think ‘Suits LA’ Took Itself Too Seriously
The other issue thatSuits LAran into, and one that made it hard for me to keep up with, is thatit seemed to saddle most of its characters with some immense psychological issues. Ted’s new partner, Erica Rollins (Lex Scott Davis), is a skilled lawyer, yet has thrown herself into work to the point where she’s outright horrible to anyone who can’t keep up with her. Stuart ends up getting blackmailed, which finally leads Ted to help him out, but the experience leads him to spiral out and take it out on clients and co-workers alike. It’s Ted who takes the cake: throughout the pilot episode “Seven Days a Week and Twice on Sunday,” he’s shown talking to his brother Eddie (Carson A. Egan), the one person he doesn’t snap at. It isn’t until Ted visits their father (Matt Lestcher) thatSuits LAdrops the major twist of Eddie being dead. In a hard-hitting drama that might have worked, but this is a spin-off ofSuits. I’m not saying thatSuitsdidn’t have serious or heartfelt moments, but it managed to balance them with well-placed humor.
The tonal dissonance betweenSuitsandSuits LAis evident in how they utilize flashbacks. Both series flash back to key moments in their characters' past to show the audience how they became who they are. But whileSuits’s flashbacks gave me a greater appreciation for Mike and Harvey as characters,Suits LAhad me thinking, “I don’t want to be Ted Black.” And there lies the problem.Suits' blend of charming characters and witty dialogue made being a lawyer seem really cool, even if you didn’t necessarily want to be a lawyer.Suits LA, on the other hand, took what could have been a fun setup — how do the high-powered lawyers that manage your favorite actors and directors handle life on the West Coast — and makes it a drag. Going back to Stuart, his biggest meltdown occurs when he’s talking toYvette Nicole Brown(playing herself). What could have been a great opportunity for humor is instead a very uncomfortable scene that made me wish I was watchingCommunityinstead.
‘Suits La’ Was Written for the Streaming Age, and It Shows
Most of the early reviews forSuits LAhighlighted some of the problems I mentioned, but the biggest issue that seemed to crop up is thatthe series' pacing was extremely slow. At times, I felt likeSuits LAwas clearly crafted to be a series that would debut on Peacock. It feels like it was written for the “Peak TV” era of streaming, with a more dramatic bent and a slow-moving storyline. In fact,Suits LAwasn’t originally meant to be aSuitsspin-off — Aaron Korsh revealed to the LA Times that he originally pitched it asa different series about agents in Hollywood. Perhaps Korsh should have stayed with that angle becauseSuits LAfelt like it was doomed from the start. Unlike the originalSuits, I won’t be revisiting this on the weekends.
SuitsandSuits LAare available to stream on Peacock.
