It’s hard to imagine any regular TV viewer who hasn’t heard of Suits. However, for the purposes of the few who may belong to that category, Suits is a legal drama series created by Aaron Korsh, and shot in Toronto, Canada, for the US-based USA Network.
Seven seasons have passed since its creation in 2011. In the course of the seven seasons, viewers have been highly entertained by the happenings in the law firm where Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) is the daredevil partner. When the series started, the law firm was known as Pearson Hardman. Since then, in almost every new season, there’s been a name change. In Season eight, it’s called Zane Specter Litt; with two partners fighting tooth and nail to get the one vacant slot.
Still, some things have remained constant. One of such is the story of Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams). Ross is a brilliant college dropout who lied about his Harvard law qualification. This sure sounds like many political appointees right now; what with the many stories of fake certificates flying about. Also, in the course of seven seasons, a love story was created for Mike and Rachel Zane (Meghan Markle), the ambitious paralegal. Markle, now the Duchess of Sussex, has since gone on to marry Prince Harry and they are expecting their first child.
Let’s look at Season eight. So far, ten episodes have been aired; the show is now on a mid-season break, to return next year. Rachel and Mike got married in Season seven and have supposedly now moved to another state, job, etc. No one expected Prince Harry’s wife to continue with acting on TV anyway; that’s for commoners. The question was always how the show was going to continue after the exit of Rachel and Mike: was some other actress going to play Rachel? Would Mike stay on? And so on and so forth.
Ten episodes later, we can see how Suits is shaping up and that is where the Nollywood comparison comes in. A few episodes into the season, it became clear that Season eight of Suits was going to be a little different. That ‘little difference’ had me wondering if some guys from Nollywood had taken over the series. The ‘Nollywood-isation’ began in the first episode and was laid on very thickly. It was all about bragging, empty boasts and insults. The other thing that was very Nigerian were the characters over-promising. So much so, that first episode of Season 8 should have been titled, You Have My Word.
In that episode one (season eight), no conversation was complete without someone saying, “You have my word” or “You gave your word”. Very early on, Harvey assured Alex (Dule Hill), “You have my word; your name goes next on the wall”. A few seconds later, he repeated, “Like I said earlier, you have my word”. Minutes later, Harvey told Robert Zane (Wendell Pierce), “I just gave Alex my word. What kind of partner will I be if I don’t keep my word?” And Zane retorted right back, “But remember you didn’t only give Alex your word, you just gave it to me (too)”. Again, towards the end, Alex accused Harvey, “You gave me your word that you were going to stay out of this.” Zane said to Harvey: “You stood right here and gave me your word.”
You have my word that there are plenty of these instances in the next seven episodes.
With Suits now midway into season eight, it is safe to say this season has not been about solving any major cases or finding creative ways to give clients legal miracles. At best, it’s to readjust to life after Rachel Zane and Mike Ross. Ross may yet return. More importantly, season eight of Suits appears to be the one with the strongest language yet. Sam Wheeler (Katherine Heigl) uses most of the strong words. Apparently, her character is supposed to be extra tough, so goes around using some vulgar words.
I’m not sure how the rest of season eight is going to play out but if the earlier seasons had been like this one, long on braggadocio and short on substance (legal suspense), I doubt many viewers would have stuck with the series all these eight seasons.
Let’s watch and see.
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