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"Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss."
— Nell Sawyer to Harvey Specter

Meet the New Boss is the third episode of the second season of Suits and the 15th overall. It first aired on June 28, 2012.

Synopsis

Harvey bristles at Daniel's involvement on a lawsuit he's handling, but their battle to one up each other threatens the case, leaving Mike caught in the middle.

Plot

Daniel Hardman attends Jessica's meeting with the partners, and starts by informing all that while he's back, he's going to be #2, and Jessica still runs the firm. However, he repeatedly tries to take control of the meeting from Jessica.

Rachel creates a dating profile on Match.com, but draws a blank at the self description. Mike helps her by coming up with a profile that describes what he loves about her. She realizes he has feelings for her and later comes to his apartment to confront him about his decision not to date her, saying that he has something to hide from her. Mike replies that he doesn't want to lie to her.

Pearson Hardman is representing Prescott hospital in a nurses' labor union negotiation. The nurses went on a strike because many had to work unpaid overtime, due to an insufficient staffing budget. After the leader of the nurses union, Nell Sawyer, burned through five negotiators, Hardman sends Mike in. Mike's grandmother happens to live in an assisted living facility managed by Prescott, and Mike invites Nell to meet his grandmother there, saying that the case is a personal matter as well to him. He learns of the nurses being severely overworked.

When Jessica finds out that the firm was rated as second to last in the quality of life of legal associates, she tells Louis to fix the situation, because Harvard may decide to rescind Pearson Hardman's on-campus recruiting privileges. She also tells him that the associates think he doesn't do much work, given that he has associates perform his work. Louis makes sure that the Harvard representative sent to the first to check on the associates' situation, Sheila Sazs, leaves with a positive impression. He also spends overtime to solve work he had assigned to the associates, demonstrating his productivity and that they must perform grunt tasks in order to learn.

Cast

Main Cast

Recurring Cast

Guest Cast

Major/Highlighted Events

  • Louis is notified by Jessica that the associates at Pearson Hardman rank second to last on quality of life, adding that while he may enjoy making their lives miserable, Harvard Law School wishes to rescind their exclusivity agreement. Louis attempts to make amends by inviting Sheila Sazs from Harvard to oversee his treatment of the associates, but Sheila immediately picks up on the fact that Louis is lying about his bond with them. She admits that she doesn't even know the surnames of her own underlings and Louis is relieved that he no longer has to keep up the charade. After engaging on one-on-one interviews with the associates, Sheila tells Louis that she will allow the firm to keep its exclusivity but informs him that the associates believe he doesn't work as hard as they do, and that he is pawning off his work to them. Louis then stays up all night and completes all of the associates' duties, telling them that he is more than capable of doing the work he assigns to them and that the only reason he gives them difficult work is so that they acquire more knowledge and be better prepared, adding that any other associate at another law firm would not come close to doing the work they do.
    • Jessica congratulates Louis for his work reining in the associates, and Louis explains that while he gives the associates potential to ascend, he only wishes Jessica would do the same for him.
  • Pearson Hardman is tasked with handling a case involving Prescott Hospitals and their nurses union, who wish to go on strike unless they receive money to hire more nurses as they are understaffed. Daniel Hardman attempts to take the case for himself as he was the one who brought on Prescott as a client, but Jessica lies by stating that she had already tasked the case to Harvey, as she does not want Daniel to handle any cases. Mike advises Harvey to file a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the nurse's union, which would put a 48 hour hold to their strike, whereas Harvey wishes to file an injunction to prevent the strike from ever occurring. To Harvey's vexation, Hardman inserts himself into the case and has a TRO granted, which Harvey later revokes, telling Daniel that Mike had come up with the TRO idea as well, and that Hardman, a former managing partner, should stop thinking like a rookie and formulating strategies a first year associate can come up with.
    • Hardman and Harvey use Mike as a medium to handle the nurse's strike, which involves Mike allowing Nell Sawyer, the head nurse, to meet his grandmother Edith, where Mike discovers that the understaffed nurses are working more than 20 hour shifts without being paid, although it is listed on their timecards. After a discussion with Louis, who mentions that the associates cannot complain about long work hours as there is no law against working 20 hour days, Harvey uses the time card knowledge to force Nell into signing a reduced settlement, with Nell glaring at Mike and telling him that his grandmother would be proud. Mike goes after Harvey, and the latter reminds his associate that his job was to stick it to the nurses and that it is part of the job, even if he doesn't like it, and that the settlement where the nurses get something is better than the alternative where they don't.
      • Harvey spends the evening reading a book at Jessica's office while Jessica drinks tea, only to be interrupted by Hardman, who comes to apologize for undermining Jessica and sabotaging Harvey's case. He states that he only did so after seeing Jessica sitting in his chair, only for Jessica to alert him that he made moves before the meeting, reminding him that he had all the firm's cases summarized and built himself an office. Hardman explains that those were all within his right as a name partner returning to the firm, and Jessica asks if stealing her tea set was part of his return as well; Hardman reminds Jessica that his late wife gave her the tea set and he thought she would understand him stealing it as he missed her.
      • Following the nurse's union ordeal, Mike asks Harvey to keep him out of his clash with Hardman. Later that night, Harvey calls Mike into his office and reveals that when he and Jessica discovered that Hardman was embezzling money five years ago, Hardman told them it was because his wife had cancer and that he needed the money to keep her alive, only for them to later discover that he was actually using it on his mistress. Harvey advises Mike not to trust someone like Hardman.
    • While trying to come up with an essay for her dating profile, Mike helps her by listing out all the things he likes about her. Rachel later shows up at Mike's apartment, asking why they can't be together if he still has feelings for her. She correctly deduces that he is hiding a secret, and Mike explains that he cannot tell her the truth as everything he does depends on it and that he does not wish to lie to her; Rachel then leaves abruptly.
      • Rachel takes the LSATs once more.

Cultural References

Trivia

  • Goddamn Counter: 2
  • When going out drinking, Donna pretends to be a closer named Harriet Specter while Rachel pretends to be a lawyer with a photographic memory named Michelle Ross.
  • It is revealed that despite being a corporate attorney, Mike keeps pro bono cases in his desk drawer to tackle on the side.
  • In "Tricks of the Trade", Mike tells Rachel that the LSATs only come four times as a year, and that the next one would be in three months. Since Rachel takes the LSATs again in this episode, three months have passed in-universe since that episode.

Gallery

Mike Ross Gallery Icon

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