A Letter to the Baby Fandom of Suits (aka, thoughts on Suits wank)
So, fandom is already exploding over how the show suddenly isn't focused on just the boys anymore with "quirky" characters in the background.
Now, you know me. I'm usually slow to ease into bitching about a show "jumping the shark" because I like to give the writers the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes, I never believe it does or I'll object to a few items but not tout the downfall of the whole show (for brief examples, while season 8&9 of X-Files had major problems, I never believed it "jumped the shark" (well, not until XF2) and I HIGHLY objected to Katie and I might have sworn off SGA if she had gotten pregnant and stuck around but didn't hate the whole show for that atrocity of a story arc). But when the show DOES jump the shark on characters or fucks up the writing irreversibly, I am one of the people to loudly proclaim my frustrations (see Nathan on Heroes and Castiel on SPN). I am not afraid to say I'm sick of romance or the writing was poor or dumb or whatever. Now, we can all disagree on some things (i.e. me and Cas-haters will never agree that what happened to him was deserved/good/whatever). But you can hate a character, hate a plot, and still be objective.
(Warning, spoilers for Suits 1x11 "Rules of the Game".)
It is episode 11. The writers are trying to flesh out a universe. I get your protectiveness over the boys and the desire to want them togetherallthetimeomg. I want them to constantly snark and flirt and bicker and be AWESOME together all the time. (More Star Trek jokes, kthanx.) But in fleshing out a universe, you've got to give screen time to some other characters. This is not season 5 of SGA where it seemed like the writers were deliberately trying to keep McKay and Shep apart to discourage the shippers. Sure, maybe, if you clocked minutes in an episode, there has been less time between the boys than in the first few episodes. But their time together has been just as meaningful as previous encounters.
And how can you even complain about the time we're seeing other characters when the other characters are SO AMAZING? Jessica? KICKED ASS. Donna? Will defend and protect Harvey till the day she dies because Harvey has his clear cut morals but Donna will do more than protect a bad man because he was her mentor, she will SAVE the good man. I mean, I don't like Louis on principle. He's clearly the "big bad" antagonist. He's annoying and full of himself and a DICK. But he's interesting. If Mike and Harvey only had to deal with crappy clients, it would soon devolve into a L&O formulaic type show. It would be The Practice (which I loved, Dylan McDermott, OMGGGG) where everything devolved into boring, staid court cases and the love drama of Bobby and Lindsay.
Oh, but wait. That's Suits fandom's real complaint. The ~love triangle. There's not enough Harvey-Mike time because Mike is a soap opera wah wah wah! Ummm, do you see why TV execs sometimes hate fandom? It sucks and it's BS, but they're not going to make Harvey/Mike canon. Now, I know we all recognize that consciously. In the same way 99% of Cas/Dean and Wincest shippers recognize their pairings won't happen. But, our shippiness often affects our rationality. I am as guilty of this as anyone. I just want Dean to give Cas a hug, too, dammit. And so we get up in arms about other relationships infringing on our particular favorite, especially if we see the relationship as central to the show (i.e. Suits with Harvey and Mike, White Collar with Peter and Neal, Supernatural with Sam and Dean).
Here's the thing, though. While there may be less clocked on screen time together, nothing has changed. The writing, number 1, has not gone downhill. The scripts are still crisp and fresh. The banter still exists. Number 2, the characters have not changed. Mike and Harvey have not suddenly changed or jumped ship. Mike has had this thing with both Rachel and Jenny since episode one. It's not out of character for him to be involved or dedicating time to either one. As for Harvey not bringing Mike in on the DA thing? a) Harvey was very upset and maybe didn't feel like telling his associate all his personal problems. He didn't tell Louis, either. It was strictly who was involved Donna, Jessica, the DA). Hell, Harvey even wanted Donna to stay out of it for most of the episode. b) He was dealing with his problems, expecting Mike to take care of other things while dealing with personal issues. It's not like he suddenly stopped trusting Mike. That's like being upset Sheppard didn't cry on McKay's shoulder and tell him all about his ex-wife. Ronan had an ex (even if she died rather than being divorced); the two simply had that in common. The relationship is different than say Mulder and Scully wherein Mulder had NO ONE else after S2, basically. It's different from Sam and Dean or Nathan and Peter who are brothers who grew up dependent on each other. Suits is simply - and always has been - a more expansive universe than The X-Files or Supernatural. c) Sometimes, people deal with their problems in different ways and need to deal separately. Yes, Mike whined to Harvey about his relationship woes for a hot minute. Well, Harvey DID tell Mike about it. But both men were dealing with their own issues, separately. PEOPLE DO THAT. Hell, I wish people did that more often in my own life because the drama that starts when no one deals with their problems away from the lime light causes one hell of a headache. People in RL don't always tell/do things together, even husbands and wives. That's realistic TV. d) Harvey had no need of Mike. Yeah, sure, going through cases, Mike could have read them faster? Harvey was already familiar with them. He didn't need to find new laws or set a strategy. He needed to sort through personal cases he handled, out of guilt. Look at the way he snapped at Louis at the end. Harvey's entire motivation in this episode was torn between guilt and moral (legal) duty. With perhaps a smidgeon of trying to protect himself. But as he said, he wouldn't sell out Jessica, he won't sell out anyone he once worked with/trusted. And he was absolutely beating himself up for it all. Why did Mike need to get involved in that? Number 3, more importantly, the relationship between Mike and Harvey HAS NOT CHANGED. No, Harvey didn't dump the DA issue on Mike. He dumped the other case. Again, the trust to get the job done is still there. They still met in his office. There was less banter, but this was a serious episode. It wasn't because the writers are trying to cut down on banter so Mike can play out his drama. The interplay, the exchanges still had the same flavor as all others in the past. It was of a similar kind to last week's discussion of Mike getting fired. Chemistry and caring abounded, but it wasn't via movie quotes and oneup-manship.
Is the triangle already uber dramatic? Of course. But you know, both girls are becoming more fully fleshed out characters. What really upsets me is when fans try to qualify their complaints with "it's not because I ship so-and-so". I'm sorry, when you say you liked Female Character X before she started hooking up with one of the main boys...it's because of your ship. Especially when fandom loved Rachel in the first few episodes when she was shooting Mike down. Now you don't like her because she kissed him? That's all to do with perceived interference with your ship. Rachel is STILL a great character. She's smart and funny and complicated. Now, I do admit, I have a problem that all women seem to be defined by or need to be in a relationship. This is one of many reasons why I love Jessica and Donna. So far, they seem unattached (well, we know Jessica WAS attached and I really liked that story). So I get upset when female characters must be attached or involved in romance because sometimes, I just want them by themselves. If that's your complaint, fine. But everything I've been seeing is fandom doesn't like Rachel anymore and it's all because it's cutting in on screentime between Mike and Harvey. OY VEY. And sure, maybe Rachel is playing a game, but as she said, so is Mike. It's mutual. Jenny is finally starting to stand up for herself. (Even though I get a little annoyed with the coupleship that dominates modern society. When Jenny said he can't have both I thought, "why not?") I love that Patrick Adams in that interview with his girlfriend said:
You watch “White Collar” and shows like that its always about someone who is the best guy in the world. They are the best or the smartest or the coolest person. I love that Mike’s a guy whose not the best and I think people can really relate to that fear of starting something new that you aren’t sure you can pull off...Mike’s not the best he just wants to do this thing right.
MIKE ISN'T PERFECT. So, yeah, the love triangle is a clusterfuck. But that's how it would be in RL. I actually think the writers are writing it amazingly well. It's not at all the tacky romances of Kirk and Sheppard. And it's not yet cliche as we'd see in an actual soap opera. So far, it's interesting. Although I still think he could be with both, they'd be very pretty together.
I'm not saying this triangle doesn't have all the makings of being over the top and annoying and interfering with the characterizations and relationship between Harvey and Mike. And you'd better believe I will complain when/if it does. But as long as Harvey and Mike don't change and their relationship doesn't change, I am okay with a little less screentime to deal with some of Mike's flaws. Because that's what I enjoy about this show. That Mike is a smart fuck-up and Harvey is a caring "dickhead". The ensemble is great and every character plays off each other so well. And when Mike and Harvey are together, it's pure magic. But they haven't been attached at the hip all their lives, they will take breaks from each other to deal with their own shit. Sure, I'd watch the Harvey&Mike show where no one else but Patrick and Gabriel were ever on the screen, but honestly, I'd get bored.
Just remember, it's only episode 11. We've got a least another season to explore Harvey and Mike and their relationship and deal with the triangle. Until the writers fuck up the writing - and not simply by "failing" to have Mike and Harvey in the same room all the time - I'm okay with dealing with and watching this love triangle. Take a breath and chill, fandom. It'll be okay. So far, I trust the writers, they haven't let me down once in these 11 eps. And think about it this way: considering Tim Kring or Sera Gamble aren't attached in any way, no character will die at the end of every season and have his personality rewritten each time. Suits fandom is pretty safe in the grand scheme of character assassination.
Now, you know me. I'm usually slow to ease into bitching about a show "jumping the shark" because I like to give the writers the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes, I never believe it does or I'll object to a few items but not tout the downfall of the whole show (for brief examples, while season 8&9 of X-Files had major problems, I never believed it "jumped the shark" (well, not until XF2) and I HIGHLY objected to Katie and I might have sworn off SGA if she had gotten pregnant and stuck around but didn't hate the whole show for that atrocity of a story arc). But when the show DOES jump the shark on characters or fucks up the writing irreversibly, I am one of the people to loudly proclaim my frustrations (see Nathan on Heroes and Castiel on SPN). I am not afraid to say I'm sick of romance or the writing was poor or dumb or whatever. Now, we can all disagree on some things (i.e. me and Cas-haters will never agree that what happened to him was deserved/good/whatever). But you can hate a character, hate a plot, and still be objective.
(Warning, spoilers for Suits 1x11 "Rules of the Game".)
It is episode 11. The writers are trying to flesh out a universe. I get your protectiveness over the boys and the desire to want them togetherallthetimeomg. I want them to constantly snark and flirt and bicker and be AWESOME together all the time. (More Star Trek jokes, kthanx.) But in fleshing out a universe, you've got to give screen time to some other characters. This is not season 5 of SGA where it seemed like the writers were deliberately trying to keep McKay and Shep apart to discourage the shippers. Sure, maybe, if you clocked minutes in an episode, there has been less time between the boys than in the first few episodes. But their time together has been just as meaningful as previous encounters.
And how can you even complain about the time we're seeing other characters when the other characters are SO AMAZING? Jessica? KICKED ASS. Donna? Will defend and protect Harvey till the day she dies because Harvey has his clear cut morals but Donna will do more than protect a bad man because he was her mentor, she will SAVE the good man. I mean, I don't like Louis on principle. He's clearly the "big bad" antagonist. He's annoying and full of himself and a DICK. But he's interesting. If Mike and Harvey only had to deal with crappy clients, it would soon devolve into a L&O formulaic type show. It would be The Practice (which I loved, Dylan McDermott, OMGGGG) where everything devolved into boring, staid court cases and the love drama of Bobby and Lindsay.
Oh, but wait. That's Suits fandom's real complaint. The ~love triangle. There's not enough Harvey-Mike time because Mike is a soap opera wah wah wah! Ummm, do you see why TV execs sometimes hate fandom? It sucks and it's BS, but they're not going to make Harvey/Mike canon. Now, I know we all recognize that consciously. In the same way 99% of Cas/Dean and Wincest shippers recognize their pairings won't happen. But, our shippiness often affects our rationality. I am as guilty of this as anyone. I just want Dean to give Cas a hug, too, dammit. And so we get up in arms about other relationships infringing on our particular favorite, especially if we see the relationship as central to the show (i.e. Suits with Harvey and Mike, White Collar with Peter and Neal, Supernatural with Sam and Dean).
Here's the thing, though. While there may be less clocked on screen time together, nothing has changed. The writing, number 1, has not gone downhill. The scripts are still crisp and fresh. The banter still exists. Number 2, the characters have not changed. Mike and Harvey have not suddenly changed or jumped ship. Mike has had this thing with both Rachel and Jenny since episode one. It's not out of character for him to be involved or dedicating time to either one. As for Harvey not bringing Mike in on the DA thing? a) Harvey was very upset and maybe didn't feel like telling his associate all his personal problems. He didn't tell Louis, either. It was strictly who was involved Donna, Jessica, the DA). Hell, Harvey even wanted Donna to stay out of it for most of the episode. b) He was dealing with his problems, expecting Mike to take care of other things while dealing with personal issues. It's not like he suddenly stopped trusting Mike. That's like being upset Sheppard didn't cry on McKay's shoulder and tell him all about his ex-wife. Ronan had an ex (even if she died rather than being divorced); the two simply had that in common. The relationship is different than say Mulder and Scully wherein Mulder had NO ONE else after S2, basically. It's different from Sam and Dean or Nathan and Peter who are brothers who grew up dependent on each other. Suits is simply - and always has been - a more expansive universe than The X-Files or Supernatural. c) Sometimes, people deal with their problems in different ways and need to deal separately. Yes, Mike whined to Harvey about his relationship woes for a hot minute. Well, Harvey DID tell Mike about it. But both men were dealing with their own issues, separately. PEOPLE DO THAT. Hell, I wish people did that more often in my own life because the drama that starts when no one deals with their problems away from the lime light causes one hell of a headache. People in RL don't always tell/do things together, even husbands and wives. That's realistic TV. d) Harvey had no need of Mike. Yeah, sure, going through cases, Mike could have read them faster? Harvey was already familiar with them. He didn't need to find new laws or set a strategy. He needed to sort through personal cases he handled, out of guilt. Look at the way he snapped at Louis at the end. Harvey's entire motivation in this episode was torn between guilt and moral (legal) duty. With perhaps a smidgeon of trying to protect himself. But as he said, he wouldn't sell out Jessica, he won't sell out anyone he once worked with/trusted. And he was absolutely beating himself up for it all. Why did Mike need to get involved in that? Number 3, more importantly, the relationship between Mike and Harvey HAS NOT CHANGED. No, Harvey didn't dump the DA issue on Mike. He dumped the other case. Again, the trust to get the job done is still there. They still met in his office. There was less banter, but this was a serious episode. It wasn't because the writers are trying to cut down on banter so Mike can play out his drama. The interplay, the exchanges still had the same flavor as all others in the past. It was of a similar kind to last week's discussion of Mike getting fired. Chemistry and caring abounded, but it wasn't via movie quotes and oneup-manship.
Is the triangle already uber dramatic? Of course. But you know, both girls are becoming more fully fleshed out characters. What really upsets me is when fans try to qualify their complaints with "it's not because I ship so-and-so". I'm sorry, when you say you liked Female Character X before she started hooking up with one of the main boys...it's because of your ship. Especially when fandom loved Rachel in the first few episodes when she was shooting Mike down. Now you don't like her because she kissed him? That's all to do with perceived interference with your ship. Rachel is STILL a great character. She's smart and funny and complicated. Now, I do admit, I have a problem that all women seem to be defined by or need to be in a relationship. This is one of many reasons why I love Jessica and Donna. So far, they seem unattached (well, we know Jessica WAS attached and I really liked that story). So I get upset when female characters must be attached or involved in romance because sometimes, I just want them by themselves. If that's your complaint, fine. But everything I've been seeing is fandom doesn't like Rachel anymore and it's all because it's cutting in on screentime between Mike and Harvey. OY VEY. And sure, maybe Rachel is playing a game, but as she said, so is Mike. It's mutual. Jenny is finally starting to stand up for herself. (Even though I get a little annoyed with the coupleship that dominates modern society. When Jenny said he can't have both I thought, "why not?") I love that Patrick Adams in that interview with his girlfriend said:
You watch “White Collar” and shows like that its always about someone who is the best guy in the world. They are the best or the smartest or the coolest person. I love that Mike’s a guy whose not the best and I think people can really relate to that fear of starting something new that you aren’t sure you can pull off...Mike’s not the best he just wants to do this thing right.
MIKE ISN'T PERFECT. So, yeah, the love triangle is a clusterfuck. But that's how it would be in RL. I actually think the writers are writing it amazingly well. It's not at all the tacky romances of Kirk and Sheppard. And it's not yet cliche as we'd see in an actual soap opera. So far, it's interesting. Although I still think he could be with both, they'd be very pretty together.
I'm not saying this triangle doesn't have all the makings of being over the top and annoying and interfering with the characterizations and relationship between Harvey and Mike. And you'd better believe I will complain when/if it does. But as long as Harvey and Mike don't change and their relationship doesn't change, I am okay with a little less screentime to deal with some of Mike's flaws. Because that's what I enjoy about this show. That Mike is a smart fuck-up and Harvey is a caring "dickhead". The ensemble is great and every character plays off each other so well. And when Mike and Harvey are together, it's pure magic. But they haven't been attached at the hip all their lives, they will take breaks from each other to deal with their own shit. Sure, I'd watch the Harvey&Mike show where no one else but Patrick and Gabriel were ever on the screen, but honestly, I'd get bored.
Just remember, it's only episode 11. We've got a least another season to explore Harvey and Mike and their relationship and deal with the triangle. Until the writers fuck up the writing - and not simply by "failing" to have Mike and Harvey in the same room all the time - I'm okay with dealing with and watching this love triangle. Take a breath and chill, fandom. It'll be okay. So far, I trust the writers, they haven't let me down once in these 11 eps. And think about it this way: considering Tim Kring or Sera Gamble aren't attached in any way, no character will die at the end of every season and have his personality rewritten each time. Suits fandom is pretty safe in the grand scheme of character assassination.