Do you feel that cold wind at your back? That’s the result of everyone regretfully sighing now that Game of Thrones and Mad Men are over. Where are all the good TV shows, you ask? Well, let me tell you: there are some great summer TV shows that will help fill that Peter Dinklage-sized hole in your hearts.

Like Suits, for example. The second season is about to drop tomorrow night, promising us more court-room shenanigans and run-ins with paralegal hotties than Judge Judy could ever promise us. Don’t believe us? The evidence below speaks for itself. And hey, if you don’t like it, Breaking Bad and White Collar  are only a few weeks away. But I digress…

What It’s About

Twentysomething Mike Ross works for one of New York’s most prestigious law firms as the hand-picked apprentice to the firm’s best closer, Harvey Spectre. However, Ross has a secret: he is not a lawyer, nor does he even have a law degree; he’s just your average genius.

Why You Should Watch It

Patrick J. Adams Is The Little Brother You Never Had

Adams plays Mike Ross, that twentysomething kid who’s parents were killed in a tragic accident (tragic!). Adams plays Mike with all the “Whoa, I can’t believe I’m in here!” charm he can muster, while also establishing Mike’s innocence in the dog-eat-dog world of high-stakes lawsuits. Every episode, you know Mike is outmatched by the opposing suits, making Mike the underdog. And who doesn’t love an underdog, am I right? 

Gabriel Macht Is Your Favorite Player’s Favorite Player

Macht is supposed to be the “big name” of the series, as the only actor with anything resembling film experience. Macht’s biggest roles to date have been as the boy toy in Because I Said So and as the titular crimefighter in the horrendous The Spirit. Macht plays Harvey Spectre, the wunderkind of the law firm and one of the best layers in the game. Macht’s Spectre is brash, arrogant, and just full of himself enough to allow for some humor. Also, the man drips swag: every episode of Suits features Spectre strolling around in some of the crispiest, tailor-made suits to ever bless cable television. 

Rick Hoffman Is Not Your Girlfriend’s Best Gay Friend

Every show needs a great villain to menace our characters. Well, enter Rick Hoffman’s Louis Littman, the fruity junior partner of the firm who manages to somehow work with Harvey while also being Harvey’s archnemesis. Louis is a dangerously shallow man, willing to double-cross and even triple-cross his own associotes to better the firm’s interests. He also really hates Mike, and tries to come up with different tasks to expose Mike’s lack of lawyer abilities; and even though the show is about Mike Ross, the best parts of every episode are whenever Spectre and Louis go one-on-one in the office. 

“But Wait, I Haven’t Watched Season One!”

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Don’t worry, Suits is well-written enough that anyone can tune in to an episode and immediately know what’s going on. Except, of course, you can’t really get away with skipping any show’s first season and moving on to the second season. But never fear, that’s why I’m here to explain the entire first season for you in two-to-three paragraphs so we can all tune in tomorrow night as one big, happy family.

**SPOLER ALERT**

Mike Ross is a twentsomething college dropout. Together with his best friend Kyle, the two make a living doing illegal things: Mike puts his photographic memory to good use and takes LSATs for other kids, Kyle deals drugs (mostly weed). One day, Kyle sets up Mike to his fall during a police sting, forcing Mike to flee into a near-by hotel.

Just by luck (or is it, destiny?), that same hotel just so happens to be the very same hotel where Harvey Spectre is conducting interviews to decide who will be his new associate. You see, Harvey just made senior partner at the untouchable Pearson Hardman firm; as any senior partner will tell you, each senior partner needs an associate partner to handle the glim stuff so the senior partner can enjoy the glam stuff. Once Mike stumbles in to the interviews and confesses his life-story, Harvey decides it’d be in his best interests to hire the ex-con with the photographic memory instead of the traditional boring, plain-cut law student.

As Mike adjusts to life as the right-hand man to one of New York’s premiere lawyers, he runs afoul of the dangerous Louis Litt and the ridiculously good-looking paralegal Rachel. Mike also now has to keep his old homies out of his life, as it’s not a good career move to hang around drug pushers when you’ve got a promising career in law ahead of you.

Anyway, as it always happens, Mike’s past catches up to him. Mike begins dating Kyle’s ex-girlfriend about mid-way through the season, so you can imagine the tension and trouble Kyle causes when he pops back into the show in time for the series finale. Of course, Kyle is not that thrilled his best friend Mike is dipping his pen into his ex-girlfriend, setting up the final scene of season one with Kyle about to reveal Mike’s true identity and Harvey’s role in harboring Mike’s secret.

Posted By: Mr. Darkside

Mr. Darkside is a staff writer for Cultivated Society. He will go to his grave preferring Coach Eric Taylor over Don Draper.

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