TV SHOW REVIEW: Suits S02E11

This episode I could not leave without blogging about. It just struck me how emotions can have potentially detrimental effects on the decisions and the consequences of those decisions can have on our lives. In this episode Mike Ross and Harvey Specter take on the case of Julie, well more like her son Liam, who figured in an accident that killed a certain Albert Chung. Remember that Mike's parents were killed in a vehicular accident caused by an intoxicated driver. Needless to say, Mike was emotionally invested in the outcome of the case and it showed when Ross, after a final settlement has been made with Chung's family, that in fact Liam was high on drugs when he hit Chung. Mike actually wanted a reversal of the case to the detriment of his client.

This shows that a professional has to have his personal issues resolved when handling cases that can bring back bad memories in one's life. Otherwise, regardless of the profession, the said professional may not only be a disservice to the interests of his client or patient in the case of medical doctors, but can also damage his own professional credibility. It is clear that Mike should not have been allowed to handle Liam's case in the first place. And Harvey was right when he initially confronted Mike about his readiness to handle Liam's case, validly conjuring that his own unresolved issues with regards to the vehicular accident that caused the demise of his parents would play, as in fact it did, on his objectivity and commitment to defend the interests of his client.

I was however relieved that in the end, Mike was able to somehow, despite a heavy heart, able to extricate Liam, as he should by the way being his lawyer, from a potentially long jail sentence. But, I am beginning to question Mike's professional capacity to discharge his duties in a non-impassioned manner - and this is not entirely a bad thing, as long as it does not impinge on one's ability to always keep in mind that in the end, he has to fight for his client's interests at all times. This episode should serve as a learning experience for Harvey, who should know better not to ever let Mike handle similar cases in the future.