Editor’s note: The following recap contains spoilers for the series premiere of Suits LA.While an alarming proportion of the population didn’t figure out that Suits was a good time until the series blew up on Netflix in the summer of 2023, there were still a decent number of us who recognized the legal procedural as a definitive drama of the USA Blue Sky period. Was Suits perfect? Not by any means, especially in the latter seasons. That doesn’t change the fact that those first few seasons were special.
The original series starred Gabriel Macht as the narcissistic corporate lawyer Harvey Specter. Harvey was bored with the status quo when we met him in the pilot, so he hired a drug-dealing bike messenger, Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams), as an associate at his prestigious law firm — despite the fact that Mike had never been to law school, let alone Harvard like his colleagues. Mike did have a photographic memory and undeniable charisma, which made him a fun risk for Harvey to take. The plot was a shake-up of previous legal procedurals, and it sang because of the lightning-in-the-bottle chemistry between its stellar cast, including Macht, Adams, Sarah Rafferty, Gina Torres, Rick Hoffman, and a pre-royal Meghan Markle.
When Suits became the number-one show in the world in 2023, more than a decade after it originally premiered on USA, a revival of sorts felt inevitable. NBC soon announced a spinoff, Suits: LA. Over a year and a half later, the spin-off is here — and Suits boss Aaron Korsh has tried to recapture the magic of the original series for a new chapter.
‘Suits: LA’ Takes a Confounding Trip Down Memory Lane

Image via NBC

We are introduced to Stephen Amell’s Ted Black in the Suits: LA premiere at a crossroads in his career. He is a Yankees fan and compares himself to Patrick Mahomes over the course of the first episode, which should tell you everything you need to know. He was already a federal prosecutor in New York, on a level to prosecute the city’s most wanted gangsters. After a mysterious tragedy on the eve of his biggest case yet, Ted moved to the West Coast, switched to entertainment law, and built one of the largest firms in the city with his partner, Stuart Lane (The Walking Dead’s Josh McDermitt). To ensure world, or at least the legal world of Los Angeles, domination, Ted and Stuart have agreed to merge with the firm owned by Ted’s ex, and that’s when Ted’s entire world comes crashing down, and what is maybe the central plot of the show emerges.
Suits: LA posits that to understand where Ted Black is going in the future, we must first understand his past. The audience is dropped into a memory nightmare of Ted’s last case in New York, in which he emotionally blackmailed a witness into taking the stand against a lethal gangster known for killing off rats. The show wants the audience to know that Ted Black is the type of guy who will do anything for the win. Moments later, just as his witness acquiesced to testifying, his house is blown up, narrowly taking Ted out with the impact. The explosion isn’t what convinced Ted to leave the realm of criminal law. He continues to fight the case, even after the doctor tells him that his witness is dead. We don’t know the case results or what really sent Ted to LA, presumably because that information will be dolled out in the future. We know it has something to do with his dad, or maybe the gangsters, or maybe both. That is to be determined.
After the explosion, Ted came to LA and teamed up with Stuart at some unknown time. Another fact the Suits: LA premiere tells us is that Ted, despite going to law school and working within the system for many years, does not understand why anyone would be a criminal defense attorney — because, according to Ted, everyone charged with a crime is guilty. Despite Ted’s disdain for defense attorneys, he decides to build a new empire with one. While Stuart handles criminal defense cases, Ted switches to entertainment law, which in reality, is ninety percent contract litigation. He gave up a life of building cases to put criminals away in court to argue for bigger paychecks for celebrities in boardrooms. If we had a clear explanation of why Ted left New York, maybe that transition would make sense, but we don’t, so it’s one of the major head-scratching parts of the premiere. It’s not the biggest head-scratching part by any means, but it was still an enigma of a plot choice.
Suspend disbelief long enough to catch up to the fact that Ted and Stuart are partners and the next step in evolution is to merge with Ted’s ex, Sam’s (Rachelle Goulding), firm. This is a decision that Ted, a person with notorious trust issues, agrees to without any on-screen convincing. Then he is shocked — SHOCKED, I tell you — when Stuart and his ex steal all of his employees and leave him high and dry with his two warring junior partners.
‘Suits LA’ Sets Up The War to Be Mike (Or Donna? Or Baby Jessica?)

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Before all hell breaks loose, Ted is in the middle of deciding whether he’d promote his protegé Rick (Bryan Greenberg) or the young shark Erica (Lex Scott Davis) to be the new head of entertainment once the merger is complete. Rick has proven to be more of an all-around talent and one of the few people that Ted could trust. Meanwhile, Erica possesses a lethal attitude and killer instinct that Ted couldn’t deny was valuable in their line of work.
Suits: LA kind of sets Rick up to be the new Mike. He’s allegedly more compassionate than Ted. He actually listens to his clients and wants to go the extra mile. He’s earned the promotion, or so he tells Ted multiple times. Still, it’s Rick who ultimately betrays Ted to go with Stuart. He swears that it isn’t because Ted has decided to make Rick and Erica co-leads of entertainment. No, Rick leaves because Ted agreed to defend his client, a wealthy film producer, in a criminal case. How could Ted stoop so low? The sheer audacity of Ted to agree to do his job and participate in an integral part of the American justice system is a bridge too far… according to Rick. So Rick is supposed to be the lawyer with a heart, but he also doesn’t believe that people should have the right to a defense attorney when they are accused of a crime? I am begging someone to make sense of this, please.
With Rick gone, Ted’s closest ally is Erica. She immediately uses Rick’s departure to not only secure herself as the sole head of entertainment but is also named partner. Yes, girl, make that pathetic man give you what you deserve. It turned out that Erica’s loyalty stems from Ted standing up for her when she was hired, and when Stuart only wanted Erica to handle their “diverse” clients. That validation encourages her to fight for Ted when the chips are down, and now she’s out to prove that he made the right decision by backing her. It’s impossible to tell if Suits: LA is trying to set up Ted and Erica as the new Donna and Harvey (note: There could never be another Darvey) or if they’ll have a similar relationship to Harvey and Jessica, even though Erica is the younger attorney. With only one episode under my belt, I hope Erica goes to start her own firm as soon as possible. This one doesn’t seem to know what it specializes in, let alone have the client pull to give her the career she’s worked for.

Related

Inside ‘Suits LA’ — Everything You Need To Know About the ‘Suits’ Spin-off

Stephen Amell suits up once more, but this time, he brings the law to Hollywood.

We Have To Talk About the Ghost in ‘Suits LA’s Premiere

Image via NBC

I really freakin’ wish I was kidding, but I couldn’t make this up: Ted Black is haunted by his last year in New York, literally. The premiere makes you think he was plagued by dreams of that last case, but Ted is actually imagining that his dead brother with Down Syndrome is hanging out with him in his luxury LA apartment. Here’s what we’re told: Ted’s dad used to be a big-time gangster, but also a lawyer? He was corrupt, whatever he did, and was arrested. The night before he was supposed to go to prison, Ted’s brother was murdered, allegedly to protect Ted. It is unclear if this happened when Ted was a teenager or if it was related to the bombing in the initial dream. We do know that Ted did not forgive his now-dying father for his brother’s death.
It took the original Suits over two seasons to unravel Harvey’s deep-seated mommy issues, but Suits: LA gives us a good chunk of Ted’s future memoir in the first episode. There are so many details about his past life, but shockingly, few of them are helpful in setting up the world of this show or making the characters’ actions make sense. Ted’s delusions of his brother are deeply concerning. Is he aware that his brother isn’t actually there? What does this say about his mental state, and is he fit to be handling clients? Why is a Suits spin-off dabbling in ghosts and visions? What does any of it have to do with Ted as a lawyer?
Just to recap: We have a morally gray entertainment lawyer jumping back into criminal law while battling the literal ghosts of his past. His protegé and closest colleague desert him in his hour of need because Ted agreed to defend a client in a criminal case, and that feels like selling out. Also, Ted’s dad is maybe a murderer but definitely dying, and there’s a chance Ted has the hots for his new head of entertainment and the only remaining partner at his firm. The original Suits may have been over the top, but it was grounded in law. Suits: LA has no idea what it’s trying to prove because it can’t even decide what type of law it wants to be about. There’s a mess on our hands, and we can only pray that it gets better with time.
Suits: LA continues Sundays at 9 PM on NBC. Episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.

Suits LA

Suits moves to LA in a baffling series premiere.

Release Date

February 23, 2025

Network

NBC

Writers

Aaron Korsh

Pros & Cons

The office is really pretty.
Erica is an early favorite.

Why does this show hate criminal defense lawyers???
How dare Aaron Korsch make us root against Bryan Greenberg.
There should not be a ghost in this show.
Someone locate the tone of this show in this mess, I dare you.