fear of a direct hit

i'm torn between mike "i spent $500 for five suits" ross never setting foot in a dry cleaner in his damn life vs mike "my grammy didn't raise no fool" ross separating his darks from his lights and letting half his dryer-safe clothes air dry flat just as a precaution. honestly, way back in s1, i think mike would've put it on a wire hanger, done his best to smooth out the wrinkles, handed it back, and hoped harvey never brought it up again as long as either of them live.

as for harvey, he probably has it preserved in a garment bag in the back of his closet with masking tape over the zipper to remind him not to touch such a precious heirloom. that he...will never mention to mike as long as either of them live.

it is just the most deliciously random detail, though, isn't it? i don't even slightly know what the writers were even going for there; it was definitely still in the "they're like brothers harvey has found his protégé mike has found a new family what is this 'marvey' thing people are whispering about" phase of the show, so like. what the fuck, guys. i mean, thank you, but. seriously what.

https://youtu.be/XJocfZJZiVQ?is=nXf7xDyFCtO7VoGm

tbh i genuinely dislike it when interviewers ask actors to comment on fan creations, be it art or fiction; if the actors bring it up (gabriel, sir), more power to them, but like. canon and fandom are separate things. if the actors aren't partaking for their own amusement, then let's not force it on them, shall we?

he does have that "absolute power corrupts absolutely" vibe to him in the later seasons, doesn't he? now that i think of it, i wonder if rachel's influence had anything to do with that... not that harvey would've been much better, probably, but maybe the journey into self-hatred would've taken a slightly different route.

frfr; wasn't it supposed to be such a foundational part of his character? his trauma with his mother was the reason for all his walls and facades, his difficulty opening up to/trusting/getting close to people, even those he cares for deeply, but...not when it's inconvenient to the plot, it isn't! mike needs someone to smack some sense into him to get back together with his soulmate rachel? eh, she cheated, so what, harvey believes in the power of true love triumphing over minor inconveniences. scottie, well, she's a grown woman, she does what she wants. louis? harvey's never understood what goes on in that crazy head of his, what a guy.

i've gone on at length about how nonsensical it was for harvey to persuade mike to forgive rachel and take her back (as have we all), but man, him and donna, that was truly some desperate end-of-the-road bullshit to pull at the eleventh hour. well, the ninth hour ("you made me the one thing i never wanted to be," s07e11) and then a series finale rerun. but also like even pretending he did know with any certainty that donna and thomas had broken up (supposedly he did, but that scene was cut), how the fuck am i supposed to interpret him spending a whole entire season mourning the loss of his better half, getting lectured at by all his coworkers during an extremely vulnerable moment about how happy they are to have someone to come home to and lean on in times of strife, and then rushing off to basically the only option he (kind of) has left? it's desperation, is what it is. it's basically a shot of heroin, a temporary high that'll send him crashing down and scrambling for another fix. (full circle moment, if you want to call all the way back to the pilot; a more modern show would definitely have had mike fencing something harder than pot.)

oh, but, harvey specter hates cheaters, though. and now that he and donna are happily semi-vegas-wedding married, he would definitely never cheat on her ever.

harvey does not care about rachel's well-being At All. except for when it's making mike sad. except even then he doesn't give a shit about rachel, because her getting better or whatever is just the most effective means of making mike happy.

but yeah it's very funny that mike doesn't particularly care about rachel being hospitalized, either. he does the whole "i'm going to be here when she wakes up!" kerfuffle, but then harvey invites him out to a steakhouse and he's basically like "no i can't! i have to wait for her! wait did you say you're buying okay whatever let's go." and then as soon as harvey gets it off his chest that he feels guilty and mike needs a distraction, they're back to talking about themselves. and making fun of louis. rachel? sure, sure, she'll be fine, let's talk about literally anything else.

it may well have been patrick's acting choice (and gabriel's, maybe, although i see less of an opportunity for him) to not seem distracted or absentminded while rachel was incapacitated, but the script is pretty straightforward with their dialogue about it. the fact that she comes up a few more times in the episode (e.g., harvey telling mike to tell her to take the day off tomorrow) indicates to me that we're at least supposed to remember that she's in a tough spot, and i guess maybe feel bad for her, but the actual act of her fainting and the hospitalization are so fleeting that i really can't be bothered to keep it in mind.

i think you're onto something there. between her kissing logan and everyone falling all over themselves to convince mike that he needs to forgive her and also she feels really bad so get the hell over it (and did she even really do anything wrong in the first place because remember that time she found out mike and tess had slept together when mike and rachel weren't even a couple which really was just as bad so what right does he have to be mad at her), and her fainting from overwork (although let's be real, that was just a plot device to get mike and harvey back together), the season does certainly twist itself into knots to make her seem sympathetic on paper. except for the part where, as usual, nothing has any consequences; mike takes her back with relatively little fallout, and her fainting and apparently being overworked is never brought up again, so. maybe it wasn't that big of a deal after all.