Sidebar: A Suits Watch Podcast - Pilot Pt. 1

Episode Date: September 24, 2024

This week, Patrick and Sarah are discussing the first thirty minutes of the Suits pilot episode. They dive into why they are making this podcast, their first impressions of each other, the things that distract Patrick when he's watching, Sarah's first-day jitters, why Donna is responsible for everything that happens on Suits, and more.   Feel free to email us a voice memo of your questions about Suits at [e-mail]. We may use it on the show!  Follow us on Instagram & TikTok - @suitssidebar  Email us a voice memo of your questions about Suits at [e-mail]. We may use it on the show!Follow us on Instagram & TikTok - @suitssidebarGet access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using this show link: https://siriusxm.com/sidebar

Give me an S. I'm doing a ta-da. Give me a U. Give me an I. T. S. Ow. I pulled a muscle. I pulled a muscle giving you the T. Hi. Hi. Hi, friend. How are you? Do you want to introduce yourself? No, I'm too excited. I'm having like my tail is wagging so much I can't even speak, which doesn't really work in this medium. First of all, let's actually introduce ourselves. Hi, I'm Patrick J. Adams. I played Mike Ross on the show Suits. And I'm Sarah Rafferty. I played Donna Paulson. Sarah, can you tell us what the name of this podcast is that we're doing? The name of this podcast is Sidebar. What a great name. Love it.

Why are we calling it Sidebar? We are doing Sidebar specifically inviting our listeners into sidebar with us. But in the courtroom, it's something that's like out of earshot. We're like in earshot. That's what it means in a courtroom. I want to do this not for other people to hear. Where the jury can't hear you. And yet we're doing it for the entire world.

Well, we would like everybody to join us. Like we're like, hey, let's talk over here all together. We're having a sidebar with the world. Yeah, let's like, it's like a group hug. It's like a huddle. I mean, that's what a podcast is, isn't it? To be more quiet, like away from the maddening crowd. So welcome to Sidebar.

This is our Suits Watch podcast. A watch podcast because we've never watched this show. And we want to. I'm scared to, but I'm also excited to with you. Yes, I think since we're doing it together and since we're doing it with our listeners, it's a safe space. This is a safe space. Do we need a safety word? Until we read any internet comments whatsoever and then it becomes not a safe space. Keep it to yourself, internet. You know what? That's what we have our friends for. We have Kimmy, Cassie, and Kristen. Who will read those things and then tell us only the good ones.

And gently steer us. Actors protected from the world's opinion. I love it. Anyway, I'm so excited to be here with you, Patrick. Me too. To sidebar our way through 134 episodes. It's daunting. Of Suits. Looking up that mountain right now. Yeah. Right? Well, it forces us to be present to each one. Yeah. It's a good exercise. Yeah. Take our time. One step at a time. Yep. One day

at a time. One episode at a time. Why did you decide to do a podcast? What made you come up with this idea? If you want to know the truth. Well, this was a thing. This is a thing, these rewatch podcasts. This isn't the first one. We're not breaking new ground here, it turns out. We are not pioneers because I have avoided for so long watching Suits. I'm one of those actors. I think we share this, which is if I've just directly worked on something or shot it, I can't watch it right away. I just couldn't do it. It puts me in a spiral. And so I've avoided this thing that was ultimately the largest job I've ever had in my entire life. And it's changed the direction of my life and my career in every way.

And I've just avoided it. And I did notice I had caught clips of it online. That was a big thing that was starting to happen on the old TikTok, which was, I think, responsible for this renaissance that we'll talk about in a second. But I noticed that when it came on, I was suddenly able to watch it and be like, oh my God, that was a really remarkable thing that happened. So you could look at the younger you with kinder eyes? Yeah, you know that thing like when someone takes a picture of you and you look at it right away and you're just like, I can't believe that's what I look like. And then you could look at that same photo in like two or three weeks, even maybe longer. Maybe for me it's years.

You can look at it and go, why am I being so unkind to myself? I look great. I think that's the same thing that started happening with Suits. And so I got excited about the idea. I'm still nervous to do this, but ultimately it felt like an amazing opportunity to kind of get to the bottom of what this whole experience was for me and, you know, what's clearly like captured the attention of the entire planet. What about, what about you? I think one of the reasons why I'm excited to do this is that this was also just like a wild privilege, just an amazing thing that happened to all of us. And I didn't have time while we were doing it to be present. I didn't have the skills.

I'm not saying I have the skills now, but I didn't have time to be really present due to kind of the madness of it all, I feel like, well, now if I want to feel the depth of gratitude, the place to do it is in connection with you and, you know, hopefully with Aaron and the directors that come on and our castmates and the fans and the people who watched it and made it so that we could do what we love. And to be able to actually connect with them in a real meaningful way, I feel like this might be a great route. I think that's a great way to put it, the gratitude. I love that. And I'm so happy to be here with you.

And I'm so happy to be here with you. So are you ready? Should we do this? Do you want to talk about suits? Should we do this? Let's talk suits. Okay. Tell me stuff. Can i tell you things yes the suits aired on uh the pilot aired on june 23rd 2011 that was my wedding anniversary thank you so much is it really yes

wow look at this fun facts already right from the beginning uh aired on usa network let's see who are some of the heavy hitters of the cast. We've got Gabriel Mox as Harvey Specter. We have you. We have Patrick J. Adams as Mike Ross. We have Rick Hoffman as Louis Lit. We have Sarah Rafferty as Donna Paulson. We have Gina Torres as Jessica Pearson.

And of course, Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane, among many other cast members. We have the best guest cast and recurring cast in the world. We can't wait to bring them onto this show and talk to all of them. Let's talk about what we're actually going to be doing week to week here. Well, we're going to watch the episode every week, right? Wait, what? Hard no. Yes, we are going to watch the episode every single week and we are going to come in here ready to talk about it, armed to the teeth with not only our opinions and our ideas and our questions and our memories, but also our friend Kristen here and our amazing producers here at Sirius are going to help us with facts from the week. We're going to have guests.

We're going to talk to all of our collaborators. We're going to have as many collaborators. In front of the camera and from behind. Yeah, we're going to have everybody on the show as much as possible. And we really can't wait to speak to our viewers. And maybe answer some of their questions. Yes. We really hope you come with us on this journey.

And we're excited to see where it takes us. Let's get a fan question. I know it's so early, but we've, you know, we're organized here. Well, that's what we're here to do. We really want to engage with our listeners. So I have a question from Kiana. What was your first impression of each other? We've, you know, we're organized here. Well, that's what we're here to do. We really want to engage with our listeners. So I have a question from Kiana. What was your first impression of each other? I love you guys so much.

And Sarah is a literal goddess. Taylor, Anissa, Jamie, and Agatha also asked about first impressions of each other. So we've got a lot of questions about first impressions. What do you got for me? Hi, ladies. Thank you for sending us your question. I think my most vivid memory in New York, outside of the trailers, I remember Rick was there. And I remember going, oh, my God, that guy. Oh, I know that guy. What do I know that guy from? Oh, did you know his work? I was like, that guy. He's so good. And then I was like, like a little intimidating.

You were intimidating. Wait. You were intimidating. I'm so intimidating. No, I laid eyes on Rick and I was so intimidated because I was like, oh, him. Oh my God, I'm going to be in a thing with that guy.

Interesting. I didn't know Rick Hoffman and then I got intimidated when we started working together and I was like, oh, this guy's on a whole different wavelength. Yeah.

He was so friendly because he had, I think I had seen him on that Wall Street show or this. The street. The street. He used to talk about all the time when I was on the street. And I think he was a jerk on that show. I think he was like, I think he was playing a jerk. And I think when I met him, I was like, oh, my God, he's so nice.

He has such a warm smile. He's so funny. Gina was there. I was like crossing the street with her. And I was just like, well, she's so nice. He has such a warm smile. He's so funny. Gina was there. I was like crossing the street with her. And I was just like, well, she's a goddess. You all felt like that to me. I mean, every, because I was the young one. I was the kid.

And so that sort of goddess vibe you just described, which is very much a. Gina Torres. Gina description. But it truly was all of you. You were all kind of titans. You were like the older people. I was, you know, you were the seniors and I was the freshmen. That's what it felt like.

I would like you to always refer to me as a senior. Yeah. You're just a different kind of senior now. And we're going to help you to your car. So don't worry about it. Okay. So those were your impression. That's your impression of Gina and everybody else.

What was, what was your first impression of me? I mean, not that like I want to talk about myself or anything. I don't remember you. Standard. I don't remember you. You know who I am now, right? Can we get her some water? Sorry. My first impression of you was how hard you were working. Not efforting. Was your focus, your presence your presence your joy and your gameness there were just some blips because basically i did the whole scene at the waldorf in the hotel room

you just came in for a second before donna winks and unkeeps the gate you had a bunch of other moments so i had other things to do so i had that quick bit with you there and then there's the very quick moment when harvey tells you to go get some suits and i'm there and it's kind of late we're going to get to it pretty soon but it's later in the season where we have our first scene together and i remember it really well and i remember being really excited i'm excited to get there so listener i hope you'll hang with us till we get to the first real donna mike scene here we are wait your impressions i told you my my i guess that i was similar that was like hot stunning i was like oh my god how am i gonna work under these conditions yeah yeah okay well enough

of that silliness we are going to take a quick break and when we get back we're going to talk about the pilot episode. Okay. We're hydrated. We're medicated. We're educated. Let's get into it. Our first segment to describe the episode, I think we're calling The Brief because we're clever and we're using legal words on our podcasts. So this is The Brief. Today, we're going to break down part one of the very first episode of Suits titled Pilot. Imagine that.

Great title. This episode was written by Aaron Korsh and directed by Kevin Bray, and it originally aired on June 23rd, 2011. In this episode, brilliant young college dropout Mike Ross slips into a job interview with one of New York City's best legal closers, Harvey Spector. Tired of cookie-cutter law school grads,

Harvey hires Mike on the spot after recognizing his raw talent and his photographic memory. It is pretty raw talent, I got to admit. Mm-hmm. This pilot was shot September 29 to October 23, 2010,

which is interesting to see. That was a long shoot for a pilot. We weren't remembering it, but that's almost a month by my math. I'm an actor, but when I'm looking at those dates, I'm seeing almost a month, which listener is rare for a pilot. You usually get, what, 10 days, 14 days tops? Well, yes, but that's because our pilot was especially long. Yeah. Any sort of 50,000-foot view impressions of this episode? What it was like? What it was like to watch it?

Yes. I want to hear what it was like for you. I know for me, Patrick, I thought that I was going to sit down with this kind of time lapse, with this many years going by, that I was going to sit down and this kind of time lapse, you know, with this many years going by, that I was going to sit down and be able to just watch the episode all the way through. But immediately within the first few frames, I had to pause and I was going back and I was looking at it because I was so excited to see my friends. I was so distracted by how good everybody was and how, what it meant in everybody's life. It was like, I was this proud mom of the baby versions of ourselves. And I realized, I mean, even before there were actors in the frames, I realized that every frame is

populated with somebody who's dear to us. So it's like, oh my gosh, Kevin Bray shot that moment and that's so cool. And Aaron wrote that. And I just, I was really kind of moved by the whole thing because this strange time warp of watching it is really doing a number on me. And there's nothing that makes me more emotional than the passage of time. And watching this is like a fold in time. It's like both going into the past but also being in the present yeah and in a strange way i almost feel like i have my future self there i kind of feel like i don't know if you feel this way do you feel like we're all kind of russian dolls like all the versions of ourselves are packed away inside us maybe even some this is gonna sound really woo but like yeah, yeah. Okay.

No, sorry. No, it's good. Maybe we're not ready to go. Did you smoke pop before you came in here? You got, you're a little,

you took a gummy. I feel like it's a good time to start doing that. Anyway. I hear, actually, no, no, I don't,

I don't want to, I hear exactly what you're talking about. I had the same exact experience and I think you described it really well, which is time folding in on itself. Like, I thought that when I started watching this, that I would not remember things. I was worried. I was like, oh my God, I've agreed to do this podcast. But as soon as I started watching it, I was there. I am there. And I don't remember all of it. I mean, obviously, years have gone by and it was a long time ago, but something about watching it actually did feel very like it is happening to me now. I can put myself in these rooms. I can put myself back into the feelings of shooting some of these scenes and being with these people. And so I feel exactly the same way.

It's the past, present. I don't know if my future self's in there yet, but maybe I'm just not stoned enough. I don't know. We'll find out. So for me, you we have not i have not watched most of this show this episode i have watched and so for me this is this is the one episode i have seen multiple times i'm super proud of this pilot i think this was a great pilot and i think that's why i think it is a great episode of television um and watching it now all these years later, I think it's still great. I think it holds up and it's not a surprise to me that Suits is enjoying this sort of second life and hopefully third and fourth and fifth life and will continue to be a show that people come back to because there is a timeless quality and excellence to this pilot. I think it's just

done so well. I think I can see everybody working so hard. I can see everybody bringing their A game in front of behind the camera. I just see a lot of love and passion and that is really hard to do. I mean, we've both done a lot of pilots and it's so easy for them to go wrong as they often do. And I think the fact that this is as good as it is and I still enjoy it is such a great representation of so many people working so hard and caring about it. Yeah. We were also not tired. We looked so not tired. What was that like?

I had Kiki, the firm's best researcher, pull up a couple of reviews. Oh, dear. We're not supposed to look at reviews. I think it's fun given that here we are at the end. Not at the end, but 15 years later and Suits has been what it is and continues to be what it is. I think it's fun to go back to the

reviews of the pilot. LA Times critic Robert Lloyd called Suits impressive out of the gate. Kelly West of CinemaBlend says Suits fits USA like a glove. The characters are fun, surprising, and intriguing and the writing is smart and consistent. The New York Times, Gina Belafonte says Suits carries the banner of populism and wears the wardrobe of the elites. Love the New York Times. They brought it.

This is the one I wanted to read. This one's good. Robert Bianco at USA Today wrote, it's not dark, mind you. That's something the blue sky network is yet ready to embrace but it does count as partly cloudy unfortunately it also counts as ludicrous ill-cast and ill-conceived with a premise that's idiotic even in a medium used to skimming past idiotic premises robert we're gonna send you some flowers yeah um anyway i thought that was fun. I think it's really interesting to me when the issue that's taken is with the premise. Because why are we saying that like series television or cable television from the early 2010s is trying to be realistic? I mean, I guess what does he mean by ludicrous? I think people would find the concept of anyone being able to fake out

such a major thing, right? Yeah, but Marvel movies are a ludicrous premise. We ask people to suspend disbelief all the time. I think it's just an easy way to say, I don't like something. You don't like something, then you're just going to say, well, the premise is bad. That's why I don't like it.

But it's like, you just don't like it. That's okay. Anyway, let's dive into this episode. Act one. In the first act, we meet Harvey Specter, star lawyer at Pearson Hardman, and we see him get a promotion. We also meet Mike Ross, who agrees to deliver drugs in exchange for the cash to pay for his Grammy's care. Okay, can we talk about this, Patrick? And I know we're going to talk about this opening sequence more extensively with Aaron, but first of all, I was really surprised to learn that these particular images are not exactly

on the first pages of the script. No, I think the first scene of the script is actually Mike in the LSAT. So it's kind of this first intro is flip-flopped. And what was really interesting came later to the beginning so that Kevin, the way he pans down the building, then he zooms in, we discover Lewis. Lewis goes slow motion from the conference room down the hall to Jessica. Then we rise up from behind Jessica. We see Lewis come in. They have an almost wordless scene and we're off. And I just thought that that whole thing was so incredible. And now that I look back on it, knowing Kevin the way I know him, he does work so organically.

He finds something. It's like a dance. I remember that. I'm not obviously in this whole sequence, but we were shooting that night some other scene. That shot across to the building was figured out in real time. That wasn't planned. He was, I believe, standing in that conference room at night shooting the scene.

And he went, someone go to that building over there and shoot this. How did they get up into the building? I think they literally sent a camera crew over. I don't even think it was with the real camera because I don't think we had more than one. Again, we'll have to ask Kevin this. I might be making it up.

But I seem to remember it was like, go take a Canon 5D. Oh, wow. And go over to that building and go talk to someone and get up and find out if you can get into a window shooting this way. It was that random.

It was that guerrilla moment, which I remember kind of watching it happen and thinking, that's cool. Like we've got the right team of people here. And to see it as the first shot is sort of great for me just knowing knowing that because i'm like it establishes like oh this was a show where we were right from the beginning running and gunning and we were making things up as we went along and and we it's the sort of thing we never got to do with the rest of the show

because it's a practical set we are actually in a conference room dozens of stories up in the air in manhattan the rest of the show we're on a set we are never actually actually in a conference room, dozens of stories up in the air in Manhattan. The rest of the show, we're on a set. We are never actually shooting in a real conference room, you know, at Pearson Hardman. And so that's Kevin being brilliant going, all right, well, we're in New York. We probably won't be here again. Let's shoot this. We're in this room. Somebody go shoot it from a distance. So we get all that production value of like, here we are. It's like we own this building. So incredible. We had a great fan question from Christine.

The episode opens with Louis lit. My question is, why do you think Louis was the first character that we get to meet? Which is a great question. Again, in the script, I think Mike was the first character that we met at the LSAT. But, you know, and I can't speak for Aaron. I think it's something that was probably just discovered in the edit, though. I think it works really nicely. As you just pointed out, as you meet Lewis, he introduces you to Jessica. So now we've got a power dynamic and then Harvey's the third. And even though Jessica is in charge, Harvey sort of is inherently our hero because

he's the third to be introduced. It's a perfect setup to him. Oh, I love that. While everyone's at the office dealing with the problem, this guy's so cool that he could be at a poker game and being the one to get the call. I thought that was a good introduction to him. So we're in the poker game. Harvey Specter's winning the poker game, obviously. And he leaves after receiving a text summoning him to the office. I have some nits to pick in this scene.

Look, and here's the deal. I'm going to do this sometimes and it's obnoxious and you're just going to stare at me. This is not me saying there's anything wrong. I'm just this kind of television viewer. And for me to not bring that version of myself to this process would be dishonest. So are you telling me that you and Robert Bianco are going to be friends? Look, there's some things that I might see eye to eye with Robert about.

In this case, Erin, don't be mad at me, but in this scene, this guy who's asking Harvey when he's going to come work for a man, time's up on that guy. He says he raises $5,000, but he only pushes 20 chips into the pot. Mm-hmm. You do the math, that's a $250 chip. That's not a thing in poker. So, you know, I don't know

if I can do this whole watch suits thing, actually. I think the shot looked pretty, though. It looks great. That's the sort of thing. This is just so you have it. You're going to have to bear with me because when I watch TV, that's the sort of thing I go, what? It's so dumb. Fair. I hear you. You know what I mean? But I also want to talk about in those moments at that poker game, I love that we're introduced to like the toxic masculinity of the world. Like you were like, time's up on that guy.

This is the first time I know because I've watched it a few times. And I was like, did he really just say, when are you going to come work for a man? And Aaron's going to make some great points about why he developed that world and how I think it's developed so well, because I love how Harvey just isn't playing. He's not playing into the toxic masculinity at all. It's such a great effortless setup of this world from Aaron that there's this sexist bro moment and Harvey isn't going to take the bait. He's just he's just going to rise above it and he's going to win the game and he's going to walk out. And it's just like, it's great. What do you got, Kiki? The Netflix

cut is much longer than what was originally aired. The line about that you were just repeating that didn't happen. And when you would have first seen the episode. Oh, it's on Netflix, but it would have been in the aired version. Oh, so that that Time's Up line didn't air. Yes. Originally, toxic masculinity of which you describe is present. I'm really glad it's in the new cut that's on Netflix. I loved it. Yeah, it's great. Yeah.

It definitely tells the story of the world. Anyway, we're back in Jessica's office. She introduces Harvey, the firm's best closer, to client Gerald Tate. Harvey closes the deal, but his tactics are questionable. I also noticed in this time there's this great moment where he does the thing with the memo, you know, and pulls it out, pretending it's a different document than it is. And then Jessica afterwards walks up to him and just takes it right out of Harvey's pocket. It's very intimate.

And it's like genius. Because I just see, I've learned so much about these two people and their level of comfort with each other with such a small tiny action and how long they've known each other and yeah like this that we are that close and physical like i'm in charge of you and i already know that that piece of paper is total nonsense and i'm gonna pull it out of your pocket to prove it to you and it's like further there's a further um bracket on that moment and like exclamation point on it because Harvey says, you're the blue team captain. You get to wear a fire hat. Yeah.

And he just has his Cheshire Cat grin and they just have so much fun with each other in this like blip. It's so perfect. And then this is where we cut into the other world. We cut into a classroom where a proctor recognizes and chases Mike Ross out of the room. And Mike is able to evade him. I love this sequence. I'm trying to figure out why I've always loved this piece. And it's because like this is so not suits in a weird kind of great way. Right?

Like these like I've never felt more like this is as close to being jason bourne as i may ever get is playing scenes like this you know ducking in and out running from the guy getting into the stall changing the thing and it's not a thing we ever really do on suits after this right not to say that it that it doesn't fit it's a great setup of the world but these it's this sequence in the hotel sequence, like, actually we don't like, this was the one and only time I ever feel like I did anything like that. Well, I was actually technically wondering about that because you just said that we took so long to shoot the pilot, not only because it was a longer episode, it was almost, almost two episodes, but these are complicated things to shoot. I mean, you've got multiple sets to rush through.

So it's going to take longer. I felt like we had a mini movie in the world of Pearson Hardman, and then the music picks back up. And then we have a mini movie inside Mike Ross's world where he's taking the test. He turns it in. He runs into the bathroom. He changes. There's the crowd scene. He gets lost in the crowd.

He goes and gets paid. You know, all that happens, and it happens so quickly. in he runs into the bathroom he changes there's the crowd scene he gets lost in the crowd he goes and gets paid you know all that happens and it happens so quickly that's isn't that just really time consuming it's a lot of scenes and a lot of setups yeah yeah for little blips and and they're cut together so well and it just gives so much pace to the whole beginning of this thing yeah it really makes it move i mean again like we're in practical sets again like you know not that we weren't in practical sets when we shot suits would be out in the world and find locations but a lot of times things like this would be on a set that we built and uh it just has a different energy and here we are you know in these places and running around and whenever you see an apartment it's a real apartment um so yeah we're moving around new

york city and having to be pretty, you know, nimble as a production versus when you become sedentary and you're in a studio and you have your sets, you suddenly, it's a little more intentional and you kind of, it's, it's, you can kind of plan things. You're right. When you're shooting a pilot, you're like, we're here today. We're over there tomorrow. We're here tomorrow. Like we got to get it here. We got to get everything here. So we've got to move pretty fast. Like we don't have the chance to come back here and do it again. That's, you can feel that energy in the pilot. So Mike shows up at his client's place and we learn that Mike has been paid to take the exam on this guy's behalf. And we get the

impression this is probably not the first time Mike's done such a thing. And he walks away. And he doesn't get all his money. He doesn't get paid. Poor Mike. He's looking for money in all the wrong places. Mike needs money is what we learn. And then we see a smash cut to the title card. And it's time for us to take another break. All right. Welcome back.

We're in Trevor's apartment is where we are. Mike and Trevor, played by Tom Lipinski, are smoking weed together, believe it or not. Trevor's girlfriend, Jenny, played by Vanessa Rae, arrives mid-conversation. We realize that she thinks her boyfriend writes code for a living. I love this scene because I love these two actors so much.

I also just love getting to see Mike in his life before because Suits becomes about Suits. It becomes his new family. And it's really fun and cool to see, A, these two actors who I just loved working with and to remember like this version of Mike's life, which is much more present in the first season than it is, you know, as we go on.

You guys had a lot of fun sort of behind the scenes. You guys like had a lot of playtime in Toronto. I remember. I didn't, you know, you know, you guys are seniors, as we've already talked about. And like these were my these were like people my age at the time. And in so there was an immediate like, oh, like, you know, there's a thing that happens when you're all the sort of same age and you're all in that zone of like racing for the jobs. And you're like, am I going to be an actor? Does this get to work? So once, you know, Vanessa and Tom and I got into scenes together, there was just sort of a fun

understanding of how lucky we were, how good this material was and how much fun it was to play. You guys have a really special connection. And I have to ask you, since you have that amazing handshake at the end when you're saying goodbye. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which one of you had the courage in the moment to say to the other hey bro can we like make up a handshake i don't know it's a good question i wish i remembered i think i feel like i was full of like my whole energy in this pilot was just like all right there's a little piece here let's do something with it let's make it a nugget make it more and they'll cut it like if it doesn't work then like like i just didn't want to leave anything uh off the field

is that how that's saying off the field i wanted to be on the field i wanted to be on the bench but not on the bench i wanted to make sure you wanted to leave it all on the dance floor i wanted that's it i wanted to leave it all on the field dance floor there were things like this which i was just i think i probably would have said to Tom, like, what's our, what are we, what's our, like if it said handshake or it probably just says they say goodbye. But I wanted to really establish these relationships. For me, it's also the same as I kiss her on the way out.

With both your hands on her hair, like either side of her head. Which is such a like, I love that moment. And again, this is not me clapping myself on the back, but I love that moment because I'm like, oh, again, I know these people know each other. Like they are so close that he can kiss his girlfriend on the way out the door and it's normal. Like this is how these guys have been in it together. Or well, we'll find out later. Anyway. So then we get to Jessica and Harvey who are celebrating

in a bar where Harvey hits on Lisa, played by Chloe Brooks, the waitress, who turns him down. A charging bull always looks at the red cape,

not the man with the sword. That's something that Jessica says? No, that's something Harvey says. It's a real, it's a fire line.

That's classic. Harvey, coming at you. Whole hog. How did you feel about this scene um what were your feels i find this a bit of a weird scene i mean look it's great i i love seeing these two people together i love seeing them celebrate a win i like seeing harvey be his debonair self there's just a weird moment when he when he's hitting on this and this what let's walk through what happens beautiful

woman comes over you know not asked to come over how you guys doing over here it looks like you're having a good time they have a nice report not asked to come over she's the waitress she's not waved down my point she comes over but she's doing her job she's a waitress but it's not like you know she volunteers in that moment to come over and be like you guys seem like you're having a good time over here okay she's friendly yeah and she's being a little, dare I say, flirty with our guy, Harvey. You're picking up on her flirt or no? Is that not real? I was so distracted by what was going on with Jessica and Harvey, which is what I liked so much.

There's this weird moment where Harvey starts hitting on her, but he glances over at Jessica as if to say like, cool if I do this. And Jessica gives him a quick like, you go ahead. Like, enjoy. I think she even maybe raises a glass to him or something. Maybe I'm making that part up. But it's a real like, go for it, champ. And then he turns back and like really lays on the charm and basically asks when she's done with work. And the whole moment I was like, huh? Like, did he ask for permission? Did he just get permission to hit on her? I hope. I hope that's what that was.

It's just kind of joying this. Like, what is this? What is this about? The mystery is great. But then also, strangely, she just like, again, maybe a credit to the show where it always goes in a direction you don't necessarily expect.

But then this waitress just turns on Harvey Hart. Like, 10 past, I'm never going out with you. I'm like, whoa. What? And Gabriel has the best reaction as Harvey. Yeah, it's perfect because he also knows how this is actually going to end. That's the look I get from him. Well, he looks back at Jessica.

She goes, I guess you're not the best closer after all. And he kind of looks back at her. And then we cut to him with her in the apartment. So to me, I'm like, that was not the end of this interaction for Harvey. Okay, okay. I thought that Harvey was just kind of like, oh, egg in my face. Okay.

But then he ends up with her. No, exactly. But I didn't know that moment was coming. But you know it in the moment after when you see it. I sure do. Okay, so then the next morning, Harvey admires the view from his apartment and we see that Lisa decided to spend the night with him. It's a pretty apartment, huh? be there in this actual moment with the real thing and the doors open and him out on that view of New

York City. At what time is it? Also, his apartment could use some curtains. It's very bright in there. I mean, it is a beautiful apartment, but nary a curtain. I couldn't live there. Not with my complexion. Also, like a real like if you're having if you've had someone over and you leave all those blinds open. I mean, I'm presuming there have to be blinds. You're really telling that person they got to go. Like, there's no letting that person sleep in. You are in a sauna. You are sunbathing in bed. Epic apartment, though. And I don't remember the set, but it was a hotel. It wasn't an apartment. Yeah, it was the top of a hotel. Insane apartment. Well, there's an amazing cut from that scene right to Mike visiting Grammy in her nursing home. From Harvey about to eat breakfast off someone's stomach to Mike with Grammy in the nursing home, which is great. I mean, such a contrast between our two characters. This is where they're both coming from.

Perfectly. And I have to say, I'm really sad that I never really crossed paths in all the years with Rebecca Scholl. She seemed amazing. Such a sweetheart. Yeah, she was great. She was, I love the line in this scene, Dr. Schrager gave me her word

she wouldn't poison you until January. If she does it before then, she can't count it towards this year's quota. So then we got to Lewis and Harvey who are meeting with Jessica in her office where she informs Harvey that he'll need to hire an associate now because surprise, he's being promoted to senior partner.

I just want to shout out to Rick's entire posture in this entire scene. I mean, he's so transformed. And the fact that he actually moves really slowly and kind of has this relaxed. He gives, I think it's a masterclass, this scene. And Rick, I have the same thing written down. I mean, I like he always makes the weird the different choice yeah there's moments where you think he'd like yell or get mad and he plays it really small and like kind of menacing and hurt he's like a wounded puppy but then he'll

kind of snap back and then at the end you know when harvey finally like says that thing about his harvey is such a jerk he the end. He's such a jerk. And instead of storming out, which again, I'm reading it, I'm thinking, I'll probably storm out of here. I'm so pissed. He kind of just sort of like... Slinks? Slinks is the perfect word. He slinks out of the room slowly.

He's been here a thousand times before and he's not going to give him the pleasure. You know what I mean? He's holding on to his dignity, I guess, in a way, maybe. Yeah. Oh, he's so good. I love this scene. I think this is up there for maybe one of my favorite scenes, just seeing these three people together, how they work, the chemistry, the rhythm, their comfort with each other. I just, again, it is so hard to do this on a pilot. We don't know each other. We're just getting to know each other, you know, and we have to establish this rapport right off the bat and watching this scene and these three people i'm like oh that's that's it i want to watch i want to watch these people next week absolutely back at the nursing home

scenes like this are tough for me when it's like it's a doctor's just like i have to deliver to you the facts to make the case here yeah this is you won't cut this out if we want i'm just saying it's you my friend sarah walking down a hall and a doctor's like give us 25k i'm like when do doctors ask for the money right how does this work again nitpicks well she she's the doctor it's the doctor she's not an administrator you know she's got the stethoscope around her neck that's how i knew i was one once yeah yeah yeah okay i'm playing a doctor. What do we have? Oh, stethoscope. All right, well, not in the ears. What about around the neck?

All right, clipboard, let's go. Give me 25K. Again, it's one of those silly things where we just need to get the information. But we do learn that Mike needs to come up with 25K in order to keep Grammy in this home. So that forces Mike to decide to accept Trevor's offer to help with the drug deal. Yeah. And then in our first scene with Donna Paulson, Harvey asks if his suit makes him

look like a pimp. Yeah, a little bit, she says. Can you give us a reading on that? Yeah, a little bit. There it was. A little bit. Look at it. There, that's it. A little bit. This is our first time meeting Donna. It is our first time meeting Donna. It is our first time meeting Donna.

And I just have to say that I loved Gabriel's reaction to the fact that she tells him that he does look a little bit like a pimp in his outfit. Now, was that an improv line? Do we know? Have we looked at the script? We did improv that line. You improv that line. It was supposed to just be played in a look. And I do remember, I think I've told you this, that I remember being afraid every time I added something like, am I allowed? Am I going

to get in trouble? Excuse me, sir. May I please try to add lines? I always, I have that on sets all the time. There's always that first day where you're like, what kind of set is this? You don't know whether it's the word perfect or whether it's the like, try stuff. Whether it's like, yeah, make it your own or whether it's like no i wrote a specific thing but this was you you felt the vibe how do you do that now how do you deal with it now now i just ask day one i'm like what kind of set are we can i say can i play you want me to play or do you is this a word perfect environment yeah and i also ask if we if we can do things like keep rolling and reset ourselves are we the place where we can do that would you like to talk the night before Would you like to talk the night before?

Would you like to talk the week before? If I have any notes on those kinds of things. I'm imagining though there are some sets that I will go to where I'm like, I will just keep my mouth shut and show up. Luckily, this wasn't one of those sets. It was pretty clear, I think, from the beginning that especially because Aaron was on set for the pilot, it was like, do whatever. Let's make it like we are. The goal was to always make everything as funny as possible. Where funny was the goal.

You know what I mean? That was my memory of the pilot was like, whoever has the funniest, like if you make us laugh at Video Village, then that's a win. Yes, yes, yes. Because we're in the discovery of who these characters are. Yeah. And Aaron, to his credit, was like, I wrote it. But like, if you make me sound like an even better writer by making something even funnier, then let's go. And then they began to write towards us later as we moved into it.

Patrick, you want to hear a fun fact? I do want to hear a fun fact. For the first few episodes, all the way through the pilot and the first few episodes, I was wearing fishnet stockings. Scandalous. Okay, so let me ask you, what makes you say scandalous? I don't know. I don't know anything about fishnet stockings, but I always assumed it's sort of like a French-Parisian woman of the night kind of a thing. Tell me about fishnet stockings. I don't know anything about it. I mean, there's a whole history to them.

They became very popular in the 20s, the roaring 20s, with the showgirls and the flappers. Hold on, I'm going to write this down. Okay. Go on, I'm taking notes. Ladies? The ladies? Flappers. Flappers. the 20s the roaring 20s with the showgirls and the flappers i'm gonna write this down okay go on ladies the ladies flappers okay no go on i'm genuinely curious and the flappers and is it a thing that someone would wear in an office well see that's the thing that i thought was so interesting about our costumer at the time choosing them for donna are you using the word interesting like interesting well i think it's a choice. It's a bold choice.

Would anyone ever wear that in an office environment? I think, well, women, all women have different relationships to their hosiery. But what was interesting to me, look, fishnets, fishnets became popular and have that lady of the night vibe thing that you're saying, that sexy vibe, because they were open. They revealed more. Like in the 20s and 30s, fishnets were like, ooh, you see more of the leg. It's not like an opaque thing. And then they became a really punk rock thing, right?

It became very like Courtney Love. It became very Madonna. So Donna has a bit of punk rock and it became so some people like i read a little bit about how they were embracing the male gaze but also like flipping the bird to the male gaze like it was a reclamation like an ownership of sensuality when i saw for a second when i saw in that scene where you noticed that i was a little bit nervous and i sat down and crossed my legs i was like oh right i wore fishnets a while. Like I had a whole drawer of fishnets. Originally, we were thinking that Donna had this kind of, I don't know, was it a punk rock thing or was it a

sensuality thing? Like what was he going for? I just remember being like, oh, head scratcher. Oh, you're looking. I'm looking right now. I'm pulling it up so I can see what babies we were. We were so much babies young yeah i'm seeing the fishnet there we go zooming in i mean ultimately when joel lee came on board and then in the years later like donna went in a different direction in terms of the kind of elegance that she had but this was just an interesting thing that i think we started with and moved away from i love the idea that that like you put that Donna punches out at the end of the day and goes hits like a punk bar. Never occurred to me, but like totally makes sense that she could either go like to a Michelin star restaurant and like do that.

But she's also going to catch a punk show and like maybe smoke a couple of sneaky cigarettes and like, you know, stay out late. You know what I mean? Just dangerous. So basically we go from this moment where we meet Donna for the first time, Harvey's psyched that he looks like a pimp. And then Trevor picks up the drugs for Mike to deliver, but he finds out that the whole deal might be a setup. Fun fact from our researcher, this was the very first scene to be shot of Suits. It was? First scene of the pilot. Shots in a, fun fact, a hot dog cart warehouse in Brooklyn, which is strangely fitting. We have hot dog carts. We have hot dog carts. But do all the hot dog carts in all of New York have to go to that hot dog cart warehouse at night to

go to sleep? I'm imagining there's probably like a few of them. There's probably many a hot dog cart warehouse. It feels weird to me that I lived there for 12 years and I never noticed this like, you know. There's a whole underworld of hot dog infrastructure. No, that there's this going to be this whole like moving of the hot dog carts at night. Like a procession of hot dog carts going back to their warehouses. I'm serious. I wonder if they just keep the hot dogs in that water all night. Anyway, let's move into act two.

So right from the beginning, Mike's picking up the briefcase full of weed at Trevor's apartment when Jenny walks in. She adjusts his tie for his first day of work. And we feel things. Feel a lot. I really can't tell you enough, and hopefully we'll have her on the pod at some point. But Vanessa Rae is truly just a ray of sunlight she was the best so fun to play this part with her and to play this relationship and figure it out and find it and i think we knew from the beginning it was you know

that mike was on this new trajectory and and she was a part of the past and that's a tricky thing to play and in a pilot you're like are we gonna be a thing is this gonna be a thing or is it not playing all that that unsureness was great and i think she did such a beautiful job you know in this scene you sort of feel them i guess we uh kristen found out that there was a line cut at the end when jenny said do you ever wonder what would have happened if you and i had met first oh jen Jenny says it. She said it in the script, but we don't say it and it's perfect because you don't need to say it.

You can feel it. Because you showed it and you didn't tell it. Yeah, I think you just feel it in the scene. Anyway, then we're in the New York hotel suite. Harvey's interviewing a line of Harvard graduates for his associate position and Donna's helping him to find another Harvey. I had a question.

Was this your first day of shooting? Did we discover that this was probably, I think Kiki has confirmed that this was probably your first day of shooting? I think it was. And it's one of the days that I have pictures in my phone from. Because Santu came to meet us. I think he was working nearby. He came. And it was just funny to us that Santu was in his suit for work and then Gabriel was in a suit.

And I think maybe it was like the third time in our lives we'd ever seen Gabriel in a suit. So annoying how good he looks in a suit for somebody who doesn't wear suits. Yeah, I took a picture of like our chairs next to each other. Just kind of like, oh, we did a thing in case it would never went anywhere. I had like Donna and Harvey chairs somewhere just to remember it. I don't know if you like this. The reason I'm asking if it's your first day of shooting is because you've said you're nervous before and I've never seen it. But watching this this time, I went serious nervous just in the first shot. It's in the

ones you get from the side and you go, Cameron, it's a whole you have a deliver a whole like, oh, so you want it to be someone who's stuck up and has got his head up his butt and da da da da da. That one shot I went, oh, my friend Sarah's nervousah's nervous oh my gosh i could see it i did the same exact thing you could feel it oh right away and uh right away that whole thing actually because it's all cut like little bits cut together and i knew ultimately that i would just be shooting kind of line by line without like a scene to play and so i remember I worked so hard on it because I was so nervous. I wanted to work on it so that I could let it go. And I don't know about you, but I know for me with the small part, it almost made me way more nervous to do it. It was like, I have to

prepare extra hard with backstory and, you know, it's's going to be maybe I'm going to be just saying it to the wall, or maybe it's going to be rushed because they're not going to have time to figure it out. And, and I was able to, I was surprised I was able to see it this time with a little bit of empathy for myself, because when I think about where I was in my life, we've talked about this, I had done so many pilots, I had been a guest on so many things. And all of that is ultimately like really dysregulating, like all the rejection, all the disappointments, all the thing not getting picked up, all the like bouncing from being a guest to a guest to a guest. Like there's so much effort that goes into it. So I could see the effort in this scene. And then you're supposed to show up on a set. And look,

it's great. It's funny. It's so charming and it's wonderful. And I can see exactly why the world's going to fall in love with Donna Paulson. But because I know my friend Sarah, I was like, I bet that's first day. We all have first day jitters. It's like on every job, no matter how much experience you have, you always have the like, oh, is this the moment where I realize I don't know how to act and everybody's going to tell me that I'm terrible? And I just saw maybe a bit of it in this one moment. I did too.

I love that we both saw that. Okay. And then we cut to Jessica meeting with her mentor, Philip, played by Victor Garber at his home. I think we're going to get into a little bit of this when we talk to Aaron because of the Victor Garber of it playing this role. Anyway, back at the hotel,

a nervous Mike walks through the lobby with a briefcase in the hotel bathroom. He's splashing water on his face, giving himself a pep talk. And then he gets in the elevator. He's nervous. Mike is nervous. He doesn't want to deal drugs. This isn't what he wants for himself. He doesn't want to get caught. But he's doing it because he's got to get that money for Grammy. Yes. So we can't blame him.

Yeah. I feel bad for him. Any means necessary to save Grammy. Not a great situation to be in. I love all the music through this sequence i want to say it's got like a very do you remember the score for social network oh yeah do you remember that it's kind of like a techie like i'm gonna do an impression you ready can we acknowledge your gifts for this trademark that let's make sure that if anyone uses that audio that i get paid okay i did i noticed the music too and i feel like it gave it the just it just like teed it up yeah it just i it it it there's nurtured it builds it's swaddled it yeah swaddled builds there's a building there's a building tension meanwhile don is not having any luck finding the right person for the job she is not and you know what else? That guy was not named Chip.

You heard it here first, folks. That's the sort of hard-hitting... He was not named Chip. Look, you came to this podcast for some behind-the-scenes... I remember nothing, but that dude's name wasn't Chip. You're saying that that actor's name wasn't Chip? No, that Chip wasn't in the thing. I was afraid I was going to get in trouble for calling him Chip. Oh oh you made up the name chip yeah and again i was nervous i was like can i say chip

can i call him chip it's funny you did it i mean i believed it apologies to the chips in my life that i know i believed it um okay then mike walks towards the hotel room designated for the drop this there's that interesting thing that we sort of establish here that Mike has seen, right? We're trying to establish he's got this photographic memory. The show is trying to figure out how to tell that story. We're seeing that he sees the kid coming from the pool with his father and he's seeing the sign about how the pool is closed. He's putting all these things together. So we get to see Mike really be kind of in superhero mode where he's processed a lot of information very quickly

that most people would probably miss. And he asked the question of these guys at the hotel room door, if the pool's open or how the pool is at the hotel. And they don't say anything about it being closed. And he knows. He's like, he puts two and two together because our guy Mike is smart.

Yeah. Yep. I don't know if you noticed. Yep. But he's smart. Or about to get into a scene where he really demonstrates how smart he is. Right. But he's not so smart that he hasn't found himself in a situation where he's running

from the police in a hotel with a bag full of weed. Well, he got knocked into another life. God bless you. Mm-hmm. Mike finds himself in the lobby of the suite with Donna. He's running from the police and he takes the interview slot meant for Rick Sorkin. Donna gives Harvey the wink. This might be the one.

Mm-hmm. Okay, there's a meme. What? This is a episode where you wink. I mean, this is the episode. This is the scene where you give Harvey that wink and that became meme-worthy. That became, that did become a meme.

On my phone, when I go looking for the old gif, I see your face winking a lot. So that might be like Suits' first meme. You might be Suits' first meme. Can I have a t-shirt? I need a sticker. You're a meme. You can look up a GIF and then send it. I didn't know it until my friend Erica, she was like texting me. She was like, Sarah, you're not going to believe it. I was just texting with Noah, her husband, and she was like, I think it was Valentine's Day or something. And she was like, and, you know, we were just being cute and flirty and loving.

And so then I go and I search a GIF and I just put in sexy. And you're not going to believe what comes up. And I'm reading this. I have no idea where she's going with it. And then she sends me the one of me winking. And I was like, dear God, please tell me you did not send that to your husband. You don't like it? Not sexy? Like it's just like not appropriate because I'm like really close friends with both of them. It's just funny. It was funny to me. And I was like, oh.

She's like, no, I chose the Beyonce one. I was like, I think that's the better choice. You're not particularly tech savvy, are you, generally? But do you know how to send a gift now? Are you trying to hurt me? No, no, no. You've admitted it before. I'm not saying anything out of school.

Do you know how to send a gift? Yeah, I totally know how to do it. You're giffing now with the best of them. I have a great gift game. Oh, your gift game is so strong. It's so good. It's so good. Why aren't you giffing with me? I, yeah, you know, Rick and I have a very great gift game. Oh, your gift game is so strong. It's so good. It's so good. Why aren't you gifting with me? You know, Rick and I have a very special gift game, and it involves a lot of donkeys.

Oh, God. It's a different pod. Gina has a strong gift game, too, I got to say. But, Patrick, I just thought of something in real time. Tell me in real time what you're thinking. It's amazing for me to think in real time. Donna actually hired Mike. Donna unkept the gate, gave Harvey the wink.

So all the ensuing drama is her fault. We owe you everything. No, I'm saying it's her fault. She needs to feel way worse about some things in the future. You changed everybody's lives for the better. What do you mean? No, I think that's a really good actual observation, though,

is that you made this possible. With the power of the gatekeepers, though. I really thought about it last night when I was watching this again. I was like, you know, it's about getting in the door. You could have just been like, whoa, who are you?

You're a whole mess. Get out of here. Yeah, but like, think about the casting directors who let us in the rooms or the, you know, whatever it is. You just need to... You saw something in me. Yeah. But like, think about the casting directors who let us in the rooms or the, you know, whatever it is. You just need to.

You saw something in me. Yeah. In Mike and me. She sure did. You see something in me? I don't remember you. What do you see in me? All right.

Well, then Mike introduces himself to Harvey, walks in the room. He's Rick Sorkin, just in time for the briefcase to spill open, revealing the weed. A moment that lives in infamy on the internet and social media forever. Gabriel's, whoa, what's this? Just a 10 out of 10 delivery. Intrigued. Super into it, kind of. Into it, but also kind of indignant.

Was there a story about the briefcase not opening? Yeah, there was something. I remember it's hard to get props to do what you need them to do in the moment. So I think we did a few runs at it just not opening at the perfect time. We kind of have to like shake the briefcase a certain way, but it took a few goes. That's for sure. So we cut from that to Lewis meeting with Gerald Tate behind Jessica and Harvey's back. And what's interesting is that this scene also was cut from the original pilot version and put back in for the Netflix version. And it just shows that

Lewis kind of will stop at nothing and is driven to that. So then we cut back to Mike and Harvey. And in one of the most famous scenes from the series, Harvey is impressed by Mike's photographic memory, sees his potential. Harvey ultimately decides he's going to hire Mike as an associate, despite Mike never having gone to law school. And this is it. I mean, this is the scene. We've talked about, you know, whether or not we want to be like, what's our favorite scene of the episode? Maybe we will and maybe we won't.

But in this case, I think this scene, this is the scene. Yes. This is the scene. And, you know, for me personally, this scene changed my life. You know, when I watch the scene, I see it. I feel it.

I'm like, oh, this is the scene. And it's funny that it's the one that plays on social media and on TikTok. And I think it had actually a lot to do with why the show has been so popular again, because I think it was all over TikTok and everything. And it's so lovely to me that that's the thing that maybe brings people in because it was the scene that brought me in. This was my audition scene this was the scene that i you know ran at home uh you know with troyan this is the scene that i was you know first was like i think i could do this like i love

this scene i love the interplay of this i love playing a character who's just so kind of desperate and at wit's end and just like begging not even begging it's not begging it's it's just so kind of desperate and at wit's end and just like begging, not even begging. It's not begging. It's, it's saying so honestly, I am ready for this opportunity. Like I may not be the best guy on paper. I may not be, you know, there are other people who might be technically more qualified for this job. Um, but I will work harder than any of them because I want it that bad and that was really me that was Patrick in that moment auditioning for this show I didn't have to do any acting

so it's really it's always powerful to watch it it always makes me smile it always makes me happy and also I think it's just such a great scene it's such a great scene so well written it's such a long scene

we don't have scenes this long with so many pieces. I don't think either really going forward as much. is about putting these two people in the same room. But because we had an 81-minute pilot, we had all this runway to build before they meet. In a normal hour-long pilot, you would have to put these people together in the same room, scene two, and you wouldn't get all that lead up to it. And I think that's part of what makes this scene so great is like, oh, I'm really ready to see the, I know these two people much better.

Yes. And so to see them cross paths is exciting. It's almost cinematic. It's almost so to see them cross paths is exciting. It's almost cinematic. It's almost filmic, more than a disc television. It's weird to have a moment on camera where you could see your life change. Do you know? Because this is where my life changed.

This show changed my whole life. It's changed my career. It's changed the way that I work. It's changed the people in my life. So many things wouldn't have happened were it not for the show. And I can kind of distill it all down of like roll up our sleeves and become little boys. And he's like, all right, you go. And I get behind his computer and just blocked beautifully. I think Kevin did such a beautiful job. So anyway, I could go on, like, especially that moment when you turn the laptop around and you show that you're playing hearts and that it's not a terribly cocky moment that you're kind of playing against it against the like, I'm playing hearts thing that you could do. And instead, it's like, I'm good at this. This is what I this is the only like i can do this and and you have empathy and you also are a character who's kind of got nothing left to lose exactly right it's just like talk about leaving it all on the dance floor which is how i felt you know very much in my life in real life yeah yeah so i i i really zeroed in on that moment and i just thought it's funny because you're turning the thing it's a turning point in the scene it's's the moment when Harvey decides he's going to go look out the door and kind of see who's out there and look at the guys and then just say, you know, I'm going to take a different path, too.

It's that moment. Yeah, it's amazing. Choosing a new path. So it's going to be fun to talk about it again with Aaron. Yeah. So then Harvey decides Mike's the guy and he starts schooling him, telling him what he needs to do to prepare for his first day at Pearson Hardman. Harvey sends Mike to Harvard where he's going to learn everything there is to know about going to law school. Great needle drop here.

Maybe my favorite of the episode, Howling for You by the Black Keys. Love it. Perfect for this moment. And then at Harvard, the administrator says that the only way to take a tour is to go back in time six months. Great line. I love this scene. I love this little scene so much. We see Mike with this prospective student.

Shout out to actor Andrew Pastides. We see Mike conning him out of his name tag so that Mike can join the tour. He is so good in this. All improvised too, I think. The fact that he was able to improv this level of douchebaggery. I mean, my hat is totally off to him. But it's like what you talked about in the scene with you where you're like the cameras up and they're like, OK, we're going to be coming in. You need to say something to make this more interesting.

Or like you're not off camera. So you need to live in this moment now. And you've shown up to set and you're like, oh, it's not what I expected. I assumed you would be over there and I wouldn't be on camera until you do that. And it's like, no, you're on camera and you have to like, okay, who is this guy? You know, you don't have any lines for me. I'm going to talk and you'll cut it out if it doesn't work. He just nailed it. Andrew came prepared. He came to play. He really did. It was amazing. It was so exciting. And so that's the end of this first section of the pilot, you know, because after this,

we are into a first case. And that's why we decided to kind of cut it here. What an amazing first. Again, this is only 20. Imagine how much story we've covered and how much we know about these people. I think we're at like minute 25, if that. And it's the perfect prologue. It feels like it's a million scenes and it feels like it's a one scene.

It's just, you're just in. You're just in. Yeah, really in. And it's so weird because I guess we don't really do this with pilots anymore. I don't know. But it doesn't seem like people shoot these extra long pilots. But I think it has so much to do with why the show is successful because it didn't have to rush. And now you've got these people.

You've got this great premise. You get to, you know, you're like, oh, my God, what's the first day of work going to be like? And then you're going to get into the case of it all, which we are so excited to talk about in our next episode. This has been amazing. Thank you, Sarah. I can't wait. Thank you. This will be so fun.

We had an idea. There is a word that comes up a lot in our show, and we used to have to deal with a lot online. The word goddamn, it got said a lot because we weren't really allowed to curse too much. No. And yet we wanted to be emphatic at times. Look, and we should say that it was controversial because people feel strongly about that word. But also some people have it as a drinking game. It was a big part of the show.

Like it or not, it was a part of the show. And we're going to count it. We're going to see how many are in the whole series as we go. Where are we in just part one of Suits? How many goddamn Suits did we have in the first 25 minutes of Suits? There were four. Four goddams. Wow.

That's a lot. All right. Well, closing statements. Okay. How we feel about this whole thing. I think just an incredible amount of story told in 25 minutes. It's hard to do. It's hard to like get to know people this well, to feel this close to them.

It was just done masterfully because of everybody. The writing, first and foremost. But then I think I can see how close this cast is right off the bat. And like we said before, we've been a part of enough things where we go in with the best intentions and want to have that connection and create that intimacy. And it just doesn't work. It's really hard to do. And the directing and the music and the editing, the pacing, everything.

Yeah, we haven't talked enough. Hopefully next time we'll talk more about Kevin in that how special and important he was to this process. I know he's busy right now, but at some point he's going to have to come join us. Kevin Bray. Yeah, just an amazing director. And he did so many of the series and I think the show owes him so much, just establishing so much of the vibe of the show. All right. Well, that's a wrap on part one of The Suits Pilot. We want to thank you all so much for coming and listening to us. And we hope you join us next week to chat about part two. And of course, right from the beginning,

we want to hear from all of you. So if you do have questions, thoughts, or ideas of other things you'd like to hear from us on the pod, please send your emails to sidebarpodcastatseriousxm.com. If you want to record an audio clip of the question, go for it. Maybe we can play it on the show. Can't wait to hear from you. Thank you, Patrick. Thank you, Sarah.

That was a good rehearsal. Should we do the actual one? you. Thank you, Patrick. Thank you, Sarah. I like that. That was a good rehearsal. Should we do the actual one? We ready? Should we hit record? Are we ready to go? Alright, let's go.