Suits!

By Lou Pastina

One of Netflix’s most popular shows right now is “Suits.” The show is about a law firm that takes in an unusually gifted kid who passed the bar exam but never went to law school, or even college. He simply read the law books, retained everything, and took the exam and passed it. In fact, he was so good at taking the exam he became essentially a test taker for profit. Somehow, he winds up in an interview with a self-centered, arrogant, brilliant lawyer who is bowled over by the kid’s brain. He hires him, and thus begins the show. Trust me, I haven’t given anything away.

So, the weird thing about this show being so popular is that it is 12 years old!!! Yeah, that’s right, it premiered in 2011, and it ran for nine years. Apparently, it ran on the USA Network, but frankly I had never heard of it. So why is it so wildly popular now? Well for one, there is a writer’s strike and there is very little new programing coming out. So, Netflix dug this out of the vault. Number two, it has Megan Markle in it, Yeah, that’s right, the Duchess of Sussex, wife of Prince Harry. And people are curious what this Svengoolie is like on screen. The other thing about the show is that it has so many people on as guests that later became stars on other shows like “Blue Bloods” and “Billions.”

I got hooked on the show because of the storylines. They are very well written, and the characters are well developed, and ultimately likable, even the lawyers (sorry to my lawyer friends in Rockaway!). The other thing that I find amazing about the show is that the world they portray in 2011 no longer exists. That’s right, its gone and it’s gone forever. How can that be you say? Well, it’s pre-Sandy days, and it’s pre-Covid days and a lot of the technology that we take for granted was not around in 2011. And frankly, no one wears suits anymore! In fact, the whole office scene they depict is also gone forever. There are no more offices with glass walls and separation between workers and middle managers. There are no more middle managers, and there definitely are no more secretaries. This is pre-We-Works and office sharing, pre-Zoom, even pre-real IPhones. There is no Uber or Lyft, and people still went to bars after work. Ok, I overreached there, people still go to bars today.

There is no more Wall Street either. The world they depict is gone. The Stock Exchanges have been automated (sorry, I had something to do with that, but I can’t put that genie back in the bottle). So, the worlds of law and Wall Street have been changed. If you compare this show to the other current, popular lawyer show “Lincoln Lawyer,” you will find little that is comparable. How can that be? It’s only been 12 years! Life changes fast as Ferris Bueller once said, so you better stop and smell the roses before it all changes again. This show ran for 134 episodes and while I am only up to episode 14, I can’t wait to see what happens next!!

I know some people won’t watch the show because of the Duchess, but I find her fascinating. Not that she is a great actress, she is pretty good, but because she has this romantic interest in the show’s lead character, and well you can kinda figure out what old Harry was up to! Anyway, because there aren’t too many shows like “The Bear,” I thought I would pass along this update on “Suits.” It’s almost like watching a fictional history show because that world and the people who lived in it are gone; but in reality, they are still here but in very different roles, living very different lives and heading toward very different futures. One can only wonder, what will be obsolete 12 years from now! I don’t know, but I hope to be watching that show too!!