okay so no big formal paragraphs this time, just kind of unloading my brain while it's all still fresh, because i literally just watched the finale like an hour ago and i'm still processing it a little.
THE PREMISE — a guy with zero law degree bluffs his way into one of nyc's top firms because he's got a photographic memory and absolutely nothing left to lose. on paper that's such a dumb premise. like genuinely, if someone described this to me cold i'd assume it was a one-season gimmick show that runs out of gas fast. it isn't. somehow the show manages to make that lie feel like a ticking bomb for years... every season finds a new angle to threaten it, a new person who almost figures it out, a new stake that makes getting caught feel more catastrophic than the last time. i kept waiting for it to get old and it just never did.
HARVEY — okay so the ego is kind of the whole point, and that took me embarrassingly long to actually get. i spent the early seasons thinking "cool, confident guy, got it" and totally underestimating how much was going on underneath that. the swagger is armor. the one-liners are armor. and watching that crack open slowly, season by season, instead of all at once in some big cathartic moment, is honestly what sold me on him as an actual character instead of just a vibe. by the time he's letting himself be vulnerable in front of mike near the end, it hits so much harder because you've watched how hard-won that openness actually was.
MIKE — starts the show as basically a con artist playing dress-up in a suit that doesn't belong to him. ends the show as someone who's genuinely, unambiguously earned his seat at that table, lie or no lie. that transformation is the actual backbone of the entire series, and it's such a satisfying arc to watch play out because the show never lets you forget the fraud underneath it... even when mike's clearly become brilliant in his own right, the lie is still there, still a threat, still shaping every decision he makes.
DONNA — okay no notes here, she's my favorite by the finale, completely. she starts as "the assistant who mysteriously knows everything before anyone tells her" and ends up as one of the most powerful, most respected people in the entire building. and the slow burn with harvey..... that thing should not have worked stretched across as many seasons as it was, that's such a risky thing to drag out that long without it becoming frustrating. and somehow it completely worked. when it finally resolves i actually got a little emotional, which is not a sentence i expected to say about a legal drama.
LOUIS LITT — did not expect to love this man as much as i ended up loving him, genuinely. he starts off almost pathetic...... a little sniveling, a little bit of a punchline, kind of an antagonist in the early seasons... and turns into one of the most human, most rooted-for characters in the whole cast. his arc from insecure, overlooked partner to someone who finds real love and real respect from the people around him might honestly be the most satisfying transformation in the entire show. i was fully cheering for him by the end in a way i did not see coming from season one louis.
WHERE IT SAGS — gonna be honest, the middle seasons definitely drift a bit. there's some storylines that get introduced with a lot of weight and then just kind of quietly dropped without real payoff. a bit too much manufactured conflict some seasons, just to keep episode counts moving instead of because the story actually needed it. and mike and rachel's relationship, while sweet, felt kind of static compared to how much everyone around them was growing and changing...they just sort of existed as "the couple" without getting the same depth as the harvey/donna or louis arcs.
THE VIBE OVERALL — stylish as hell, sharp dialogue, genuinely great ensemble chemistry that makes even filler episodes watchable. the show has this way of making corporate lawsuits feel like high-stakes chess matches, which sounds like it shouldn't be as tense as it is, but somehow always is. i went in expecting a background show, something to half-watch while doing other stuff, and ended up fully, embarrassingly invested in these people's lives.
CLOSING THOUGHT — finishing a show like this always leaves this weird little hole afterward.... like i spent actual years of these characters' lives with them and now it's just over... Its a good sign if a show can do that to you after this long.
Rating: 90/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.
