Suits LA Premiere Episode Offered Two Shocking Twists That Set Up The Show's Stakes
The premiere of Suits LA was anything but ordinary with shocking twists that left viewers with a lot of burning questions.
Spoiler Alert: This article will discuss details about the Suits LA premiere episode
After months of anticipation, fans finally got to see what the world of Suits is like on the West Coast with the premiere of Suits LA. Almost immediately, the series dropped two major twists that left people reeling and ready for more.
Suits LA takes place at the Black Lane law firm founded by Ted Black (Stephen Amell), a former federal prosecutor who we learn in the first episode has quite the storied past in New York, and Stuart Lane (Josh McDermitt), a similarly hot shot attorney with deep roots in Los Angeles’ legal world. The two named partners and longtime friends seemed poised to be the new dynamic duo of the sequel series. However, those who tuned in will know that, unlike its predecessor, Suits LA is going a different way when it comes to bromance.
Suits LA opens with a surprising betrayal
If Ted Black didn’t see it coming, you can bet brand-new audiences were shocked. To celebrate a new merger that Lane painstakingly convinced Black to sign on for, after tough negotiations, the two old friends went out for dinner and many, many drinks. They swapped stories and took some shots at an off-screen George Clooney, with whom they apparently have a history. Black has a lot of work to do but his friend convinces him to stay out while they take a walk down memory lane at their old LA haunts from before they got too busy to do this kind of thing.
The next morning, Black learns his friend had ulterior motives. The reason Lane didn’t want him going back to the office was that people were in the process of clearing it out completely. It turns out there was some fine print on that merger contract that allowed Lane to take everything and set out on his own with some of the most powerful clients the firm had gathered over the years.
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But why would he break away from his friend and tarnish the law firm they worked so hard to build? When Black confronts Lane at his home, it's revealed an insult from Black at a negotiation months prior planted the seed that Lane needed to set out on his own and stick a knife in his “friend’s” back while doing it. Being called a “flea” publicly is the kind of thing that sticks with a guy, especially in this high-stakes powerful world.
Just when it looked like Suits LA was setting up another attorney buddy-buddy relationship for the ages, Black and Lane are at each other’s throats pulling out all the stops to ruin the other. So, the show isn’t kicking off with a partnership but rather a stunning betrayal and a gritty legal fight.
Ted Black’s personal life is a bit dark
Throughout the episode, Black goes to his luxurious home where he seemingly lives with his brother, Eddie. Every time he interacts with his sibling, the hardened exterior we see running legal circles around clients and opponents goes away in favor of a significantly softer and loving demeanor.
As the episode progresses, we learn that Ted left New York for Los Angeles after a case against a major crime boss went sideways with the murder of a key witness that included a literal explosion. What’s more, it seems Ted’s own father (Matt Letscher) seemingly used the emergency situation to weasel his way back into his life after abandoning the rest of the family.
Meanwhile, back in the present, Black's father is out of time to make amends for his past as he is back on the East Coast on his deathbed. The daddy issues run deep since when Black finally does take a private jet to go see him, it’s just so that he can shame him one more time for what he did to their family and tell him, in no uncertain terms, he’ll die alone. Black also drops the bombshell that their dad had something to do with the death of Eddie.
That’s right, Black’s kind moments with his brother were all in his head, a way of him processing his grief over what their dad did and the loss of a loved one. While viewers are still in the dark about what exactly happened, it was a shocking twist that put a button on a pretty captivating pilot episode that sets up a legal and personal battle for our protagonist.
Catch the next episode of Suits LA Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT and streaming the next day on Peacock.
