Spoilers ahead for Suits LA season 1, episode 1.
Suits LAmight be different fromSuitsin many ways, but the spinoff series has already brought back the most annoying trope from the original show. Even those who lovedall seasons ofSuitscan agree that the legal drama recycled a lot of storylines and often relied on repetitive tropes. From characters lying to each other to misunderstandings causing relationships to fall apart, certain things felt like theyhappened in everySuitsepisode. Given thatSuits LAcomes from the same creator, Aaron Korsh, I assumed some of these story beats would return.
To be fair,Suits LAepisode 1 was drastically different fromSuits’ pilot. As much as we all tried to identify the spinoff’s equivalent to the likes of Harvey, Mike, Jessica, and Louis,Suits LA’s charactershave very different relationships compared to those of the original series. That said,Suits LAdoes echo some aspects ofSuits, including a weird trend about the name of the firm that always bothered me and required a lot of suspension of disbelief.
Suits LA’s Firm Has Already Changed Names After Just One Episode
From Black Lane Law To Black & Associates
Suits LAwas set to be about the attorneys at Black Lane Law – or at least we thought.Suits LApilot’s big twistwas that Stuart Lane, co-founder of Black Lane Law, betrayed his partner and put Ted Black out of the merger they were planning. Not only did Stuart Lane take his side of the firm with him, but he also stole dozens of partners, associates, and important clients. At the end of the episode,we see that Ted Black’s firm is now called “Black & Associates.”
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Litt Wheeler Williams Bennett
It took around 20 minutes forSuits LAto change the name of the show’s main law firm, which happened 12 times during the original series. From Gordon Schmidt Van Dyke in the flashbacks to Litt Wheeler Williams Bennett in the series finale, the firm in whichSuitstook place had 13 different names throughout the show.The irony ofSuits LA’s firm changing names so quickly was not lost on Aaron Korsh, who jokingly toldTV Line,“I wanted the firm to change names in the very first episode because we did it so often in the original [series].”
Suits' Firm Changing Names So Often Was One Of The Show’s Weirdest Tropes
Almost Everyone Got To Have Their Name On The Wall
Law firms changing names is not necessarily uncommon, butthe fact that one of the biggest firms in New York changed its name almost every year for nine years was one of the weirdest things aboutSuits. Even though the series was not focused on legal accuracy and was more about the characters than the cases, seeing the firm changing names all the time would sometimes break the illusion and remind us that we were watching a TV show.
Suits LA Episode 1 Secretly Hints At Its True Protagonist (It Isn’t Ted Black)
Ted Black is the face of Suits LA, but Stephen Amell’s character might not be the Suits spinoff’s true protagonist after how episode 1 played out.
Getting their“name on the wall”was the ultimate goal for most of theSuitscharacters, regardless of what it would take. Between Harvey almost stabbing Jessica in the back to Louis using Mike’s secret as leverage, we have to admit thatSuitsknew to create some good drama around the name partner promotion. It remains to be seen whetherSuits LA’s firm will keep changing names all the time as well, or if what happened in the pilot was a one-time thing.
