Buried Secrets

"Louis might be on to Mike. He found out that Mike doesn't have a file in the Harvard file room. And that he wasn't on your original interview list."
— Donna Paulsen to Harvey Specter

Buried Secrets is the eleventh episode of the third season of Suits and the 39th overall. It first aired on March 6, 2014.

Synopsis

Things get complicated when Harvey mixes business with pleasure and gets caught between Jessica and Scottie. Painful memories plague Mike as he uses a case to exorcise demons against an old foe, while Louis' suspicions threaten to expose Mike.

Plot

To be added

Cast

Main Cast

Recurring Cast

Rachael Harris as Sheila Sazs
Abigail Spencer as Dana Scott

Guest Cast

Michael Phelps as himself
James Downing as Nick Rinaldi
Kevin Bundy as Dr. Lombard
Neemish Parekh as Simon Bandaru
Michael Ripley as Chris Dimond
Lynn Vogt as Judge Timbers
Callum Holland as Young Mike Ross
Susan Applewhaite as Mrs. Foreman

Major/Highlighted Events

Mike Ross takes on a case against Nick Rinaldi, the lawyer who offered one year's worth of rent to Edith Ross when his parents died. After finding out this his father was not sober that night and that he is turning into Rinaldi, Mike makes a deal with Rinaldi where he doesn't sell out his client but also includes Rinaldi's client getting their due compensation.
Rachel Zane decides to move in with Mike.
Jessica Pearson wants Scottie to pay her $500,000 senior partnership buy-in upfront rather than the usual six month trial period. As a romantic gesture, Harvey Specter pays her buy-in, much to Scottie's displeasure. The two then vow to be completely honest with one another.
After being unable to find Mike's file in the Harvard Law School archives, Louis Litt begins to suspect that Mike attended a third-rate law school instead of Harvard. After gaining illegal access to Donna Paulsen's hard drive, he obtains the list of associates Harvey interviewed, and discovers that Mike's name is not there. He confronts Donna, who explains that Mike hadn't officially signed up, and that if there were any doubts, Louis could always request Mike's Harvard transcripts, which Lola Jensen had hacked into Harvard's database back in "Identity Crisis".

Mike's Transcript (3x11) — Mike's Harvard transcript.

Louis receives Mike's transcript, apologizing to Donna for accessing her hard drive as well as for suspecting Mike. However, as he reads over Mike's grades, he is stunned to find out that Mike received an A+ in Prof. Henry Gerard's legal ethics class, since Gerard is notoriously known for never granting a grade higher than an "A". When he questions one of his associates, who claims that no one ever received an A+, Louis becomes suspicious of Mike once more.

Cultural References

Barack Obama is mentioned.
Harvey mentions Working Girl and how in the movie, a wedding was crashed in order to get to Trask Radio.
Michael Phelps guest stars in this episode.
Black Hawk Down is mentioned.
The Dark Knight Rises is mentioned.
Facebook is mentioned.
Scottie mentions Pretty Woman and Julia Roberts.

Trivia

Goddamn Counter: 1
With the dissolution successful, as of this episode, the firm wall has had the "Darby" portion removed.
Scottie mentions Julia Roberts. Her brother, Eric Roberts, portrays Charles Forstman on Suits starting from season 4.
Jessica mentions having two name partners over the last two years. As season 2 took place in 2012, the statement would make it seem as if this episode and its events take place in 2014; however, season 3 as a whole is set in 2012-2013.
Mike recalls his first dinner with Rachel ("Inside Track") as their first date, reminding her how he did not like the food. However, Rachel replies that their first date was technically when they had sushi, with Mike remembering it was during his first case ("Pilot").

Goofs/Inconsistencies

In this episode, Louis states that he graduated magna cum laude since he wasn't able to attain summa cum laude. However, in the season 4 episode "This Is Rome", Louis states that he graduated summa cum laude.

Quotes

Louis: What if Mike Ross never went to Harvard at all? What if he just went to some crappy, third tier, law school like Fordham or Arizona State? "Yeah, hey, bro. Yeah, no, I'll see you at the party. I'm not going to study for the bar. Damn straight. That's right. Bros before hos. Oh, yeah, you know–" All right, that's enough.

Louis: Here.
Donna: What's this?
Louis: Harvey's interviews the day Mike Ross was hired. But Mike Ross isn't on it.
Donna: Where'd you get this?
Louis: Doesn't matter where I got it. The fact is I did.
Donna: Are you asking me why Mike Ross isn't on it?
Louis: Yeah, Donna, that's precisely what I'm asking. How exactly did Harvey find him?
Donna: We didn't find him. He found us.
Louis: What are you talking about?
Donna: Mike hadn't signed up for the interview on time, so he pretended to be one of the other associates on the list. He talked his way past me and impressed the shit out of Harvey, whose main requirement was somebody who had the balls to do something like that in the first place.
Louis: Okay. What if he had the balls to do something a lot bigger than that?
Donna: What are you talking about?
Louis: I think Mike Ross went to a subpar law school and has been lying about it the whole time.
Donna: Louis, listen to yourself. You're talking about Mike. You're insane.
Louis: I'm– Okay, I was in the Harvard file room with Sheila. Don't ask details. And I noticed Mike Ross's file was not there.
Donna: You specifically looked for his file?
Louis: Yes. And I looked for Harvey's, too. And his was there.

Jessica: Harvey, it's time you and I had the talk.
Harvey: I know where babies come from.