God's Green Earth

God's Green Earth
Season 5
Episode 13
Information
Air date	February 10, 2016
Written by	Genevieve Sparling Sandra Silverstein
Directed by	Anton L. Cropper
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God's Green Earth is the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of Suits, and the 73rd overall. It aired on February 10, 2016.

Synopsis

With time running out before Mike's case goes to trial, Harvey and Mike are at odds over their strategy, and just what lengths they'll go to in order to defeat Gibbs. Meanwhile, Gibbs takes a shot at Mike's Achilles heel when she puts the squeeze on Rachel. And when word the scandal starts affecting the firm's standing, Jessica needs help from Louis and Jack Soloff to show the world that Pearson Specter Litt is as strong as always.

Starring

Main Cast

• Gabriel Macht as Harvey Specter
• Patrick J. Adams as Mike Ross
• Rick Hoffman as Louis Litt
• Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane
• Sarah Rafferty as Donna Paulsen
• Gina Torres as Jessica Pearson

Guest Cast

• Lisa Lau as Scottie's Secretary
• John Jarvis as Dean Herrick
• Pat Matroianni as Tom Linder
• Farid Yazdani as David Green

Recurring Cast

• Abigail Spencer as Dana Scott
• John-Pyper Ferguson as Jack Soloff
• Suzanne McKenney as Judge Ralls
• Rachael Harris as Sheila Sazs
• Leslie Hope as Assistant U.S. Attorney Anita Gibbs

Trivia

• This episode garnered 1.71 million views on its initial premiere.

Major/Highlighted Events

• An editorial is printed in a major newspaper regarding the fact that there's no way one of three name partners at Pearson Specter Litt were unaware that Mike Ross was a fraud; the editorial then causes numerous law students to decide not to apply for a summer associate position at the firm.
  • Harvey later finds out that it was Anita Gibbs who wrote the editorial, although he does not have any proof that would hold up in court.
• The date for Mike's trial is set for two weeks.
• Due to the fact that only three Harvard students wish to come to Pearson Specter Litt (the three worst students), Louis initially believes Sheila is doing it on purpose. Jessica believes that they should open the doors to other schools as well, and waive their Harvard exclusivity, as she had done with Rachel and Columbia, while Louis refuses to resort to such measures.
  • However, when he finds out that Sheila is not sabotaging the firm, and that the students themselves are choosing not to come, he tells Jessica that one of the things he learned from Mike is that not all great lawyers come from Harvard. He then tells Jessica that he officially opened the doors to every school in the top 20 law schools of the United States, including Stanford and Yale. However, the students from those schools don't wish to come to PSL anyways, as they believe the firm won't exist.
• Jack Soloff decides to make Pearson Specter Litt's reputation better by having them do multiple pro bono work; however, Jessica decides to be on the offense and poach a whole department of attorneys from a rival law firm; when this doesn't work, Jack is offered a job by the rival firm. However, Jack tells his friend that while he can get another job if PSL does collapse; on the off chance that it doesn't, by helping PSL to get out of their mess, he may end up as a partner.
  • Jack asks Jessica whether she would ever consider making him name partner in the future. Although Jessica says she would, she wonders why Jack would simply trust her word. Jack then gives Jessica the file containing his very own secret, a secret that Daniel Hardman used to manipulate him, giving Jessica a modicum of his own trust in her.
• Rachel is called into a meeting by the dean of Columbia University, who threatens to expel her since he believes Mike took the LSATs for her. However, he lets her know that if the charges on Mike are somehow dropped, then this wouldn't be an issue, causing Rachel to realize that he and Anita Gibbs are working together.
  • Rachel relays this information to Mike, who believes that Gibbs' associate, David Green, is the one who told her, since he was one of Mike's clients whom he took the LSATs for. Mike convinces David to give him the information he needs to stop Gibbs from going after Rachel, telling David that if he gets caught leaking Gibbs' details to PSL, then he would get fired from the U.S Attorney's Office; however, if he doesn't cooperate and Mike gets convicted, Mike can decide to reveal about his LSATs stint as well, which would cause David to lose his job as a lawyer.
    • However, while Mike initially believes that David was the one who sent an anonymous tip to Gibbs revealing that Mike took LSATs for other people, a criminal offense Gibbs was not aware of at first, Donna tells Mike and Harvey that she had found Trevor's information in Gibbs' evidence boxes, possibly revealing that it was Trevor who told Gibbs about Mike.
• Mike goes to Scottie's office under Harvey's name to talk to her; however, she blames Mike as the reason she and Harvey broke up, and comes to resent him.
  • Harvey tells Scottie that it wasn't him who sent Mike there, and tells her that Mike isn't the reason they broke up, but that it was his fault. He tells her that he's seeking professional help and wonders, after this whole thing is over, if he may call her. She tells him that he can always call her, admitting that she too is seeing a therapist, adding that she hopes he does get out of his mess in one piece.
• Since Sheila considers her job her life, Louis uses the fact that she once left Louis alone in the file room (which would prove that she derelict in her duties), and convinces her to flee the country and go to Argentina until Mike's trial ends, since the United States government cannot subpoena her while she's there.
• Since he's being charged for not being a lawyer, Mike decides the best way to convince the jury that he is a lawyer is for them to see him in court defending himself. Harvey believes that Mike won't be able to defend himself and that it is a bad idea, causing a slight rift between the pair.