She Knows

She Knows
Season 2
Episode 1
Information
Air date	June 14, 2012
Written by	Aaron Korsh
Directed by	Michael Smith
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"An allegation was made that Mike Ross never went to Harvard, or any other law school for that matter. So I had him checked out. Squeaky clean. Graduated top of his class. [...] He might have checked out clean, but I know that kid's full of shit. Because there may be a record of him graduating from Harvard Law, but there's no record of him graduating from any college anywhere on the face of the earth. So I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt. That you didn't know. Because I don't want to do what I would do if you did. And what you're going to do is fire that goddamn kid." — Jessica Pearson to Harvey Specter

She Knows is the first episode of the second season of Suits and the thirteenth overall. It first aired on June 14, 2012.

Synopsis

Mike Ross is entrusted to close a major lawsuit. Harvey must decide whether or not to defend Mike and his secret.

Plot

Jessica invites Mike to dinner, much like she has with other former first year associates who are now senior partners. Mike is nervous that Jessica had discovered that he is a fraud, until Harvey reassures him that being summoned to dinner by Jessica is good for his career. After a great evening that night, Jessica meets with Harvey at the office and, although she realized what it was that Harvey saw in Mike as a lawyer, tells Harvey to fire Mike because she had actually discovered that he was a fraud after Trevor Evans told her.

The next day, Mike happily walks into the office, now oblivious to the fact that he had been discovered. Harvey tells Donna that he has to fire him, else Jessica will, but when Mike walks in, he chickens out and is unable to. Instead, Harvey tells Mike that he is proud of him.

Jenny confronts Mike in the street about his kiss with Rachel, and that Trevor had told Jessica that he was not a Harvard graduate. She tells him that Trevor had told her about the kiss between Mike and Rachel.

Cast

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

Recurring Cast

• Rebecca Schull as Edith Ross
• Tom Lipinski as Trevor Evans
• Vanessa Ray as Jenny Griffith
• Max Topplin as Harold Gunderson

Guest Cast

• David Costabile as Daniel Hardman
• Natalie Krill as Sarah Hardman
• Joanna Douglas as Myra Harrison
• Tammy Isbell as Lesley Beckman

Major/Highlighted Events

• After being notified by Trevor Evans that Mike Ross is a fraud who never attended Harvard Law School, Jessica Pearson takes him out to dinner (albeit on his dime) to get to know him better. Following the dinner, however, she alerts Harvey that Mike is a fraud and tells him to fire him, giving Harvey the benefit of the doubt that he himself did not know about the fraud.
  • At the dinner, Mike reveals that his mother and father were killed by a drunk driver when he was eleven years old.
  • Harvey attempts to fire Mike but is unable to, which Donna chalks up to Harvey being seized by a wave of emotion he did not see coming. Harvey decides to not tell Mike that Jessica knows, but when Jenny Griffith tells Mike that Trevor found about him and Rachel, she ends their relationship, and reveals that Trevor exposed his secret to Jessica. Harvey then assures Mike that he is fighting for Mike's job and to continue working on the lawsuit holding up the Swinton merger. Harvey then tells Louis to ease up on Mike now that Jessica has taken him to dinner and favors him, prompting Louis to pass off the redundancy list compiling to Mike, knowing that if Jessica fires Mike now, Louis would be curious and look into the matter.
• Donna alerts Harvey that Alicia Hardman has passed away. Mike asks whether this is the same "Hardman" in Pearson Hardman, and Harvey explains that she was the wife of Daniel Hardman. Harvey passes on the news to Jessica, and it is revealed that five years ago, Jessica and Harvey kicked Hardman out of the firm by forcing him to resign, threatening to expose an extramarital affair he was having to his wife, who had cancer. However, Jessica kept the situation private, with the public story being that Hardman resigned to take care of his ailing wife. With Alicia Hardman succumbing to her illness, their leverage has dissipated, and the two attend her funeral to see if Hardman has any interest in returning to the firm.
  • When it becomes clear that Hardman is returning to the firm and will be attempting to usurp Jessica from her position as managing partner, Harvey makes a deal with her; if he prevents Hardman from returning, she would allow Mike to keep his job, with Jessica begrudgingly agreeing to his proposal. Harvey decides to go to the Hardman family home and threatens to expose Hardman's affair to his daughter if Hardman decides to come back to the firm.
    • Hardman tells his daughter the truth regardless and returns to the firm, where he gathers all the partners in a room and reveals that five years ago, he embezzled various funds from the firm's clients' escrow accounts. Despite paying back every cent, he admits that he could have been convicted of theft and asks the partners to accept that he is now a changed man and wishes to prove it. Harvey then orders Mike to go back home and to not return for the rest of the day.
    • Jessica becomes infuriated at Harvey's failure to prevent Hardman's return and tells him to fire Mike or else she would. Harvey tells her that if she fires Mike, she would have to fire him too, since he hired Mike despite knowing he did not have a degree. Jessica tells him to pack up his things, but Harvey reminds her that if he got fired, Hardman would look into the situation and discover Mike's fraud, at which point he would determine that either Jessica knew about it and kept him employed anyways, or did not know the whole time, both being poor qualities in a managing partner. Knowing that Hardman would then use it to have Jessica removed from her position, Jessica is forced to accept Mike, and decides to quiz him on the law the same way Harvey did with Mike, although she tells Mike that unlike Harvey, she doesn't need a computer.
• Harvey mentions how a "friend" of his had a mother who never loved his father and that the mother cheated on the father during their relationship, which the child never forgave; this is the first reference to the relationship between Harvey's parents. Donna even tells Harvey that his sour mood was either because Jessica found out about Mike, or his mother had somehow inserted her way back into his life.

Cultural References

• When he thinks that Jessica has found out the truth about him and has thus invited him to dinner, Mike likens the situation to Joe Pesci's death in Goodfellas after he thought he was about to become a made man. Mike then quotes Henry Hill's "Karen? Where's the money, Karen?" line from the movie.
• Jessica tells Harvey that he and Daniel Hardman are cut from the same cloth, prompting Harvey to reply that it's why he doesn't like Hardman. He then proceeds to say "There can be only one.", causing Jessica to ask why he is quoting Highlander at a funeral.
• Edith Ross mentions the time when Mike ran away from home because his parents would not let him stay up to watch The Cosby Show; she also mentions Hansel & Gretel.
• John Boehner and Jeremy Lin are mentioned.

Trivia

• Goddamn Counter: 4
• There is an extended version of this episode, including additional dialogue such as Mike asking whether his dinner with Jessica would warrant an upgrade from a cubicle to an office as well as him adding the "Put the gun down, Karen!" quote.
• Harvey's mother is mentioned for the first time.

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