Warning! SPOILERS about Suits LA season 1, episode 6 ahead.
Ted and Harvey’s cockiness has been the one thing in common that Kevin recognized, but one major difference between the two risks makingSuits LAless entertaining as a result, and Ted’s success inSuits LAepisode 6emphasized that.To present theSuitsspinoff protagonist Ted Black,Suits LAfollowed a two-pronged approach, focusing on his present challenges with the merger he’d been cut from, weakening his firm, and one of his past cases as a federal prosecutor that cost him his life as Ted knew it. EverythingSuits LAshowed nonetheless highlighted Ted’s lack of a key quality.
Suits LAcontinuing Lester Thompson’s trial put Ted in a terrible place in episode 6 after Lester finally admitted to having killed his partner inSuits LAepisode 5’s ending. Ted not knowing the truth and Kevin and Erica hiding it from him to protect Ted introduced an element of worry, as audiences could expect the truth to surface but didn’t know when or how Ted would react. However, in pursuit of making the best choice for his client,Ted solved all ofSuits LA’s major conflicts in episode 6, making one key difference betweenSuitsand the spinoff unmissable.
Ted’s Lack Of Moral Ambiguity Makes Suits LA’s Story Less Exciting
Ted Black came off great afterSuits LAepisode 6. Indeed,not only did Ted win Lester’s trial, leading to the jury finding Lester not guilty,but he also patched things up with Stuart for Lester’s benefit and admitted it was his fault Cameron diedyears before to Samantha,effectively righting all of his wrongs shown inSuits LA. This, coupled with Ted refusing to defend someone he believed guilty and his never crossing the line during Lester’s trial except for once, when he hid Lester to buy them some time, presentsTed as a portrait of moral rectitude.
I’m Sorry, But Suits LA’s Harvey Specter Debut Failed To Sell Me His Supposed Close Friendship With Ted Black
Gabriel Macht made his highly-anticipated first appearance in Suits LA, but Harvey Specter’s relationship with Ted Black failed to impress.
Ted rectifying all of his mistakes shown inSuits LAdeletes all the conflict in theSuitsspinoff.It’s good thatSuits LAwants to establish Ted as different from Harvey, so as to make his story not just a copy of Harvey’s in the popular parent series,but an absence of conflict risks making Ted’s story quickly uninteresting. Indeed, Harvey was presented as someone willing to cross the line to win while adhering to his moral code fromSuits’s series premiere, which made his eventual redemption arc possible. Ted instead seems to have nothing to improve upon now.
How Suits LA Can Still Make Ted An Interesting Character Despite His Differences To Harvey
A New Case Can Test Ted & Prompt Him To Cross The Line
With the exception of Elizabeth Smith, variousSuits LA’s charactersfeel much less morally ambiguous than theirSuitscounterparts. While this didn’t impact the enjoyability ofSuits LAepisode 6 as Ted still had to find his way out of the twist revelation that a witness saw Simon and Lester fight, it might in the long run. Indeed,it wouldn’t be particularly entertaining to see Ted always make the right choice because there wouldn’t be anything at stake in that, something that there always was inSuits, whether it involved Harvey and Mike’s con being discovered or Pearson Hardman threatened.
Suits LAalready established Ted never agreed with his father nor forgiven him, faulting him for Eddie’s death, so his father’s legacy creeping up on Ted via a case could make him more interesting.
WithSuits LAepisode 6 effectively concluding Ted’s biggest challenge since he was cut out of the merger and had to take on Lester’s case to save his firm, not much seems to be threatening him, especially given his reconnection with Samantha and Stuart, separately. However,interesting challenges could come from his difficult relationship with his father. Indeed,Suits LAalready established Ted never agreed with his father nor forgiven him, faulting him for Eddie’s death, so his father’s legacy creeping up on Ted via a case could make him more interesting, having the chance to simultaneously saveSuits LA.
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TBA
June 28, 2025
Suits LAairs new episodes every Sunday at 9pm ET on NBC.
