Warning: SPOILERS for the Suits LA episode “Acapulco” are ahead!
Suits LA’s flashback storyline has been following Stephen Amell’s Ted Black in 2010, back when he was a federal prosector in New York trying to put away a crime boss named John Pellegrini. Last month, Gabriel Macht’s Harvey Specter came into the picture when he tipped off Ted, a friend of his from his baseball team, that someone in his office was spying for Pellegrini. This appearance took place one year before Harvey met Mike Ross in the original Suits, and we’ve known that Macht has been set to reprise his character two more times on the spinoff.
Now in “Acapulco,” the latest Suits LA episode to premiere on the 2025 TV schedule, Harvey is back on two fronts. Not only has Harvey’s 2010 self paved the way for another Suits character to come into the picture, he also delivered one hell of an twist at the end of the episode when he showed up at Ted’s house in the present day.
How Harvey Came Back Into Suits LA’s Flashback Storyline
Ted Black’s efforts to putt John Pellegrini away in the flashback storyline hit a hitch in “Acapulco” when one of his witnesses, Jimmy Patriale, was caught perjuring himself on the stand. Contrary to his original claim, Patriale, who’d killed 15 people on Pellegrini’s orders, had not been told to kill five specific people, including Billy Esposito from Suits LA’s pilot episode, in person by his boss, but from while he was out of the country.
Patriale later admitted to Ted and investigator Kevin that he’d lied about how his orders were given because he knew Pellegrini would have him killed if he didn’t supply the information that Ted and Kevin wanted in exchange for a protection deal. However, Patriale was insistent that he did get his order to kill Esposito in person from Pellegrini, but since he’d been caught lying in the trial, the jury wouldn’t believe anything else he had to say. However, after a chat with Stuart Lane, who’d briefly represented Patriale earlier in the season and flew back to New York on his client’s behalf, Ted was persuaded to put Patriale back on the stand to talk about the Esposito murder.
It paid off, as Patriale’s heartfelt testimony, combined with pictures showing him and Pellegrini together outside the latter’s office on September 17, 2010, was enough to make the murder charge seem like it would stick. But before Patriale went back on the stand, Ted and Kevin decided to pursue a different avenue: getting Pellegrini on racketeering charges, which weren’t as strong. Thanks to information that’d been kept safe by Billy Esposito’s daughter, The men learned that there were 30 companies with ties to Pellegrini, and one of them was represented by Harvey Specter’s firm.
Ted met with Harvey at their favorite bar and requested he provide this company’s financial records because he didn’t have time to subpoena them, but Harvey refused. But following Patriale’s second testimony, he had a change of heart and provided the records to Ted and Kevin. Why? Because the company cut ties with the firm after their lawyer, Daniel Hardman, left. You can stream Suits with either a Netflix subscription or Peacock subscription to learn the circumstances behind Hardman leaving the firm, but now the stage has been set for David Costabile to reprise the character on Suits LA.
How Harvey’s Come Into Suits LA’s Present Day Narrative
I should note before going further that I knew Gabriel Macht would get to play Harvey Specter in the present day during “Acapulco.” That was abundantly clear in the preview when Harvey was shown at Ted Black’s Los Angeles home. What I didn’t expect was that he’d come back into Harvey’s life to talk about John Pellegrini of all things. 15 years later, the crime boss is about to be let out of prison, so Harvey came to take Harvey back to New York to ensure this guy stays behind bars for good.
Why this happening? That’s hard to say, though upon hearing this news, Ted told Harvey that, “He wouldn’t be getting anything if you hadn’t done what you did.” Whatever this was, Harvey refused to apologize for it, so we’ll have to wait until next week to learn the full story. However, it’s also worth mentioning that after Harvey passed along the financial records to Ted and Kevin in 2010, Kevin was hesitant to move forward on the racketeering front, feeling they had enough with the murder charge and didn’t want to tempt fate. But Ted decided to press forward when Harvey suggested they trick Daniel Hardman into testifying against this company by arranging it so he doesn’t know he’s speaking out against his client.
I have no idea how they’re going to pull that off, and it’s entirely possible that this very plan is what’s allowed John Pellegrini to leave prison 15 years later. Whatever the case, Gabriel Macht has one more Suits LA appearance lined up (and it’s possible we may never see him on the show again), so I look forward to seeing what happens with Harvey both in 2010 and the present day when the spinoff airs its next episode next Sunday at 9 pm ET on NBC.
