Season 8 of Suits ushers in a new era. With Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres) off making political waves in Chicago, and Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) and Rachel Zane (Meghan Markle) helping out the little guy in Seattle, major changes are afoot at the firm now known as Zane Specter Litt (ZSL). And with as much change as Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) and the rest of the team are facing, there’s bound to be some bumps in the road. Surprisingly — or maybe not-so-surprisingly, knowing these people — a lot of those bumps happen to be shaped like confident, well-dressed lawyers who know how to storm into a room and make demands (it’s basically a prerequisite of working at ZSL). But nothing brings together a divided family quite like a common enemy. Will our favorite group of attorneys be able to set aside personal feelings for the good of the whole? Fire up Ima Robot’s “Greenback Boogie” and let’s find out.

What’s going on when Suits Season 8 starts?

It’s a battle for the top spots as the merged firm of ZSL takes off. While Harvey quickly comes around to the idea that Robert Zane (Wendell Pierce) is best, uh, suited for the managing partner role and hands over the reins, the two still continue to butt heads over which of their protégés deserves the next name partner promotion. When Harvey brought Alex Williams (Dulé Hill) over to the firm in Season 7, it was with the promise of becoming a name partner — unfortunately, Robert made that same promise to someone else. 

Enter Samantha Wheeler (Katherine Heigl), Robert’s deeply loyal, surrogate daughter of a fixer. She’ll do whatever it takes to win, and even more so if it’s to protect her people. When the rivalry between Samantha and Alex gets out of hand, and their respective mentors are no help, there’s really only one solution: Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman). Louis winds up as the firm’s managing partner in order to save it from itself. One of his first moves? Making both Alex and Samantha name partners — regardless of whether handing that promotion to two people at the same time dilutes it. Sure, the firm’s new name — Zane Specter Litt Wheeler Williams — is a mouthful, but it makes everyone happy and cuts down on the infighting. It happens at just the right time, too, because everyone’s going to have to work together to get out of the latest predicament knocking at the firm’s doors.

Oh no, who’s coming for the firm now?

It’s always something, isn’t it? In this case, the major conflict toward the second half of the season is mainly a mess of the firm’s own doing — boundaries are a thing, people! Zane Specter Litt Wheeler Williams really steps in it when one of Harvey’s clients makes a bad faith deal with one of Alex’s clients (they waived conflict of interest, in case you legal eagles were wondering). It just so happens that Alex’s client is Thomas Kessler (Sasha Roiz), the same Thomas Kessler currently in a pretty serious relationship with Donna Paulsen (Sarah Rafferty). While Harvey tries to keep that information from his best girl, eventually he can’t help but tell her what’s going on. Donna knows she’s supposed to stay quiet –– and trust that Harvey will figure it all out so that Thomas doesn’t get hurt –– but she can’t seem to help herself, either. For the first time in over a decade, she chooses someone else over the firm — someone else over Harvey — and tells Thomas. Could it be because, as Alex astutely points out, she’s desperate to find a way to move on from Harvey? Hmm, interesting! Is Alex a Darvey fan? Hmm, even more interesting!

Thomas pulls out of the deal before it’s too late. While that’s great for Thomas, Harvey’s client Simon Lowe (Evan Buliung) isn’t thrilled. When he realizes someone tipped Thomas off, he decides to sue the firm for breaking attorney-client privilege and comes armed with a heavy hitter: he hires none other than Daniel Hardman (David Costabile) of Pearson Hardman fame (or infamy) as his attorney. While Daniel is ostensibly there to represent Simon’s interests, he relishes the fact that he can use this lawsuit as a way to get Harvey disbarred and get payback for Harvey and Jessica pushing him out of his own firm. Harvey is refusing to throw Donna under the bus, so it increasingly looks like there’s no way out of this one for him — that is, until Robert steps in with a last minute, game-changing save.

Well, what did Robert do?

After several attempts to win over his old buddy Daniel and get him to drop his attack on Harvey’s law license, Robert realizes he has one last move: He can take the blame. At the ethics hearing, he has Alex say that it was Robert, not Harvey, who told him about the bad deal. And if it was Robert who broke privilege, he’s the one who should be disbarred. Why would Robert make this kind of sacrifice? Well, we learn that eight years prior, Samantha was mugged, and the man was able to get away with it thanks to an alibi, so Robert fabricated evidence in order to get him sent to prison. Later, he learned the man was murdered in his cell. Robert has carried around immense guilt over it ever since. Giving up his law license is his way of finally atoning for his sins. Whether you agree with the move or not, it’s a huge loss for the firm — but hey, it does make its name 20 % easier to remember. 

Does anything else important happen at the end of Suits Season 8?

Oh, only the one thing we’ve all been waiting for since the very first episode of Suits: Harvey and Donna finally get together. In the finale, as Harvey listens to Samantha talk about how much Robert means to her because he loves her regardless of her baggage, and how special it is to have that one person you always want to talk to about your day, he realizes he has someone like that in his life, too. Suddenly, Harvey runs out of the building and races over to Donna’s apartment. They don’t even need to say anything to one another, they know exactly what is happening here — we all do — and Harvey and Donna share a downright steamy moment, eight seasons in the making. Darvey fans, rejoice! 

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