Deja View: Rob Stewart, Suits “Shadow of a Doubt” 

Before I get into this edition of Deja View, please permit me to rave about Suits season three. I wasn’t sure how I would take the Darby/British invasion of it all, but as it turns out I’m loving it. Even though it means some pretty painful situations like Harvey vs. Jessica. Some “Shadow of a Doubt” thoughts:

• Is Harvey going to accept Jessica’s peace offering or strategic move, whatever you want to call it? I, for one, would love it if Harvey called off his hunt for becoming managing partner and decided to be on the same side with Jessica once again. But this show is complicated. The motives for the show’s characters are even more complicated. I just can’t predict what Harvey’s going to do. He may be too far involved in his latest scheme to just call a halt on it now. He might go for broke because he hates being or feeling betrayed.

• The Ava/Jessica scene was a good one. They did have things in common even though Ava’s issues are on a much bigger scale. I’d like to see more Jessica getting out of the office scenes. I’d like to see more of Jessica period.

• As much as I dig Harvey and Donna and want them to, ultimately, be together, I can’t tell you how fantastic I think Donna and Stephen are. Their little “arrangement” is quite funny and chemistry-filled and fun to watch. And, of course, Stephen wants to extend their deal, if you will. She’s Donna. Who wouldn’t?

• I really enjoyed the Mike and Rachel scenes. They work together well. And I like that their moments of struggle (Rachel not telling Mike she might want to go to Stanford for law school) isn’t coming from an outside obstacle like another person. Rachel was momentarily jealous of Katrina, but that’s not what is causing real trouble for this cute couple. Her law school ambitions are and even though she knows the truth about Mike, that ginormous lie of his will always be sitting there like a lump. Is anyone afraid that Rachel’s dad just might dig into Mike’s background and come close to finding out that Mike’s a fraud? I do. I don’t know how Mike does this whole living a lie thing. He comes off so confident and borderline arrogant at times. If I were him, I’d be crumbling and hiding out somewhere trying not to draw attention to myself. Every case he works is tainted if the truth ever comes out. Yikes.

• Louis’ love of cats is awesome. And I sincerely hope he and Nigel, his British counterpart, can come to terms. Louis needs to be leading the associates. I know he can be a jerk to them, but still, that’s what I’d love to see. And I know that he and Nigel have this feud going on, but they would make better allies, right?

• I had no idea that Gary Cole was going to be in this season as much as he has been. I love me some Cole something fierce. His character Cameron Dennis? Not so much. But we’re not supposed to love him so I’m at peace with my Cameron hatred. I do like that Harvey’s not afraid to go up against his one-time mentor, however.

• And how great has Max Beesley been on the show? Like I said earlier, I’m loving him and Donna. I also liked it that Harvey seemed to start trusting Stephen fairly quickly. But we knew that wasn’t going to last. There’s no way it could. But I’m happy that for the moment, Stephen and Donna are still a go.

• Here’s a mini-deja view on Beesley. Before Suits, I probably knew him best from the movies Glitter and Torque as well as the British series that aired here on BBC America called Hotel Babylon.

And now for our Deja View for Suits “Shadow of a Doubt”

Rob Stewart

Actor: Rob Stewart

Suits Role: Corporate Raider Tony Gianopoulos, who colluded with Cameron Dennis when Cameron left him alone with the videotape of Ava bribing the foreign official. You could tell he was a powerful guy. And after Tony and Stephen went up against him, he tried to make Ava pay by dumping the Hessington Oil shares in a bid to try to ruin her company. In the end, he got his way and obtained Hessington Oil, but he gave Ava voting rights (power is really what she craves) and he admitted to the collusion.

TV Credits: I am not going to lie. I love Rob Stewart from way back. He was the lead in a show that started on this experimental late night hour of programming for CBS called Crimetime after Primetime. The show was called Tropical Heat (although it was also known as Sweating Bullets). Stewart played former DEA agent turned private investigator Nick Slaughter, who set up a detective agency in Key Mariah, Florida. It was a hot, sexy, cheesy, action-filled series.

Stewart was also in a syndicated series called Amazon, that aired a few years before Lost. Peter Benchely (author of Jaws) created it. And it was about a group of plane crash survivors. Their flight went down in the Brazilian Amazon jungle. And needless to say, there were plenty of dangers lurking. C. Thomas Howell and Carol Alt also starred.

And I was so happy to see the actor pop up on several CW shows. On Nikita, he recurred as the dastardly Roan, the numero uno henchman for Percy. Loved Roan. He never really said much but he was badass. Plus, Stewart did a few episodes one of my favorite underrated series, The L.A. Complex. He was Gary, the rich doctor Raquel met in AA, although she faked being an alcoholic. She needed money to fund a film she and a couple of her fellow complex dwellers were trying to get made. So she targeted the good doc. The two fell in love but it ended after her lies came out. Too bad the show was canceled before we found out if Raquel was pregnant with Gary’s baby. And, finally, on Beauty and the Beast, he’s Mr. Chandler, Catherine and Heather’s dad. Although in the season one finale, it was discovered that he’s actually not Catherine’s biodad after all.

Suits airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on USA Network. I am beyond excited for next week’s flashback episode. Donna. Harvey. Can Opener.