Suits Season 5B Preview: Aaron Korsh Says Expect Collateral Damage 

Warning: Suits spoilers

This is it. We’re finally here. Suits is dealing with Mike Ross’ fraudulent past and present in a bigger way than ever before. This story has been brewing since day one and touched on over the years. But now the Mike-gets-arrested scenario is taking over. No. More. Waiting.

At a recent event that featured our favorite USA Network series, TV Goodness talked to creator and executive producer Aaron Korsh. He set up what we’re going to see in the final six episodes of this fifth season. We talk collateral damage, how surprised fans are or aren’t going to be to find out who outed Mike, and how painful this upcoming hiatus is going to be. 

TV GOODNESS: These are a huge six episodes that are about to start airing. What can you tease big picture-wise?

Aaron Korsh: Well, big picture, obviously Mike got arrested for fraud. So the back six episodes are essentially — I’ll say in the big picture — they’re about our six main cast members and some others dealing with the consequences of the decision that Harvey and Mike made five years ago for Mike to be a fraud and be a lawyer. Everybody’s got to come to terms with: What did they do? Should they have done it? Do they regret doing it? Do they wish they hadn’t done it? How can they get out of it? All those questions are building to a final sort of crescendo at the end of episode 516. Can we get out of it? We’re never going to get out of it completely unscathed. But how unscathed can we emerge from this thing?

TV GOODNESS: So there might be some sort of collateral damage along the way?

Aaron: There absolutely will be collateral damage along the way in terms of people’s relationships with each other, their trust of each other. And this is both within our six, but also, obviously, it’s gonna have ramifications for Rachel with her mother and father and Scottie and Trevor…and many, many people that have existed in our world since the pilot are gonna come back and it’s gonna take its toll on relations with a lot of them. And it’ll change their relationships, possibly for the better, with some of them.

TV GOODNESS: In terms of what this means for the firm — is it something where every single case they’ve done since Mike started working is going to be looked at — is it going to be that kind of thing?

Aaron: That is an excellent question. The truth of the matter is, Mike right now is accused of being a fraud. He’s not convicted of being a fraud so until he’s convicted those things…rumors might be flying but no one’s going to bring a lawsuit against you for him being a fraud until he’s convicted of being a fraud. So since we’re fighting that, that’s the focus of the back six.

TV GOODNESS: So the rest could be for Season 6…

Aaron: Exactly. If he were to be found guilty. But that doesn’t mean…the fact that he has been accused of being a fraud — that right there can mean people can attack our firm and say, obviously, these people either knowingly did this thing or were too stupid to know fraud was under their roof. So other firms — from both within our firm and outside — other people can come and attack our firm.

TV GOODNESS: Now some of the things that happened in the first ten episodes of Season 5 like Harvey going to see a therapist — will that go by the wayside in the back six or will there be remnants of that?

Aaron: That’s a good question. And we struggled with it because we wanted to try to keep his therapy thread alive but we ultimately decided if you’re in therapy and your house is on fire you’re going to skip therapy a couple times. So, metaphorically, his house is on fire. We were unable to fit that in. It doesn’t mean we won’t revisit it at some point in the future.

TV GOODNESS: What can you say about the person who outed Mike? How surprised are fans going to be? How long are we going to have to wait to find out?

Aaron: You’re not going to have to wait forever to find out. You will not find out the first episode back. How surprised fans are going to be, to me, it just depends on who the fan is. If you guessed it you won’t be that surprised. If you didn’t you will be. I took a different approach to the whole whodunit than most of the fans and the promo and the writers did. To me, the most important question — what are we going to do now that it’s happened — is more important than who did it. That doesn’t mean we don’t deal with whodunit. And try to think about whodunit. But I took a less — it had to happen right away — approach. I also think my thought on who it should be was a little different. So it’s probably going to be a little surprise to most people but, hopefully, it will make sense and we’ve explained it and it’s satisfying.

TV GOODNESS: How does Mike handle everything that’s going on around him because of him?

Aaron: I think he handles it pretty well. I guess it would depend on who you are and how you look at it. Look, he wants to minimize the damage that he’s caused to other people. He’s always done that. He gets put in a position where he can only minimize that damage so much.

TV GOODNESS: And I know that you touch on the Harvey/Donna/Louis/Gretchen assistant situation. What can you tease?

Aaron: We learn new things about the secretaries. New things about their relationships. New things about their role in this whole entire fiasco. And, obviously, their loyalty to their men is tested and I think they both rise to the fore.

TV GOODNESS: How painful is the end of the season going to be — is it going to be a painful hiatus?

Aaron: I can never anticipate how fans are going to react. To me, it’s whether it’s satisfying rather than painful. Sometimes pain is satisfying. I can’t speak to how painful it’s going to be. What I can say is, I think there are moments…there are highs and lows. And there are moments that I think that are, hopefully, real, earned and, ultimately, satisfying. But I’m sure there’s gonna be…I mean, how can this not bring some sadness to some people?

We’re calling it now. It’s going to be a painful hiatus leading up to Season 6. The fifth season of Suits continues tomorrow night at 10/9c on USA Network.