‘Suits LA’ Kicks Off With Major Twists for Ted Black in Series Premiere

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Suits LA series premiere, “Seven Days a Week and Twice on Sunday.”]

By the end of the Suits LA premiere, one thing is clear: Things are not going Ted’s (Stephen Amell) way.

The first episode of the new series in the Suits universe offers a look at what was going on in the lawyer’s life back in 2010 in New York — an informant is killed in an explosion, and so the case against a brutal mob boss is falling apart — as well as in the present in Los Angeles, as his dad (Matt Letscher) is dying (and he’s avoiding going to see him) and, unbeknownst to him until it’s too late, he’s at risk of losing his firm.

“In the course of the pilot, the imminent death of the father causes him to behave in a certain way that comes back to sort of bite him in the ass, and it sort of throws the trajectory of his present life into a different path,” creator Aaron Korsh tells TV Insider.

David Astorga/NBC

With Ted distracted, it falls on his friend and partner, Stuart (Josh McDermitt), to keep the eye on a potential merger … only for him to steal the entire 25th floor (and their clients) and go through with the deal without Ted. (Ted manages to get a few lawyers back, with a recording to Stuart insulting them and saying he’s using them.) So why did Stuart do this? Well, he reminds Ted that a year ago, he hung him out to dry, calling him a flea (while Ted’s the lion) in front of everyone, even though, as Stuart puts it, they were the two pillars of the firm: entertainment law and criminal defense. In his mind, Ted doesn’t respect him. Plus, because he was distracted, he signed an agreement giving him the right to take everyone with him.

It’s a scramble from there to lock down clients and staff. Stuart calls Erica (Lex Scott Davis) and asks her to spy on Ted for him for six months, then he’ll bring her over an make her head of entertainment — the position she’s fighting Rick (Bryan Greenberg) for at Ted’s firm. Ted doesn’t think she’s ready for the managerial part of the position, but in the end, as she points out to him, he also asks her to make sure their clients — including Rick’s — are staying. Ted decides to make the two co-heads of entertainment … only for him to find out what Stuart offered Erica, her to reiterate her loyalty to him, and Rick to leave the firm for Stuart’s. Erica makes a strong case to be made partner — and gets it.

As for his father, Ted finally goes to see him as he dies after a conversation with John Amos (playing a version of himself). John tells him that what’s done is done and he needs to see his father and forgive him — for himself. His ex, Samantha, whose firm was part of the merger, then tells him that what his dad did broke him, and since he’s not going to see him, it doesn’t seem like he wants to fix it. And so Ted does go say goodbye to his dad.

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When it came to bringing in Amos, “One of the things that I really wanted to do in this show was have people play versions of themselves. That’s so exciting for me. So in the pilot, I had written a part for someone to do that [and] John Amos was an incredibly iconic figure in my life,” Korsh explains. “He was almost like a television father. So to be able to work with him was amazing and have him come in and play himself.”

Ted recalls going to a Yankees game with his dad and his brother (Ted was 13, Eddie was 17). He knew that his dad didn’t want Eddie there but hid it from him. “After you got convicted, you told me that on your last night of freedom, all you wanted to do was spend it with me. But when that day came, you let them kill Eddie, my sweet, beautiful brother who never hurt a soul in his life, and you said you did it to protect me, but you didn’t even show up at his funeral,” Ted says. “He was your son. All my life, ‘I’m going to make it up to you, Ted’ … You’ll make it up to me now. You’re going to die alone.” That’s right: Eddie (Carson A. Egan), who has been seen with Ted at home, isn’t really there. He’s dead.

“More and more as the season goes and the death of his father sort of brings up his issues that he has with himself and with his dad and how it affects his current life,” notes Korsh of Ted. “The opening episode shows a lot of vulnerability in him. And then we see the more fun side of him as the episodes go.”

What did you think of the Suits LA series premiere? Let us know in the comments section below.

Suits LA, Sundays, 9/8c, NBC

-Reporting by Damian Holbrook