Mike Ross leaving didn’t ruin Suits – This Episode did

When Suits viewers contemplate major changes within the show, Mike Ross's exit from Season 7 is bound to be foremost among their concerns. His exit was a substantial one—Mike had, after all, been at the center of the show's core premise. But as many people might think, the show did not break down immediately after his exit. It had, in fact, already started slowing in pace.

What was the real turning point? It came earlier, in Season 6, Episode 10 (P.S.L.), when Mike's prison plot ended too soon and too neatly. This was when Suits made a move that irreversibly shifted its direction. Mike's early release wasn't a sharp creative decision—it shattered the weight of consequences the show had worked so hard to build.

It was a surprise that left loyal viewers wondering if the rules, which had been the foundation of the show, ever actually mattered. The true issue wasn't so much that Mike finally left; it was that Suits delayed matters when it needed to push most.

---

Season 6, Episode 10 of Suits – Where the stakes unraveled

Mike Ross received a two-year stint at the close of Season 5. It was the fruition of years of plotting on how his bogus legal career would eventually catch up with him. Season 6 promised to deal with the repercussions, but then Episode 10 appeared. Suddenly, due to a plea with Sean Cahill and Kevin Miller, Mike was released after a few months. What could have been a gradual process of reflection became a swift return to his previous life.

The drama of the show glossed over the emotional and legal weight that had been so painstakingly built. With a show that had waited years to deliver suspense on Mike's secret, the resolution was surprisingly easy. The early departure advanced the plot, but more importantly, altered the tone of the entire program. Consequences no longer meant anything. Risks were no longer risky.

---

Skipped over: The depth that could have been

Mike's time inside might have altered his personality. How would he have been impacted by incarceration? Would he be able to return to the world of law with honor—or even want to? Those were questions that were not really explored to the extent they should have been. The show cut them short. By the time Mike was negotiating a role again at Pearson Specter Litt, the gravity of his offense had apparently worn off.

This wasn't merely wasted character development potential—it was potential wasted in advancing the themes of the show. Suits had heavily depended on moral nuance and personal responsibility. Episode 10 sacrificed that nuance for a speedy return to normalcy. And in doing so, it undercut the very premise the show had built upon.

---

The change in tone and suspense

After Mike's release, Suits continued to deliver its brand of drama, but things were different. The stakes were not as high. Where earlier seasons existed on the specter of discovery and consequences in court, the show now carried on with a sense of lowered consequence. The politicking within the firm and courtroom games still occurred, but not with the same tension. Episode 10 was a turning point: the outcomes were no longer uncertain.

This shift wasn't unnoticed. Audiences and critics both noted that the show had begun to feel more secure. With Mike's return and consequences avoided, the show lost much of the tension that had made its storylines function before. It wasn't about cast departures—it was about doing what was right for the story.

---

When Mike eventually left, it worked

In comparison, Mike's eventual exit in Season 7 was handled with care. It was consistent with his development as a character and gave him and Rachel closure for good. The goodbye was deserved. There was the conclusion. And above all, it did not rely on bending rules or rewriting previous outcomes. If anything, this departure showed that Suits was still able to deliver satisfying wraps when given the space and time to do so.

That is why Mike's true exit was not what caused the most harm to Suits. The show had already lost its grip on realistic tension and significant character development. The real harm had been made long, long before Season 7 ever got underway.

---

Season 6, Episode 10 was not just an hour of television—it was a turning point in the narrative, changing the tone and stakes of the show overall. Suits retained its style and dialogue-driven smarminess, but its storytelling atrophied.

While Mike Ross's departure was sad, it didn't sink the show. The hasty wrap-up of his prison storyline did more harm than his eventual goodbye.

Also read: Suits: L.A. - Plot, cast, and everything we know so far about the Suits spin-off