22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Why cancelling Suits LA after one season is the best announcement in American TV history
American show Suits LA always faced the near-impossible legal burden of precedent — namely, Suits (the original), starring Gabriel Macht, Patrick J. Adams, and Meghan Markle. And unfortunately, this spinoff fails to meet the standard of proof required to justify its own existence. In fact, if television had a Supreme Court, Suits LA would be summarily dismissed for lack of merit, lack of charm, and lack of literally anything compelling. Honestly, the only thing more shocking than its cancellation after one season would've been if someone renewed it voluntarily.
Ted Black (Stephen Amell), a former federal prosecutor with a traumatic past and some truly uninspired flashbacks to 2010, now runs a boutique entertainment law firm in LA with his friend Stuart Lane. There's a merger pending with a rival firm led by his ex (of course), and clients (many of them real-life actors) roll in with problems that sound more interesting than they are. There's office politics, unresolved tension, and a fair amount of posturing — none of which feels remotely compelling.
Well, everyone looks fantastic. The wardrobe department deserves an Emmy for managing to make Stephen's jawline look even sharper. Lex Scott Davis as Erica Rollins brings a spark, managing to occasionally inject life into otherwise limp scenes. Her clashes with Rick (Bryan Greenberg) and moments with junior associate Alice Lee provide rare glimmers of watchability. There are also some attempts at witty repartee — the kind you'd expect in a Suits show — but they're more like dry coughs than zingers.
Let's start with the obvious: it's not funny, smart, or fast-paced — the things that defined the original. The flashbacks to Ted's New York days feel like they were edited on Windows Movie Maker, and the mystery around his move is about as suspenseful as a parking ticket. Guest star cameos (including the late John Amos and Brian Baumgartner) feel like distractions from a script that knows it's running on empty. And worst of all? The banter. Suits ran on musical, sharp-tongued exchanges. Suits LA tries — oh, it tries — but every quip lands like a thud.
Suits LA tries to repackage the original's magic in West Coast packaging but ends up delivering courtroom drama without the drama, cleverness without the clever, and charisma without, well, anything resembling charisma. The result is a show that's technically about lawyers, but mostly just about very good-looking people in very good-looking suits having very uninspired conversations. It's a spin-off that forgot to bring the spin — or the fun.
