Stuart’s Desire To Win Puts Him in a Killer’s Crosshairs
Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Suits LA Episode 10.Did you think that just because the Pellegrini trial was wrapped that Suits LA would stop with the flashbacks? Yeah, I did, too, and we were both fooled. Episode 10 kicks off with another New York flashback, but this time, we go all the way back to Ted’s (Stephen Amell) and Stuart’s (Josh McDermitt) law school days. This flashback was instantly more enjoyable than all the previous ones, purely for the atrocious wig they put on McDermitt.
In the present day, Stuart starts the David Bowie (still not the musician!) murder trial and fails to get it dismissed, even though he has film proof that Bowie couldn’t have been at the scene of the murder. The trial brings up bad memories of what Stuart’s penchant for winning could do to his soul. He feels the same drive to defend David Bowie as he did to defeat Ted when they were in law school, and his conscience is compromised in both scenarios.
Mock Trial Gets Dirty in ‘Suits LA’ Episode 10
The episode opens with a flashback revealing that Ted and Stuart were tied for the top of their class at Columbia Law School. To break the tie, the dean organizes a mock trial for a drunk-driving case in which a young man hit and killed a pedestrian while his father and younger brother were in the car. All three were deemed drunk at the scene.
Stuart should’ve known when he asked Ted if they were going to treat the mock trial as a gun fight or a knife fight that things were going to get dirty. Stuart throws the first punch by asking Ted’s actual father (Matt Letscher) to play the dad in the trial. When Ted sees how tough Stuart is willing to play, he decides to get his hands dirty himself, and Ted always hits back harder. Stuart feels Ted’s pain the next day when he puts his then-girlfriend Helen (Elizabeth Bogush) on the stand as his client’s therapist. Helen had warned Stuart that she didn’t want to get in the middle of a pissing contest between him and Ted because it could turn ugly. Ted is so pissed off that Stuart would bring his father into the case that he outs Helen for saying that she wanted to marry Stuart so she would lie on the stand. Not only does he publicly air out her feelings, but he also questions her integrity in front of everyone at the mock trial.
Helen puts Stuart on blast for allowing her to be eviscerated on the stand like that, and so he goes back for his own revenge, marching back into the courtroom and announcing that he’ll be putting Eddie (Carson A. Egan) on the stand as the little brother. Ted tries to convince Stuart not to do it, then Ted apologizes to Helen and asks her to convince Stuart not to put Eddie on the stand. Finally, Ted brings his dad back and asks him to change his plea to guilty, allowing Ted to win and prevent Eddie from getting on the stand. Stuart walks into the mock trial just as Ted’s dad is calling him weak and instructing him to tear Eddie apart on the stand if he actually wants the win. Stuart can’t go through with traumatizing Eddie after that, so he rests his case. Ted, appreciative of Stuart’s sacrifice, drops the case, allowing Stuart to win and become the top of their class. They go for drinks to celebrate and realize that their friendship is more important than any accolade or trophy.
The David Bowie Trial Continues in ‘Suits LA’ Episode 10
When the judge won’t dismiss the trial, the prosecutor, Isaac Adoni (Assaf Cohen), puts Erica’s (Lex Scott Davis) producer client on the stand. Erica begs Stuart to make sure her producer’s sex tape that David Bowie was allegedly attempting to steal doesn’t make it into the public record. He owes her after he manipulated her to take her mother’s sculpture from her, but Stuart is only focused on protecting his client. The producer is put on the stand. Stuart questions him and not only reveals the existence of the sex tape, but also who was on it. The judge is satisfied enough that the producer would never help David Bowie manufacture evidence if he had that kind of leverage. The case is dismissed… just in time for Stuart to go back to his firm and review the security footage and realize it was doctored after all.
A lot of damage has been done by this point. He’s burned a bridge with Erica and claimed to be self-righteous in defending his client. Then, he still lashes out when he finds out his client is actually guilty, and Stuart has helped him get away with it. Stuart confesses what happened to his wife and then immediately leaves to try and make amends for the situation. David Bowie is already waiting for Stuart when he arrives at Adoni’s house to explain that Bowie’s alibi tape has been doctored. Bowie reveals he killed the whistleblower, and he won’t hesitate to kill Stuart if Stuart tries to rat him out. That’s when Ted emerges from the bushes and claims he’s recorded the entire conversation, giving Stuart the leverage he needs to protect his family from the cold-blooded killer. Once again, Stuart and Ted realize their friendship is the most important thing.
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‘Suits LA’s Ships Are on Ice in Episode 10
Before flying off to New York with Harvey (Gabriel Macht), Ted offers Amanda (Maggie Grace) a job at Black and Associates. She hesitates to take it because she doesn’t want to run the criminal division of the firm and have a romantic entanglement with Ted. When Ted disappears for a week without checking in, Amanda takes that as a sign of his interest in her, so she goes ahead and starts setting up her division before he comes back to the office. When she informs him that she’s made her choice already – and it may not have been the one Ted wanted – he immediately starts acting like a snarky brat.
Ted recants his bad behavior by the end of the episode when Amanda delivers the high-profile client he wanted her to land for the announcement of her taking over the division. He admits that he snapped at her earlier because his feelings were hurt when she decided to take the job instead of being with him. Amanda confesses she took the job because she was hurt he disappeared to New York and never called her. So, there’s still a spark between the two, but they agree that they can’t start a relationship while they’re just starting to work together.
Ted and Amanda aren’t the only ones putting romantic tension on ice. Erica and Rick (Bryan Greenberg) also finally have an honest conversation about their intense flirting and what it means. Rick puts his cards on the table and tells Erica that he wants to be with her, but she can’t do the same. Something is holding her back, and she turns him down. He counters by saying they should stay away from each other from now on. We see Erica having some major regrets about that as she sulks later in her office, but the regrets aren’t strong enough to convince her to call Rick and take it all back. So, for now, the Suits LA ships are passing each other in the night, and no one is getting the romantic satisfaction they want.
Suits LA continues Sundays at 9 PM, with episodes available to stream the next day on Peacock.
Stuart’s trial puts him in a killer’s crosshairs on Suits LA Episode 10.
- Release Date
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February 23, 2025
- Network
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NBC
- Writers
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Aaron Korsh
- This episode showcases the most emotional maturity we’ve ever seen from Ted.
- Stuart’s flashback wig. It should be a con but it was so ridiculous it circled back to pro.
- Rick voicing his wants and calling Erica out on her games.
- Stuart really needs to decide how he feels about criminal defense work.
- This episode showcases the least emotional maturity we’ve seen from Stuart.
