Suits, the swaggering, walk-and-talk drama set in a New York law firm. With a backlog of 5 series and 70 episodes, it gives damn good minuteage. Here are six more reasons why it's an ideal show for moments when the news is just too depressing.
Reality and Suits have never met
If you're trying to escape reality, you're in the right place. The people of Suits are more beautiful and much wittier than anyone you know. The chat's from the school of Aaron Sorkin (which isn't surprising - the show's creator Aaron Korsh is a huge fan). 90 per cent of scenes (give or take) end in either an ultimatum - cue swell of dramatic music. Suits doesn't ask you to engage with subtext; in arguments, characters say exactly what they mean, and for the avoidance of doubt, they'll say it while in a boxing ring, beating the crap out of each other. Yes, Suits is a soap opera with hot actors and a decent locations budget. That's why it works.
It's pretty much Game of Thrones in Tom Ford suits
Trade the nipples for tailoring and there's not much to separate the two worlds. There's enough plotting and back-stabbing to make George R.R. Martin weep, and Harvey Spector Litt has seen more hostile takeovers than the Iron Throne. Plus, Varys (Conleth Hill) and Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) actually make an appearance in Seasons 2 and 3 - though admittedly in incarnations more suitable to modern-day Manhattan.
Harvey Specter is a new age philosopher
The quotable heart of it all is Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), with his spectacular expanse of forehead. His Specterisms are a handbook of platitudes for life in a dog-eat-dog world. "Sometimes the good guy's got to do bad things to make the bad guys pay", he explains. "Just like me!" you can tell yourself, as you do your own bad things, like finishing off all the office biscuits.
Suits props up the fantasy that if you "get your shit together", "have goals instead of dreams" and "break the god damn wall down" when your back's up against it, you can be Harvey Specter too. Though your forehead will never be as impressive.
When it's all going tits up, family steps up
While ostensibly Suits is about the law, the first half of Season 5 told us that in the end, all that really matters is family, not business. Which is somehow reassuring. We rummage around Harvey and Mike's backstories and discover that the firm is a lot more to them than just a place of work. As it turns out, the making of it was a family reunion too. Both Macht's father and wife cameoed in the show, and Sarah Rafferty (who plays Donna, Harvey's will-they-won't-they counterpart) was a close friend of his for 20 years before they worked together.
It's dripping in pop-culture nostalgia
Just like you, these characters communicate in endless references to their favourite TV shows. Use them to compile a must-rewatch list and block out your evenings for the next few months. Season 5 sees Mike act out a whole segment of Silence of the Lambs in some weird pre-deal foreplay with an adversary. Harvey justifies his daytime drinking with a shout-out to Mad Men and Louis (office villain-cum-fool), who "always pays his debts", calls himself a Lannister. Which only begs two questions: when do these people watch TV, and why doesn't Mike recognise Catlyn Stark when she turns up in court?
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