Louis Litt's Mugging Revisited After His Return on Suits LA Sparks Bad Memories
Suits LA saw the return of original series attorney Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman), Sunday as he struggled to get his anger in check.
Suits LA’s Stuart Lane found a new kindred spirit — and it’s someone Suits fans everywhere already know and love.
The formidable criminal defense attorney, played by Josh McDermitt, crossed paths with original Suits’ attorney Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman) in Episode 12 in a place that seemed fitting for both men: an anger mitigation class.
Although the two may have started off as foes, hilariously fighting over the same luggage cart, they eventually learned they have more in common than they ever imagined and pledged to be life-long “federale friends” (a friend who would drop anything to get you out of a Mexican prison) by the episodes’ end.
Both men are of course known for being ruthless litigators, but it was their shared experience with trauma that cemented their bond. Stuart found himself at the anger management class after a dangerous client — who freely admitted to murdering a woman just to keep her quiet — threatened his life and the lives of his wife and children.
That kind of fear is something Louis knew all too well himself after getting mugged at gunpoint in the original series. It’s been a minute, however, since that life-threatening drama went down.
For anyone that needs a reminder of what happened when Louis’ life was in danger, here’s a brief refresher:
What happened when Louis Litt was mugged on the original Suits
The harrowing encounter took center stage in Season 8, Episode 4 of Suits. When the episode, titled “Revenue Per Square Foot,” began, the long-suffering Louis finally seemed to have everything he ever wanted falling into place.
Louis and the love of his life, Sheila Sasz (Rachael Harris) were trying to have a baby and having plenty of fun making that happen. That’s actually what made Louis late to a night meeting with new managing partner, Robert Zane (Wendell Pierce) and one of Louis’ long-standing clients.
A frustrated Robert called Louis just as he was walking down a New York City street on his way to the bar where they planned to meet. Louis assured Robert he was just 10 minutes away, but after hanging up the phone, a man walked by and pulled a gun on him, forcing Louis into a nearby empty alleyway where he instructed him to get down on his knees.
He demanded that Louis hand over his wallet and phone, but when Louis resisted handing over the phone, trying to explain that there were photos on the phone he hadn’t backed up yet, the armed mugger lost his temper.
“You think we’re negotiating here?” he asked before starting to beat him.
Louis quickly handed over the phone, but the mugger kept kicking him, telling him to “stay down” and “don’t move.” The man then took off running, leaving Louis cowering on the ground.
Louis Litt told Harvey Specter about his mugging
A traumatized Louis made it to the office, where his assistant, Gretchen, found him tending to his bruised and battered stomach. He told her what happened, but swore her to secrecy because he didn’t want Robert to think he was “weak.”
Without any knowledge of why Louis missed the meeting, Robert was understandably furious and gave Louis’ client to Samantha Wheeler (Katherine Heigl) to handle from here on out to “send a message” to Louis, who he thought had been lying about being 10 minutes away. Robert believed that Louis had skipped out on the meeting just to fool around with Sheila.
Gretchen encouraged Louis to tell Robert the truth, but Louis decided it would be better to just win the client back on his own. He scheduled a hearing to dismiss the case for the next day and without enough time to prepare on her own, Samantha agreed to let him help. Just before the hearing began, Samantha got a phone call she needed to take, leaving Louis to handle it on his own. They planned to argue for a change of venue in the case and it was all going well until the opposing attorney accused Louis of metaphorically “pointing a gun” at his client’s head on the stand, triggering Louis’ memories of his attack. Louis began to panic and couldn’t continue the questioning, so the judge ruled against both the motion to dismiss and the change of venue.
When Samantha went to confront him back at the office to find out what happened, Louis exploded in rage, telling her to “get the hell out.” Samantha realized something more was clearly going on and sought help from the one man she thought Louis might open up to, Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht).
Harvey found Louis in his office and after some gentle prodding, he finally got Louis to admit what happened to him that night.
“I was mugged and I thought I was going to die, ok?” Louis told him. “He had a gun that he had pressed to the back of my head. I can still feel it. Is that what you want to hear? Because that’s what’s going on.”
“You’re ok, buddy,” Harvey gently told him. “You’re ok.”
It was then that Louis admitted that he actually wasn’t ok at all and was a “mess.” Harvey told his friend he’d be there for anything that he needed. He encouraged Louis to tell Robert the truth, but Louis didn’t think he could tell Robert without getting emotional, so Harvey agreed to do it for him.
After Robert learned what happened, he went to speak with Louis himself and admitted for the first time that he had been part of a group that robbed and beat a man, sending him to the hospital, as a teen after falling in with a bad crowd. He told Louis he still lived with the guilt to this day. He told Louis his attacker would have to come to terms someday with the type of man he was too, but insisted that Louis had nothing to feel guilty about because he had done nothing wrong. He hoped in the future that Louis would feel like he could share with his “family” at the firm.
The episode ended with Louis walking home, only to see a figure emerge from the shadows. It was Samantha, who came to tell him that she had also been mugged but was able to get over the trauma by learning self-defense. After showing Louis just how skilled she was, and nearly taking him to the ground in the process, she began his first lesson right there on the sidewalk. The duo would go on to confront Louis' mugger and hit him where it hurts using the legal system.
To see how Suits LA will end the season, watch Sunday at 9/8c on NBC or stream the episode after it becomes available the next day on Peacock.
