Warning! SPOILERS about Suits LA season 1, episode 6 ahead.

Ted and Harvey’s cockiness has been the one thing in common that Kevin recognized, but one major difference between the two risks making Suits LA episode 6 emphasized that. To present the Suits spinoff protagonist Ted Black, Suits LA followed a two-pronged approach, focusing on his present challenges with the merger he’d been cut from, weakening his firm, and one of his past cases as a federal prosecutor that cost him his life as Ted knew it. Everything Suits LA showed nonetheless highlighted Ted’s lack of a key quality.

Suits LA continuing Lester Thompson’s trial put Ted in a terrible place in episode 6 after Lester finally itted to having killed his partner in Suits LA episode 5’s ending. Ted not knowing the truth and Kevin and Erica hiding it from him to protect Ted introduced an element of worry, as audiences could expect the truth to surface but didn’t know when or how Ted would react. However, in pursuit of making the best choice for his client, Ted solved all of Suits LA’s major conflicts in episode 6, making one key difference between Suits and the spinoff unmissable.

Ted's Lack Of Moral Ambiguity Makes Suits LA's Story Less Exciting

Ted Only Strayed Once During Lester's Trial & His Actions Weren’t As Bad As Anyone’s In Suits

Ted Black came off great after Suits LA episode 6. Indeed, not only did Ted win Lester’s trial, leading to the jury finding Lester not guilty, but he also patched things up with Stuart for Lester’s benefit and itted it was his fault Cameron died years before to Samantha, effectively righting all of his wrongs shown in Suits LA. This, coupled with Ted refusing to defend someone he believed guilty and his never crossing the line during Lester’s trial except for once, when he hid Lester to buy them some time, presents Ted as a portrait of moral rectitude.

Ted rectifying all of his mistakes shown in Suits LA deletes all the conflict in the Suits spinoff. It’s good that Suits LA wants to establish Ted as different from Harvey, so as to make his story not just a copy of Harvey’s in the popular parent series, but an absence of conflict risks making Ted’s story quickly uninteresting. Indeed, Harvey was presented as someone willing to cross the line to win while adhering to his moral code from Suits’s series premiere, which made his eventual redemption arc possible. Ted instead seems to have nothing to improve upon now.

How Suits LA Can Still Make Ted An Interesting Character Despite His Differences To Harvey

A New Case Can Test Ted & Prompt Him To Cross The Line

With the exception of Elizabeth Smith, various Suits LA’s characters feel much less morally ambiguous than their Suits counterparts. While this didn’t impact the enjoyability of Suits LA episode 6 as Ted still had to find his way out of the twist revelation that a witness saw Simon and Lester fight, it might in the long run. Indeed, it wouldn’t be particularly entertaining to see Ted always make the right choice because there wouldn’t be anything at stake in that, something that there always was in Suits, whether it involved Harvey and Mike’s con being discovered or Pearson Hardman threatened.

Suits LA already established Ted never agreed with his father nor forgiven him, faulting him for Eddie’s death, so his father’s legacy creeping up on Ted via a case could make him more interesting.

With Suits LA episode 6 effectively concluding Ted’s biggest challenge since he was cut out of the merger and had to take on Lester’s case to save his firm, not much seems to be threatening him, especially given his reconnection with Samantha and Stuart, separately. However, interesting challenges could come from his difficult relationship with his father. Indeed, Suits LA already established Ted never agreed with his father nor forgiven him, faulting him for Eddie’s death, so his father’s legacy creeping up on Ted via a case could make him more interesting, having the chance to simultaneously save Suits LA.

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Suits LA airs new episodes every Sunday at 9pm ET on NBC.