Summary

• Harvey Specter's true successor in Suits is Rachel Zane, not Mike Ross, as she proved herself to be the next Harvey in the firm.
• Rachel took matters into her own hands after being screwed over by Louis Litt and convinced Jessica to finance her law school by pointing out a loophole.
• Rachel's qualities, such as confidence, ability to hide vulnerabilities, and ruthlessness when needed, parallel those of Harvey, making her more like him than her husband, Mike.

Suits revealed that Harvey Specter's true successor isn't Mike Ross, but his eventual wife, Rachel Zane. While the USA Network legal drama-turned-Netflix hit was technically an ensemble show, its unofficial leads were Harvey and Mike. After all, the events of the series started when they met. Somehow, Harvey saw himself in Mike, prompting him to take on a massive risk of hiring him as his associate despite the fact that he never went to any law school. Granted that he has an eidetic memory, but if they didn't immediately click, it's unlikely that Harvey would have risked his whole career just to bring in his mentee at Pearson, Hardman.

Bar the illegality of it, Harvey's gamble paid off; Mike was a significant asset in his company. After a brief transitional period, he immediately learned the ropes of becoming an effective corporate lawyer. Together, Mike and Harvey were a formidable duo. They won countless cases and helped the company to survive during its worst crises. Harvey and Mike were so good together that Gina Torres' Jessica Pearson eventually relented and allowed them to keep their scheme going. Despite their partnership, however, Mike isn't actually Harvey's successor, it's Rachel, and Suits proved that.

Rachel Proved That She Was The Firm's Next Harvey In Suits

After being screwed by Louis Litt for not honoring their verbal agreement that the firm would pay for her law school, Rachel was forced to take matters into her own hands. Without Louis' backing, Jessica quickly dismissed Rachel's deal. ed by Mike and Donna Paulsen, Rachel found a loophole and presented it to Jessica in a way that she couldn't refuse. She pointed out that the idea that Pearson, Hardman never paid for its employees' law school wasn't actually true because Jessica did so for Harvey. Rachel even invited him to the meeting to emphasize her point.

It didn't take much convincing for Jessica to eventually agree on the . This confirmed that Rachel was indeed poised to become the next Harvey of Pearson, Hardman. Harvey himself didn't argue Rachel's point and even expressed how impressed he was with the way she handled the matter. Even with the loophole, it was unlikely that Jessica would have agreed to spend a lot of money on someone if she didn't think they were worth it. Similar to how she felt like paying for Harvey's schooling was an investment, she believed that financing Rachel's studies would eventually be beneficial to the firm.

Why Rachel Was More Like Harvey Than Mike

Unfortunately, Rachel's exit from Suits meant that the firm was never able to really benefit from this deal. However, had she and Mike stayed at Pearson, Hardman, Rachel was indeed more like Harvey than her husband. She was confident from the get-go, but that didn't mean that she didn't have doubts about herself. It meant that she was great at hiding her vulnerabilities, similar to Harvey. Granted that Rachel was more mellow than the firm's best closer, she could be as ruthless if the circumstances called for it. Both were smart and ingenious, but they were also immune to making the simplest, most baffling mistakes.