Suits: L.A. Missed the Chance to Unpack One Character’s Mysterious Past—Perfect Material for Season 2

Stephen Amell’s character may have been the unrivaled protagonist of Suits LA, but one rather prominent supporting character would have benefited from even a little bit of the flashback treatment that visited Ted Black’s backstory in each episode. It’s clear from the final minutes of the Suits LA series finale that the show’s potential cancelation wasn’t taken into account much when the first season wrapped filming. A number of story elements that only barely fell into place by the time it ended were clearly meant to be explored later on, but Suits LA’s poor ratings kept season 2 from happening.

It’s natural that smaller members of the Suits LA cast, such as Rosalyn, wouldn’t necessarily receive big origin stories in the show’s freshman season. Leah and Samantha are also fairly minor focal points of the series compared to core cast members such as Stuart and Rick, but major characters such as Erica Rollins and Amanda Stevens didn’t get much backstory in Suits LA, either. Amanda’s history with her father and with Elizabeth Smith at least add slight depth to two of her major trials on the show. But Amanda also draws more attention to Erica’s more significant lack of depth.

Suits LA Never Explores The Backstory Between Amanda And Erica

There’s Definitely A Story Behind Those Chinese Dinners

In some ways, it almost feels like Erica Rollins’ rise to partner makes up for the unexplored Jessica Pearson backstory in Suits. At the same time, Suits LA spends more time alluding to Erica’s backstory than actually explaining its importance. For instance, Erica frequently mentions working harder than anybody else at the firm, but she largely relies on Leah’s industry knowledge in the first half of the season because she knows very little of the department she claims she deserves to lead. But that’s hardly the most interesting part of her backstory that remains obscure.

Midway through Suits LA episode 4, it’s revealed that Erica’s been buying Chinese food for Amanda semi-regularly, having done so ten times since the year before. She says that she’s doing it because she can’t thank Amanda enough for getting her out of last year’s jam, but the series never explains what specifically happened last year. However, it becomes clear by the Suits LA series finale that whatever happened seems to be a significant part of Erica’s backstory, making it one of the biggest unanswered questions in Suits LA.

What Could Amanda Have Done For Erica Before Suits LA’s Beginning?

It Seems To Have Been A Touch More Personal Than Professional

Sadly, Suits LA’s cancelation means that Erica’s backstory with Amanda will never be shown. However, while the nature of Amanda’s favor for Erica hasn’t been entirely explained, there are at least a few details that might provide some hints as to what kind of predicament Amanda helped with. Firstly, Amanda’s specialty as a criminal defense attorney suggests Erica’s problem involved a legal issue. This makes it possible that one of Erica’s entertainment clients could have needed help from the firm’s criminal department, something that’s happened plenty of times in Suits LA.

Meanwhile, the series doesn’t typically characterize professional favors as needing long-term repayment. The quid pro quo is usually much more straightforward. Additionally, Erica required a big enough favor that Amanda’s able to leverage her into taking a problematic client in Suits LA episode 11, stating out loud that Erica still hasn’t thanked her enough. This suggests a particularly significant favor, one that might have even created a conflict of interest. If the person in need of legal help wasn’t Erica’s client or the lawyer herself, it may have been one of the parents to whom she seems so close.

How Suits LA Season 2 Could Have Explored Amanda And Erica’s Backstory

The Merger Might Have Created New Tensions Between Them

Even Ted doesn’t seem entirely aware of Erica’s backstory. He learns from Erica in the series finale that Amanda can be bribed with egg rolls, but it’s implied that this is new information for Ted rather than a clue that he knows why Amanda and Erica have those dinners in the first place. And it’s uncertain whether this mysterious detail from Erica’s past would ever become known to more colleagues than Amanda, but it’s not too hard to imagine how Erica’s story might have at least been revealed to the audience.

Since each episode’s flashbacks usually connect to the main plot in some way, the likeliest scenario might have been Erica and Amanda rehashing their secret past when put into conflict by the merger proposed in the Suits LA series finale. Amanda still makes a unique contribution given Stuart’s apparent lack of pro bono clients, but the merged firm wouldn’t theoretically need Erica as a partner when they already have Samantha, Rick, and Ted. Had Erica felt once more overlooked by her superiors, it could have been the emotional springboard the series needed to finally dig into her history.

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