A) Story Engine & Story World
The show explores three world types. First and foremost, the show explores the typical 9–5 adventures of an American camp councillor in the 2010s, from the ups and downs of ratty teenagers and justifying substandard food to cleaning humid outhouses and vying to be liked through humour and relatability. The show does so through David as a classic fish out of water. Secondly, the show explores David’s coming of age story, which is enabled by his wound and flaw. David’s wound is that he grew up in a religious household and, as he got older, began to rebel and even used college as a means to escape. Finally experiencing ‘life’, David is stuck but isn’t aware nor wants to be unstuck. He feels he belongs, fits in, and has community but is too disillusioned by his destructive behaviours (alcoholism, partying too hard) and the attention it gets to realise his being stuck. Finally (and less apparently), the show explores the idea that family matters. While the other camp councillors mock David’s performative, cocky, egotistical, and nonchalance entering the job, it will soon become apparent to David that these peers are exactly what he’s been looking for—community and true belonging.
The show involves a few story engines. For one, there is no escaping the campgrounds for both David and the campers. Neither want to be there but are trapped together, forced to interact. Being the fish out of water, David is the fool vs. the world and doesn’t know what’s coming. Thinking he has it all figured out, David causes conflict among campers and peers, and ultimately with himself. Initially, David has a plan to become the chill councillor, but ultimately fails after recognising that his tactics won’t gain either respect or cool points. Hence, he has a season-long problem, hurdling the balance between being liked and an authority figure. Over the course of the show, David recognises his real problem, that he simply isn’t likable and needs to change his ways.
B) Episodic Analysis: Suits (2011–2019)
Suits is set in the 2010’s, primarily in a New York City law firm, Pearson Hardman. The show focuses on the 9–5/office setting, following the hours of work suffered by lawyers, while also expressing the notion that family matters. This is through the harbouring of Mike’s secret which becomes an issue for every higher-up as they oscillate between upholding their status as one of New York’s best law firms and keeping Mike’s secret to ensure he stays a productive worker, and their internal dialogue which tells them that doing so is not only unethical but illegal. The target audience for Suits is young adults and adults. Especially those with a legal background or enjoy romantic workspace comedy/drama.
Initially Suits begins as a ‘new “blank” of the week’ or whodunnit storyline, featuring a new legal proceeding to be taken care of. As the show progresses it becomes more and more a buddy love story in the form Mike and Harvey’s mentor-mentee relationship. The show also transforms into a fool vs. world narrative, as Mike’s secret slowly spreads around the office, causing inner conflict with the ever-ethical Louis Litt and buzzing former named partner, Daniel Hardman. These conflicts grow and eventually become detrimental to the firm and its staff. With Mike’s secret, the show is ultimately forms a ‘dude with a season long problem’ tale as he not only has to keep the secret within the confines of the firm but also within his relationships at the risk of his job, love life, reputation, and freedom.
After being expelled from law school for selling the college Dean’s daughter test answers, Mike Ross, a 20-something-year-old bike messenger works for his drug-dealing best friend Trevor and runs a side gig where people pay him a fee to pose as them in their LSATs which he can do utilising his photographic memory. This is his flaw: while everyone else is progressing in life, Mike feels stuck and unsatisfied by his life, but that’s soon to change. On the way to a drug-drop, Mike recognises a potential setup and runs to another floor of the building to escape his pursuers and happens to run straight into a group of law firm interviewees and poses as one of the candidates. Digging his hole deeper, top lawyer, Harvey Specter takes initiates a mentor-mentee relationship with Mike despite not having taken the bar exam, let alone graduated from law school. This lack of certification is later revealed to Harvey who covers up the ordeal, thus becoming ‘Mike’s secret’. This becomes the flaw throughout the series as Mike is forced to lie about his education and qualifications and yet later feels stuck again. Mike’s wound is that his parents were killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver when he was young and wasn’t fully able to actualise his grief. So, he began acting out at school despite having the ability and desire to go further. He studied to become a lawyer (only to be expelled) for the chance to give others what he didn’t have, justice for his parents’ deaths, which is what he feels (his ‘want’) will get him out of the rut he’s in. So, what does Mike need to learn? For one, he holds onto the past and isn’t mentally or emotionally available and begins to push his peers and love interest away. This is only exacerbated by his ego which inhibits his progress romantically and in life, feeling stuck with his secret. He ultimately needs to realise that his focus on being the perfect lawyer (for justice) is detrimental to his mental health and sanity.
I personally love this show because of its characters’ depth. Each character has their own series-long arc and often ensemble cast members are brought back for larger story beats to keep the drama going. I also that the characters balance each other out. Donna for instance is the comedic relief to Harvey’s dramatic pessimism, while Jessica and Rachel keep Louis and Mike grounded, or how Harvey’s ego humbles Mike. I also just like workplace drama.