'Suits' Postmortem: Meghan Markle on Rachel's Dilemma and What's to Come

Warning: This interview contains spoilers for the “God’s Green Earth” episode of Suits.

This week on USA’s Suits, AUSA Anita Gibbs put Rachel in the crosshairs, first offering to get Mike into Columbia if she’d turn on Harvey and Jessica and warning Rachel that she may not be admitted to the bar if she doesn’t — then having a friend, the dean of the law school, threaten to expel Rachel. But Gibbs wasn’t the only one who gave Rachel something to think about. Here, Meghan Markle breaks it down.

Related: Meghan Markle on that “I would like to be alone so I can deal with my s–t” line

The writers are finding ways to squeeze the characters that we don’t see coming but make total sense. Let’s start with the dean insinuating that Mike took the LSATs for Rachel.
I didn’t see that coming at all. And I actually really appreciate it, because often times we get so caught up in the Mike Ross fraud storyline — which, of course, is the common thread of what the entire show is about — but because that becomes what Mike and Rachel talk about in their home and what they talk about at work, you forget that Rachel also has this aspiration of becoming a lawyer and that she’s in law school. So it was a great reminder of everything else she’s been juggling and trying to work towards. It was hard to play as well, because she’s trying so hard to keep it together, and you can sort of see the stronger version of Rachel starting to emerge, that has a little bit more attitude and is just really understanding the gravity of what’s happening in a different way.

We’ve talked about what’s at stake for Rachel, and it’s nice to know that she and Donna are committed to being friends no matter what after their fight last week.
And I love that they put that female support of each other in there for us. … Even the scene with Rachel and Scotty, which we’ve never had before — [Abigail Spencer] and I were thrilled to be able to work together, finally — you get to see these women really supporting and encouraging each other, which is something that I think Suits has been really good about having. And also to go, “Sure, it’s human, people are going to bicker. They’re going to have issues.” But I love that the Donna/Rachel friendship is able to circle back to what it’s really about, and that’s them being there for each other.

Rachel apologizes to Scotty, knowing what it’s like to get caught up in this mess you did nothing to help create. But then there’s the surprise of Scotty telling Rachel that Mike may resent her in the future if he has to watch her live her dream of being a lawyer while he can’t. Rachel says Mike’s not like that. Do you think Rachel fully believes that, or is it something she’s trying to tell herself?
I think she’s trying to convince herself in that moment. I don’t think that had ever occurred to her either. But seeing how Mike Ross was when he wasn’t at the firm and he was at the other beautiful office building with all the glass, he wasn’t the same version of himself, right? So now he’s come back. He loves being able to work in tandem with Harvey. And I think seeing more of his personality come out in a different way, with his anger and whatever else when he’s under high stress — I don’t think Rachel’s considering the possibility that he could be a very different person if, as Scotty said, Rachel’s living out the dream that he wanted and he’s not able to.

Related: ‘Suits’ Creator on the Rat Reveal and What’s Next

You mentioned that female support. Fans love those scenes where Jessica acts as a mentor to Rachel. Is there any time for that in these last episodes of the season?
Yeah, definitely, because I think they’re all so interconnected, and they’re all fighting towards the same common goal at this point. I’m really happy that there is more stuff coming up with Rachel and Jessica. With all of it, Rachel’s seeking this guidance from mentors, like Jessica or even her father, as angry as he is. Whatever Rachel’s doing, her reputation has always been of ultimate importance to her. The idea that someone is questioning if her fiancé took the LSATs for her… I mean, come on, you can see how disparaging that is for her. And keep in mind, in all of this, there’s still the possibility of a wedding. [Laughs] As though brides don’t have a lot of stress on their mind as they’re planning their wedding, add this little log to the fire.

We’ve also talked about your great “deal with my s–t” line. Let’s discuss that scene where Jessica talks about wanting to poach a whole department from another firm: “I’m gonna kick some ass and remind them that I’m fierce.“ What was the reaction at the table read when you all heard Gina Torres deliver that dialogue for the first time?
It’s so funny, because normally we sit in the same order around the table, and then we have the intercom right in center with our writers and Aaron [Korsh], our creator, in LA listening in. We have our table reads in the middle of while we’re filming another episode, right? So we’ll go from wrapping a scene, go into the conference room, have our lunch in like little Styrofoam containers, and be eating our meals while we’re doing this. Often times, we don’t have a chance to look at the script before we do the table read. So we’ve skimmed it, or we’re reading it cold. So that’s why our reactions are kind of priceless, because a lot of us are hearing the words for the first time. And I will say, Gina has the gift of delivering things with so much bravado, you’re just like, “Oh no!” [Laughs] I would say her and Rick [Hoffman] are the ones that get the most guttural response at the table. Even if we have fun with it, it will be like, "Oh snap! Oh look at you! Ooh!” We just keep it very real.

It’d be great to see Rachel get that fierce.
It’s in the cards. There is a scene coming up… You’ll know it when you see it.

Watching Rachel under fire, I almost wanted to see her father join the fight and help duke it out.
I think what’s been so interesting is the more muscle Rachel gets around in all of it, and the more she has so much moxie, it’s less of daddy Zane to the rescue or daddy to throw his weight around. It’s more of her finding her own voice, and I really appreciate that they scripted it that way.

Related: 'Suits’ Postmortem: Creator Talks That Reunion and What’s Next

Looking farther ahead, when we did our winter premiere postmortem with Aaron, he said he’d changed something in the season finale the night before it was shot. Gabriel Macht recently said it was something that he’d chatted with Aaron about after talking with the ladies of the cast. We don’t want to spoil anything, obviously, but…
I know exactly what it is, because I was really upset when I read the script, and I called Aaron. He was on a flight from LA, and I left a message for him like, “Really? Can you call me?” And then I saw Gabriel in the hair trailer, and some of the other cast mates, and I said, “I told Aaron, ‘It doesn’t make sense. Why is it gonna end like that? I don’t get it. I don’t agree with it.’” And you have to understand, we’re so behind the gun for this finale episode, trying to figure out things as they come. And even Aaron [later] said he had originally conceived it the way I had suggested, the way Gabriel and I had also talked about. But it’s hard. Even though we have a really nice dialogue with Aaron, he’s the creator of our show and you don’t want to question the choices he’s making. But he does sort of give us the opportunity to share things that concern us, and I think both Gabriel and I shared that this didn’t make sense. I think what he’s talking about is something that was personally affecting my character, which is why I was oh so vocal about it and sort of wouldn’t let it go. [Laughs] I wrote to him like, “Maybe the scene could be written like this,” and I wrote out this script to him. He laughed and was like, “What, do you want a staff writing position now?”
But the night before we shot it all, everything got changed. And I think that it was true to how he had conceived it initially, and he was questioning that, and I think he sort of heard what we were saying. I would love if people could see both endings and then choose which one they would have loved to have had, but I am certainly much happier with the way that it all came to be.

Suits airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on USA.