Suits LA season 1 episode 10 ending explained: Who saved Stuart? The threat to his life explained
There's another murder case taking the spotlight in Suits LA season 1 episode 10. After Ted Black's back-to-back cases—the Lester Thompson case and Pellegrini—taking the spotlight in the last nine episodes, this week sees the pinnacle of Stuart Lane's David Bowie trial. With Bowie arrested for the murder of one of his whistleblowers, Stuart is forced to defend the man he wasn't sure was innocent.
The old Stuart rears its ugly head, and he wins the case no matter the consequences. Unfortunately, he discovers the truth about the real identity of the killer after the case is dismissed. On his way to right his wrong, Stuart puts himself in the killer's crosshairs in Suits LA season 1 episode 10, but Ted arrives just in time to save him.
Meanwhile, flashbacks to New York in 2005 reveal Ted and Stuart's early rivalry in law school and how they overcame it to have each other's backs.
Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers for Suits LA season 1 episode 10. Reader's discretion is advised.
Ted Black rescues Stuart Lane in Suits LA season 1 episode 10
Suits LA season 1 episode 10 sees Ted Black come to Stuart Lane's rescue at a time when he needs it the most. Despite the lies and deceit, especially after Stuart's betrayal in Suits LA episode 1, it shows how the relationship they have cultivated for decades isn't all lost.
Stuart Lane starts the David Bowie murder trial in Suits LA season 1 episode 10. But while he has the evidence to get the case dismissed, he fails to do so after because the prosecutor wants the specifics of where he got the evidence from. The prosecutor is Isaac Adoni, Stuart's friend, and he wants the producer who owns the footage to take the stand.
While Erica begs Stuart to ensure that her producer's s*x tape doesn't get released to the public, Stuart is only focused on getting his client free. The old Stuart, who has a penchant for winning no matter the cost, rears his ugly head during the trial. He not only reveals the existence of the s*x tape while questioning the producer, but he also reveals who was on it.
The judge is satisfied with the evidence, at least enough to dismiss David Bowie's murder case. Bowie is happy with Stuart as well. However, someone is unhappy with him: Erica. And when he goes back to his firm and reviews the security footage—Bowie's supposed alibi—he becomes unhappy with himself too. He find out that the footage was doctored.
He wants to right his wrong, so he decides to go to Adoni's house to explain the doctored tape. But unknown to him, Bowie has been following him and intercepted just before he goes inside Adoni's house. David Bowie reckons that Stuart knows he doctored the tape and reveals that he killed the whistleblower and that he won't hesitate to add Stuart to his list of victims if he rats him out.
However, Ted emerges from the bushes and claims to record the confession, giving David Bowie his version of a threat if he doesn't stay away from Stuart and his family. Suits LA season 1 episode 10 ends with the two reuniting and realizing that their friendship is a valuable thing.
Suits LA season 1 episode 10 flashback: Mock trial gets ugly
Suits LA season 1 episode 10 brings audiences back to New York, but not in 2010. The flashback features Ted Black and Stuart Lane at Columbia Law School at the pinnacle of their years-long rivalry in 2005. They are friends, but they also compete on who is the top one, and it culminates in a mock trial. The premise for the trial is that a father and a younger brother hit and killed a pedestrian. All three were drunk.
While they both agree that they will consider the mock trial as a gunfight, things get messy quickly after Stuart brings Ted's actual father to play the dad in the trial. Eddie is playing the brother, who was supposedly in a coma. Ted's father's involvement in the mock trial throws him for a loop, but Stuart experiences the same pain when he puts his then-girlfriend Helen on the stand.
Helen portrays the client's therapist, but when Ted starts questioning Helen. Still pissed off that Stuart brought his father in, Ted lets out Helen and Stuart's relationship. But that is not the end of it, as he also lets out that Helen said that she wanted to marry Stuart, something she told Ted in confidence, accusing her of lying on the stand to protect her boyfriend.
Helen gets pissed at Stuart after that because, as she tells him, she didn't want to get involved in the mock trial in the first place. Now, Stuart is pissed off at Ted and decides to go back for his own revenge. He says that he's putting Eddie on the stand. But while Ted convinces him not to do it, thinking about how it would affect Eddie, Stuart is only focused on winning and proving that he's better than Ted.
Read more: Did Ted go to his father's funeral in Suits LA episode 3?
Who won the mock trial between Ted and Stuart?
During the last day of the mock trial in Suits LA season 1 episode 10, Ted asks his father to change his plea to guilty, which would spare Ted's brother, Eddie, and prevent the mock trial from getting uglier than it already is.
However, his father doesn't want to do it. Just as Ted's father starts calling him weak and tells him to do what a prosecutor should do—tear Eddie apart to pieces—Stuart walks in and overhears everything. What he overhears solidifies his decision. He doesn't want to traumatize Eddie, so he tells the judge that he rests his case.
Ted could have won after Stuart's withdrawal, and in Stuart's face and demeanor, he has accepted that he lost. However, in his closing statement, Ted tells the judge that the prosecution withdraws its case. In the end, neither of them wins the mock trial, but they win a lifelong friendship. As Stuart tells Ted, "My back got you," something that Ted repays when he saves Stuart from David Bowie's threat.
Read more: What happened to Eddie in Suits LA?
Catch Suits LA season 1 episode 10, along with the previous episodes in the series, streaming on Peacock.
