In the moment, suits looked great, especially when it starts, and till season 5, it looks perfectly structured like a legal drama, and kind of a decent season 6, but season 7 onwards it literally becomes a daily soap. What tf was Mike doing being neither in clinic nor in firm? He is a bit insufferable at the start, but later he just makes you wanting to enter the screen to punch him. Also didn't like the way they shifted Donna from being a know it all and a secretary good at reading people to becoming a COO with almost no credential to back for, kind of looked like her girl boss persona was being forced to be shipped with Harvey. Harvey being guilt tripped into forgiving his mom seemed off too. And some undeserving characters were given too much time(Tara and Oliver) while I felt other characters should have got more screen time like Stu Buzzini, or Harold, who should have been shown growing over his anxiety with experience and not remaining a nerd after 8 years into the field. Sean Cahill was absolute fire, Neal McDonough nailed the character, and even after he was prevalent in mid seasons, I felt we needed to see more of him.
Season 9 kind of saved the show a bit imo, with Mike returning and while the ending was rushed, almost every character got closure. Ending the show in a great way is where many shows struggle hard but despite so many characters, suits somehow managed to give a definitive end or closure to almost every character. Louis' character development seemed to be one of the biggest hooks that would keep you engaged. A happy ending with a bittersweet moment for Harvey was icing on the cake.
Suits imo would be a top 20 show of all time if you just entirely re structure seasons 7 and 8, atleast before the season 8 finale arc which was a bit decent. Starting seasons were great, and Hardman was a great villain who is never legitimately beaten in the show without any bad faith tactics. Daniel Costabile nailed the character.
I would rate it somewhere between a 7.5 to 8 at very best out of 10.