Flashbacks can be a tricky thing, because they leave producers with only two real choices: One, try to find a younger actor who resembles your star enough that the audience will accept that, yeah, okay, that could be a younger version of him. This works best for big age swings — say, showing the early childhood of a character who is now fully grown. But once you start dealing with the teenage years, especially the late teens, things get more tricky. The adult facial structure is starting to set in by that point, and if you’re shooting for any kind of realism, you really only have one choice: Try to age down your star.
And do you know what that means? That’s right… WIGS. ERA-APPROPRIATE WIGS.
I bring this up today because Suits star Patrick Adams — age 34 — portrayed the angsty rebellious teenage version of his character Mike Ross during a flashback in the show’s season five… Oh God. Oh my God. Look at that wig. They gave him the full Bieber. And the headphones. THE HEADPHONES. It’s perfect. All that’s missing is a skateboard under his arm. For reference, this is what he usually looks like on the show.
Still pretty youthful, sure. Youthful enough that it wasn’t an unreasonable shot to take. But man, oh man, the execution. This was easily my favorite part of this entire season. It wasn’t even all that close, to be honest. Part of that is because this season of Suits was, charitably speaking, a little shaky compared to the first few, so there wasn’t a particularly high bar to clear. But still. Look at that wig, people.
LOOK AT IT.
