Suits LA: Who Is Eddie? Episode 1 Twist & Ted Black Connections Explained

Suits LA's series premiere climaxed with a shocking twist that changes the game for Stephen Amell's Ted Black.

The SuitsVerse's latest starring attorney, Ted Black, is one with an intriguing backstory that spurred his move from New York to Los Angeles which will play out in flashbacks across the spin-off's freshman season.

Wait, So Is Eddie Alive in Suits LA?

Throughout Suits LA's premiere, Ted Black appears to be living with his brother Eddie, who seems to suffer from Down's Syndrome. Eddie very much appears to be a friendly influence in Ted's life, comforting him after he wakes up from nightmares about his mysterious final year in New York.

The episode also had flashbacks to brothers as children, where Ted comforted Eddie who had faced bullying. One kid had told Eddie that their "dad left because of [him]," to which Ted made clear it had "nothing to do with [him]."

Throughout the premiere, Ted struggled with whether to visit his dying father, who only had a few days to live. Eventually, the attorney went to New York to be by his father's side and recalled going to a Yankees game with him and Eddie.

Ted continued to discuss his father's troubled relationship with his brother, saying that he knew he "didn't want [Eddie] there" but hid it from him.

But the shock came as Ted recounted when his father was convicted of an unknown crime and, on his "last night of freedom," he "let them kill Eddie." He noted how his father claimed he "did it to protect [him]:"

“After you got convicted, you told me that on your last night of freedom, all you wanted to do was spend it with me. But when that day came, you let them kill Eddie, my sweet, beautiful brother who never hurt a soul in his life, and you said you did it to protect me, but you didn’t even show up at his funeral."

So, in the present-day scenes when Ted speaks to Eddie at home, it's clear now that those conversations are all in his head. Somehow, Eddie was actually killed many years before Suits LA's modern events, and fans should expect to get more clarity on how that came to pass across the Season 1 flashbacks.

Ted has one last chat with Eddie's spirit after this before the credits roll on Suits LA where he says, "Today, I'd just like to spend the day with you." And, in a tearjerking moment, Eddie goes to hug Ted before vanishing.

Eddie is played in Suits LA by newcomer Carson A. Egan in his first acting role (read more about the NBC spin-off's cast).

Suits LA Showrunner Explains Eddie's Big Twist

Showrunner Aaron Korsh spoke to TVLine about the true meaning behind Suits LA's big Eddie twist. When asked how Eddie's spirit may haunt Ted, Korsh was clear he would be doing less haunting and more "helping him:"

"Well, I don’t know if it’s haunting him, necessarily. It’s, to some degree, helping him. Eddie comes and goes from time to time. First of all, Eddie is alive and well in the flashback, so in some of the flashbacks, you’ll see Eddie, obviously, not as a spirit, but as an actual person."

The Suits creator explained Eddie, in the present day, is "sort of Ted's subconscious speaking to him" and "the voice of forgiveness:"

"But it’s not really, to me, Eddie’s spirit. What Eddie really is in the present day, to me, is sort of Ted’s subconscious speaking to him. So Eddie is most often, in my mind, the voice of forgiveness. It’s Ted’s softer side that Ted might not be in touch with. So Eddie encourages him to maybe forgive his father, or maybe forgive Stuart, or whatever the case may be."

He closed off by confirming Eddie "appears at times throughout the season in the present day" as well as in the past through flashbacks. The showrunner confirmed Suits LA features "four, maybe five scenes of flashbacks per episode," meaning there will be plenty of room to explore Eddie's life.

Viewers can expect to see Ted's past in New York unfold, including his work and friendship with Gabriel Macht's Harvey Specter, the original Suits star who appeared in the trailer and will be returning later this season in LA.

New episodes of Suits LA air every Sunday on NBC at 9 p.m. ET/PT.