The winter finales for many television shows are fast approaching, and ABC's How To Get Away With Murder lifted its game spectacularly as the countdown to who is under the sheet nears its conclusion. Director Sharat Raju had an outstanding debut alongside writer Fernanda Coppel.
There's a massive amount to digest from this episode, titled "Is Someone Really Dead?" The weekly case consisted of a female veteran who seriously assaulted a man in a bar, but who was suffering from a PTSD related illness. The whole thing was weird, but Simon Drake won first chair in Annalise's first lecture session in 3 weeks, following her reinstatement as a lawyer and a professor under strict conditions.
The court sessions in this episode were among the better ones the series has produced. Annalise had much of her heavy firepower taken out of action thanks to her reinstatement conditions, and she was up against a A.D.A Rene Atwood, who was keen to score a win after being handsomely defeated a few weeks ago. Atwood did everything right, and she also had a judge who leaned her way at times. In the end the case was a dud after Annalise's client, backed by evidence, confessed that the whole thing was a lie. Instead of battling on, Annalise opted to force her client to plead guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for receiving the help she needed. It paralleled Annalise's own struggles of late, which was a nice touch, if not a bit of a cliché.
I need help, not jail.
Last week's episode left things up in the air with regard to Laurel, Wes, Bonnie and Annalise, and last night's episode delivered well and truly on the promised conflict between the trio. Bonnie was hit hard by Annalise's verbal sprays, but despite that she stuck it out and towards the end of the episode she was on better terms with her boss. Still searching for information on Frank, Laurel continued to press Bonnie for more information, with no such luck. Despite this she continued to defend Frank - a decision which would pay off later on. She also stood up to Annalise in incredibly daring fashion with the following line:
Don't blame this on Wes. You brought this on yourself.
Matt McGorry finally had some decent material to work with in his portrayal of Asher last night. His famed ability to act like an absolute clown was on show, as was his ability to play a much more sincere and emotional character as Asher finally put the clown approach to one side and won Michaela over. Their pairing since early this season hasn't made much sense on paper until this episode, in which both characters revealed their lack of family as the chief reason they were drawn to each other for companionship on a deeper level, which was masqueraded by sex at a shallower level. This was brilliantly handled by the creative team, and it shows me there's more potential for this relationship should they choose to pursue it.
In Oliver's case, he finally got back in the game despite his reservations. Despite Connor poking and prodding, and Michaela acting as his agent, Connor met an interesting and much more secure guy. No sex was had, but that was his way of showing to Oliver that he cared more about him than what he would about someone who he intended to have a one night stand with. The timing of this is interesting though. Could there be more sinister intentions by an unidentified third party who sees a way in to Annalise's affairs through the most vulnerable and tech-savvy member of the group? Nothing can be ruled out.
When he wasn't prying into his ex's affairs, Connor was otherwise obsessed with ensuring his name remains in the clear should any of what Wes is going through get to a stage where he might be implicated. After remaining largely dormant and giving way to Frank's storyline development last week in particular, information spread rapidly among the group that Wes was being sought by NYPD detectives concerning the shooting of Wallace Mahoney - which Frank admitted to last week and which was shared with everyone else by way of a recording Bonnie made during her time with him.
Things in this area developed rapidly. Wes didn't attend the lecture on Annalise's orders. Annalise herself was asked by Soraya Hargrove where he was, but she simply said he didn't turn up. Meggy came across the detectives at Wes's apartment and also had to play dumb. Meanwhile Connor issued a stern death threat to Wes while he was with him, and accused him of being the sole reason for the events that have taken place in the last two seasons.
Everything that has happened to us in this house is your fault.
If you mention my name to the police, I swear to God I will kill you.
On Wes's side was Nate, strangely enough. He met with Annalise briefly and mentioned an anonymous tip had implicated him as a suspect in Mahoney's murder. He wasn't impressed with Annalise keeping him from talking to the police, and also mentioned his recent romances with A.D.A. Rene Atwood. Annalise was noticeably disappointed, and you could see she felt a little more alone in that moment.
That leaves Wes himself, and lastly Laurel. Not content with sitting at home twiddling his thumbs and arguing with Bonnie, he met with Meggy and ended their relationship.
This is too much for you. I am too much for you.
This was tough to watch. Meggy tried to hold onto him, and even admitted she loved him, but there was no convincing Wes otherwise. Later, he went to visit Laurel. Again their chemistry was sizzling, but this time it came to fruition, with an earlier rant via voicemail to Frank finally making her throw in the towel on their relationship. Now they were both single, one thing led to another, making them the second interracial couple to consummate their relationship in this episode.
So what was Frank doing while everything was going on? Short answer: a lot. Laurel's voicemail clearly spurred him into action, and fortunately he acted in the interests of Annalise and the students. In the middle of the night everyone was panicking because Wes couldn't be located, but Laurel eventually found him perched in front of the TV watching the breaking news unfold that James Mahoney had been arrested for his father's murder. Frank had planted fingerprints on an unregistered gun and placed it in his car.
We're safe now.
Michaela doesn't know it yet, but she's spoken too soon. Anyhow, Frank is last seen returning to Philadelphia. A formal reintroduction is surely taking place in the near future.
In last week's flash forwards, Michaela was revealed as being safe from the dreaded sheet, but that confirmed that it's a male cast member who departs How To Get Away With Murder. The first of the males aside from Oliver to be revealed as safe is Asher. Michaela was the focus in the flash forwards which opened and closed the hour. She couldn't reach Asher over the phone after learning of the fire and fatality on the news. In the closing flash forward she rushed to what appeared to be the university dorm and found her heavily intoxicated boyfriend dancing wildly. After pulling him to one side, Asher vaguely recalled a phone call he received from Annalise asking him and, it appears, Connor, to "come over". Asher clearly didn't follow those orders, but whoever he was with may have done so and left drunk Asher to continue partying, never to be seen alive again.
I commented last week that the single character reveals each week are holding the flash forwards back. This was the same again last night, but the good news was that the rest of the episode's content is beginning to line up with the events of that night. There's still a 3 week window to close, but I'm under the impression the creative team have the overall aim to tell less of the story in timeshifted fashion, meaning the winter finale will be easier to follow as less overall groundwork has been laid beforehand that relies on the viewer having the ability to recall it clearly enough to put the final puzzle together. Previous seasons of How To Get Away With Murder have told around a full episode's worth of story in flash forwards but the minutes spent in the future so far this season don't amount to anything close to that. Hopefully Peter Nowalk and his team can get the job done, but they can't escape from the fact that the single character reveal format isn't helping build excitement in the way they intended.
A couple of things before I close. One, Annalise shouldn't have been reinstated so quickly. I would have liked to have seen her have a longer spell, despite the suit she threatened last week. Two, Annalise telling everyone as soon as was practical about what happened to Wallace Mahoney was an interesting change in tack, along with reminding the group they're good people now. Three, Wes destroying the recording containing Frank's admission that he killed Mahoney is a massive mistake. Four, Annalise admitting to Wes that she lost a child thanks to Frank and Mahoney was a big move. It's another way of keeping Wes closer to her than anyone else.
In all, this was a really good episode overall, and a much-needed lift on previous weeks as the winter finale approaches. A shortened weekly case benefited every other aspect of the storytelling. It was great to see Asher and Michaela become official, but Wes and Laurel is where most of my attention lies. Her night with Wes, barring any significant revelations, books him as the father of Laurel's unborn baby. Frank framing James Mahoney was masterful, but no one is out of the woods yet. Finally, the students putting Simon in his rightful place on the pecking order following his poster scandal was great to watch.
Thanks as always for reading! Head down to the comments below to share all your thoughts and theories. Check out everything we have on next week's seventh episode here.
