ABC had another solid Thursday night, with fall's number one new drama How To Get Away With Murder setting the benchmark once again.
Written by Mike Foley and directed by Bill D’Elia, "Freakin’ Whack-a-Mole" continued to edge the storyline closer to the fall finale cliffhanger in 2 weeks time. To boot, the episode had the strongest procedural case of the week in its 6 episode lifetime. It wasn't edge of your seat, but it was hard to take my eyes away from the screen.
With all but one of the Keating 5, as we heard Annalise refer to them last night, getting an episode that was more or less focused on them, last night it was Asher who took center stage in what was one of the better individual character development stints thus far. Mat McGorry stepped up well and did a solid job portraying his character.
The son of a long time judge, Asher obviously had a more posh upbringing - something his colleagues were happy to coat their knives in as they prodded away at him in the office. In the flashforwards we saw Asher unaware of what had unfolded inside the Keating household as his Keating 5 colleagues lay low, only to almost have their cover blown once again during their road trip to the place where they dumped Sam's body. We also discovered that Asher and Bonnie cosy up to one another, which I'm guessing a lot of people didn't see coming. Watching this unfold should be a lot of fun.
In working their biggest case yet, Annalise's team came together stronger than ever, paving the way for Keating's stunning scenes in court. Viola Davis absolutely nailed those scenes - her performance was as good, if not better, than many of James Spader's speeches in another ABC legal drama, Boston Legal.
The case aside, Keating's actions in her defense of Rebecca were massive in last night's episode. Getting Frank to plant the phone wasn't something I saw coming, and her reiteration to Wes that she did whatever it took was pretty ominous. Couple that with the fact that Keating also used that phone to keep her husband on an invisible leash and you see some pretty alarming trends beginning to appear. Unbeknownst to Keating, her boy toy Nate witnessed the phone being planted. If there's a bookie somewhere offering odds for this blowing up in Keating's face, take my money!
Wes was out of sorts last night, and we never really got to the bottom of that. While Annalise had the phone planted to effectively win him over, he was still a bit off. I also found it strange that Annalise visited his apartment, while also noticing scratches on the wall, possibly caused by a murder. Wes got his wish, however, with Rebecca being vindicated, for now.
I also enjoyed Laurel last night. Her coming onto Frank was pretty devious, but lines up with the events of last week's flash forwards. Bonnie got in the way, but it seems her resistance will prove futile. You can't deny the chemistry between Frank and Laurel though. I thought they were going to go at it then and there!
I think that sums things up pretty well for this episode. The next two are where it's going to happen, so I'll be glued to my screen next Thursday. Check out next week's promo here, and press release here. Remember you can keep tabs on How to Get Away with Murder's record breaking ratings on my TV ratings website, www.seriesmonitor.com/howtogetawaywithmurder. Don't forget to share your thoughts and theories in the comments below! I'm keen to hear how that trophy teleported around!
Thanks for reading!
Jimmy.
