The sixth episode of ABC's How To Get Away With Murder lacked some of the intensity seen in many of the prior episodes this season, but as usual, the storytelling didn't disappoint at all. "Two Birds, One Millstone" was written by Michael Foley and directed by Mike Listo.
The opening flash forward took a slightly different tack last night. It showed Annalise being wheeled on a stretcher into the E.R. with Frank suddenly bursting through the doors behind her and creating a significant fuss in front of the medical team. After being dragged away, and walking past a security camera, Frank dropped the act, and returned to the car looking surprisingly satisfied. The biggest twist was yet to come though, as the camera lowered to show the body of Christine Hapstall slumped in the rear footwell of Frank's car.
The first present day scene was a hot and steamy morning sex session between Frank and Laurel. This episode spent more time on Frank and Laurel's relationship than any other this season, despite the title, "Two Birds, One Millstone", directly referencing Asher. Laurel wasn't in it solely for the sex, however, as she took an opportunity to see if she could learn anything about the suitcase packed with cash that herself, Wes, Connor and Michaela found in a storage locker last week.
We then checked in with Connor and Oliver as they started their day. Oliver thought it would be a good idea to create a list of possible crimes Connor may have got into trouble with. Connor quickly shot that down.
Next up was a classroom session for the first time in three weeks. It was brief, but as usual the subject matter referenced an event currently occurring in one of the Keating Five's lives. It was Asher's turn this time, with Annalise referencing a case which shared similarities to Bonnie's childhood ordeal that Asher witnessed in detail last week.
As Asher recounted that memory on the spot, we saw a flashback to that moment Asher watched the video with Annalise. This prompted Asher to reveal to Annalise what Emily Sinclair was using as leverage to force him into becoming her informant.
Tell me everything, I’ll fix it.
This was one of Annalise's more significant offerings to fix something, and she might not be able to deliver. More on that later.
Up next was a really interesting part of the episode because of the significant it had for Bonnie's reputation. It turns out Annalise and Asher agreed to silence regarding the video Asher watched showing Bonnie being abused as a child. Incredibly, Annalise handed the credit for talking Asher out of testifying to Bonnie herself, with Frank also getting the news that that's what happened. For someone as vulnerable as Bonnie given the stuff-ups she's made previously this season, this, for her, is a huge win. Of course, Asher and Annalise know otherwise, but Annalise sold the dummy to Bonnie very cleverly.
You’re so used to me doubting you that you can’t see when you’ve done something right.
Annalise had another woman to handle too, in the form on Emily Sinclair:
Right now I have to handle a bitch.
Annalise threatened to go public with allegations of witness tampering against Sinclair for her actions regarding Asher. Did it work? Most likely not. More on that later too.
The case of the week kicked off shortly after, while Annalise was giving orders to her students to find a new suspect to pin the Hapstall murders on. Bonnie tried three times before Annalise would accept a phone call from Professor Jill Hartford, a transgender woman who had just killed her husband Steven. That long wait time would come back to bite later on.
While Annalise responded solo to the crime scene, the students journeyed to the Hapstall mansion to sift through a pool of suspects. A divide quickly emerged when Asher and Wes proposed the Hapstall's biological parents killed their adoptive parents, while Catherine, Caleb and Michaela wouldn't have a bar of it. It later emerged that Michaela was also adopted, though this was obvious earlier given her firm stance in this situation. The quarrel also allowed Michaela and Caleb the opportunity to connect on a deeper level, with flash forwards last week making this a pretty routine step.
Annalise had her hands full with her case, and preventing it from reaching the courtroom required her to play a massive hand. Her client admitted to her in an interview that she had doctored the crime scene to make her version of events look more convincing, and that combined with the long phone call she made to Annalise prior to calling 911 thanks to Annalise making her wait on the phone placed Jill under a large cloud of suspicion. She later handed the detectives evidence of corruption by Asher's father, Bill Millstone to force them to drop the charges. This later caused father and son to part ways, and contradicted an agreement Annalise and Asher had when she agreed her father wouldn't get caught up in anything.
We’re done, Ash.
The students, minus a joyful Asher, made a dumb mistake when they were caught on record debating whether Caleb in particular was guilty of his parents' murders, but Annalise received worse news from Frank concerning Nate's wife, Nia, who had passed away thanks to him giving her the drugs to do so. In a powerful scene, Nate recalled how Annalise, by making him a suspect in the murder of her husband, had stolen precious time from them as a couple. It's something Annalise was quite taken aback by, indicating she didn't think about that part of the equation when she framed Nate. One wonders whether she would have done anything different anyway even if she did think about that.
We also saw an interesting contest between Wes and Laurel against Frank. Fed up with the constant speculation about Rebecca's fate, Laurel dragged Wes off to confront Frank about the money they found in the storage locker. The explanation Frank prepared earlier was that the money was hush money for Rebecca in exchange for her keeping quiet about the time she spent tied up. It was an elegant explanation that was far easier than I expected. Kudos to the creative team here.
The big break in the Hapstall case came courtesy of Oliver. A previously unheard of child belonging to Helena Hapstall that was adopted as a baby turned out to have the motive to kill the entire Hapstall family for the inheritance.
Oliver is turning into a pet peeve of mine because he's yet another whiz who can hack into everything with ease. So many television shows employ a genius hacker because it's an easy way to come to rapid conclusions, but it's so tacky. Fortunately Oliver's character has a bit of depth thanks to his relationship with Connor but just calling him up to get him to hack into all these systems gets old very quickly. The creative team need to be more intelligent here. Hell, the characters are lawyers! Get them to get a court order for information instead of just hacking into stuff.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was Frank taking Laurel to a rowdy family dinner. While an ordinary couple would do this to mark progress in their relationship, Frank did this to keep Laurel close and at least portray a more genuine side of himself. One wonders whether Laurel can see through this smoke screen, Time will surely tell.
The last 10 or so minutes is always where How To Get Away With Murder is at its strongest, and last night's episode was no different. In one of several moments, Annalise waited outside Wes's apartment for him to return home, having earlier seen him watching her at Nate's door. Wes's night was relatively quiet until now, but he let it be known that he didn't believe Rebecca had run away. We learned that Wes had immigrated from overseas somewhere, and Annalise claimed his mother had committed suicide.
Oliver revealed to Connor that he had continued the search for Helena Hapstall's child, the suspect in the Hapstall murder case. He got lucky, with Philip Jessup, a 26 year old who lives just two miles from the Hapstalls. But a view from Philip's computer shows him watching Oliver's webcam as he and Connor discuss the news. Now there's an enemy hacker. Yawn.
Bonnie was confronted by Emily Sinclair in the carpark. She admitted defeat in chasing after her for Sam Keating's murder, but tried to hand Bonnie a file. In it was information about Tiffany, Tiffany Howard to be exact. She was gang raped, and Asher most likely had something to do with it.
But the kicker came courtesy of Frank, who, in the dying moments, was seen exchanging a large bag with someone, and putting it in the trunk of his car. We then see Frank dumping a wrinkled corpse in the woods and Annalise phoning him asking if it's been handled properly this time. Merged into this scene was the episode's final flash forward, which showed Frank carefully placing the body of Catherine Hapstall in the woods near her home. Blood spatter is visible on her shirt. As night turns to day, a canine unit finds Catherine, and she suddenly wakes up.
This was a fascinating ending, and makes my theory in last week's review that a third body could be present at the Hapstall mansion crime scene partially correct. Until now, Frank was the only person who was absent from the Hapstall mansion on the night of Annalise's shooting. But somewhere along the line he must have taken an unconscious Catherine from the scene and left her in the woods near her home. Before or after dumping Catherine, Frank then had to make a scene at the hospital.
The big question resulting from both those actions is why. The other big question is where is Caleb while all of this was happening?
Thanks so much as always for reading! This was another fantastic episode of How To Get Away With Murder, and even though it lacked the intensity we've become accustomed to in the previous few weeks and had stupid hacking, the storytelling element was very strong, and cleverly crafted. The manipulation by Annalise in particular is something to behold. I enjoyed the focus on Frank too.
As usual, jump in the comments below to share your thoughts and theories on the episode. I'd love to hear of any suspects you have in mind. Check out next week's episode promo here, press release here, and promotional photos here for the episode ominously titled "I Want You to Die".
