Move over flash forwards and bring on flashbacks. How To Get Away With Murder's second episode of 2016 was an absolute stunner.
"She Hates Us" was written by Erika Harrison with trademark excellent direction by Bill D’Elia. This episode had something in it for every character, but the one which ended the episode in the most superior position was none other than Laurel.
A decent portion of the hour was played out in flashbacks, and this is how the episode began. In last week's hour we got a taste of what happened a decade prior to the present day, but this week much more fascinating information was revealed.
The first of the episode's surprises came in the form of guest star Tom Verica, who returned as Sam Keating, Annalise's husband. Like last week, we see a heavily pregnant Annalise struggling to continue at her usual pace while carrying the added weight, but Sam was there a handful of times providing moral support.
But the biggest surprise was yet to come. With some impressive hair and makeup, Bonnie and Frank appeared as themselves a decade younger, as did a couple of other interns working for Annalise. Frank appeared to have a more formally designated role as Annalise's secretary while Bonnie took it upon herself to excel over the others in the group in order to get noticed. She even offered some advice to Annalise on how to manage her pain, and there was a strong hint of an affair between Bonnie and Sam, though Annalise may have been aware of it, and even encouraged it. That looks set to be developed more in the future.
Fine. I'll go. Just don't feel bad if I end up shooting myself.
On top of having to deal with Annalise's shooting and new revelations about his childhood, Wes had a surprisingly switched on doctor hold him for a long period of time in a psychiatric ward. What started as a simple request for sleeping pills turned into quite an ordeal as Wes dug one hole after another while talking to the doctor. One could argue a less stressed Wes wouldn't have ended up in the situation he did.
Some clever parallel editing alongside Wes's consultation saw Annalise also seek medication to keep her going after her shooting. Nowhere near as much came of that as did for Wes, however.
As we've seen in the last few episodes, Wes and Laurel continue to become closer friends, and much more trusting of one another than previously. It was Laurel who Wes called when explaining his absence, and it was Laurel who dropped Annalise in the muck by outing to everyone that she had not done anything to get Wes out of the ward. She even visited him in the ward and pretended to be his girlfriend. Their dynamic continues to develop very nicely, and this episode showed why Wes and Laurel's relationship is the relationship I'm paying most attention to at the moment.
The usual procedural style case of the week also featured, and was a real eye opener. In front of the judge, the mother of a young man killed by another pleaded for a light sentence for her son's murderer, defying a decent plea deal offered by the prosecutor and Annalise's attempt to mount a defense.
While family members asking for leniency for an offender is nothing new, this case took things right to the limit. A restorative justice hearing was held, but incredibly the killer confessed to the crime then and there, and added that it was far from an accident. In the end the killer asked for a life sentence without parole, but the mother's resolve for forgiveness remained steadfast.
The outcome from this was less about the case itself and more about the message Annalise and her team took away: forgiveness. Throughout the series' 25 episodes, everyone has been guilty of hurting many of the others in a multitude of different ways. The team is undoubtedly stronger when everyone gets along and helps each other out instead of the callous backstabbing and lies that occur repeatedly each week. It could help kickstart a bit of team building for all we know.
Why can't we count on Annalise any more?
Eventually the four got the fifth out of the psychiatric ward, not Annalise. This was a pretty significant milestone because the group realized in that moment that collectively they can overpower Annalise as well as her subordinates Frank and Bonnie. They've each tried multiple times as individuals to breach the walls and effect change but their success has always been limited. Not this time though. It was great to see, and with Wes asking that very important question in the above quote, I think we can expect to see some more rebelling in the near future.
What if it's mostly bad things?
Karla Souza was immense in this episode. Her performance was among the strongest we've seen of her in the series thus far. She had some fantastic writing to work with too, but where she excelled was in the hour's closing minutes when Laurel and Frank had a brutally blunt conversation about their relationship. It finally dawned on Laurel that she was with someone whose job it is to make things go away, cover things up, and then lie about them. She made it clear that the constant lies and secrets the pair each share are driving a wedge between them.
I know you drugged Catherine and dumped her in the woods, so are they worse than that?
Frank didn't answer verbally, but that was all Laurel needed to assume the answer was yes. The final card she played was giving Frank a tiny back door that he could use to try and salvage the relationship. Laurel had admitted moments earlier to Frank that Wes shot Annalise, not herself, so Frank uttered three words which will change the course of the series once more:
I killed Lila.
Laurel now holds the cards. She knows things her peers and even Annalise don't know. With both Sam and Lila dead, there was no one but Frank who knew what happened when Lila was murdered. With their relationship now a thing of the past, Laurel has significantly less incentive to keep that secret. I don't think we will have to wait long until Wes is informed.
Yet again the episode's final minute well and truly delivered. With the infamous Philip out of the picture the last few weeks, he may have reappeared after an email sent to Connor contained a video taken from behind some foliage of events that occurred at the Hapstall mansion. This not only answers the question concerning Philip's whereabouts after he failed to locate Catherine - it's evidence which contradicts the version of events heard in the recent trial. A showdown is imminent, and I'm sure it won't disappoint.
It's hard to believe there's just four more episodes of How To Get Away With Murder remaining. This episode was excellent all round, with the newly empowered Keating 5 being the most important development of them all in my book.
Thanks as always for reading! Don't forget to jump in the comments below and share your thoughts and theories on the episode. Check out next week's episode promo, photos and press release here.
