ABC's How To Get Away With Murder is due to reveal who is under the sheet, along with the true sequence of events that take place in the flash forwards, which have been drip-fed throughout the first eight episodes of Season 3. As I've done for the past two seasons, I've compiled the flash forwards into one video and ordered them according to how I think they fit together.
The way the showrunners have utilized the timeshifting method has changed drastically over the three seasons. Season 1 saw nearly an entire episode's worth of timeshifted storytelling - 40 minutes in total from 8 episodes, with each episode containing between 3 and 5 timeshifted scenes. In Season 2, flash forward scenes at the start and end of each episode saw around 32 minutes of storytelling take place in the future. Season 3 changes things again, though this time by revealing a character who is safe each week has hindered the effectiveness and intrigue of the flash forwards, and also likely plays a part in explaining why this season's flash forwards total around 17 minutes of content.
Less content means it's a bit more difficult to sequence events accurately, which makes it harder to be interested in what's happening in the future. Nevertheless, here's what I believe happens, and why.
When putting these flash forwards together, I based several of my assumptions around the movement of the two detectives who end up arresting Annalise and interviewing her in jail. Said detectives are also who Wes speaks to in his singular scene in the future.
It makes sense for the detectives to have dealt with Wes prior to attending the fire. In the scene we saw, Wes was negotiating terms of immunity. Getting approval for this through the higher channels takes time - and Wes asked for the original deal to be revised, and it wouldn't make sense for the detectives to have gone back and forth between Wes and the fire. The way they interviewed Annalise at the scene and immediately questioned her whereabouts and activities suggest they already had at least some of the information Wes had provided, and were connecting the dots as a result. Arresting her without interviewing her at the scene would be questionable, and getting information out of Annalise before she knows what's up also makes sense.
All of this is based on the fact that Wes is indeed referring to Annalise in his dealings with the detectives. He never mentions anyone by name, but I think it's more likely than not that it's Annalise he's referring to.
At the fire, Oliver is the only student to arrive. In a drunken slur, Asher mentions to Michaela that he was with Connor and Laurel and were asked to go to the house by Annalise. The way Asher is talking, and the words he is using suggests they did, but it must have been before the fire, with Connor going to meet up with Thomas and Asher heading to his party afterwards. Laurel appears to have gone a separate direction as well or stayed behind, explaining how she ended up in the fire. Why Wes and Michaela weren't called remains unknown, but Wes is likely with the police.
Watching Oliver approach Annalise at the scene suggests that he stumbled upon the scene by chance. He isn't cool and calm enough in my opinion to be in the loop with earlier events. He gets given Annalise's phone and is instructed to wipe it. He does this at the university by the looks of it, and returns quickly where he meets Bonnie at the scene. He leaves the phone at the scene, and the two part ways, with Oliver headed to the hospital after the ambulance carrying what turned out to be Laurel, while Bonnie headed to jail to meet Annalise. Annalise hadn't been interviewed yet, and neither her nor Bonnie knew what the detectives were charging her with. The detectives already knew, further strengthening the argument for them having talked to Wes earlier that day or evening.
The rest of the events make reasonable sense. Oliver remains at the hospital and manages to reach Michaela who in turn contacts Asher. Weirdly, Oliver was ringing Connor's phone but it was Michaela's mother, and then Michaela herself who answered it. Connor not taking his phone with him while he was with Laurel and Asher is what I'd call very unusual but not impossible. However, unless it was prearranged, how did Thomas get in touch with him to invite him over for sex? That makes Connor's meetup with Thomas the hardest event to place in the timeline, and it's likely that where I've placed it in the video isn't its rightful place.
So, what are some of the unanswered questions?
1) Who was Bonnie on the phone with in the hospital? Annalise has no phone on her in jail as it's back at the scene. Process of elimination means it's not a student, so who could it be?
2) What did Annalise call Laurel, Asher and Connor over to the house for?
3) What were the movements of Oliver and Michaela before they became aware of what happened?
4) What did Wes say to the detectives in exchange for immunity? He must have said something if he took it. Could their discussion have been interrupted by news of the fire?
5) How do the media know the deceased person under the sheet is a male? Did bystanders or reporters also notice no sign of breasts and other telling features on the body? Did the emergency services reveal that information?
6) What was on Annalise's phone that made her get Oliver to wipe it?
That's just a small sample of burning (excuse the pun) questions I have that I am looking forward to having answered this Thursday night. Below is the flash forwards video so you can view them for yourself.
Thanks for reading! There's bound to be loads of things I've not thought about or noticed in the flash forwards so make sure you head down to the comments to join the debate with your thoughts and theories on what you think happens that night. Like, Tweet and +1 this article so even more How To Get Away With Murder fans can see it and join in the discussion!
How To Get Away With Murder's winter finale airs this Thursday, 10|9c, on ABC.
