In the mid-season finale of season 4 of How to Get Away with Murder, titled “Live. Live. Live.,” Laurel and the others enact their plan to take down her father’s company, but things quickly fall apart. Meanwhile, Bonnie makes a confession to Annalise, Annalise and Isaac discuss their relationship, and we finally learn what happened to Laurel’s baby and who got hurt at the Caplan & Gold offices in the flash forward.
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Connor Reluctantly Goes Along with the Plan
The episode opens with a flash forward. Oliver is at the C&G office party when he gets a call from someone. This leads him to head to Tegan’s office where he finds Michaela, Laurel and Asher. Oliver quickly realizes something is wrong and he looks down at something on the floor. Whatever he sees makes him scream and we then flash back 24 hours prior to this incident.
One day earlier, we find Connor heading to Laurel’s place after Oliver told him about the group’s plan. Connor blames Oliver’s lying to him on Laurel because he knows this whole crazy mission is Laurel’s idea. When they arrive, the others are waiting for them. Connor lets the group know that he plans on telling Annalise everything, but they tell him that he can’t.
Connor won’t let them put themselves in danger. He ends up blaming the whole thing on Frank and saying that Frank has just transferred his mommy issues from Annalise to Laurel. Frank doesn’t react well to this accusation and he ends up choking Connor. After that drama plays out, Laurel reminds Connor that he once told her he would do anything for her to make up for lying about what happened the night Wes was killed. Annalise calls, but instead of telling her the truth, Connor lies. He then tells the group that he is going to the C&G office party with them so when things go wrong, he will call Annalise.
At the party, Simon Drake complicates the group’s plan by confessing his love to Oliver. Simon says that he doesn’t know if he’s gay or not, but he does know how he feels about Oliver. Oliver then tells the others that they can’t set Simon up for this. Michaela then reminds him of that time Simon put the “Killer” fliers up all over campus to ruin Annalise’s reputation.
As the group argues over what to do, Laurel arrives. (She was supposed to stay back at her place so she wouldn’t be in harm’s way.) She lets them all know that they are going through with the plan. Connor, already seeing how things are going wrong, calls Annalise and fills her in on everything.
Annalise and Isaac
As the episode begins. Annalise returns home to find Bonnie waiting for her. Bonnie is there to tell Annalise about going to Isaac for therapy, but Annalise already knows. Bonnie tries to explain that she did it because she was hurt and she wanted to hurt Annalise. She also says that she was the one who told the Attorney General to put Isaac on the stand because she knew it would help Annalise. Annalise tells Bonnie that she can’t keeping forgiving her for all the sick things she does. Bonnie says that everything she does is because she loves Annalise. She knows that now. Alas, Annalise rejects Bonnie and tells her to leave before she calls the cops. Before she leaves, Bonnie says that Annalise is going to need her again one day. (After leaving Annalise, Bonnie goes to Nate’s for a drink and some support.)
As Annalise is dealing with Bonnie, Isaac is yelling at his ex-wife for going to Annalise behind his back. At one point, he accuses his ex of not being able to handle the fact that he has a relationship with Annalise and his ex rightly points out how wrong it is that Isaac is so close to his patient. His ex must get through to him at least somewhat because it seems their chat is weighing on his mind when he meets with Annalise later that day.
Isaac apologies for everything and tells Annalise that he’ll understand if she wants to report him. Annalise says she won’t tell anyone because she doesn’t want him to lose his license. She also wants to continue their therapy sessions. Isaac tells Annalise that he cannot be her therapist anymore. Annalise starts thinking of reasons why he is saying this, but Isaac is clearly implying that they have gotten too close. Annalise tells Isaac that she needs help and, apparently despite everything that’s happened between them, he helps her. Their conversation is interrupted when Connor calls Annalise for help of his own and Annalise leaves.
After Annalise finds out what the group is up to, she calls Frank to yell at him. She tells him he hasn’t learned anything if he’s putting another pregnant woman in danger. She also tells him to go get the kids and stop them from doing something stupid. Annalise then climbs the stairs to her place because the elevator isn’t working. When she arrives at her apartment, she hears someone screaming in the elevator.
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The Victim is Simon
According to the plan, it’s up to Michaela to get the key card from Tegan. It takes her a few attempts, but she eventually convinces Tegan to hand over her purse while she makes her big speech. Asher then takes the card to Oliver and Laurel, and Oliver does his thing to hack into the secure servers. Unfortunately, it takes longer than expected because the files are split across several servers. Oliver eventually transfers all the files onto a hard drive and they get out of there. Laurel then decides to change up the plan at the last minute and suggests that Oliver use Simon’s feelings for him to get close to him. Asher says that Oliver can kiss Simon to distract him and then plant the key card on him. Alas, Oliver never gets to enact this new plan.
As Laurel, Asher, and Michaela are discussing things, Simon walks in on them. He overheard them say that Oliver was going to plant the key card on him. Laurel offers to pay him to keep quiet, but Simon wants to know what she’s hiding in her bag. Simon manages to get the bag away from Laurel, but instead of finding the hard drive, he finds a gun. Everything erupts into chaos and Simon ends up accidentally shooting himself in the head. Naturally, the trio freaks out and Asher picks up the gun, thinking they can’t leave Laurel’s weapon behind. Just then, Oliver arrives. He notices the blood all over Michaela’s face (some of which also got on Laurel) and freaks over seeing Simon bleeding out on the floor.
Michaela immediately goes into action, telling Laurel that she has to leave so her father doesn’t find out what happened. Michaela cleans the blood off Laurel’s face and tells her to take the hard drive back to her apartment. Michaela then wipes off the key card and plants it on Simon. She also wipes the gun clean of prints and puts it back where Asher says it fell. Once everything is in place, Michaela tells them to call 911.
As Asher calls 911 about Simon shooting himself, Michaela heads down to the party, covered in blood and screaming for help. She whispers to Connor to leave and head to Laurel’s. She then lets Tegan comfort her as she freaks out over what happened to Simon.
Dominic Returns
Later, we see that Simon is being operated on, but the surgery is not going well. As we saw in an earlier flash forward, Simon flat-lines on the operating table, but his fate is still up in the air as the episode ends. (Honestly, it would be better for the group if Simon dies, but what kind of guilt would that leave them with?)
Connor calls Michaela and tells her that Laurel isn’t at her apartment. As they both start panicking over Laurel’s whereabouts, Michaela sees Asher being arrested. Connor starts ranting about how he knew this wouldn’t work and now everything they did to steal the files was for nothing. As the camera pans away, we see someone overhearing Connor’s rant about the files. That person is Dominic, Laurel’s father’s hitman! If Laurel’s dad doesn’t already know what the group was up to, he certainly will now!
Annalise Delivers Laurel’s Baby
Instead of going home after leaving the C&G offices, Laurel heads to Annalise’s place because Annalise left her a voicemail saying she would help Laurel in any way she can. Once she arrives, Laurel gets into the elevator but doesn’t notice that she has started to bleed. When Laurel does notice, the bleeding has gotten much worse, with the blood dripping down her legs. It is then that Laurel remembers getting accidentally elbowed in the stomach during Frank and Connor’s scuffle. As Laurel starts freaking out her the blood loss, the elevator stops working just as it arrives on Annalise’s floor. Laurel can’t get out of the elevator as her bleeding increases and she starts cramping. She tries to call 911, but the elevator has no service. Laurel starts screaming and calling for help as she continues to lose an incredible amount of blood.
As Laurel passes out from the blood loss, Annalise yells to her that she has called the police and they’re on the way. Annalise is eventually able to open the outer door to the elevator, but she can’t get the gate open so she can’t get to Laurel. Through the gate, Annalise can actually see the baby coming out.
Annalise is on the phone with the 911 operator who is talking her through what to do with the baby. When Annalise finally gets her hands on the baby, she cuts the cord and pulls him from the elevator. She then does CPR because the baby isn’t breathing. Annalise is really losing it now because the CPR isn’t working. She starts pleading with the baby to live and I start fearing the worst. As the screen fades to black, we hear the baby start to cry! (I can’t tell you how relieved I was that Annalise didn’t have to experience the death of another child.)
What did you think of this episode of How to Get Away with Murder? Since Annalise was able to resuscitate Laurel’s baby, why did Laurel wake up at the hospital without Annalise or the baby in an earlier flash forward? Why did we see Annalise looking all sad and shocked in the shower as she washed blood off herself? How does Isaac get involved in this whole situation?
What did Asher say to the detective that got him arrested? Did he lie to the cops and get caught in said lie? Did he tell them some version of the truth? What happens if Simon does survive? Will he remember what happened? He did get shot in the head so I wouldn’t be surprised if he had some memory loss. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
How to Get Away with Murder will return with the rest of season 4 on Thursday, January 18th at 10/9c on ABC. Want more news? Follow our HTGAWM Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
