In the third episode of season 3 of How to Get Away with Murder, “Always Bet Black,” Annalise has her students tackle a high-profile case that feels wrong even to the Keating 5. Meanwhile, Laurel receives surprising information from her estranged father, and we find out the identity of a third survivor.
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Annalise Takes On a High-Profile Case
As the episode begins, Annalise is preparing for class when she hears Nate banging around in her kitchen. He has made her a smoothie — which she throws out the moment she arrives on campus — and they chat about Frank. Nate tests Annalise to see how she reacts when he tells her that he filed a missing person’s report on Frank. He quickly explains that he lied, but he doesn’t want to sit on his hands until Frank actually does something. Annalise says she is handling it, but she refuses to elaborate. Sensing how worried Nate is for her, Annalise says she was wrong to involve him in this and it would probably be better for both of them if they kept some things separate. Nate wonders if that means she doesn’t trust him, but Annalise assures him that is not the case. They have a brief discussion about the state of their relationship before deciding to just see where things go.
When Annalise gets to campus, the university president is waiting for her. Annalise asks if they found the person behind the “Killer” flyers yet, but they have not. The president apologizes for blindsiding Annalise in their meeting, but claims that she is on Annalise’s side. Annalise doesn’t buy it. After a tense chat, the president says she thinks she can manage this situation if Annalise does her part by keeping a low profile. Annalise says that will be hard to do given the case she has just taken on.
Annalise informs her students that their next case is the high-profile murder trial of a man dubbed, “the call girl creeper.” Their client, a wealthy real-estate developer, was doing drugs with an escort when the woman overdosed. He then dumped her body outside of his apartment, but was caught on a live video feed. The woman died two days later. One of Annalise’s students wonders why a guy this rich needs a pro bono clinic, but apparently he has gone almost bankrupt over this case because he fired five previous attorneys. This means that Annalise and Co. are joining the case mid-trial. None of the students seem interested in defending this guy, but Michaela eventually steps up for a chance to work alongside Annalise in court.
Their client turns out to be a total creep who continues to check Michaela out even after Annalise threatens to cut off his balls if he hits on her. During the trial, the prosecutor presents some pretty damning evidence — a photo of the guy smiling and pointing to the unconscious victim several minutes before he actually called for help. If he had acted sooner
instead of posing for a selfie, the woman might still be alive. Michaela is so disgusted by their client’s behavior that she asks to be let go from the case, but Annalise says they don’t abandon their clients.
Bonnie tells Annalise that she should try to cut a deal with the prosecutor, but when Annalise goes to do so, the ADA lets her know that she is not making any deals. She also makes it clear that no one in the DA’s office wants anything to do with Annalise after the way she has played them all in the recent past.
Annalise and Bonnie Have a Hard Time With The Case
Michaela, Oliver and Bonnie drop by Annalise’s house with news. This gives Oliver a chance to meet Nate for the first time. He reacts the way most of us would to seeing Nate for the first time. After Nate leaves, Michaela tells Annalise that their client just withdrew a lot of cash from the bank. They track him down and he reveals that his previous lawyer is blackmailing him. It turns out their client killed a girl before.
Annalise and Bonnie look into it and find out the girl was a runaway. Their client says he lost it after she rejected him and he killed her in the heat of the moment. He then dumped her body in a broken freezer in an old, abandoned warehouse. Poor Bonnie is not dealing well with this news. She knows she could have ended up like the girl their client killed. Bonnie tells Annalise that if the police hadn’t caught her father, she would’ve ended up as a runaway. Only for Bonnie, someone did the right thing. (I assume Annalise had something to do with this, but it hasn’t been not confirmed.) Annalise tells Bonnie she can spend the night and they can eat ice cream and watch movies, but Bonnie says she is fine to go home. She promises not to go to the cops with this information about their client.
Alas, Bonnie is not the only one being haunted by their client’s actions. Annalise is unable to sleep that night because she can’t figure out what to do with the knowledge that this poor girl is out there somewhere and her body has never been found. Nate notices how upset Annalise is and she eventually tells him about the “dead girl in a freezer.” Nate then comes up with an idea of how to give the girl’s family closure and also get a deal for Annalise’s client.
Annalise has her client take the stand and testify that when he was first arrested, his cell mate confessed to a murder and told him that he hid the girl’s body in a freezer. Annalise says she tried to inform the prosecutor of this when they met to discuss a deal, but the ADA refused to listen to her. Annalise also mentions that she was told no one in the DA’s office would negotiate with her and that screams of prosecutorial bias.
Annalise performance in court puts a good deal on the table. If their client pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter, he’ll only have to serve three years in jail. The client initially refuses to take the deal, yelling about how he hired Annalise to get him off without jail time, but Annalise puts a firm stop to that by slapping him across the face. She reminds her client that he murdered two innocent women so he is getting off easy. He decides to take the deal.
Annalise is pleased with the outcome of the trial because it gives her the good press she so desperately needs.
A Terrible Night Out
Connor shows Michaela a post that says her ex-fiance (and the guy Connor fooled around with as a teenager) is now engaged. The creepy client walks in on their discussion of Michaela’s ex and tries to make another pass at Michaela. Asher gets angry and accidentally outs his relationship with Michaela in front of Bonnie. Bonnie says she doesn’t care, but I doubt she has no opinion on the matter.
To get over her sadness about her ex’s engagement, Michaela decides to take the guys to Atlantic City for some gambling. Alas, she doesn’t tell them until they get there that she took their betting money from their creepy client. The evening out is also an opportunity for Connor and Oliver to hang out, post-breakup. Oliver tells Connor he is happy that they can still be friends, but Connor is not sure if they’re at the friend stage yet.
This becomes clear when Connor sees some guy chatting up Oliver. The same guy hits on Connor later that night and Connor tells him he should go for Oliver instead. The guy turns out
to be a racist jerk and Connor ends up picking a fight with him. Oliver interrupts them and assumes Connor sabotaged his chances with the guy. Michaela and Asher then inform the guys that they lost all of the client’s money. This evening did not work out well for anyone.
Connor and Oliver have a chance to chat later and they clear the air, but it is clearly going to take a lot of work for them to get to the friends stage of their relationship. Michaela manages to pawn her engagement ring to get back the client’s money and she returns it before anyone but Bonnie knows she took it. Michaela then tries to apologize to Bonnie about Asher, but Bonnie doesn’t want to hear it. She says Michaela can sleep with whoever she wants. Later, Annalise tells Bonnie to keep the client’s money. (I suspect this, as well as the slap, could come back to haunt them.)
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Laurel Goes to Extremes to Find Frank
In the last episode, Annalise told Laurel that part of the plan to find Frank required Laurel to go see her father so that’s exactly what she does. Laurel’s father (briefly glimpsed in season 1 though played by a different actor) is very pleased to see her. Laurel does not share his enthusiasm and they share an awkward hug before getting down to business. Laurel’s dad knows why she’s there and he says they can head to his office to discuss whether or not “this Frank guy is worth your time.”
Laurel learns that her father knows about Frank because he’s been listening to her phone calls since she got in contact with him. Laurel points out that this is illegal but he doesn’t seem to care. Instead of discussing Frank, Laurel’s dad brings in a conflict resolution specialist to help them deal with their troubled relationship. This does not work out in his
favor, though we do learn that Laurel was kidnapped when she was 16 and her father refused to pay the ransom. (No wonder she wants nothing to do with the guy.) Laurel tells her father that if he’s not willing to give her the information she wants, she is leaving. She goes back to her hotel.
Later that night, Laurel’s father pays her a visit. He’s still not willing to give up the information on Frank’s whereabouts, at least without getting something in return. He tells Laurel that he wants to put a new — presumably illegal — investment in her name and he wants her to sign the papers. Laurel kicks him out.
After her tough day with her father, Laurel gets a call from Frank. He accuses her of playing him for Annalise and tells her that Annalise tried to kill him. Frank tells Laurel to let Annalise know that they are even and she doesn’t need to send more hitmen after him, but Laurel ends the call, presumably so her father doesn’t overhear it.
Laurel goes to see her father the next day and hands him the signed papers. In exchange, he tells her that Frank has been staying in a town near Pittsburgh for the past week. Laurel tells her dad to stop spying on her and he says he wouldn’t have to if she just returned his calls. He goes on to say that he is proud of her for taking the pain she has gone through in her life and turning it into strength. He asks her not to disappear on him again and Laurel says she won’t. Yet it is clear that Laurel is still uncomfortable having her father in her life.
When Laurel finally returns to town, she lies to Annalise. Laurel tells Annalise that she couldn’t get Frank’s location from her father because she wasn’t willing to give her father what he wanted. Annalise seems to believe her, but I doubt Annalise will stay in the dark for long.
Wes Lies to His Girlfriend
While Laurel is away dealing with her father, Wes is having some issues with his new girlfriend. After an earlier discussion about how he wants to celebrate his upcoming birthday,
Meggie confronts Wes about his feelings for Laurel. Meggie has noticed how Wes lights up whenever Laurel calls him and she knows Wes deserves that kind of happiness. Wes, apparently still determined to keep his distance from Laurel, tells Meggie that she is the one who makes him happy. (I really hope there is a point to this love triangle beyond simply delaying a Wes-Laurel romance.)
Who is Our Third Survivor?
In this week’s flash forward, we see Oliver rush to his computer at the law clinic so he can wipe the data from Annalise’s phone. He almost gets caught by a security guard, but manages to stay hidden. (Though I suppose we could always find out later that the security guard did see him, after all.) While Oliver is doing that, Annalise is at the police station
being processed after her arrest. The cops says they did not find her phone at the crime scene and Annalise says she must have dropped it when she was taken into custody.
Later, we see Oliver return to the crime scene. We then see Bonnie (yep, Bon-Bon’s still alive!) create a distraction so Oliver can drop the phone onto the ground where Annalise supposedly lost it. Oliver and Bonnie are then shocked when one of the firefighters at the scene reports that someone else has been found in the burning house. This mysterious person still has a pulse, something that causes Bonnie and Oliver to exchange very suspicious looks. Who is this mystery survivor? Is it one of our main characters or was someone outside of our group in Annalise’s house went it went up in flames?
What did you think of this episode of How to Get Away with Murder season 3? Are you surprised we got the Bonnie reveal so early in the season? Do you think Connor and Oliver can ever be just friends? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
How to Get Away with Murder season 3 airs Thursday nights at 10/9c on ABC. Want more news? Follow our HTGAWM Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
