In the twelfth episode of season 4 of How to Get Away with Murder, titled “Ask Him About Stella,” Annalise and Bonnie try to help Isaac after they learn that the DA is investigating him and it leads to some surprising revelations. Meanwhile, the Keating 4 help Annalise with her class action suit, Nate continues to connect with his father, and Laurel finally gets a chance to see her son.
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Isaac Falls Off the Wagon
As the episode begins, we see that Isaac did not react well to being torn apart on the stand during Laurel’s custody hearing. In fact, he reacted by getting high. The next day, he confesses as much to Annalise and she offers to go with him to a meeting. She also says that she has Bonnie looking into things at the DA’s office so they can keep tabs on the DA’s investigation into him in connection with his daughter’s death.
Frank is looking into the connection between Wes and Laurel’s mom. He tells Bonnie not to say anything to Laurel or Annalise until he does more digging into Laurel’s mother.
Since they are all out of work for the time being, Oliver and the Keating 4 are helping Annalise with final preparations for the class action suit. They are working on a draft of Annalise’s opening statement because the trial is set for next week.
Annalise Gets Thrown a Curve Ball in Court
Annalise takes Isaac out to lunch where they discuss how they first got into drugs/alcohol. Isaac says he was hooked on heroin for 10 years when he met his wife. She changed everything. She helped him get sober and go back to school and they had their daughter, Stella. Isaac says things were good for a long time.
While Annalise is having lunch with Isaac, Bonnie is chatting up the lawyer assigned to Isaac’s case. She offers to help him with the case since he’ll be going up against Annalise and Bonnie knows how to handle her. The lawyer gives Bonnie the case file and tells her that he’ll buy her a round of drinks if she can figure out how to charge Isaac in his daughter’s death.
Connor wants to use Nate’s dad’s story as the framework for Annalise’s opening. Michaela thinks that is a bad idea, but Connor pulls rank since he has been working on the class action suit longer than any of them. The group then works together to write the draft of Annalise’s opening statement. Alas, Annalise ends up discarding their draft because it doesn’t sound like her.
Annalise and Nate meet with Nate’s dad to go over his testimony. We learn that Nate’s father was 26 when he first went to prison for stealing in order to feed his family. He broke his parole shortly after being released and every time he went back to jail, he was targeted by the other inmates. Because he was known as a boxer, everyone went after him to see what he was made of. That’s what happened with the inmate he ended up killing. The man came at him, throwing the first punch, and Nate Senior just lost it. Nate Senior had been in solitary for a year before he beat that inmate to death and that solitary confinement clearly damaged his state of mind.
When they finally have their day in court for the class action suit, the opposing attorney has a message from the Attorney General. No trial will be happening because the Supreme Court is pulling the case in order to hear it themselves. They want both sides to submit a written brief in lieu of a trial. Annalise tries to argue that a written document cannot properly sum up her case, but the judge says it is out of his hands.
Laurel Gets Good News
Annalise and Isaac meet for lunch again and she tells him what happened in court. Isaac gets a call from his ex-wife, but he ignores it. He opens up about how it is the third anniversary of his daughter’s death, but he says he is still too angry with his ex to take her calls. Annalise tells him to get over it because no one else can understand what he’s feeling.
Nate tells his dad about the change in the class action suit. Nate Senior thinks Nate is lying to him because he and Annalise don’t think he is fit to testify. Nate assures his dad that is not the case, but his dad doesn’t believe him. He tells Nate not to come around again.
The Keating 4 are trying to come up with ideas for the brief, but Connor and Michaela are once again in disagreement over how to present the case. Connor wonders why Michaela is suddenly interested in the class action suit and Michaela says that she believes the case could actually go to the Supreme Court. If it does, Michaela wants her name mentioned. Their argument is interrupted by Laurel’s news that she will get visitation with her son tomorrow.
Once Frank finally gets access to Laurel’s mom’s phone records, he tells Bonnie that Laurel’s mom contacted Laurel’s dad every day that week. He thinks that means they are working together and Bonnie thinks he needs to tell Laurel. Instead, Frank asks Laurel to let him come along to the visitation. I guess he intends to talk to Laurel’s father while Laurel is busy visiting her son.
Bonnie shows up at Annalise’s place with good news. She looked into Isaac’s case and found out that there was bruising on Stella’s body consistent with someone performing CPR. Bonnie believes Isaac tried to save his daughter’s life and that’s why it took him 15 minutes to call 911 after he found her body. Alas, while looking at the case file, Annalise finds out that Stella overdosed on the very same drug Isaac just used to break his sobriety. Annalise heads to Isaac’s place and asks him if he gave his daughter the drugs that killed her.
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Laurel Meets Her Son
While Annalise listens, Isaac explains that he was never really sober. He’s apparently been using on and off for years. Three years ago, he came home one night and discovered that his daughter overdosed on the pills he had hidden. She took almost the whole lot but he doesn’t know if she was trying to kill herself. When he failed to save his daughter via CPR, Isaac got rid of the pills and faked a suicide note so his ex-wife wouldn’t find out that he was responsible for their daughter’s death.
Bonnie tries to get Annalise to drop Isaac’s case since he lied about his drug use, but Annalise insists on helping him because he helped both of them during their therapy sessions. Annalise then tasks Bonnie with getting the ADA to back off charging Isaac in Stella’s death. While Bonnie is trying to get Isaac out of trouble, Annalise writes up the most important brief of her life.
Frank goes with Laurel to the hospital, but it turns out that her father isn’t there. Laurel’s mother claims that she called Laurel’s dad every day that week until she convinced him to let Laurel see her son on her own. (I don’t know if she’s lying about her reasons for contacting Laurel’s father, but it still seems like she’s up to something.) Laurel finally gets the chance to meet her son and it’s a beautiful moment. Laurel decides to name the baby Christopher as a nod to Wes’ given name.
Annalise Has a Bad Day
Annalise heads out of town to meet with a panel of judges who are going to hear her brief about the class action suit. Unfortunately, as she later tells Nate, the panel rules against her which means they lost the case. Nate reminds her that she tried, which is more than what most people have done.
Back home, the lawyer assigned to Isaac’s case tells Bonnie that her interest in the investigation made him realize that she’s still working for Annalise and he can’t trust any information she gives him. The lawyer also says he’s recommending that the DA move forward with the charges against Isaac.
Despite her fear of Denver, Bonnie goes to him with a recording she made of their conversation regarding his connection to Laurel’s father. She claims she’s made recordings of every single conversation they’ve had since she started working for the DA’s office and if he comes after her, the recordings will be leaked to the press. She then tells him to drop the charges against Isaac or he will end up losing the election from behind bars.
After Bonnie lets Annalise know that she got Denver to drop the charges against Isaac, Annalise goes to Isaac to give him the good news. They end up sharing an intimate moment, but Annalise stops him before he can kiss her because she realizes that he is high.
Michaela Has An Idea
Isaac flies into a rage when Annalise confronts him about being high. He tries to blame his drug use on her, but Annalise isn’t having it. They have an ugly argument and Annalise ends up calling Isaac’s ex-wife to come deal with him. (Is this the end of their fascinating but toxic dynamic or will something bring them back together again?)
Nate heads to the prison to let his father know that Annalise lost the case. Nate also tells his father that he is going to keep showing up for him no matter how hard his dad tries to push him away. If nothing else comes from the class action suit, at least it helped Nate reconnect with his father.
Despite the failure of the class action suit, Connor has renewed hope for the future. He decides to go back to law school and he and Oliver decide that their engagement is back on! At least the Keating 4 now have something to celebrate.
Bonnie is so worried about how Denver might strike back against her that she asks Frank to move back in with her. She’s also carrying around a gun so I’m sure that will come into play at some point. Meanwhile, Frank goes to see Laurel’s mother to ask her directly about her connection to Wes.
Unlike everyone else, Michaela isn’t ready to throw in the towel on the class action suit. She goes to Annalise and says that the only way they are going to be heard is if they go to someone with real power in Washington. Who is that person? It’s Olivia Pope, of course (from ABC’s Scandal). The episode ends with Annalise going to a guest lecture given by none other than Ms. Pope.
What did you think of this episode of How to Get Away with Murder? Are you happy about Connor and Oliver getting engaged again? Do you think we’ll see a wedding this season? Can Isaac’s ex help him get sober once more or will he continue his downward spiral? Will Olivia be able to help Annalise with her class action suit? Do you hope to see Annalise interact with some of the other Scandal characters? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
How to Get Away with Murder airs Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC. Want more news? Follow our HTGAWM Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
