In the winter premiere of season 3 of How to Get Away with Murder, titled “We’re Bad People,” Wes’ death brings the Keating 5 down to 4 and the remaining members are all trying to cope with his loss in different ways. As they deal with their grief, we get to bask in flashbacks to happier days when Wes was still among the living. Meanwhile, Annalise is stuck in jail while the D.A.’s office continues to build a case against her.
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Can Bonnie Save Annalise?
The episode begins with a flashback to better days, as Annalise watches Wes and Meggy having fun in the university courtyard. Wes tells Annalise that he got the internship he wanted and she congratulates him. She then continues to watch him in a rare moment of joy before the show cuts to the much less happy present.
Leaving those good times behind, we find Annalise being transferred to the county jail until her bail hearing. A scene of Annalise being stripped-searched is cut together with a scene of Wes’ autopsy and it’s about as uncomfortable as this show has ever been. Annalise is then shown to her cell where she meets her two cellmates.
Bonnie begins the episode talking to a still-hospitalized Laurel. Laurel is still very much in pain so she can’t tell Bonnie much about what she saw before the fire. Laurel is convinced Frank is responsible, but Bonnie reminds her that if she tells the cops her suspicions, it could hurt them all. Laurel then kicks Bonnie out.
Bonnie keeps the rest of the group from seeing Laurel and Connor calls her out on it. Bonnie then sends them all home, but Oliver doesn’t want to go back to Michaela’s with everyone else. He decides he’d rather be alone right now.
Bonnie and Frank discuss Wes’ murder and determine that the Mahoneys were behind it. Bonnie takes this suspicion to Annalise, but Annalise says it doesn’t matter who did it because she’s the one behind bars. Annalise’s bail hearing is coming up and she wants Bonnie to represent her. She doesn’t trust anyone else right now.
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Laurel Doesn’t Blame Annalise
In the second flashback of the night, we see Laurel and Wes discussing the possibility that Laurel could be pregnant because the condom broke when they had sex. It’s a cute scene, but ultimately tells us nothing beyond the fact that Wes is the father of Laurel’s baby which seemed rather obvious.
Later that day, Laurel talks to the police and tells them she doesn’t believe Annalise did this. They give her the perfect opportunity to accuse Frank of the crime, but Laurel doesn’t name her ex, presumably to keep herself and her friends safe. Meanwhile, Michaela and the guys return home and Michaela is disappointed to discover that her horrible mother is gone. She acts like it doesn’t bother her, but she’s obviously upset that her mother left.
Annalise is having a hard time adjusting to life in prison, refusing to eat the food or go to the bathroom in front of her cellmates. (She eventually does both, but it’s all humiliating. It’s hard seeing Annalise like this. At least when she got shot last season, she got to go back home to recover.)
The D.A. is not pleased when he learns that Nate went to see Annalise in lockup. When he basically threatens to fire Nate, Nate tells him that he’s been sleeping with A.D.A. Atwood so if the D.A. fires him, it could be seen as sexual harassment. (It’s nice to know Nate picked up some moves from Annalise.)
The Keating 4 Are Falling Apart
In yet another flashback, we see Wes come to Asher’s aide after Asher is accused of being “Baby Trump.” You see, Asher grabbed some random girl’s backside because he thought she was Michaela. Wes confirms to the woman that she does resemble Michaela, but she threatens to report Asher if he comes near her again. Asher then begs Wes not to tell Michaela.
In the present-day, Connor checks up on Oliver and Oliver tells him about wiping Annalise’s phone. Oliver wonders if Annalise actually did this, but surprisingly, Connor covers for her, saying she’s being framed. Oliver then confronts Connor on his many lies and straight up asks Connor if he and the others killed Sam. Before Connor can confirm this accusation, Oliver admits that he doesn’t really want to know the truth because if he does, he’ll be part of the cover-up like the rest of them. Oliver then asks Connor to leave.
Bonnie meets up with Nate, but he claims he cannot tell her anything about the investigation. Nate then offers to give Bonnie immunity if she turns on Annalise, but Bonnie just tells him to go. (Nate doesn’t appear to be on anyone’s side at the moment, but I have a feeling he’ll be back on Team Annalise before the season ends.)
Bonnie goes to see Annalise to tell her that she got her bail hearing pushed back because the autopsy report hasn’t been released yet. They’ll know better how to proceed once the M.E. confirms the cause of death. Bonnie then lets it slip that Frank is helping track down the source, but Annalise doesn’t want him involved. Too bad for her that Frank is already involved. He gives Bonnie the call log from the police station on the night of the fire. Hopefully, this will give them a lead on who turned in Annalise.
When Michaela, Asher and Connor finally get in to see Laurel, she’s still pretty out of it. She tells them that she already talked to the cops and Connor asks if she fingered Annalise. Laurel says Annalise would never hurt Wes, but Connor isn’t so convinced. He thinks Annalise might have ordered Frank to kill Wes and now Laurel’s covering for him. Connor tells the group about Annalise asking Oliver to wipe her phone and this leads into an argument in which Asher basically accuses Connor of killing Wes. Laurel blurts out that the baby is Wes’, but that only stops the fight for a moment before Connor says something insulting about Wes and Asher proceeds to bash in his face. (Connor has apparently chosen to deal with his grief by intentionally picking fights with his friends.)
A Blast from the Past
Via flashback, we see Connor and Wes briefly discussing their relationships with Oliver and Meggy. Connor thinks it’d be better for Oliver and Meggy if they were free of them and Wes doesn’t disagree.
In the present-day, Meggy patches Connor up after his fight with Asher. This gives someone a chance to ask Meggy how she’s doing and the poor girl doesn’t know. (She clearly loved Wes, but he broke her heart so it’s not surprising that she’s confused about her feelings in the wake of his death.)
Michaela is furious with Asher for attacking Connor and they end up getting into a fight about their vastly different ways of coping with grief. Michaela tells Asher to go home while she stays at the hospital with Laurel.
Bonnie and Frank are going through the call logs when they recognize a name from Annalise’s past. It turns out that Sam’s sister, Hannah, called the police station right after the fire broke out at Annalise’s home. This leads Bonnie to think that Hannah was somehow involved, and Annalise tells Bonnie that she called Hannah that night in her drunken state to tell her sister-in-law that she could have the house. Since Hannah wants the house and she still thinks Annalise killed Sam, she might be the source.
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Bonnie Loses in Court
The episode’s final flashback is between Wes and Michaela. Michaela spots Wes buying jewelry for someone and since he just broke up with Meggy, Michaela wonders who it is for. Wes owns up to seeing Laurel, but doesn’t want Michaela to tell anyone. Michaela promises to keep his secret and offers to help him pick something out. (I loved how this scene pointed out how rare any Wes-Michaela interaction was. That’s a relationship I wish we had seen more of before Wes’ death.)
Michaela is still at the hospital with Laurel. Laurel is in a lot of pain, a theme for her in this episode, and Michaela promises to be there for her no matter what she decides.
Annalise has a chat with one of her cellmates. The woman recognizes her from her work in the courtroom. She points out no matter how high they rise, the system will always find a way to bring them down.
In court, the D.A. wants the judge to deny Annalise’s bail. Bonnie argues that the state has no real evidence against Annalise and they are only going off the word of an anonymous source. Bonnie wants the D.A. to identify the source, but the D.A. is hesitant to do so. The judge orders him to reveal the source or present additional evidence as to why Annalise should remain in jail. The D.A. asks for a recess.
Oliver goes to see Connor and Connor immediately advises him to go to the police about wiping Annalise’s phone. Oliver refuses to do that because he’s clearly still in love with Connor. Connor then admits to sleeping with Thomas the night before. Oliver still refuses to go to the police. Connor tells Oliver that he will just continue to hurt him because that’s what he does. Connor then basically begs Oliver to go to the cops the way he’s never been able to. Oliver just looks after Connor instead.
Back in court, the D.A. says he cannot reveal the name of his source but Atwood presents evidence that their office was looking into Annalise for a number of other crimes. She shows the judge the immunity agreement they offered Wes and claims that Wes was going to sign it but he was killed before he could. The judge then denies bail and sends Annalise back to prison.
Is Frank Guilty?
Asher shows up on Michaela’s door-step and apologizes for his behavior. Michaela wants him to promise that he won’t lash out like that again and then tells him to apologize to Connor as well. The three of them cuddle up in bed together while they watch the D.A talk to the press about Annalise’s case.
During their statement to the press, Atwood reveals that the M.E. released the autopsy report and Wes died of asphyxiation from smoke inhalation. This goes directly against what the M.E. previously told Nate and Nate confronts the M.E. about it. She basically claims that her initial theory — that Wes died before the fire — was incorrect. Yet we can tell by Nate’s reaction that he doesn’t believe her. Did someone get this woman to change her findings? If so, which of the many suspects in Wes’ death interfered in the investigation?
As the episode ends, Frank goes to see Laurel in the hospital and she is still furious with him. She blames him for Wes’ death and says he should’ve been the one who died in Wes’ place. After his chat with Laurel, Frank ends up at the police station confessing to Wes’ murder. We then see via flashback that Frank picked Wes up after he left the police station the day he was killed because “It’s time we talk.” (This is clearly still hours before the fire so it’s unlikely that Frank was directly involved in Wes’ murder.)
What did you think of this episode of How to Get Away with Murder season 3? Were you surprised that Frank turned himself in for Wes’ murder? Will anyone believe him or will they merely assume that he’s trying to take the fall for Annalise? If Frank wasn’t involved in Wes’ death, who was? Does it all tie back to the Mahoneys? Do you trust the woman Annalise kind of befriends in jail or does she have an ulterior motive for being nice to Annalise? 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
