O-M-G! How to Get Away with Murder is back.
We start off where the mid-season left off with Annalise clinging to life after Wes shot her. Laurel takes the gun from Wes at the exact time Michaela came in the room. She takes the blame for shooting Annalise. As the cops are on their way, Wes takes the gun and plans to put it in the pool.
Two weeks later, Annalise is home from the hospital, very much alive. She is in her PJs and looks drugged up, but still wants to testify in the trial. Poor Catherine is now standing trial for the attempted murder of Annalise, and the murder of our favorite deceased assistant district attorney, Emily Sinclair.
Annalise is popping pain pills, which isn’t putting her in the best frame of mind. She hears an urgent knock at her door and answers it, finding a frantic woman carrying a baby. The lady hands the child to Annalise and leaves. Bonnie comes over and takes the baby from Annalise, who wants to focus on the case. Oh. It turns out the baby isn’t really there— Annalise is hallucinating. And Bonnie is worried.
Wes is having his own mental problems, dealing with everything going on. Laurel tries to get him out of his funk. With Annalise in no condition to take the stand, the Keating Five and Frank work to write up a witness statement for her. Bonnie crumbles some pills into Annalise’s ice cream to get her to sleep. We hear the name Rose, but aren’t sure who Annalise is referring to.
We go again to two weeks prior with Asher at the police department trying to further investigate his father’s suicide. He believes it was a murder. We Then we time-jump a week, with Laurel in the hospital with Annalise, who asks her student why she took the fall for Wes. Laurel says she got scared, and everyone was already blaming Wes for Sam. Laurel asks Annalise if what she said about Rebecca was true. Annalise said she just said that to provoke him. Laurel is told to keep watching over Wes. Caleb isn’t digging Michaela at the moment and basically tells her and the others to go to hell.
Annalise’s 911 call is played in court. The judge won’t take the written statement and wants her to testify in person. She does show up after Laurel apparently calls her to come. Annalise says she is well enough to take the stand, but starts to hear the baby crying. Our normally fierce lawyer and professor is in bad shape, bleeding through her bandages.
Annalise comes back after recess saying she didn’t see anything, and then says Catherine didn’t do it. Catherine didn’t shoot her parents. But by doing this, she breaks attorney-client privilege.
The plan unravels and Annalise proves she is still Annalise, as the manipulation continues. She talks to Caleb and says she made Catherine out to be the victim. She says Phillip killed their parents and wanted to pin it on Catherine. The story goes that he put the gun in the room, befriended her before she knew who he was and drugged her that night. Caleb talks to Catherine and asks her to do something for him.
AMY OKUDA
Catherine says she remembered things she didn’t before just before the judge was reading the verdict. Yes, she admitted to shooting Annalise, but says she was drugged and remembers who it was now. It was Phillip. Bonnie talks to Annalise after and says the DA is going to offer a plea deal.
Throughout most of the episode, Wes is trying to get Annalise to talk to him. We see him looking up the name Christophe on Annalise’s computer. He goes through files and other paperwork. He finds pills. Annalise finds him.
He says he gets why his mom did it — to make it all stop. Wes comes to the conclusion that Annalise knew his mother. Flashback 10 years earlier, as Annalise is watching who we believe is Wes playing kickball.
Wes believes Annalise is the reason he got off the wait list for law school and didn’t tell him because there is a story there. In the flashback, Annalise sits next to the mother, who is Rose — the same woman we saw earlier in the hallucinations. Who is she — and who is Annalise — in relation to Wes?
Wes wants answers, and starts to get aggressive. Afraid, Annalise asks him to leave, then heads downstairs to find the baby is back. She holds the baby … which is revealed to be her just hugging herself.
One episode in and the show is already messing with everyone’s minds, leaving us with a ton to digest. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
So what’s your early take, HTGAWM fans? Is Annalise just losing it or on her way to a big epiphany? How is she really connected to Wes? What’s the deal with Rose? Tell us in the comments section below.
Until next week.
- Watch How to Get Away with Murder Thursdays at 10/9CT on ABC.
- Follow me on Twitter @smFISHMAN.
