How To Get Away With Green
This color is such a good look on Viola Davis, but the cut of the top is distracting to me -- from some angles I kept thinking there was a rogue hair stuck to her blouse.
The episode opens with Annalise giving a lecture to her students about how you're statistically most likely to get killed by someone you know -- a spouse, a friend or relative, a lover -- as we see another glamorously shot montage of a person dying; this time, it's Rebecca, suffocating inside a plastic bag. (Before the hour is out we will see it again, PLUS a version of Frank choking and drowning poor pregnant Lila.) We then go between shots of Wes biking and Annalise's class discussing the strategy when your client is guilty, or looks it: pin it on an acquaintance, or discredit the investigation. Wes shows up late to class and acts like a petulant douche, talking back to Annalise; she takes it because it's Wes, and he quite literally knows where the bodies are buried. Well, one of the bodies. I'm sure there are more beyond even Rebecca's. I hope it turns out, when this series goes off the air someday, that the reason Annalise knows so much about getting away with murder is that she's been getting away with murder HER WHOLE LIFE. (I guess her mother Cicely Tyson got away with murdering their lech uncle, although as murders go that was a benevolent one.)
How To Get Away With Doodling
One of the Pretty Little Lawyers -- I think Michaela -- spends the entire class drawing this on a piece of paper. All it's missing is "Mrs. Michaela Eggs 911" and a Trapper Keeper. I had forgotten the following detail, perhaps because I TOTALLY MISSED IT the first time around, but Rebecca used Michaela's phone to text "Eggs 911" when she was being held at Annalise's. And now Michaela is walking around with Eggs 911's contact information burning a hole in her pocket. Here is my question: Since it was Michaela's phone, Rebecca would've had to type in a phone number in order to send the text. Did I ALSO miss the part where any of them tried to source said phone number?
Also, I would love to have seen a moment where anyone sitting around Michaela looked over and was like, "Uh...?" Maybe, to cover, Michaela should start an emergency breakfast delivery service. I would call THAT Eggs 911 daily.
How To Get Away With Asher
And then Asher makes this face. It doesn't matter why.
How To Get Away With Zzz
Laurel remains sort of boring -- Michaela is furious at her for stealing the engagement ring (and thus ensuring Michaela would play along with concealing the murder, because she'd be too panicked about being caught) and Laurel is acting like this is unreasonable of Michaela. Laurel is fast becoming The Worst, although she does have healthy competition here. I'm mostly only showing her to you for the accessories. And her good eyebrows.
How To Get Away With Paris
I'm switching to calling her Bonnie because the characters' real names sneak into my consciousness after one season and then I just confuse myself. Bonnie is dressing very brightly right now, presumably because she's getting to see the faces Asher makes on a very regular and naked basis. It would seem Annalise is having a barren stretch with clients, now that she's been involved in her own MUUUURDER, but there is a solution ahoy and it involves being a jerk. Bonnie really needs to fix her hair -- the Mary Stuart Masterson does not work on her, even with her improved lipstick game.
How To Get Away With Thievery
I am not really feeling giant buttons on coats. They seem very juvenile to me. But Annalise still looks very posh in whatever the hell time of year this is -- I believe it's ten days after the events of the finale -- as she approaches two siblings accused of murdering their adoptive parents. She grandstands for a bit before telling them to call her when their lawyer screws up, then commits some serious fraud. See, Laurel found footage of the eyewitness, their aunt, at a spa on the same DATE of the murder but a different YEAR. So she helps doctor the footage -- she's a genius and a criminal mastermind now, I guess? -- to make it look like the aunt was lying about her whereabouts, thus forcing the prosecution to investigate and prove the footage was faked. This convinces the siblings to hire Annalise instead. Great plan, except that I believe Laurel also HANDED them the footage, and isn't that going to come back and bite Annalise? The lawyer also figured out immediately that Annalise was behind it, as she was lurking in the courtroom with Bonnie and left in a cloud of her own self-satisfaction. This all seems eminently provable, but what do I know.
How To Get Away With Asher, Part II
And then Asher makes this face. It doesn't matter why.
How To Get Away With Jean Grey
Famke Janssen shows up, ALSO with a large-fastener'd coat, and reveals herself to be a Death Row attorney and head of something called The Exoneration Group (so that's their best approximation of The Innocence Project? Did they not consider The Not-Guilty Experiment, or The Righteous Movement?, or The Blamelessness Plan?). She is also an old school chum of Annelise's, and is the attorney Annalise sent Nate to for help defending himself against the set-up for Tom Verica's murder. It's the kind of shared past where Famke alludes to not wanting to get sucked in again, and how she doesn't like to use people and is not empty inside like Annalise is. The whole time I'm distracted by the fact that I want to cut her hair.
How To Get Away With Asher, Part III
And then Asher makes this face. It doesn't matter why.
How To Get Away With Nudity
Oliver's HIV-positive status means he's REALLY gun-shy about any nooky of any sort with Connor. This prompts a frowny Connor to note, "My penis was really craving an orgasm." That sounds like nothing he would say, and like everything Cosmopolitan For Men would write on a cover line. Fear not: By the end, Connor shows his commitment by moving into Oliver's apartment without Oliver asking him to, and Oliver is so grateful to have Connor's lacrosse net that he never uses that they fall into each other's arms.
How To Get Away With Mug Shots
The Hapstall siblings are Caleb and Catherine, and Annalise is now representing them -- and it appears they'll recur through the season, because their massive Disney castle of a house is featured in the twist at the end. They seem fairly normal until the end of the episode, where Caleb comes home and finds Catherine painting "another family portrait," and she is indeed lovingly applying paint to a piece of art that doesn't seem to be of their actual family. Basically, they are going to turn out to be real weird.
How To Get Away With Hacking
Frank is cloning everyone's computers and spying on them, which is how he figures out that Wes is Googling local Jane Doe reports to see if Rebecca has been found dead. Frank thinks that means Wes killed her and is worried about getting caught. This whole episode is about Frank developing wrong theories, because later, Laurel comes to him and tries to get him to admit Rebecca is dead -- I guess she has noticed Behavior Being Odd? -- and Frank slams the door in her face and then decides SHE did it. (Remember that time Laurel asked Frank if he'd off Rebecca if need be? I didn't either until the show flashed back to it.) And remember, no one here knows Frank killed Lila, so we don't have to be grossed out that Annalise isn't treating him any differently. We CAN, however, still question why the show wants us to root for him in any capacity.
How To Get Away With Lying
Annalise is SUPER defensive of Wes being innocent, in a way that reads like she has a cougary obsession with him. I can't blame her, but he has no personality and Annalise's mere aura could flatten him like a sexy, sexy pancake. Anyway, she lies that Frank found Rebecca holed up in a specific motel and that they're keeping her safe, so that Frank can follow Wes and see what he does. (The answer: He unlocks some random convenience store and goes inside, but doesn't go to the motel. Somehow this exonerates him? Wouldn't it make him look guiltier because he clearly knows she's dead and not at the motel?) And I was all irritated that anyone would believe Annalise while she is making this face, which is the very picture of insincere caring, and she makes it ALL THE TIME and is always lying. Fortunately, Wes sees through her and later confronts her about not trusting him, and blah blah blah they're fine. And she still wants to break off a piece of that action.
How to Get Away With Asher, Part IV
And then Asher makes this face. It doesn't matter why.
How To Get Away With Asher, Part V
And then Asher makes THIS face. It doesn't matter why.
How To Get Away With Hemming And Hawing
It DOES matter why Asher makes this face: Everyone knows he's sleeping with Bonnie, which she's coyly charmed by, and she invites him over that night for an in-depth study of her tortes. He burbles a lame excuse, which turns out to be because he's spying on Annalise for the prosecutor who is trying Nate's case -- because said prosecutor is blackmailing him. He's scared that he'll blab to Bonnie everything that he's doing, because Asher has many faces but "poker" is not among them.
How To Get Away With A Wine Sale
This is Wes's convenience store, and you should know that ALL WINE is $9.99 there right now. LIMIT NONE. I hope there is also a special Wine Cardigan section.
How To Get Away With Texting Random People
Michaela just could not resist, so she reaches out to Eggs 911. She can't decide between "Who are you?" and "Two eggs over medium, heavy on the salt and pepper, with a side of sausage patties," so she goes with the more benign "Hi."
How To Get Away With Rebecca's Murder
Frank's wrong theories about Laurel and Wes somehow magically lead Annalise to the right doorstep of Rebecca's killer. Before I reveal it, let's all pour some out for poor Katie Findlay, having to shoot a scene in which her head is wrapped in plastic while she has duct tape over her mouth. Somehow, I have to imagine that no matter how many times you remind yourself that you're on a set and they will probably save your life, the panic is a little bit real.
And who put the bag on her head? THE KILLER IS... dumb roll, please... WHOOPS I meant drum...
How To Get Away With Bagging Someone's Face
BONNIE. I guess Bonnie was convinced Rebecca killed Lila, so between that and not believing that Rebecca wouldn't sell them all out, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Bonnie tells Rebecca bad things happened to her in her youth, too: "The worst things." She says she always tells herself she's a good person and that she deserves the best no matter what anyone else says, and the difference between her and Rebecca is that she grew up and doesn't use her past as an excuse to be a dink, or doing anything as awful as kill people. And then she goes ahead and kills Rebecca, so POOF, there goes that argument. She's cold and she's matter-of-fact and she's efficient.
And when Annalise comes to Bonnie's door, she -- like the Queen in the premiere of Scandal -- confesses IMMEDIATELY even though Annalise doesn't have a freaking shred of proof. I can't even work out how Annalise solved this. It just randomly happened, but because even this accomplished lawyer does not remember that YOU DON'T CONFESS TO MURDER WHEN THERE IS NO PROOF, Bonnie tells Annalise that she did it because Rebecca meant trouble for Annalise. "It was for you," she says. Annalise spits that she did it for SAM because Bonnie wanted Sam to have been worthy of her love. "Now that you've done this, you're a monster just like him," Annalise says. Please compare this to Annalise's reaction when she thinks Frank might've done it: She told him that she wouldn't mind that he'd done it; only that he lied about it. I don't know if that means she expects better of Bonnie, or she's playing a mind game with her, feeding her this treatment because she knows it'll yield a behavior she wants.
How To Get Away With Bright Coats
Annalise puts on a coat with a hint of red when she goes to visit Famke, which might suggest passion in her blood, which makes sense...
How To Get Away With Tongue
... because the two shared a romantic past (turns out AK left Famke for Sam). Annalise shows up at Famke's in tears, sniffling that Famke is right and that she ruins people. Famke comforts her, then they flirt, Famke reminisces about how Annalise used to go out dancing and be super fun, and then they make out and hit the sheets. Well played, Annalise. Famke is hot. However, this yields exactly what Annalise wants, because Famke takes Nate's case. So to my eyes, this is as much a performance as anything else, although it doesn't mean there can't also be real feelings there. And Viola's performance does convey both those realities.
How To Get Away With Rubbing Out An Eyewitness
The Hapstall siblings' aunt, who is the prosecution's entire case, is found dead with her throat cut in a car. There is SO MUCH MURDER right now. We are dripping with murder.
How To Get Away With Wigs
Next, now that the afterglow of getting Famke'd reminds Annalise that she used to like to party, she puts on her rave wig and takes the gang to a basement club to get drunk and shake it like a Polaroid picture. It's obviously an extremely appropriate thing to do with your students, and she is to be lauded for her restraint and professionalism. I really want there to be an episode where the other students in her class fill out a shitty performance review and have to go before the Dean. Or an episode where we get to see how all this looks from their perspective, which would be, I think, like she is the world's worst teacher.
How To Get Away With Text Messaging In A Basement
And while Michaela thinks Wes is watching her purse, Annalise drags him out to dance -- right as Eggs 911 is all, "Hello? I need a delivery address, dude."
How To Get Away With Pawing At Your Student
Once Annalise gets Wes out on the dance floor, she rubs her hands up and down his chest while looking at him thusly. I spent a lot of last season in a state of dread that tongues would be exchanged here, and that sensation has not abated. Especially because, as we hear this, we get a repeat of Annalise's speech about how people usually get killed by those they know...
How To Get Away With Ginormous Real Estate
... and we flash to Two Months Later, and a gunshot going off in the Hapstall mansion, followed by Wes sprinting out in a breathless panic...
How To Get Away With Bleeding Out On A Rug
... and on the words "a lover" from Annalise's voice-over, we smash from Wes to a bleeding Annalise lying prone in the study of the house (we assume, unless that's a fake out also).
And so we have a Case of the Season in The Affair of the Creepy Painting and Semi-Murderous-Maybe Siblings; we have Bonnie, fresh off killing Rebecca, trying to make a go of it with Asher -- who is spying on them all -- and trying to regain AK's trust; Annalise maybe getting a leg over Wes, for which I cannot blame her, even if it seems kind of incestuous to me because she also acts maternally toward him sometimes; we are careening toward Frank and Laurel having sex again; and Eggs 911 has yet to tell us what the delivery radius is. ARE YOU IN?