How to Get Away With Murder recap: Season 3, Episode 9
THAT. JUST. HAPPENED. Are you still emotionally distraught? Shaken? Completely heartbroken to learn Wes, an original member of the Keating Five, was the body #UnderTheSheet?! (And just as we were all celebrating Mary J. Blige’s return to the show!) Despite how things looked a few episodes ago (and as we’ve learned many times before), you can’t really trust what you think is happening on HTGAWM, because you’re usually wrong. Welcome to Shondaland.
While this episode answered one, big, half-season-long question, it also raised about 100 others. Let’s dive into tonight’s midseason finale!
To start, we learn Frank did not kill himself. Bonnie’s able to talk down her completely distraught onetime lover and get the gun out of his hand, as Annalise stands by insisting he pull the trigger. For his part, Frank just keeps profusely apologizing to Annalise for everything he’s done.
Now we’re at the point where the past syncs with the present, so we get to see how the hours leading up to Annalise’s house fire actually played out. As part of her law clinic’s midterm exam, Annalise asks her students to defend Ted Bundy in one minute. Surprise — they ALL pass the exam, and to celebrate, Annalise brings them a ton of champagne.
The kids get rowdy: Laurel and Wes get in a fight over Frank and who’s “trying to fix” the other more in their relationship; Asher tells Michaela he “accidentally” gave her address to her mother, who’s on her way to her apartment; Connor sort of implies something about Sam’s death to Oliver… You know, your average drunken antics.
While the students celebrate, Annalise goes to the hair salon to hang out with Mary J. She starts crying in the chair, seemingly overwhelmed by everything and desperately missing alcohol. A comforting Mary J. (being the great friend she probably is IRL) tells Annalise she’s welcome to ugly cry as much as she wants. But before Annalise leaves the salon, Mary J. thanks her for the woman who recently came in on Annalise’s recommendation. Annalise is at first baffled as to whom this could be, but then realizes it was ADA Atwood.
Annalise goes to Atwood’s office under the guise of wanting to “make nice.” In reality, she’s there to ask Atwood why she’s been following her before mocking Atwood for trying to be all stealthy by going to her salon for dirt. Of course, the ADA denies everything and demands Annalise leave her office.
On her way out, Annalise approaches Nate in a parking garage and asks if he’s helping them investigate her. Despite his obvious annoyance with Annalise yelling at him once again, he says he has no idea what she’s talking about and he wasn’t involved. Shortly after, he goes in to discuss the situation with Atwood and abruptly breaks up with her.
NEXT: The police interrogate Wes
A distraught Annalise is pretty sure she’ll be going to jail soon, so she buys herself some vodka and goes HAM on that bottle. As she polishes it off, she throws several court documents into her fireplace and smashes her laptop. She then heads to Bonnie’s to tell her the good news: They’re all looking at prison time. She encourages Bonnie to get on her level, but Bonnie instead feeds her soup and coffee and talks about what the DA might have on them. Eventually, Bonnie tucks Annalise into bed and they kiss.
As Annalise tries to sleep off her latest stupor, Michaela deals with her mom showing up at her apartment. Apparently, her estranged mother decided to leave her father and needs somewhere to stay in the meantime. (Could there be a worse time to bring Michaela’s crazy-family backstory into the mix? We’re all on the edge of our seats about who’s #UnderTheSheet, but now I have to care about Michaela’s mom, too?) As Michaela and her mom argue about her upbringing and which one of them is worse, Asher barges in with a very drunk Connor and Laurel.
Somewhere across town, Wes gets a call from his lawyers asking him to go to the police station for questioning, presumably about the Mahoney case. Once there, he learns they actually want to question him about Annalise, saying they found Rebecca’s body in the woods and they’re looking for more information about his connection to his boss and teacher. Wes’ lawyer thinks he should turn Annalise in and just tell them whatever he knows, but Wes refuses and fires his attorney.
Around this time, Bonnie tells Frank the DA is investigating Annalise — and that he “can fix it.” Frank worries Bonnie doesn’t actually care about him and now wants him to jump on a grenade for everyone, too.
Meanwhile, Annalise wakes up. (I’m not sure how that’s physically possible. I mean, it’s been maybe a few hours — shouldn’t she feel a little bit sick, or at the very least, still drunk?) She’s somehow fully functional and starts making calls. The first one goes to Wes; he doesn’t answer but she leaves a message telling him to go to her house. Next up is Oliver, who’s still at the university, and Annalise tells him she’ll be there soon. And finally, she calls Laurel, telling her to round up everybody else and head to the house.
Unfortunately for Laurel, she’s the only one who makes it there. Connor’s with Tom (as we saw at the end of last week’s episode); Asher’s too drunk; and Michaela is dealing with her mom. Nate randomly arrives at Annalise’s and sees the mess she left from burning files and smashing things. Laurel enters shortly after and calls for Annalise. Seconds later, there’s an explosion from inside the house. (At this point, though, Annalise is at the university with Oliver.)
It’s now that we fast-forward through all of the scenes we saw earlier this season: Annalise at the scene of her burning house, screaming at the stretcher; Annalise asking Oliver to destroy her phone; Annalise getting booked and questioned; Meggie recognizing Laurel in the hospital; Oliver calling Connor’s phone, which is at Michaela’s apartment; Bonnie taking a call from Frank at the hospital; Bonnie in the jail cell with Annalise talking about an “unnamed source”; and Laurel asking Meggie if she knows where Wes is.
Oh, we know where he is.
A coroner stands next to a body she’s in the process of booking into the system, when Nate comes in and asks to look at the corpse. It’s Wes.
Somehow, this information has already made its way to the local news, and Wes’ face is displayed on the screen in Laurel’s hospital room. Laurel, Meggie, Asher, Michaela, Oliver, and even Connor are all there, completely distraught.
NEXT: Nate makes a shocking reveal
Flashback: A Few Hours Earlier
As it turns out, Wes had requested immunity from the detectives who were questioning him about Annalise and Rebecca. Once he got Annalise’s message, he snuck out of the police station on his own.
In the hour’s final moments, Nate announces Wes “was dead before the fire.”
Tonight’s midseason finale was true insanity. The HTGAWM writers tried to convince us at every turn that it was Frank, Nate, or Connor under the sheet, just to pull a different sheet out from under us in the end.
One Answer, 100 Questions
Here’s a smattering of what we have to think about until HTGAWM returns Jan. 19:
Who killed Wes?
Who’s the father of Laurel’s baby? After the boozefest and fire, is she still pregnant?
Who’s the anonymous source? Did Wes give up anything against Annalise before he snuck away from the cops?
Who’s responsible for the explosion?
Where was Frank?
Why did Annalise send everyone to her house if she wasn’t immediately going there?
Was someone trying to kill Annalise, or was Annalise trying to kill them?
Could Annalise be harboring secret feelings for Bonnie? That would be a trip!
Will Michaela and her mom end up being great roommates?
Twitter lit up with reactions after the episode’s conclusion, but I feel compelled to share my favorite tweet suggesting a very plausible upcoming plotline:
Please let that be Wes' secret evil twin brother, East #HTGAWM @shondarhimes
— Nick Will Cut You (@NoleCalibur) November 18, 2016
Honorable Mentions:
“Someone might take me down, but my ass if it’s gonna be you.” —Annalise to ADA Atwood
“You want to be the hood chick causing a scene?” —Nate to Annalise (Hood chick or not, when is Annalise not causing a scene?)
“Those feelings you’ve been drowning in booze come up all ugly and loud.” —Mary J. in her infinite beauty and wisdom
The slow zoom out before the explosion in Annalise’s house… Crazy!
What did you think of the HTGAWM’s midseason finale? Any answers to the many questions we’re left with? What were some of your favorite Wes moments? Let us know in the comments!
