Y’all, #RealTalk: My original plan for this recap of How to Get Away With Murder’s mid-season premiere was going to be nothing but a Microsoft Power Point slideshow of Charlie Weber set to my reworking of Billy Ocean’s “Get Out of My Dreams”: Get out of my dreams / And onto my queen-size bed with sheets from Target.
That was the plan, but then my editor was like:
To which I responded, “Good. Point.” So here we are, friends. I’m going to use my words (and the occasional GIF) because “What Happened to You, Annalise?” is so good that I can almost forget about Frank’s hotness. Almost. So let’s not delay things any longer. We have LOTS to discuss.
We open right where we left off with Annalise weakly saying “Christophe,” (Wes’s real name, I suppose) after he shot her. Michaela comes back in the room, and Laurel lies and says that she shot Anna. I’m not really sure why this lie was necessary, except for the fact that all these folks do is lie so they aren’t used to telling the truth. Wes takes the gun so he can get rid of it while Michaela and Laurel flee the scene before the cops arrive. We then jump two weeks ahead. Anna is still healing from the gunshot wound, and Bonnie drops her off at home. Anna still wants to testify at the preliminary trial the next day, and Bonnie assures her that the Keating 5 are doing okay. Mmm-hmm.
Laurel tries to convince Wes that the plan is working and that everyone thinks Catherine shot Annalise. Of course, Nate is the only one not fooled by this tale. Laurel has enough of mopey Wes, even though he looks hot, and she tells him to suck it up. Meanwhile, Phillip is still missing, and the other Keating 5 are hanging out for study group. LOL. I legit forgot they were in school. Wes joins them, and Frank is looking delicious. Back at Annalise’s crib, she’s asleep after taking some Vicodin. A woman holding a newborn knocks on the door and then leaves the baby with Anna, who freaks out. Cut to me like, “Calm down, lady, and call the cops. They will pick up the baby, and then you can back to sleeping during Judge Mathis.”
Asher tells Bonnie that he’s anxious because he hasn’t heard from the cops. Cut to a flashback to the night of Annalise’s shooting and Sinclair’s death. He wants the police to investigate his dad because he thinks his pops was murdered. Back to the present. Asher and Bonnie are talking about this matter WITH ALL OF THE DOORS OPEN, so after he leaves the room, Connor comes in like, “Stop encouraging Asher. His dad wasn’t murdered.” Just then, she gets a phone call from Anna. Bonnie comes back to take care of the baby … EXCEPT THERE IS NO BABY. ANNALISE IS HALLUCINATING:
Frank goes to Anna’s and gives Bonnie the pills he used to drug Catherine. Bonnie then updates him on Annalise’s condition and says that Anna can’t testify. Frank tells the Keating 5 that they’re going to write up a statement on Anna’s behalf and that should get them through the preliminary trial. Meanwhile, we see that Frank stole some of Anna’s blood from the gunshot wound and put it on Catherine’s clothes. Damn, this dude is good, and hella smart. If he didn’t use his skills for evil, he could probably host a podcast with Neil deGrasse Tyson or something. Anyway, Bonnie breaks up some of the capsules into ice cream and has her eat it. Anna starts slurring and talking about the baby, and Bonnie says this is all a hallucination. She then tells Annalise’s lawyer to accept the written statement. Anna is still hallucinating at home — the “baby” won’t stop crying until someone knocks at the door. It’s … Laurel.
We flash back to one week earlier. Laurel visits Anna in the hospital. Anna wants know why she covered for Wes; Laurel didn’t think Wes could handle any more after Rebecca and Sam. Anna then lies and says she only said the stuff about Rebecca to provoke Wes. Laurel then spills the beans that Bonnie is preventing Anna from testifying. Next thing we see is Bonnie at Anna’s crib, telling her this is the right call because of the hallucinations. Also, Nate still hasn’t called Annalise. She pretends that doesn’t break her heart, and then she asks Bonnie to throw out the Vicodin. That night, Caleb is on the news defending Catherine. Wes is at home, with the gun that he was supposed to dispose of but didn’t.
This is so dumb. I guarantee that gun will go missing, if not by the end of this episode, then by the end of next week’s. UGH! Colliver are trying to distract Asher from his dead-dad business, Bonnie goes to see Nate and gets him to go see Anna. He says that he’s down to protect. LOL. Nate? Annalise has done nothing but ruin your doggone life, and you’re still ride or die for her? Okay.
The next day at court, Caleb and Michaela and things are awkward. He’s not here for Michaela’s lies, and I feel sad for her. She’s never going to have a relationship. Her fiancé was gay, the next dude she hooked up with got arrested, and now Caleb hates her. At least she got a pocketful of orgasms from Caleb before their relationship turned sour. Caleb tells her that the Keating 5 belong in hell. Yep, sounds about right. The preliminary hearing goes horribly; the judge thinks Annalise should testify if the prosecution wants this to go to trial. The hearing continues, and Anna shows up looking bedraggled, like she’s riding the crimson wave. Anna is there because Laurel told her the written testimony was thrown out, and for some reason, Laurel is shocked that Anna showed up. Everyone on this show is too smart to constantly be “shocked hand-over-mouth at an awards show,” Taylor Swift–style. Anna was always going to show up. The only way that Anna could surprise me is if she decided to chill at home and hum Cam’ron’s “Horse & Carriage” remix, which was inspired by the Night Court theme song.
Anna is testifying and straight-up lying, and Catherine looking at her like, “This. Bish.” As Anna testifies, she hallucinates and hears a baby crying. The judge orders a 15-minute recess, and Annalise does a jankity version of fixing her bandage. Bonnie is like, “You can’t do this.” Wes wants to talk, and Anna is like, “Nah. Byyyyyye.” Back to the courtroom. Anna is blowing this testimony, and she’s bleeding. Annalise then says that Catherine confessed to her that she didn’t shoot her parents. WUT?! Turns out Anna did this to break attorney/client secrecy, which makes everything that Anna said in court inadmissible. Man! So glad she did that, because Anna was hella messing up.
The courtroom is dismissed. Anna and Caleb talk. He tells her that Phillip drugged Catherine and she just doesn’t remember shooting Annalise. And Anna says this is the only way to keep Catherine out of jail. Caleb pretty much believes her and relays it to Catherine, who feels like he doesn’t believe she’s innocent. She’s sad, and my brain hurts from trying to keep up with this mess. Let’s take a quick time-out, shall we?
Okay, back to the show. The judge is getting ready to rule when Catherine jumps up and says she shot Annalise, and that she was drugged by Phillip. Oh dear. The DA is gonna offer Catherine a deal if she testifies against Phillip. Hooray, I guess! Anna leaves the court, and Bonnie meets her at the car. Bonnie is like, “I know you wanted to die that night.” Anna says, “You wanted me gone, anyway.” Obviously, Bonnie is ride-or-die for Anna, so for Anna to be all butt-hurt when Bonnie only said those mean things because Anna pretty much ruined her life is not cool. Just work this out, ladies!
Then then see Wes at Annalise’s house, looking around for anything Christophe-related. Meanwhile, Frank is being tender to Laurel, and I’m so here for the future Flaurel Wedding. Back to Anna’s house. She arrives and wants to know who is there. Why doesn’t she leave when she realizes someone broke in? Why is she acting like Tiffani-Amber Thiessen in a Lifetime movie? Save yourself, girl! Anna does not hear me. She goes upstairs and finds Wes lying in her bed. He believes his mom killed herself, and it seems like he wants to kill himself, too?! He asks her if she knew his mom.
Flash back to ten years ago. Young Wes is at a playground. A pregnant Annalise watches him, then goes to sit down. It’s the woman from the beginning. WAIT. A. W.E.B. DUBOIS. MINUTE. The woman from the beginning of the episode is Wes’s real mom, Rose?! OMG.
We cut back to the present day. Annalise tells Wes he ruined her and kicks him out of her house. Then she tries going after him, but he’s already gone. She hears a noise and sees her hallucination baby again. And we end on Anna holding herself. Wow. Was Wes not actually at her house? How did Annalise lose her baby? Does Bonnie know about Annalise’s past? In short, my thoughts on this twisty episode:
I have no idea what’s going on. I like it!
All righty, what did you think of the mid-season premiere? Anyone else super concerned with Annalise? And do you think Annalise killed Wes’s birth mom?
