How To Get Away With Murder – Call It Mother’s Intuition

By: Jamie Steinberg

Annalise (Viola Davis) has been locked up while the police investigate her house being set on fire. She meets with detectives to find out her charges: arson and first degree murder. It seems an anonymous source has provided information that ties her to the charges.

We flash back to two weeks earlier where we see Wes with his attorney being asked questions by a detective. The officer wants to know if Wes saw Wallace Mahoney’s son anywhere in the area. Wes (Alfred Enoch) says that he did because he thought about asking him for directions. We then cut to out front of the school where Wes and Annalise are arguing over his visit to the police station. Annalise tries to pacify Wes’ guilt and he asks if she’s heard from Frank (Charlie Weber). She quips, “No. Maybe we got lucky and he killed himself.”

The law clinic watches a news feature about a woman accusing her children (grown adults) of poisoning her with antifreeze. It seems Annalise and company will be defending the children, whom she advises to pretend they love and adore their mother. Unfortunately, it seems the kids had a running group text where they “jokingly” teases about killing their mother. The children are then coached on answering questions for the upcoming deposition and they warn their legal counsel that their mother is a master manipulator – any sign of weakness and she will use it to her advantage. Annalise thinks the key to beating this though is to promote a united front. It seems the mother owned a restaurant so it is up to The Keating 5 to investigate any possible suspects and are given the incentive that whoever brings a good suspect will get an automatic “A” on Annalise’s midterm. Wes and Laurel (Karla Souza) agree to team up, which actually leads them to a steamy sex session.

Bonnie (Liza Weil) and Annalise have a heart to heart later that night. Annalise is having trouble thinking clearly so Bonnie suggests she head to an AA meeting to help clear her mind. At the meeting, the dean of the school is telling a story about how she fell asleep while driving and her kids ran out of the car and into the street. Her husband filed for full custody and she doesn’t think that her alcoholism should mean she loses her kids.

The Keating 6 (as the usual crew are joined by Oliver) have their noses to the grindstone looking for possible suspects. Michaela (Aja Naomi King) has no luck, but Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) shows her a cute picture that a guy he has been dating sent him. Asher interrupts with his own suspect and wants Oliver to hack into his life to see if he has any skeletons. Asher teases Oliver about his love life – saying this is someone he’s getting serious with – but is assured this is just them heading out on a third date.

The dean finds Annalise mid AA meeting. Annalise compliments the dean on being able to speak her story outloud, but says she isn’t able to do it herself. Annalise offers to recommend an attorney for her custody case. The dean notices Annalise being snippy and says she is there because she slapped a client not because the dean put her there. Annalise brushes it off as just being hungry and walks away.

Connor (Jack Falahee) calls Oliver out for not looking at Thomas’ texts in front of them. Their exchange is interrupted when Asher (Matt McGorry) squeals with delight that Oliver’s hack found his produce guy had sent a link a few weeks ago before the poisoning about anti-freeze. The daughter says they can’t show the email though to the prosecutors because she was dating the produce guy and he sent it to her as a joke. Annalise says that because it is a conspiracy case they would all be implicated. She yells at them to just stick to the story they prepared for children.

The next day at the courthouse Wes runs into Nate (Billy Brown). Nate asks how it went with the police and is assured that everything went fine. Nate warns Wes to watch his ass though. Next up is the deposition. The children are being asked questions about their text exchange and their experiences working with their mother at the restaurant. The mother’s attorney brings up an incident that happened with her youngest son where she embarrassed him in front of his date. The mother taunts the son into admitting he looks forward to her finally dying. Post deposition, the Keating 5 are trying to figure out how to dig themselves out of this tough spot.

Laurel and Wes find their way back into bed together. She confesses to being scared that their new relationship is all a dream. He confesses that he wanted this to happen since the moment they met. Their bliss is interrupted by Connor who calls to say that Wallace Mahoney’s son has an alibi for the time his father was shot. Wes calls Annalise out for assuring him that Eve had them looking into this. Annalise confesses to lying about Eve (Famke Janseen) and says sometimes she lies to protect them from the truth “because I know that it can drive a person insane.” Bonnie comes to her defense, but the Keating 5 are too pissed to hear it. They would prefer to be honest with them above all. Annalise grabs a chair and tells them to come at her with all they need to get off their chests as to how she ruined their lives. Each person takes a turn telling Annalise the ways in which she has effected their lives.

While Annalise is being served by her students, Oliver is getting some sexy time with his new guy Thomas. Before they can get too hot and heavy Oliver confesses to be HIV positive. Thomas stops mid-kiss at the news and thinks that he isn’t ready to be with someone who has such significant health concerns.

Bonnie and Annalise watch an interview with “Mommy Dearest” who is saying she has done nothing, but love her children. Annalise has a moment of clarity where she realizes that the mom actually poisoned herself. She thinks that she knew about the daughter’s emails and did it to herself. Annalise tells Laurel she can understand why a mother would want to punish her ungrateful children. She tells Laurel to confront the mother in front of the children so she can earn the automatic A because Laurel is “her puppet.”

At the deposition, Laurel flubs a few details when speaking to the mother in order to rile her up. She says asks if the mother was involved at all in her childrens’ love lives and receives the response that none of them have one. Laurel says she recalls that the daughter was having a relationship with the produce guy and the mother asserts the man was just using her daughter for sex. Laurel pushes the mother by saying that the daughter kept the relationship from her so how could she know about it? The employees kept their cell phones locked in her office so that the mother had the opportunity to take the phone and sneak into the daughter’s emails. Annalise adds that the way the children have behaved it is clear that she poisoned herself to teach them a lesson. The mother admits that maybe now they won’t take her forgranted.

Outside of the school Annalise runs into the dean. She gives her the number of a good lawyer to help with her custody case. After driving home, Annalise arrives to find Wes sitting on her steps. Wes tells him about his meeting with Nate earlier. Wes says he is sorry that he lied to the police about Wallace’s son. She tells him to keep lying about it, but Wes doesn’t think that constantly lying is a good bandaid for the situation. Annalise tells him that his mother sacrificed so much for him so it is “his job to live as good as he can.”

Bonnie is at home reading up on Wallace’s son. A knock on the door finds Frank on her doorstep. Also making an appearance on someone’s doorstep is Oliver. He is drunk and appears at Michaela’s home where Connor is staying. Oliver is upset that Thomas dumped him and confesses that he misses being with Connor. Yes, they broke up but he knows that showing up sad and depressed isn’t fair. Connor says Oliver can come to him any time because he misses what they had, too. The two have a “Coliver” hookup for the ages…

Frank is at Bonnie’s saying that he should have gone to Annalise, but he wanted to do something so he could prove she could trust him. He apologizes for bailing after their hookup, but Bonnie is pissed. She thinks he came to see her after visiting Laurel and her not being there. He doesn’t want her to be mad, but she is too upset. She doesn’t believe his excuses and feels used by him. He is doing his best to try to apologize, but she doesn’t want to hear it. She feels he put on an act for everyone and screams at him to leave.