How To Get Away With Murder – Live. Live. Live.

By: Dustin Bradley

ABC’s “How to get Away with Murder” aired one of the most gruesome mid-season finales yet last week and there wasn’t even a murder (more on that below). We got lots of answers but we still have many questions. Live. Live. Live. was the perfect finale for this season of character development and the character rehab of Annalise. All of the “OMG moments” that ABC loves to promote came from genuine story moments and not for the shock factor. So how did the episode pull it off? Well let’s recap down below!

We open with our flash forward where Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) receives a phone call at the Caplan & Gold party and rushes upstairs to see the others and a body covered in blood.

We then flash back to the previous night where Connor (Jack Falahee) and Oliver storming to Laurel’s apartment to confront her about the “Antares” plan that Oliver clued him in on the previous episode out of guilt when Connor finally responded to his engagement proposal. Not only is Laurel (Karla Souza) there, but so is Michaela (Aja Naomi King), Asher (Matt McGorry), and Frank (Charlie Weber).

Connor tries to convince them that this plan will not end well and that he’s disappointed in Laurel and her continued quest for justice at all cost, including the lives of herself, her unborn child and the others. But the person he is most upset with is Frank, seeing as how dangerous he “knows this situation is and yet will do anything to get back on Laurel and Annalise’s side because at the end of the day [he’s] not good enough.” I’m paraphrasing, but what Connor said clearly struck a chord because next thing you know Frank is choking Connor out. When they finally pull Frank off, Laurel reassures Connor that this is what’s best and to just keep his mouth shut. That he does when Annalise calls him and tells him to leave her alone unless it’s an absolute disaster.

When we first see Annalise (Viola Davis) this episode she is fiddling with the elevator in her hotel (which will be important later) and when she finally gets up to her floor, who is there but Bonnie (Liza Weil). Bonnie tries telling Annalise that all the things she has done from the very beginning have been done in “love” because she loves her and knows that they can work it out and that Annalise could love her, too. Annalise tells her that she doesn’t love her, but she is frightened by her and doesn’t want to see her again. So what does Bonnie do but go to Nate (Billy Brown) for some Annaliese therapy. She asks him how he got over her and he said he still hasn’t. The past two seasons have really dialed down on Nate and i’m not mad about it because his relationship with Annalise was a mess and toxic.

Before we get to the party we have a montage of Annalise and Laurel both in their apartments rattling their brains and feeling guilty. Annalise about her relationship with Isaac (Jimmy Smits) and Laurel over the whole “Antares” plan and putting people in danger. They both get up to leave their respected dwellings. Annalise goes to visit Isaac and tells him that she doesn’t care about any of the drama that has happened the last few weeks, but that she needs him to keep treating her because he’s the only one that really understands her. Laurel leaves to go to the Caplan and Gold party.

Let’s discuss the party. So Michaela and Asher are in charge of getting Tegan’s (Amirah Vann) keycard, which they only get when Michaela convinces her that she shouldn’t make her speech holding her purse because it would look like such a power move and she would be more respected by the male partners. Meanwhile, Oliver and Connor are waiting for the keycard so that Oli can do his hacking of the servers, but the plan gets a little interrupted when Simon (Behzad Dabu) confesses that he has feelings for Oliver and it’s the first time he has felt this way and he’s confused and jealous and is scared. This prompts Oliver to try and convince the others to not frame Simon, but it’s too late because the plan is already in motion and Frank has already broken into Simon’s home and planted evidence that Simon was adding up the clues of “Antares.” So, the plan goes on, but not before Connor calls Annalise and clues her in.

Right after Oliver and Laurel get the files they need, it’s too late to sneak the keycard back into Tegan’s purse so they need to improvise and have Oliver sneak a kiss on Simon and plant it on his person. So, that’s what Oliver goes to do, except Simon isn’t downstairs at the party. He happened to follow Michaela upstairs after he senses that she has her “nervous smile” on all night. He overhears Laurel, Asher and Michaela discussing the new plan and confronts them. He reaches for Laurel’s purse and brings out her gun, confused on why she has one. When Michaela steps forward and tries to calm Simon down and retrieve the gun he trips over a chair and accidentally shoots himself in the head. Of course, the kids can’t just tell everyone the truth because that would rat them out so they decide to cover up the scene and make it look like a suicide. This is Oliver’s first bloody body, but lucky for him the others are pros by now and Michaela instructs him and the others on how to proceed. She tells Laurel that she definitely needs to leave the scene because if her father finds out that she was there he will be clued into everything and know that it was actually Laurel’s doing. So, she hops in a taxi and leaves for her apartment until she hears a voicemail that Annalise left earlier after Connor’s call and tells her to meet her at Annaliese’s place and that Annalise will help her.

Laurel goes to Annaliese’s, but while in the elevator she starts to feel blood running down her leg and remembers that Frank accidently hit her stomach earlier on and that all the added stress of the night may have resulted in a miscarriage. Just when she tries to get out, the elevator gets stuck. She starts to faint because of the blood loss and eventually captures Annaliese’s attention. It turns out she doesn’t miscarr,  but actually goes into premature labor and has the baby right on the elevator floor. Annalise freaks out and knows that she has to save this baby’s life so she does what she can and gives the baby CPR while waiting for the ambulance.

Annalise’s attempts to save the child are intercut with the doctors trying to save Simon. Simon starts to flatline as we fade to black and hear the cry of a baby so we know that one is safe. When we come back in January we will find out Simon’s fate. As I mentioned earlier there are still so many questions left like: Why did Laurel have drugs in her system when she was found? What did Annalise do with the baby? How did Isaac get involved that night? Why was Asher arrested? And what happened to Connor outside of Laurel’s apartment seeing as how Dominic (Nicholas Gonzalez) was downstairs eavesdropping?

All that and more will be answered when “How to Get Away With Murder” returns this January on ABC, Thursday nights at 10/9c!