How to Get Away with Murder – Stay

By starrymag | May 21, 2020

By: Dustin Bradley

 

 

We open with gunshots. We soon learn that they are outside the courthouse where Annalise is. We flashback to three days earlier where we are in Annalise’s (Viola Davis) apartment with her and Tegan (Amirah Vann). Annalise is reprimanding Bonnie (Liza Weil) for telling Frank the truth about his heritage since they believe that Frank could possibly be the one who shot and killed Hannah and staged it as a suicide. Tegan tries to convince Annalise that the governor was behind it and Frank definitely wasn’t. Annalise is worried though because Hannah seemed to be her only option in order to win her trial. 

 

Speaking of Frank (Charlie Weber), he’s not making a good name for himself seeing as how he’s outside the crime scene waiting for Floyd, Hannah‘s lawyer. He puts a gun to Floyd’s (Marc Grapey’s) head and tells him that they have to talk about his mother. The next morning before court Bonnie goes looking for Frank, which leads her to Laurel’s place. She tells Laurel (Karla Souza) that she can’t find him and she figured then he would’ve come there. Laurel tells Bonnie that she always hoped that Bonnie and Frank would end up together. 

 

We then go to court where we see Jorge Castillo (Esai Morales) testifying and, unlike following the advice that Nate (Billy Brown) gave him, he decides to testify against Annalise and claims that he had no contact with the governor, the FBI or Hannah Keating. Jorge then tries to establish Laurel as having a pattern of lying that began well into her youth. Jorge follows that by dropping the bombshell that he knows that Tegan was the informant that got him put away in federal prison. So, Tegan might not be safe.

 

Later that day the group talk to Laurel about what her father said on the stand and Connor (Jack Falahee) thinks that they should just be honest and tell the jury, the FBI and the world the truth about everything that has happened since the beginning of law school. Everyone, of course, understands that this is a horrible idea. However, Connor is racked with guilt over Annalise’s life being taken away by false testimony and by the simple fact that he now knows that he’s the only one going to jail.

 

At the courthouse Annalise and Tegan are in chambers discussing the possibility of another secret witness and Annalise fears that it might be Frank. That is until Tegan mentions something about children and it immediately clicks for Annalise. The secret witness is Wes. Well, not the actual Wes, but the written confession that he made up right before he died. 

 

We flash forward to the courthouse shooting and we get to see a reaction from Tegan. We also see Laurel telling her driver to drive and not to look back.

 

Back in the present Michaela (Aja Naomi King) and Connor talk about their immunity deals and Michaela tries to explain to him that the only reason why she doesn’t feel like she deserves prison time is because her childhood was troubled enough for her. She suffered not only emotional and mental abuse from her foster family, but also a substantial amount of physical abuse as well.

 

Frank is still with Hannah‘s lawyer who just cleaned out his office with all of the files concerning Hannah, Annalise, Frank and anyone else involved. He ends up giving Frank a flash drive as well as files. What’s on that flash drive? 

 

Governor Birkhead (Laura Innes) is the next person to testify. She claims innocence and denies knowing Xavier and Hannah. In the cross examination, Annalise plays the recording that was on the aforementioned flash drive which shows Hannah calling Xavier questioning why the governor had Nate Sr. killed when all Hannah wanted was for Annalise to go down for the death of Sam and threatens not to involve more people. Annalise gets intense and presents the jury with the theory that the governor had both Hannah and Xavier killed to cover her tracks before the trial. 

 

After the governor’s horrible testimony, the prosecution needs a win so they bring in Nate and offer him a twenty million dollar settlement in the civil case for his father‘s death, hoping that this would buy them the ability to have Nate say whatever they wanted in court. Nate declines the offer and instead tells them that they should be doing the right thing and pressing charges against the governor for the death of his father.

 

Annalise and Tegan don’t know yet that Nate declined the offer and out in the hallway Laurel asks for Tegan’s help with another secret mission. She tells Tegan that Jorge killed his wife and Laurel’s mother and that if Tegan helps uncover this then she could be entitled to one of her properties that’s worth millions.

 

Later that night Annalise is preparing her questions for the cross of Nate and she is going all in on these questions about Nate’s past, their affair, the death of his wife and much more. Over at Bonnie’s place Frank is leaving the house with the suitcase and tells Bonnie that he needs a little bit of a break from her right now because of everything going on. She begs him to stay and he tells her that he will forgive her one day, but today is not the day. He then leaves. It turns out the suitcase wasn’t full of clothes, but instead it is money. Eighty-seven grand to be exact. And who does he bring it to? Gabriel (Rome Flynn). We now know Frank is technically his half brother, but Gabe doesn’t know that. Frank tells him to take the money and run as far away from Philly and the idea of Sam as he possibly can because it will end up ruining his life. Frank then explains to Gabe that he murdered Annalise’s unborn son and inadvertently murdered another of his half siblings by killing Lila Stangard at Sam’s behest.

 

Over at the Keating Four’s house Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) returns home from having been supposedly at the library trying to figure out a way to get Connor a better deal with the FBI. Connor is frustrated as to why nobody wants to adhere to his wishes to just let him go to prison for the five years. Oliver threatens Connor with divorce if he doesn’t try to get a better deal. And just as that conversation is winding down Agent Lanford (William R. Moses) calls. Connor goes to meet with him and US Attorney Lennox (Jamie McShane). They tell him that they are bettering his plea deal and giving him the same as Michaela and Laurel – probation with no jail time. But did he sign?

 

The next day at the trial it’s Nate‘s turn to testify. He tells the court that had nothing to do with Sam‘s death and the only reason why he was jailed for it was because he was framed. Nate chooses to say that he was not framed by Annalise but by Hannah. Annalise is shocked by this and by another witness turning against the FBI. Nate then reveals that the FBI tried to pay him off with twenty million dollars in order to get him to lie on the stand. He then shares the information that he found out about FBI agent Pollock murdering Asher. That night Nate tells Annalise that he didn’t say all that stuff on the stand for her necessarily but for his own peace of mind so that he can move on. And this time he means it. He tells Annalise to “own her side of the road“ and take responsibility. He then hand delivers her Wes’ confession, which he found on Xavier‘s body after he killed him.

 

We then go back to Connor and Oliver at home where Connor tells Oliver that he didn’t take the new deal and that he knows the only reason why they offered it was because Oliver agreed to lie on the stand for the FBI and say that Annalise wanted him to delete sexual images of Annalise and Wes. And this time Connor offers up divorce papers, except at this moment he’s completely and utterly serious. 

 

We get a surprise visit from Annalisa’s mom and sister who came to support her in this hour of need. Annalise tells Miss Ophelia (Cicely Tyson) that she doesn’t know if she even deserves to win this case because of all the terrible things she’s done in the past. Miss Ophelia says that at this point it’s up to God and God only.

 

On the final day of the trial during closing arguments Annalise gives an impassioned speech to the jury that was perhaps one of the best scenes in the show’s whole history. In it she talks about how her whole life she’s been living with a mask on and that now it’s time for her to shed her mask and stop being the person that everybody wants her to be and instead be the person that she knows she is inside. She admits to the jury that she is a bad person and that she has committed many crimes in her career as a defense attorney but murder is not one of them. After the speech, while awaiting a verdict, Tegan finally confesses her romantic feelings to Annalise. Annalise shoots her down, only because she feels like she needs to work on herself and that Tegan deserves so much more than Annalise could give her. The scene gets really tense romantically until Bonnie comes in and says that the jury has reached a verdict.

 

The jury has found Annalise…NOT guilty on all accounts! Right after this Annalise, Bonnie and Tegan are on the courthouse steps where we were first introduced to the flash forward at the beginning of the episode. Annalise is giving a statement and answering questions. Connor is getting ready to go into custody and Gabriel is heeding Frank’s advice and fleeing Philadelphia. We then get a glimpse at the favor that Laurel asked Tegan for earlier in the episode. We see Jorge get shanked in the prison yard and he bleeds out to death. 

 

While Annalise is answering questions, Bonnie sees Frank going through the crowd heading towards the courthouse. She immediately knows that something is up. We then find out from one of the reporters that Governor Birkhead is there at the courthouse today meeting with a few officials. Just as she is stepping out of the building, Frank shoots her in the stomach – killing her. Of course, the governor’s security team fights back and ends up shooting not only Frank but Bonnie as well. The both of them die in Annalise’s arms. 

 

We then go to the final flash forward of the whole show – Annalise’s funeral. It turns out that despite the hashtag, #WhoKilledAnnalise, nobody murdered her because she died of natural causes at a very old age. We then see who we think is Wes (Alfred Enoch). However, as many fans speculated, it’s not Wes at all. Instead, it is baby Christopher all grown up! He’s there at the funeral with an older Laurel and an older  Connor and Oliver. The “special speaker“ that they have been teasing though isn’t Christopher, but instead an older Eve (Famke Janssen). She delivers a powerful eulogy as we see what becomes of many of our characters. Nate opens up a center for justice. Miss Ophelia passes away. Michaela gets sworn in as a judge as an older woman. And, last but not least, an adult Christopher becomes a professor at Middleton teaching Criminal Law 101 or as his mentor called it, “How to Get Away with Murder.”