How to Get Away With Murder finally did it. The show successfully pulled off a whole bunch of twists and turns and semi-emotional moments. I was shocked. I was thrilled. I was captivated. I gasped, dear readers. I gasped. A pearl may or may not have been clutched.
This week’s midseason finale reveals who is under the sheet, but first, it’s midterms for some reason. Everyone does well, so alcohol is introduced to ramp up the drama. Annalise gives the class a case of Champagne that lasts for 40 days and for 40 nights. The oral midterm exam is intercut with Annalise and Bonnie simultaneously talking Frank in and out of suicide. The angel on everyone’s shoulder, Bonnie wins out and Frank doesn’t kill himself. Annalise goes upstairs to leave Frank to weep in Bonnie’s lap. Annalise is cold.
The timelines all merge in this episode, which means we’re finally moving in real time. The Keating Gang is celebrating their midterms win with a study-lab bacchanal. Connor is still giving Oliver the cold shoulder after their big fight. Michaela wants to get it on with Asher, but he reveals that he gave her mom her address and she’s on her way. So we can finally get some answers about that mom. Annalise engages in some black af self-care and sees Mary J. (the J is for Jammin’) Blige to get her sew-in touched up. She has a breakdown in Mary’s chair. Without all the other assorted characters selling DVDs and cups of conch ceviche, the emotions she’s been trying to drown with alcohol come rushing back. Mary J. Blige tries to heal Annalise’s very soul and tells her that she’ll always bring the Henny.
Meanwhile, Laurel and Wes are in an episode-long tiff because apparently they’re in love, but they can’t decide what to do about Annalise and Frank. Laurel tells Wes that she knew Frank was in town and that he knows about them. Laurel didn’t tell Wes so he wouldn’t freak out before he had to testify. Now Frank can’t be found. Wes storms off. As Annalise leaves the salon, Mary J. Blige thanks her for referring a friend. Annalise realizes that the district attorney has been trying to follow her. Annalise goes to the DA’s office to “make amends.†The DA immediately thinks Annalise is there to start a catfight about Nate, but she just wants to know a good salon … A HA! There! Annalise uses micro-expressions to trap the DA into revealing that she’s investigating her. If anyone is going to take down Annalise, it sure as hell won’t be this DA. At this point, the only person who could bring Annalise down is Angela Bassett’s character from American Horror Story: Coven. Annalise confronts Nate that his girlfriend is a sneaky little witch and she goes back home and starts drinking again. Oh no, not after such a fierce smackdown!
Michaela’s mom shows up at her house because she left Michaela’s father and needs a place to crash. Wait, let’s explain some of the things here. Michaela’s mother adopted her from a shack in the swamp. Michaela thinks her mother kept adopting children for the welfare checks. Her mother thinks Michaela always thought she was too good for everybody. Okay? Okay.
Laurel and Wes continue to fight about Frank and Annalise. Is anyone invested in this relationship? Because I’m definitely not. Laurel thinks Wes wants to fix her and Wes thinks that Laurel treats him like a charity case. Who cares? Literally no one. Wes gets a call from his lawyer, who tells him he has to come down to the police station. The lawyer thinks it’s a routine part of the investigation, but they want to ask questions about Annalise and where Rebecca’s body was found. After all, most women are killed by their boyfriends.
Annalise is getting drunker and drunker by the minute. She’s burning all her files and smashing her computer with the statue. She stumbles out of her house and goes to Bonnie’s place, but not before leaving her front door open. She plops down on Bonnie’s couch and fills her in about the DA’s investigation. Frank is hiding nearby, listening in. Meanwhile, Michaela’s mom calls her an ungrateful little ho before Laurel, Asher, and Connor stumble into the apartment drunk. Laurel can’t find Wes and Bonnie is feeding Annalise gruel. Bonnie puts Annalise to bed, but not before Annalise tries to get a little action. I clutched all of my pearls. After Bonnie lets her down gently, she goes to tell Frank her big plan: He needs to take the fall for Annalise. Plans like that always work out, right?
Annalise starts calling up everyone in the Keating Gang and tells them to come to her house. She goes to meet with Oliver at the study lab to set up an alibi — er, I mean to chat! Asher passes out drunk. Connor is too busy banging Thomas to answer Annalise’s text. Nate goes to Annalise’s house to set up a misdirect — er, I mean to investigate. He sees her burned papers and her smashed computer. Laurel goes into the house and starts looking for Annalise. And then THE HOUSE BLOWS THE FUCK UP AND CATCHES FIRE. Oh. My. God.
Suddenly we’re watching every montage that’s played out since the first episode of the season. Oliver wipes Annalise’s phone clean. Michaela kicks her mom out. Laurel writes “WES†on a piece of paper. The next thing we know, the coroner is investigating who is UNDER. THE. SHEET. Someone comes into the morgue to investigate. IT’S NATE. Who could be under the sheet? That leaves only one option.
Wes.
WES.
Wes is under the sheet. We see news reports on his death and everyone breaks down. It’s pretty intense. On the count of three, let’s all name the character who had the most over-the-top reaction to Wes’s death. One … two … three. I thought so too!
There’s still time for one last twist. When Nate visits Annalise in her jail cell, he tells her that Wes was already dead when the fire started.
Gasp. Gasp. GASP.