I don’t know how this damn show did it. After a season of twists and turns that grew more unbelievable and more boring each week, my God, I am thrilled. I can’t tell what’s coming next or which preposterous theory is right. At this point, if you told me Wes faked his own death so he could live in Mexico and compete on Top Chef, I’d believe you. Who knows how this is going to end up? And guys, Laurel wasn’t totally annoying this episode.
Annalise is out on bail, she’s got a new wig, and she’s ready to play. And by play, I mean find Nate under a bridge for a covert meeting. Nate plays her a blue-tinged flashback that reveals he was in the house with Wes. In the flashback, Nate warns Wes that Annalise only looks out for herself, then Wes snaps that Annalise knew his mother. Okay, Wes, relax. Nate knows that Annalise has been looking out for Wes for a long time and Wes says that he’s done bad things too. OKAY, WES, RELAX. Nate gets a phone call from the detective looking for Wes and Nate lies to protect him.
Back in the present, Nate tells Annalise that he feels guilty for leaving Wes there. Maybe the police can track Nate’s phone and find out that he was at Annalise’s house on the night of the fire … they can do that, right? Annalise promises Nate that she’ll fix it and she tries to rub his inner thigh and he pushes her away.
Annalise gathers up what’s left of the Keating Gang to reassure them. Her version of reassurance is, well, different: She reminds them that the D.A.’s office might be coming with a deal, so if they wouldn’t accept that, that would be great. Annalise knows the D.A. wants to take her down, so whatever they offer will be very enticing. Half of the gang seems loyal, but Laurel is upset that Annalise isn’t trying to find out who killed Wes and Connor is a little sneakier about his dissent. When he gets home that night, he gives Oliver the flash drive that has Annalise’s data on it and tells him to hack it. Connor manages to convince Oliver by telling him if there’s something on that drive, the world needs to know. Anything else is fake news. Period.
Meanwhile, Laurel is printing out enough newspaper articles about the Mahoneys to assemble a Carrie Mathison–style evidence wall and Annalise is lying in bed remembering the conversations she had that day. The episode is now flashing back within itself. It’s folding in on itself, and in those folds, Annalise finally finds her spine. She jumps out of bed and starts writing a letter to the attorney general, recommending a grand jury investigation into the DA’s office for straight-up losing a body and trying to frame her. Laurel compiles all her evidence and hands it to a guy named Howie and pays him. He’s a private investigator and she wants all the information she can get on the Mahoneys. The big envelope of money says so.
Annalise meets the attorney general in her office to demand a grand jury investigation. She says she’d hate if anything happened to leak to the press, but the attorney general will not tolerate threats. Bonnie is meeting with the D.A.’s office to basically repeat the same information while adding in a little threat to go to the FBI. The D.A. says that there are files on everyone and they shouldn’t go down this road. Bonnie says they’re already down this road. Finally, some backbone from Bonnie!
Michaela goes to meet Annalise in her car and Annalise wants to make sure no one is getting a little antsy or bitter, if you know what I mean. Michaela reminds Annalise that she’s been working overtime trying to hold everyone together. Michaela will not have her time wasted. She was in the middle of studying and would like to get back to it. How is it possible that the Keating Gang are passing any of their classes? Is this a Dead Man on Campus situation? Do they all get straight-A’s because Wes died?
After Annalise fields a very angry call from Nate where he chews her out because the attorney general is starting to ask questions about his signature on the form to transfer Wes’s body, Annalise goes to see Oliver. Y’know … just to check on him. Annalise thanks him for his loyalty and ask him for one little favor. Oliver leaks information about Wes’s body going missing and the conspiracy theory. Laurel actually proves herself useful and manages to find out that the matriarch of the Mahoneys had Wes’s DNA tested, so they must know that Wes is the patriarch’s son.
The gang heads over to see Annalise to give her this information. She warns them that the Mahoneys are dangerous and they should all be careful, then reveals everything about the baby and how the most important thing is to be safe right now. President LaGuerta calls Annalise to congratulate her on getting out on bail. If she ever needs to talk about her case, she can always ask President LaGuerta.
Oliver went through Annalise’s phone and when Connor starts asking questions, Oliver cracks and tell him that he found out Annalise called him the night of the fire and left a voice mail. Bonnie goes over to Laurel’s house to offer her the steps to get a procedure in case she needs it. Laurel acts like this is the most outrageous thing in her life. Her body, her choice, I guess. Annalise gets a late-night phone call from Frank at the prison, telling her he’s willing to do whatever he needs to do to help. She hangs up and gets another call from the attorney general, who threatens her about threatening the attorney general. It’s a complicated web these high-powered lady lawyers weave. The attorney general also threatens Annalise with the death penalty, which is a little much.
Annalise finally agrees to go for coffee with President LaGuerta and tries to bond with her … but she has more flashbacks to conversations she had during the episode and realizes that it wasn’t Connor who had leaked to the D.A.’s office. IT WAS PRESIDENT LAGUERTA! The D.A. offered her help with her custody battle in exchange for information on Annalise. Annalise schemes with Bonnie to slip a file to Frank before he heads to court.
Frank asks the judge to subpoena all of the A.D.A.’s correspondence because she lost all the evidence and the signature on the release form for Wes’s body was her lover’s! The D.A. accuses Keating of feeding Frank a legal strategy and Annalise looks on with a cute lil’ grin as he charms the pants off the court. The Sixth Amendment! Bias! Conflict of interest! Frank is crushing it. The judge grants the subpoena and Frank wins the day! The D.A. suspends the A.D.A. because she basically put the entire case on the line because she wanted to get it in with Nate.
Annalise meets with Nate and she apologizes for going ahead with her plan, but it got the A.D.A. to admit that she moved the body. Annalise goes to visit Laurel and tells her that Wes’s body was cremated. She tries to convey to Laurel just how shocked she is over Wes’s death, even if it really doesn’t seem that way. At the same time, Bonnie, Michaela, and Asher confront Connor about his suspicious behavior. Asher lays it all on the line and accuses him of being the anonymous source who went to the police. Wait … but don’t we already know that? Ah, yes, this is what the Greeks called dramatic irony. Connor says that he got Oliver to go through Annalise’s phone and he’s gonna find some evidence, damn it. He stomps home and Oliver tells him that he was scared to check Annalise’s phone because she might be hiding something. But Connor is the one with the secret. He checked his voice mail and couldn’t be accounted for on the night of the fire. What was he doing?
Giving Wes CPR in the basement, that’s what.