We won't know who's dead on How to Get Away with Murder for another five episodes, but this week's installment just revealed a major twist.
Last episode, we learned that Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) is safe from the fire at Annalise's house. Now we can add another name to the list of people who aren'tunder the sheet: Bonnie (Liza Weil).
We already knew Annalise (Viola Davis) would be arrested after the fire, and through this week's flash-forwards, we saw her taking a mugshot and providing fingerprints at the police station. We also saw Bonnie talking to the police after the fire, saying she's Annalise's lawyer. The fact that Bonnie is safe isn't even the biggest shocker — apparently, there's another body being pulled out of Annalise's house and that person still has a pulse.
Aside from the flash-forwards, this week's episode also focused on the relationship between Laurel (Karla Souza) and her father. There's still a lot of mystery surrounding her dad and what, exactly, he does — previously, we knew that the family was wealthy and Laurel says he's a bad man — but we see more interaction between the two of them than we have in the past. Laurel drops the bombshell that she was kidnapped when she was 16 and accuses her father of caring about money more than he cared about rescuing her.
"Smart might also be a compliment a daughter likes to hear." YES. #SmartGirlsofShondaland @shondalandtv #HTGAWM
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) October 7, 2016
Laurel visits her father's office, missing the clinic's latest client entirely (more on that in a minute). She learns that her dad has been listening to her phone records and knows she's been leaving voicemails for Frank. He tells her where Frank is in exchange for her signature on some sort of document related to the family's (presumably illegal) activity. This likely isn't the last we've seen of Laurel's dad, though he does tell her that he's sorry and is proud of her.
When she gets back to Annalise's, Laurel lies and tells her and Bonnie that she doesn't know where Frank is, because she didn't want to get caught up in her family's drama again by signing the papers (even though she did). Frank also calls Laurel (finally!) and accuses Annalise of sending a hit man to kill him, but the conversation ends quickly.
As for the actual case, the legal clinic's defendant this week is much less sympathetic than last week's Irene. Annalise and the students are defending Toby Solomon (Austin Basis), a man who apparently dumped the body of an escort outside (and waited seven minutes after taking a selfie with her body before calling 911). Annalise assigns Michaela (Aja Naomi King) to be first chair, but she takes her off the case after Oliver discovers Toby has withdrawn thousands of dollars from his bank account.
Oh no. No no no sir. That is not a selfie that you take EVER. #HTGAWM
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) October 7, 2016
Apparently, the money is to pay off Toby's former lawyers, who are blackmailing him for killing a different girl. Jamie, who was just 18 when Toby murdered her, apparently insulted Toby's looks, which he tells Annalise "triggered" him to attack her, because he's been bullied in the past. Toby admits to leaving Jamie's body in a broken freezer. It's a chilling confession — Toby is the embodiment of a "nice guy" who thinks he deserves something from women and ends up going off the deep end.
Annalise eventually works out a deal with minimal jail time for Toby, because he lies on the stand and they're able to pin Jamie's murder on someone else. Annalise and the clinic make headlines for solving Jamie's missing persons case, which impresses the Middleton University president. It looks like her respect may be short-lived, though — next week's preview hints that there will be repercussions for Annalise's slapping Toby after he says he didn't want to go to jail at all.
The slap heard around the world! #HTGAWM pic.twitter.com/9BqqBpY3SB
— Viola Davis (@violadavis) October 7, 2016
Oooooooh yes she DID. That was the slap heard round the world!! #HTGAWM
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) October 7, 2016
In other news, Bonnie knows that Michaela and Asher (Matt McGorry) are hooking up, Michaela's ex-fiancé is engaged to another woman, and Michaela, Asher, Oliver, and Connor (Jack Falahee) take a mini-trip to Atlantic City. And while Laurel's clearly not over Frank, phone calls and texts between her and Wes (Alfred Enoch) hint that romance is still a possibility between them. That's all well and good — but we still want to know who's under the sheet.
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