Murder is back, and as usual, asks as many questions as it answers. The mid-season premiere is a solid return that continues the show's signature craziness.
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After a horribly long wait, How To Get Away With Murder is back and ready to solve all the questions that the first half of the series left you with. Well that and have you asking a million more new ones…
The end of the last episode left us hanging: Wes had just shot Annalise, Asher had killed Sinclair, Frank had drugged Catherine Hapstall so that they could accuse her of shooting Annalise, it was revealed that Annalise knew Wes when he was little, and we were all sat wondering how the bloody hell can one group of law students get involved in yet another murder situation?
This episode kicks off where the last one left off, Wes reeling from the shooting of Annalise and the fact that she referred to him by his birth name of ‘Christophe’. Within the first minute, Michaela and Laurel show up, and Laurel- being the absolute hero that she is- takes control of the situation; even being willing to take the blame for shooting their professor. Side note: Laurel Castillo is the queen of everything, and I would happily marry her and have her babies. After that we skip forward two weeks to when Annalise returns home from the hospital, and Bonnie is being her amazing self and trying to keep Annalise from doing anything stupid.
This whole episode is a narrative of reactions, trying to explore the responses of each of the characters following the consequences of their actions. Viola Davis is incredible here, because you really get to see a side of Annalise that as of yet has not been delved into much. She is shown as completely vulnerable and broken; high on drugs and beginning to hallucinate about being handed a baby by a distressed stranger at the door. She is completely broken in the wake of her shooting, but still tries to be the hard-ass that she usually is, and it’s a testament to Davis’ acting ability that these two contrasting elements of the character both come out so effectively here.
Meanwhile, Wes is struggling with the guilt of shooting Annalise and Asher is dealing with the guilt of killing Emily Sinclair, but the two of them are coping in very different ways. Wes locks himself away whilst Asher drinks away the pain. We also find out what Asher said at the police station that night, and to be honest, it kind of felt like an anti-climax. In the earlier episodes, whenever we saw the shots of Asher at the police station, we mostly assumed that he was going to reveal something about the events at the Hapstall mansion, but actually it’s completely unrelated to that. It’s just another one of those lines that kind of falls in a dead end amongst the countless other plot lines that are going on.
To be honest, I think that is the main problem that HTGAWM has: it overcomplicates itself, always trying to introduce new mysteries and twists every single episode. Don’t get me wrong, every single one has me on the edge of my seat, desperate to learn more, but it is definitely getting to a point now where I’m concerned that I’ll lose interest when there are 20 different mysteries to try and solve. However, the question introduced at the end of this episode is definitely an interesting one: we finally see Annalise with Wes’ mother (so we know that she is not in fact Wes’ mum, and thank God for that), but the surprising thing is that Annalise is pregnant. Why is she pregnant?? Where did the baby go???
AAAAHHH, WHY MUST YOU MAKE ME ASK SO MANY QUESTIONS?
Overall, this episode was a good one, and all the things that make the show interesting were there. Every single character continues to grow and develop in real and exciting ways, and the dynamics between them are constantly shifting; making the audience question everything. There are still the exciting court scenes, and there are still murders every five minutes. And of course, there is the never ending craziness provided by new twists.
How To Get Away With Murder Season 2 airs Wednesdays 10pm on the Universal Channel.
