Between her new TV series, How to Get Away With Murder, getting picked up for a full season; visits from Denzel Washington; evangelizing toddler fans while kicking it with Elmo on Sesame Street; insightful stories in Vulture, Variety and More about her upbringing; and a philanthropic passion to end hunger, Viola Davis has been having a pretty good couple of weeks. And we had yet another gripping—and rapid-fire—episode of HTGAWM.
“My Dress Is Vera Wang. And Not Off-the-Rack Vera Wang”
So I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only person who thought Connor was just ruffling Michaela’s feathers when he saw her fiance, Aiden, who turned out to be a friend from boarding school. Connor insinuated throughout the better part of the episode that he and Michaela had more in common than he originally thought and that he and Aiden at one point shared some intimate space.
Turns out that Connor is telling the truth, and Aiden did have one sexually fluid moment (that he’s copping to, at least). Later he swears to Michaela that it won’t happen again and that he isn’t on the down low or anything. Do we need to call on J.L. King to come suss this one out (flips through old E. Lynn Harris novels for similar scenarios)?
About Vera.
“It cost me a fortune, so you better be sure,” Michaela asserts to Aiden, who pops up in her apartment after she sent him to voice mail several phone call attempts earlier. “I have a plan for my life, and it doesn’t include you ruining us.”
Well.
“Guard!”
For the life of me, I haven’t figured out how in the Hades Rebecca and Wes end up homie-lover-friends, considering that she gives him the Heisman at practically every turn, including when he goes to the lengths of forging attorney credentials to roll up in the jail as her fake public defender.
(Plot note: Rebecca has been arrested for a coed murder, along with Griffin, the star quarterback of the college football team, whom Annalise has been asked by the college to represent, although Annalise has a sneaking suspicion that her husband may have done it and is obsessed with confirming his alibi.)
Rebecca sold Wes out with the quickness and even asked the guards to come and get him, saying that he was actually a law student who was “stalking” her. Smh. I would have put her on ice so quick. But no, not Wes. He gives Annalise a fervent plea to defend Rebecca, who deserves it much more than Griffin.
“I’m Never Not Missing Him”
Before Annalise decides to represent Rebecca, she has the client of the show to deal with: Paula Murphy, aka Sex in the Park Lady, aka Elena Aguilar, a former member of the Red Letter Brigade and a fugitive wanted for a 1994 bombing. Elena’s fingerprints were lifted from pipe-bomb fragments that killed a janitor, and they matched Paula’s fingerprints after she got “caught giving manual pleasure to a stranger in a park”—her husband’s words as he was looped in. Awkward.
Turns out Elena is still in love with the bombing ringleader, Gabriel, who testifies against her in exchange for an early release from prison. Early release, all right—on a bus out of town, snuggled up next to Elena, who ditches her boring husband, their two kids, her life as Paula Murphy and the whole daggone trial as she goes MIA.
“I’m never not missing him,” she had told Annalise about Gabriel—and Annalise looked like she was low-key feeling her.
“Go Home. Be With Your Husband”
Is it terrible that we care about Officer “Let’s Get Friendly” Nate and his relationship—or lack thereof—with Annalise? Last week’s reveal of her husband Sam’s infidelity gave us a bit of insight into why she may have run into the muscled-up arms of another. And really, we all knew what was coming when she eyeballed Sam’s phone like it had the next winning Powerball numbers in it. At first I wanted to tell her “Don’t even look,” but then, when she decided to, I wanted to scream, “Hurry the hell up, girl! Put some dexterity in that phone typing before you’re caught!”
Last week she enlisted Nate’s help in checking out her husband’s alibi for the night the coed was killed, and this week he’s on it. He discovers that Sam lied about his whereabouts, but for whatever reason he backs Sam’s story to Annalise. Why do you think he did that? Also, can we give two snaps and a twist to Annalise for having her hair wrapped when she texted her side boo for an update? It was every bit the “Keep it real, keep it trill” moment.
I’m willing to bet it wasn’t one of those rumored Chanel do-rags that popped up on the Twitters and the ’Gram last month. They were actually, ahem, urban tie caps from a Derek Lam runway show, but still folks got in a kerfuffle when we talked about cultural appropriation here not too long ago. Not even gonna say anything about the baby hair pic in that link. Nope, not gonna do it.
Anyhoo, did anyone else get emotional whiplash when Annalise went from tears of relief after meeting up with Nate in her car and finding out that her husband’s alibi checked out—according to her boo Nate’s lies—to the hooded-eye, inner-thigh-rubbing, unsuccessful temptress she morphed into nanoseconds later as she told Nate she misses him? I mean, she might as well have flashed back and been the muse for Jodeci’s “Feenin’,” the way she’s carrying on. This woman is a veritable chocoholic when it comes to Nate!
I think Nate was disconcerted—and appeared almost repulsed by her rapid-fire switch—when he told her, with the straightest face, to “go home. Be with your husband.”
Also, We See You, HTGAWM
A special shout-out for the HTGAWM cameo of Orange Is the New Black actress Alysia Reiner. I want to see that cast get more work, especially after spotting Poussey in a PayPal commercial and Cindy in a Chevy commercial. Can we write some roles for them, too, Shonda? I think they could handle Annalise’s direction.
Akeya Dickson is a writer and social media lover who blogs at Dopalicious District. Follow her on Twitter.