You can't touch Annalise (or her crew), and after another intense episode of How to Get Away With Murder, we discovered seven moments that reveal why you can't touch them. You can dive into the recap, but the short answer? You can't even come close to them because so much of what they do comes straight up out of the blue, and you didn't even see them coming.
1. “I Can’t Go Back”
Bonnie must have been on crack when she told Frank that he should go back with her: “She [Annalise] will forgive you. You just need to … ” Uh, no, Bonnie, Annalise won’t forgive him for killing her baby and leaving her childless. Did you forget that Annalise put a hit out on Frank? Do you not see the cuts that are still visible on his fine, chiseled face? Are you delusional, or do you just possess the naivete of a teenage girl from Liberal, Kan., who suddenly found herself in the big city and longed only to go home?
Frank, in his street wisdom, was like, “I can’t go back.” No, you can’t, Frank. So I suggest that you go on and take all that money, fly to Fiji, buy the best therapists money can buy and get yo’ life.
2. “I’m a Sociopath”
And herein lies Laurel, Bonnie and Annalise’s first problem: Frank is a sociopath. He killed his father when he was 13 and apparently hasn’t stopped killing people since (including Wes’ dad, whom he admitted to killing right in front of Wes’ face). In a flashback to 11 years ago, we learn that Sam convinced Annalise to get Frank out of prison, even though Frank felt he needed to stay there. Herein lies their second problem: “You [Frank] have good in you, just like the rest of us.” That’s some b.s. When people show you who they are—and back it up with the phrase “the sociopath that I am”—believe them.
3. “Cremate Him”
Bonnie’s two words to the funeral home director couldn’t have been more cold. “You want the ashes?” he asked. “No,” she responded, not bothering to look at him as she walked away. I mean, why would you want the ashes of the man you once called daddy but no longer call daddy because he molested you and messed you up so much that you put a hit out on him? So, naturally Bonnie rejected the ashes and instead embraced Frank in a big ol’ bear hug for killing “daddy” for her. Now, that’s friendship.
4. “I’m Annalise”
Annalise tiptoed into the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, only to be asked to introduce herself. With a big sigh and an even bigger shrug, she mumbled, “I’m Annalise.” Thankfully, the entire group didn’t respond, “Hi, Annalise,” in choral unison. This would have set off a thunderstorm of rage, accompanied by a gargantuan eye roll by the queen of shade. The president of Middleton University, seated two rows in front of her, was noticeably shocked by her presence.
5. “Hold Up, Wait a Minute”
If you never thought Michaela was culturally black, it showed up and showed out during this episode. It all started when a fellow law student accused Michaela of being a rich daddy’s girl who was just buying time in school till she became some rich man’s trophy wife. That set Michaela off! She referred to the people who raised her as “trash” and told her colleagues to take her family’s name out of their mouths and put some respeck on hers. (Mic drop.)
Then we flash backed to four weeks before and learned that Michaela is alive (yay) and that she has a white mother who sounds like a hillbilly. Wait, say what?
6. “Dance With Me, Wes”
The episode started with Annalise fighting her demons: She de-boozed her kitchen cabinet and dumped it all in the trash. But throughout the episode, the flashbacks (of miscarriages, the lost baby and good times with Sam) became too painful; she relapsed, and she did it Annalise-style, with pomp and circumstance.
For one, she is an amusing drunk: “This is my song!” she shouted while slow-dancing with a bottle of liquor. (And might I add that her rhythm was impressive, given the circumstances.) She was sentimental, too: “Wes, Is Meggy good to you? Nate’s too good to me.” She continued: “Dance with me, Wes … nah, just kidding.” Perhaps we glimpsed the real inner world of Annalise Keating as Wes wiped vomit from her face: “Go away. I’m disgusting.” But ol’ faithful Wes wouldn’t go. I doubt he ever will.
7. “The Lady’s Got 9 Lives”
While watching Professor Keating duke it out with the president of Middleton, I kept thinking, “Don’t play a playa, ’cause you’ll only get played.” The president tried it—to suspend Annalise because of a suspended law license—but Annalise responded with the threat of a $50 million lawsuit alleging ageism, racism, sexism and failure to find the person guilty of harassing her on campus. And it worked! The president rescinded the suspension, and Annalise sashayed away unscathed, as always. She might as well have been wearing some Hammer pants that read, “You Can’t Touch This.”