How To Get Away With Murder Review: Episode 1×08 – “He Has A Wife”

More Lies Than You Thought Possible On This Week’s “How To Get Away With Murder”

Annalise takes on a client, Gretchen Thomas, accused of murdering her nanny whilst sleepwalking due to some heavy-duty prescription pills. She struggles to stay focused when also having to deal with Sam’s endless parade of lies. Many of the Keating Five are dealing with drama of their own, too. Michaela has a mother-in-law from hell, Laurel and Frank’s happy affair is about to come to a screeching halt, Wes’ bizarre relationship with Rebecca has a wrench thrown in it, Connor wants to make some friends, and Asher just wants to party! With so many lies being brought to the surface, events are set in motion that will bring the two separate time-arcs of the show together, with Sam’s inevitable demise closer than ever. What’s the final verdict on all these lies? Let’s discuss.

A Mother/Daughter-In-Law Smack-down

Having already been introduced to Michaela’s fiancé Aiden, tonight brought another new character into play, Michaela’s mother-in-law-to-be Mrs. Walker. She’s none too pleased that Michaela has refused to sign the prenuptial agreement and takes Michaela out to a dinner to try to twist her arm into complying. Lynn Whitfield demonstrated her powerhouse abilities, making Mrs. Walker tremendously intimidating and Aja Naomi King showed an entirely new side to Michaela, with equal parts strength and vulnerability. Mrs. Walker’s classist comments against Michaela shed a light on the insecurities Michaela seems to feel regarding her background and upbringing. Though the pilot had painted Wes as the one who might have to prove his worth amongst his peers, it appears that Michaela is the one that has been doing so all along. Though Michaela held her ground, we’d wager this conflict is far from over and we’d gladly welcome Lynn Whitfield back to stir up some more trouble, as she’s just brilliant as an adversary.

“Mention the trophy again and I’ll bash your face in.” ~ Michaela Pratt

Another piece of information offered on Michaela was that she had been a pre-med student in her undergrad studies. Though it was only mentioned in passing, presumably this will be explored further in future episodes. To make such a significant change with her life course, something big must have happened to have catalysed that decision. Following the fight with Mrs. Walker, Michaela heads to Asher’s to steal the trophy. The behaviour is erratic and bizarre, but perhaps this is the writer’s way of communicating that she is still on the path to becoming the “Shooting Star” (the one that attempts/commits suicide after cracking from the pressure). Michaela also got into an argument with Connor, who excluded her from his study group. Connor was pushing hard to get the others to join his study group, and our theory is that this is his attempt to forge genuine friendships with his peers after being shaken up by the suicide of Paxton (in episode 4) and the demise of his relationship with Oliver. It’s nice to get this added perspective on Michaela’s back story and for Connor to undergo this evolution, as these vulnerabilities make their characters all the more compelling to watch.

Lies, Lies, Lies

There were so many lies in this episode that it’s hard to cover them all, but we’ll kick things off with the Wes/Rebecca debacle. Annalise tells Wes about Lila’s pregnancy and respectfully asks that she not tell Rebecca, since it might send her off into some misbehaviour (perfectly understandable since she already tried to run off once before). He says he won’t tell Rebecca, only to immediately turn around and do just that. Rebecca has been meeting in secret with Nate Lahey, conspiring to get Sam put away for Lila’s murder. The flashbacks of Lila and Rebecca’s friendship seemed to be an attempt to validate Rebecca’s irrational behaviour (why are you trying to mess with the woman who is trying to get you off for murder)? But this attempt to give Rebecca substance fell flat for us. When Wes spots Rebecca coming out of Nate’s car, he is shocked (really?) at her deception. We’ve been consistently confused by Wes and his infatuation with Rebecca; for us, this relationship has been a train wreck since it began. He’s had no reason to trust her, no real reason to like her, yet he’s dug himself into deeper and deeper of a hole with trying to protect this girl. The only way that we were able to go along with this is that we theorised that the writers were aiming to create some parallels between this relationship and that of Annalise and Sam’s. While Annalise has long put up with Sam’s blatant disrespect, compulsive lying and adultery, she has always stayed with him. To an outsider, it would make little sense that a woman as brilliant as Annalise could stay with someone so far beneath her. Now we see Wes putting his well-being at risk for Rebecca, who has very little on paper to offer, and not even any charm to compensate. We’ve had a feeling that Annalise related to Wes, given how quickly she opened up to him about the problems in her marriage in the pilot, and with how he was able to convince her to take Rebecca’s case in the first place. In drawing these parallels between the two character, we suspect that Wes must spiral even further before he wakes up to the reality of his situation. Perhaps Wes’ foolishness will be used as a tool by the writers to give further insight into Annalise’s past as well.

“She’s setting us up, you do get that. Annalise doesn’t do anything without some sort of plan, so her telling me Lila’s pregnant and then sending her boyfriend? Now she knows I lied to her.” ~ Wes Gibbins

All these lies not only made for scandalous revelations, but served to further push the story forward towards Sam’s impending demise and all the ensuing events presented in the flash-fowards of the show thus far. Laurel learns that Frank, with whom she had embarked on a passionate affair with, has a girlfriend. Now we know what she was upset about and he was apologising for, offering to “do anything” in order to make it right. Michaela stole the trophy from Asher, explaining why he came pounding on Annalise’s door and windows while the rest of the group were inside with Sam’s dead body. Rebecca went off in search of Sam (and more specifically, his phone) to obtain damning evidence regarding Lila’s murder. This of course ties in to whatever confrontation (or accident?) that will kill him and the writers effectively built up the tension of this plot not only spanning this episode but all the ones before it.

Viola Davis: Better Than Ever

Annalise finally began to hit her breaking point as to all the mistreatment she has received from her husband. We saw how her patience was starting to run thin with her snapping at the people around her with spot-on lines like telling Connor that his strengths have stemmed from “screwing evidence” out of people and telling Bonnie that she has a “pathetic mousy presence.” This is the Annalise we’ve been waiting for. She’s been unwavering in her strength in the courtroom but it’s been difficult to watch a character we’ve been routing for to be so ill-treated by those around her. We never really understood why she kept Bonnie around when she knew Bonnie was one of Sam’s many side-pieces but we had assumed we’d get some sort of backstory that would explain it. Instead, we were treated to Annalise firing Bonnie and telling her to never come back again.

“This is what I get. This is what happens when you screw somebody else’s husband. You become sad, barren, and even a dead girl was more of a woman than you.” ~ Annalise Keating

Annalise’s evolution over the course of this episode was very compelling to watch. When she gave her speech to Sam, Viola Davis exposed the raw pain of a woman with a shockingly low opinion of herself due to the guilt of past indiscretions and the trauma of not being able to conceive a child. But this low point is necessary because it makes Annalise all the more exciting as she picks herself and decides that she deserves better than this. We’ve already noted the parallels between Annalise and Wes, but there were also parallels between Annalise and her client this week, Gretchen Thomas. Gretchen shows herself to be rather ignorant of the problems in her personal life, and then lashes out at Annalise for getting her husband put away for the crime he committed. The speech Annalise gives to her about the betrayal of trust being unforgivable was well-writte, well-delivered, and was so exciting to watch. Finally, Annalise was taking back control of her life and demanding that she be treated better. All of this culminated in her telling Sam that she had told the DA to collect DNA samples from all the men in Lila’s life, including her teachers, leaving him out to dry. This was so satisfying to see and we can’t wait to see what is next for this new Annalise… she’s going to need this strength to deal with the loss of her husband…

Final Verdict

Tonight’s episode opened up with a nice sequence from director Debbie Allen in which Lila’s cadaver is being sewn up. Sure, it’s macabre, but it was the quiet before the storm. This when accompanied with all the flashback sequences of Lila communicated the tragedy of a young life torn apart by poor decisions and one terrible human being named Sam Keating. Our favorite line from writer Doug Stockstill was delivered by Michaela to Connor, “See what happens when you use your brain instead of your penis.” It brilliantly summed up the theme of the episode, that sex without sensibility (and a moral compass) has serious consequences. One of the things that’s so great about How To Get Away With Murder is the progressive manner in which it can present this message without slut-shaming or victim-blaming those who engage in sexual activity. It’s so refreshing to watch. The stage has been set for the mid-season finale and all the pieces have nearly come together, while still leaving the biggest mysteries unanswered: Who killed Lila, and who killed Sam?

Questions, Comments, Concerns…

• With that skin, dead-Lila’s looking like a Star Trek alien. #SamBoldlyWent #Ew
• Lila being proud of herself for hooking up with a married man… #ShadyBrat
• Annalise will not be fooled again. Tell the truth, Sam!
• FRANK, CALM DOWN xD #FrankWantsSomeHoagieTime
• Wes is so dumb about Rebecca that it physically pains me to think of how wrong my impression of him was in the pilot.
• Nate, what are you even up to? Don’t you have a sick wife at home???
• Look at Sam kicking Rebecca out; who knew he was capable of wise decisions?
• Annalise just dropped an EPIC shade-bomb on Connor. *o*
• Am I the only one who thinks Connor’s pushing this study group so hard because he wants actual friends?
• THAT PHOTO #NaughtyBoyFrank
• Maybe “killer” isn’t the best pet name to use on this show… xD
• Asher clearly wants Bonnie to shake HIS groove-thang. *coughs*
• Viola Davis is so amazing. Makes me want to just hold Annalise until everything’s okay! </3
• “Bad things happen when you have sex” …orrr maybe you should remove the moral repugnance of adultery from the equation before making a sweeping judgement like that. *sips tea*
• “Flaming Penis” is the sequel to “Voodoo Penis”; care to make it a trilogy, HTGAWM writers?
• Annalise laying out verbal smack downs in court is my favourite!
• Hey Gretchen, the words you are looking for are “THANK” and “YOU” *folds arms*
• Damnit Frank! You’re letting us down, here! (Is anyone on this show capable of being faithful?)
• Sam is physically incapable of telling the truth and I still don’t understand why Annalise even keeps Bonnie’s hot-mess-self around.
• THERE IT IS! YOU’RE FIRED! ANNALISE IS THROUGH WITH THIS NONSENSE! *brushes shoulders and flips hair*
• Why is Michaela stealing the trophy?
• Annalise is not playing around, Sam. She is DONE with your BS! *raises glass*