Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers from Season 5 of “How To Get Away With Murder”.
Get ready everyone, because it’s about to go down. As this season gets closer and closer to its end, be prepared for the dam to finally burst as this episode has shown the web of connections and crimes to be getting more tangled.
To no one’s surprise but EVERYONE’s frustration, Annalise agrees to represent Gabriel and get to the bottom of what’s going on. Through the whole episode, Gabriel has this weird rushed storyline where he suddenly gets accused of domestic terrorism. This is based on a photo from the Ferguson riots, however, this claim seems baseless as you can’t make out the face at all (the person is completely masked).
It’s a pretty random charge, only made weirder when we find out that it was really a ploy for the FBI to force Gabriel into working for them and giving dirt on Annalise. She really can’t catch a break! To get Gabriel’s case dismissed, Annalise exposes the camera in Gabriel’s apartment and uses the footage to catch the FBI planting evidence in Gabriel’s apartment. Does anyone in this show have any sort of integrity? Gabriel is pissed at the Keating gang for spying on him (naturally), which only furthers the tension between them.
Gabriel was down at Ferguson. #HTGAWM pic.twitter.com/1rW5OJLFuN
— Ladybuglizzie ( Camp Nano ‘24) (@sagevalentine) February 8, 2019
Back to Bonnie and Nate, they continue in their desperate search to find something that will link Miller and the Governor, however, all they can procure is a phone call revealing that Miller found out about Annalise attempting to adopt Wes and informing Birkhead. Needless to say, Annalise is not happy. While this call connects Miller and Birkhead, it also connects Annalise to Wes in a dangerously close way and Annalise is definitely not happy that her personal troubles are being thrown around again. However, remember the Gabriel/FBI rendezvous? Well, here’s where it comes into play: Annalise goes to Gabriel, tells him Birkhead killed Miller and comes clean about her attempted adoption. She convinces Gabriel to help her take down the Governor, so he goes to agent Telesco and tells her that he overheard Miller talking to “someone named Lynne” about Annalise’s adoption. Of course, that Lynne is Gov. Lynne Birkhead and Gabriel’s little story earned her a big spot on Telesco’s suspect board.
There she is. Operation Bonfire. Thank you to the art department led by Mayling Cheng & Sandy Getzler and the props department led by Max Brehme, who spent countless hours making this puppy. #HTGAWM pic.twitter.com/0X65AxGNyE
— Pete Nowalk (@petenowalk) February 8, 2019
However, Telesco is keeping her eyes on the prize, and that prize is Annalise. In a covert meeting with Tegan, Telesco reveals to her that Annalise is who the FBI is really interested in. It seems her game plan is to go digging as much as she can to uncover some dirt that could link Annalise to the murders that have been occurring. Fortunately, this will get derailed when the FBI receive an anonymous tip that leads them to Miller’s body — right in the Governor’s backyard. Don’t get excited though! This is HTGAWM and nothing is ever simple, because Connor’s mom is shown to post a photo of her and Asher, with Miller and Nate visibly talking in the background. It’s a real shame, especially because the Keating 4’s only real purpose in this episode was scouring the wedding photos for Nate and Miller. Besides that, Michaela sent a threatening email to Tegan in order to keep her from spilling anything about Annalise to the FBI.
One thing I really didn’t like in this episode is how rushed everything felt. It seemed as if as much info as possible was crammed in, and Gabriel’s storyline was done in about 3 scenes and felt so unnecessary. The whole purpose of the domestic terrorism charge was to get him alone with the FBI, but there could’ve been less complex ways to do that. I also feel that in this second half of the season, the Keating 4 have been continuously growing more and more useless. The things they do generally don’t follow through or are a waste of time. They also spend an absurd amount of time arguing with each other with no apparent reason. I think in this lack of purpose, all of them have become more one-dimensional, which is never good for what’s supposed to be the core group of the show. Frankly, the gossip between Emmett and Tegan is more engaging than what they’re doing. Speaking of Emmett and Tegan, it seems that their crushes on Annalise will do her no favours, as Emmett’s call to request access to Annalise’s emails have pretty much cemented the two of them will be digging in her business. I’m not sure what this means for Annalise, but I really hope she was smart enough to not send anything really shady on her work email.
Image Credit HTGAWM Official Twitter
Overall, this episode fell a little flat, despite how perilous it’s getting for the characters. The overload of information and the random plot points take away from the emotional investment that HTGAWM is so good at. It also feels as if anything the characters do is useless, as they always get bested in the next few scenes. While this is good at building conflict and tension, it makes the audience less interested in what they do. For example, why would I care about what Annalise does next week if I have a feeling it won’t matter; she’ll get played/implicated anyway. Hopefully, as the final moments of the season air, some hard-hitting resolutions will appear. I’m interested to see who will really take the fall for the crimes this season, and who might betray who. The complicated relationships between all the characters are no secret, and when it comes down to saving yourself, I can’t wait to see how far people will go. Everyone better watch out!
Featured Image Via HTGAWM Official Twitter
