How To Get Away With Murder, starring Viola Davis, airs Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC.
Talk about leaving someone on a cliffhanger.
ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder went on hiatus following their mid-season finale depicting a series of events that could have changed the season forever. In order to frame the lawyer’s current client, Catherine Hapstall, for murder, Annalise calls 911 saying she’d been shot, then begs her students to shoot her. When they all refuse, Annalise uses Wes’ rage over the disappearance of his girlfriend Rebecca as fuel, resulting in him grabbing the gun and shooting her. The students then fled the property, leaving Annalise for dead.
Airing on Thursday, February 11, the mid-season premiere did little to explain the actions of the show’s main characters and left audiences wanting more. Following its typical formula, the episode ended with more questions about the mysterious relationship between Professor Annalise Keating and student Wes Gibbins.
While that maybe a good way to tease viewers, it’s also a sure fire way to lose them all together.
In the premiere, Annalise arrives home from the hospital after two weeks in recovery, while the others on her team of defense lawyers begin preparations for the arraignment hearing of Ms. Hapstall in the shooting of Annalise, as well as the murder of a district attorney. She begins suffering from hallucinations due to the pain medications prescribed to her — which leads her partners, Frank and Bonnie, to suggest that she not testify in her current state. With the help of Annalise’s students, they draft a written statement to present to the judge as an alternative to having Annalise take the stand as a witness.
After the judge throws out the written statement, Annalise shows up despite her partner’s advice and takes the stand, testifying to the events of the evening in question. During the defense cross-examination, Annalise realizes the jury would not indict based on her statement, so she calls an audible: she gets her testimony dismissed by revealing attorney-client privileged information. She convinced Ms. Hapstall’s brother to talk to her about accepting a guilty plea, which she does.
After the trial, Annalise returns home to find Wes in her bedroom with questions about what happened to his girlfriend. In flashbacks, we find out that Annalise knew Wes when he was a child and knew his mother. The episode ends leaving us with even more questions than before regarding the prior relationship of the two.
Mind you, questions are fine, but eventually you have to answer them. And Shondra Rhimes is known for keeping plot revelations at bay for as long as possible. She’s going to have to start doling out some more resolutions before many of her fans start to answer their own quandary: “How To Get Away From ‘How To Get Away With Murder.'”
The series’ next episode, “She Hates Us”, is scheduled to air February 18th on ABC.