How did almost everyone get onboard for what continues to be America’s dumbest plan? And no, shouting “FOR WES” in unison is not a good enough reason. Listen, I know that Wes was very important to us all, but come on. I’m way more interested in Annalise’s crusade for justice and Jimmy Smits’s furrowed brow than whatever nonsense Laurel is up to. I get it. You hate your dad. Let’s move it along.
To fill the vacuum that Wes and Wes-inspired flashbacks has created, we’re getting a lot of Connor and Oliver. The episode opens and closes with them in some sort of love tent. After last week’s episode, I was corrected that therapeutic letters are indeed a thing, but if you expect me to believe that two grown people regularly refer to their bed as a tent or a fort — or that they build full-size forts — you are asking for a lot. Connor feels like things are going right for the first time in his life. Neither of them have a job that would result in jail time. They’re so boring and normal.
Annalise is arriving at therapy and she tells Jimmy Smits that it’s their final session together. Then we get a classic How to Get Away With Murder montage as we see Annalise meeting Jimmy Smits’s ex-wife, Jacqueline, and trying to tell Jimmy Smits that she’s done with him as a therapist. Jacqueline says that Annalise is triggering her husband, and he might be using again. Jimmy Smits thinks that this is just relapse behavior from Annalise and they can work through this. Clingy much? Annalise says she went through this with Sam and she needs another therapist.
Meanwhile, Michaela tries to make up with Asher by bringing him a very rare sandwich, which he immediately gives to someone else who says, “Slam me that sammie.” Whenever How to Get Away With Murder has to write a throwaway line for a background character, they sound like an NPC in a video game watching you do a skateboard trick.
Annalise’s major mission this episode is to get a judge to certify her class-action lawsuit. The Attorney General has taken up the mission against her and they’re looking for an immediate dismissal. What’s their strategy? Someone put a bottle of Scotch on her car and took a picture of her moving it. Like … what? Who drinks Scotch in the afternoon, outside, near their car, and just swans around holding it? It was like half a plan on behalf of the Attorney General. Still, they’re putting Annalise on trial.
Asher decides to tell Frank about Laurel’s brilliant plan, and his immediate reaction is “absolutely not.” Frank thinks they should go to the police and just solve things that way. Laurel and Michaela know that her father will deflect and they need to prove it. Ugh, I’m so exhausted by this. The pieces are all coming together, though. Tegan asks Michaela to throw a party for the whole office to celebrate the public offering, and Oliver gets more access to office computers, including Simon’s.
Annalise gets the DA to work with her to discredit the photograph for … reasons. The DA offered up an employee to take the fall for the photograph and make the whole thing look like a conspiracy by the Attorney General’s office. The Attorney General objects that the DA’s employee is lying, so Annalise cocks an eyebrow and asks, “And how would you know that?” Bonnie stops him in the parking garage and says she might have something that could help him. (Sidenote: The guy playing the Attorney General was in The Mummy wearing some definitely questionable “ethnic” garb. I’m glad he moved up in the world.)
It’s time for Laurel to completely wear Frank down. She tells him that if he loves her and really loves her, he’ll do this completely unreasonable plan. He’s in. Michaela suggests that there’s an office party on Friday and everyone will be drunk and distracted. Still, she doesn’t want to steal Tegan’s key card because that’s somehow too far. Asher is furious that his “tell Frank” plan backfired. Asher says that everyone thinks he’s a pushover and Michaela cares more about Laurel than about him. Honestly, only like 45 percent of this monologue feels motivated.
Annalise finally meets with Jacqueline, and Annalise isn’t happy about it. This is all very creepy and weird, and Annalise thinks she can’t be the only patient who talks about suicide. Jacqueline just says Jimmy Smits and Annalise are the perfect storm.
Asher and Michaela have the fight they’ve clearly been putting off for months. Could their relationship not be as stable and happy as they thought?! He secretly hates being called the Barack to her Michelle. Maybe he’s just a layover relationship until she gets the chance to meet the guy she can see her future with. She’s still got her wedding dress in the closet. That’s only because it’s $20,000, but he’s still tired of feeling like a second choice.
Then, my favorite scene of the episode. Annalise is in the shower and she hears some banging in the other room, so she grabs a little gun from her nightstand. She checks under the bed and her eyes are bugging out and that li’l gun is hilarious. Someone left a giant bottle of vodka on her counter. The Attorney General figured out that she doesn’t drink Scotch; she drinks vodka. She heads over to Nate’s to spend the night, and he warns her that maybe she’s reaping what she’s sown after playing dirty after all these years.
The Attorney General has subpoenaed Jimmy Smits to testify in the certification hearing. The Attorney General asks if Annalise is at risk of relapsing and if she’s stressing herself out. We see a few clips of Jimmy Smits saying that exact thing, but he tells the court no while making eyes at her. The Attorney General snaps at Bonnie and says this was supposed to destroy Annalise and that Bonnie keeps screwing up. He also says they look like two people banging. I really can’t wait and I don’t know why this show is making me wait so long to see it happen.
Laurel, Michaela, and Oliver decide to use Simon’s computer to get access into the server, even though he’s at risk of deportation. These are not good people.
Annalise gets her certification because the case against her was mostly baseless personal attacks.
In the final montage, Michaela sprays ketchup on her wedding dress to prove she’s all-in on her relationship with Asher. Laurel makes Frank take a paternity test. Annalise lets Connor answer a reporter’s questions. And Annalise goes to see Jimmy Smits.
She says he was at risk of perjuring himself and she asks him if he’s using again. Who told her that? Annalise says that Sam tried to convince her it wasn’t true, but she knows that she hurts people. Jimmy Smits tells her that she didn’t make those things happen. These two have a real will-they, won’t-they thing going on and they really need to just bang already. Jimmy Smits says he doesn’t need to be protected and asks if Bonnie put her up to this. It wasn’t Bonnie, though. IT WAS YOUR EX-WIFE.
Oliver comes home and Connor has set up a ridiculous tent in their living room, and he delivers an amazing proposal. Oliver breaks down and tells him everything about Laurel’s stupid plan.
Flash-forward to 48 hours later. Everyone has a reason to be at the party, and we get snippets of someone in surgery at the hospital, and the person on the operating table flatlines. Is it Connor? It’s definitely Connor, right?
