How to Get Away with Murder “He Has a Wife” 

Annalise Keating’s porch sees a lot of action. I think it was last week that we saw Laurel and Frank making out – if not full on having sex — and this week, Sam kisses Bonnie there. I’m not sure I can convey my level of disgust when it comes to Sam Keating. It feels like he was only kissing Bonnie as some sort of reward he thought she’d earned. Or maybe he thought giving her something she wanted — that kiss — would help her keep her mouth shut. But I’m happy that Bonnie came clean to Annalise, although that’s probably the wrong terminology. Knowing that Annalise considers Frank family, it’s not hard not to assume Bonnie also holds some sort of special place in her heart, despite whatever Annalise suspects may be going on between Bonnie and Sam. So while Sam thought kissing Bonnie insured that she’d keep his secret, maybe it’s what prompted Bonnie to have a heart-to-heart with her boss.

Even though she called Bonnie “mousy” (which, hello, rude), Annalise is always strategic. So bringing Bonnie into her bedroom while she questioned Sam about whether or not he knew about Lila’s pregnancy — that’s just Annalise using that lawyer brain of hers. As Annalise tells the team, she expects them to do their jobs and let her know what’s coming her way. And we know Annalise has blinders on when it comes to her husband, but we also know she’s after the truth, at least when it comes to Sam.

After Sam lied to Annalise about the affair and where he was the night of Lila’s murder, it’s smart for Annalise to doubt his word. She really needs to start doubting his motives as well. Sam claims to want to fight for his marriage, but he must suspect that if he admits to knowing about Lila’s pregnancy it might be the end of it. Is he just playing Annalise until someone else is convicted of Lila’s murder? Whatever his end game, Annalise hasn’t turned on him.

Wes and Rebecca haven’t gone to the police about Sam yet either, so she’s doing a pretty good job of playing them. Annalise claims she learned her lesson about lying to Wes, but he should be suspicious. Wes claims to want to keep an eye on Annalise, which is smart but also disappointing. Is it weird that part of me wants them to get along so that he’ll actually have a career as a lawyer later if that’s what he wants? In any case, he’s smart to go along with this ruse because we still don’t know who really killed Lila. Could Sam be capable of something like that? After this episode, I would say yes. He’s certainly capable of keeping a lot of secrets. And if he killed Lila, it would’ve solved some serious problems for him. Is it all just moot, since he’s dead? I don’t think so, because I still really want to know who killed Lila and why. I also want to know who killed Sam, but at this moment in time I can’t really feel any regret that he’s dead.

Michaela’s Not The Shooting Star
Now we know why Michaela is such an overachiever. She came from nothing, so she feels like she’s got a lot to prove. In “He Has a Wife,” it’s that she won’t allow her future mother-in-law to push her around. I was very excited to see Lynn Whitfield in the role and I hope we’ll see more of her in the future. I like that she’s the reason Michaela seems to have (finally) returned to form. It’s possible she just got tired of being called a shooting star or that she was just motivated to get her hands on that trophy, but I much prefer this Michaela to one who is lost and seemingly behind the curve.

Either way, Michaela — who was also pre-med as an undergrad — is the one who discovers the evidence they need to win this case. Of course, I’m not sure “win” is the right term. It turns out the husband did it because he didn’t want to share his girlfriend Elke with his son and then he tried to frame his wife. Although Gretchen was understandably upset that this case tore her family apart, Annalise assured her that it was better to know something like this in the end.

Rebecca and Lila Were Friends
I’m still not a Rebecca fan, but it was nice to see that she really did have a relationship with Lila. Rebecca started out merely as Lila’s drug dealer, but ended up becoming her friend and confidant. So, as we already knew, Rebecca knew about “Darcy.” She knew Lila wanted him to leave his wife, but that he wouldn’t. Rebecca even knew something had changed in their relationship, but Lila wouldn’t tell her what. And when Lila confided that she wanted to go to Darcy’s wife and expose their affair, Rebecca urged her not to. So maybe it’s that friendship that makes Rebecca trust Nate enough to work with him. And even though Wes thinks Nate’s playing them, I really do think he wants to get to the bottom of what really happened. Sam isn’t a good guy, so I have to say I wouldn’t have minded seeing Nate or Rebecca or anyone take him down.

Questions:
Why did Annalise feel the need to fire Bonnie? She did her job; she got the truth from Sam. Did Annalise see Bonnie’s action as some sort of betrayal to her? It was no secret Bonnie had feelings for Sam. I don’t get it, but now we know why Bonnie slept with Asher that night. What else did she have to lose?

Why is Laurel so upset to discover that Charlie has a girlfriend? Well, it’s possible she’s more upset about being Charlie’s current flavor of the month, according to his girlfriend. And we know she means more than that to Charlie. But I’m not really sure Laurel has a moral leg to stand on considering she’s cheating too.

What is it about Rebecca that is making Wes so loyal to her? I’m really not a fan, although I’ve got more sympathy for her now than I did last week. For me, she’s turned Wes into this person that I don’t think I really want to understand. Whatever she went through as a kid and/or teenager has scarred her. I get it (well, I don’t but I understand that she’s damaged). And Wes seems to want to only see the best in her. But why? You’ve got to earn trust and she hasn’t.

Guest Star Goodness

In addition to Lynn Whitfield, we’ve also got Stacy Edwards and David Burke in this episode. While Mary Walker is very much about protecting her family’s legacy, Michaela refuses to see her upcoming marriage as a commodity. She refuses to see signing the prenup as a business transaction. Being a lawyer and knowing how high the divorce rate is, I feel like Michael’s actually going with her heart here instead of being her typical type-A self. I was a bit surprised to see Michaela raise her hand to Mary Walker, but her future mother-in-law was definitely looking to rile her and prove just how uncultured her beginnings are. I really do hope we see more of Lynn Whitfield in the future. Whitfield hasn’t done that much TV, but you may recognize her from guest appearances on FlashForward or Without a Trace.

Stacy Edwards‘ Gretchen Thomas is the woman on trial for murdering the nanny in her sleep. She’s got a career and a family — and all the stress that goes with that — and has to take a sleeping pill every night to get to bed. She done all sorts of things in her sleep — making a meal, having sex, so it’s possible she could kill someone without any real knowledge. And we see just how upset she is about what she’s done. Elke was her friend. So it’s a betrayal to find out the nanny was not only sleeping with her son, but also her husband. Edwards has done a lot of TV, but may be best known for Santa Barbara. More recently, she’s guested on Castle, Grey’s Anatomy and The Lying Game.

David Burke plays the seemingly supportive husband. He knew giving his wife wine, combined with the sleeping pill, would really knock her out. And he knew that if he could wake her up enough to realize what a mess he’d created, she’d clean it up and make it look like she’s the one who committed the crime. I remember Burke fondly from The Tick and am desperately hoping he’ll be in the new version. You may also recognize him from (recently canceled) Franklin & Bash, Chuck or Eli Stone.

How to Get Away with Murder airs Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC.