So much happened in this episode that, for the first time this season, Iāve come away feeling like nothing happened because it all became an inconsistent blur. Bit of a let down.
- Laurel telling Gabriel to back off. Yes, girl, about damn time!! And of course Frank and Laurelās phone call being all āI know you and I know when youāre lyingā with that little smirk. I see you, Francis.
- Coliverās moms. Lovely moments and really interesting to see more of their histories unfold, but a lot of the nice moments were lost, as they were shoehorned in between other plot lines in 2 minute bursts.
- Choosing the governor was never an option for Annalise. Her choice there was out of character, selfish and just plain stupid. Not to mention her desperation for a pardon for Nate Snr made all of the work they did last week (which had a highly successful outcome!) pointless. As did my next point:
- Kill off Nate Snr?! Why?! I wonāt judge too harshly because this may well be a plot device that moves the story along, but somehow I doubt that. This feels like another statement death so that HTGAWM can spend airtime promoting another political agenda, even though they could have explored the issue of violence in prisons more with Nateās case in previous episodes. Weāll see where they take this but, so far, unimpressed.
- Bonnieās anticlimactic visit to her sister. Again, had potential and good insight to her childhood but, like Connor and Oliver, it felt like it took a backseat to the Annalise drama even though itās a main plot line?! I doubt that the baby is actually dead, but if so thatās been a lot of fuss for nothing. But I do think we can for sure discount Gabriel as Bonnieās kid because thereās no way Frank would knowingly let her be that miserable when he could tell her the truth. However, I am here for Frank being the supportive friend, I like their ride or die friendship.
- Annalise ditching Bonnie like a hot potato to court the governor instead. What? This was a major backwards step and Bonnie deserves better, Annalise. Good thing Frankās got her back.
- Much as I love to see Laurel owning at her job, what even was that pithy case?? If a student can solve it overnight, then the pill company shouldnāt be paying C&G over $5 million in legal fees. They did not earn that money.
- They are also making way too much of Michaela and Tegan. That dynamic - which I am here for - needs to be much subtler. It isnāt just a case of Michaela having a crush on Tegan; Michaela has deep-rooted issues with women in a position of authority over her, and so I think thereās more at play here and they shouldnāt trivialise it because itās not a healthy obsession if she would drop her closest friend in the deep end just to get Teganās attention.
- Flash forward: theyāre playing with the timeline again for sure and itās a bit annoying. Once again, we donāt have anywhere near enough information to form a hypothesis and, this close to the finale, thatās frustrating. It should feel like itās moving along better than that. Also, Miller dude - get back in your lane. Bonnie couldnāt commit to lunch in her current state of mind, let alone a marriage proposal.
And, worst of all, this flash forward order has definitely left Frank unaccounted for after the murder so heād better be somewhere alive and well.
Also, did Asher even have any lines in this episode?? I honestly canāt remember him having any screen time at all. Heās supposed to be in murder club but at this rate, he doesnāt even feel like main cast.
Sorry to be the downer this week. To clarify, Iām still loving the season as a whole, but this was the weakest episode yet. They need to stick to the structure and let the important moments and relationships shine, rather than take a back seat to unnecessary drama and a forced political agenda thatās sometimes hard to swallow.
