Though it has been months since fans have caught up with the always inadvertently murderous Keating 4, the winter premiere picks up just hours after the plan to take down Antares backfired to deadly results. The midseason finale of How To Get Away With Murder really packed in the drama: Laurel (Karla Souza) gave early birth to her baby, Simon (Behzad Dabu) shot himself in a tragic, swivel chair related accident, and Asher (Matt McGorry) was arrested.
"He's Dead" picks up on the immediate aftermath of all of the above, and no one is doing okay. But don't let the title confuse you — those baby cries we heard in the midseason finale were the real deal.
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Laurel and her baby are rushed to the hospital, and Annalise (Viola Davis) is close by Laurel's side.
Via phone, Connor (Jack Falahee) reiterates to Annalise the unfortunate information about Simon's shooting to the lawyer, completely unaware that Dominick (Nicholas Gonzales) is listening intently in the stairwell. Connor, solidifying his place on #TeamAnnalise, runs to tell Nate (Billy Brown) the news about Laurel's hospital visit and Asher's arrest, not realising that — surprise! — Bonnie (Liza Weil) is cozied up on the couch.
Annalise and Frank (Charlie Weber) ask for Laurel at the hospital, but the doctor won't let them see her — they're not family. (If only the doc knew how connected by blood Annalise and Laurel really are...) Frank thinks quick and tells the doctor he's the baby's father — which, for all he knows, he very well could be. The two get taken to see the small, but stable baby — and it seems that Laurel might be okay, too. So why are the social workers asking Annalise and Frank if Laurel used drugs that may have caused her to go into premature labor?
Hmm... her father, Jorge (Esai Morales) might have something to do with that. Just kidding, he definitely does — and he even faked a psych evaluation to make Laurel seem mentally unfit to raise her own child. Jorge wants custody of Laurel's baby, and since Frank is, apparently, not the father (according to a paternity test conducted by Laurel at her last OBGYN appointment), he has zero say in the matter. Jorge transfers the baby to another hospital, while Laurel ends up in the psych ward. Annalise screams at the nurses taking the baby away — she's convinced that Jorge intends to hurt the baby.
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As for Michaela (Aja Naomi King), she and Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) finally realise why Asher was arrested: He didn't lie to the cops about Simon's death. Well, he did, but didn't lie about touching the gun after Simon was already dead. Asher didn't want to be caught in another non-truth, because he knew DNA would come bite him eventually. There's a reason Annalise nicknamed her course How To Get Away With Murder.
When Laurel finally comes to, she confesses to Frank and Annalise that Dominick asked her to call off the Antares takedown — and that she refused, leading to the havoc of the night. Unfortunately, Frank killed Dominick after interrogating him about the Caplan & Gold hard drive. Laurel discovers that Frank has, once again, solved a problem with murder when Dominick's cell rings in Frank's pocket.
"Frank. No," says a horrified Laurel.
But, erm... yes. Have you met Frank?
Yet while Dominick is dead, someone else is alive — Simon! Despite that gunshot to the head, the law student is still breathing... something that Michaela, Connor, and Asher are not thrilled about. After all, they can get away with murder (wink, wink) if Simon is too dead to talk. When Oliver realises that the group is musing smothering Simon with a pillow, he realises that he's actually so not interested in being an alternate on the Keating squad. About time, Oliver — you just don't need the stress.