Annalise Keating just won her second case since being reinstated as an attorney — and she's anything but happy about it.
This week on How To Get Away With Murder, Annalise (Viola Davis) went to the public defender's office to help relieve their case load. The chief public defender assigns her to defend a client named Ben (Rene Moran), who was imprisoned for killing his fiancée, Kim. Ben told Annalise that he didn't kill her; instead, her death was a suicide. Ben was convicted years ago, but he's been granted a retrial due to jury bias — he's covered in tattoos and is a former gang member.
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Ben maintains that the fight he and Kim had on the night of her death wasn't because she wanted to leave him, but because she'd told him that their daughter, Madison, wasn't his. He also swears to Annalise that he didn't hurt Kim, whom Annalise quickly realizes was suffering from postpartum depression.
Coincidentally — or, then again, definitely not coincidentally — Nate (Billy Brown) ends up being a witness in the case Annalise is on. She doesn't let it get to her, but Nate has other plans in mind. After Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) begs Nate for a job, he gives him one: hacking into Annalise's phone. Oliver finds the recording of Ben saying Madison isn't his, and Nate has it played in the courtroom.
Still, Annalise has the trump card, thanks to a mysterious envelope delivered to her motel room. The envelope contains a DVD of ATM security camera footage, which shows Kim jumping to her death, not being pushed. Frank helps Annalise figure out the DVD is from the chief public defender herself. Annalise proceeds to treat her as a hostile witness on the stand, getting her to admit that she made a mistake in not discovering the ATM footage during Ben's first trial.
The chief public defender is understandably upset that Annalise shamed her in front of the courtroom, but Annalise has bigger plans in mind. When Isaac (Jimmy Smits) accuses Annalise of only doing these things to help herself (and not her clients), Annalise says that those remarks will help her mount a class action suit against the Pennsylvania governor himself. After seeing Jasmine, her client from last week's episode, end up dead from an apparent O.D. (that's the body she was asked to identify), Annalise has developed a newfound passion for helping the poor and those who have been failed by the justice system.
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“The system is failing... We all know it, but we tolerate it and no one’s doing anything to fix it." #HTGAWM
— Pete Nowalk (@petenowalk) October 13, 2017
More on the failing public defender system at https://t.co/bIZIv3XbPT #HTGAWM
— Pete Nowalk (@petenowalk) October 13, 2017
Meanwhile, the rest of the group isn't doing so well without Annalise. Connor (Jack Falahee) has decided to drop out of law school, prompting an intervention from the others. Or, as Asher (Matt McGorry) calls it, a "dinnervention," since it features Frank's (Charlie Weber) meatballs. Connor isn't having it, though, telling them he's an adult and can make his own decisions. He resorts to day drinking at a gay bar — and Oliver confronts him there, with Connor's two fathers in tow. (If you're wondering why Frank gets involved with the intervention, he's apparently friends with the Keating Four these days — Asher is even helping him study for the LSATs.)
Family Dinner. Intervention. Same thing #HTGAWM pic.twitter.com/JHleGX6BJW
— Pete Nowalk (@petenowalk) October 13, 2017
There's one member of the Keating Four who's crushing it, though: Michaela (Aja Naomi King). She wins the so-called "Kaplan & Gold Hell Bowl," which means she gets to choose where she'll be working during her internship. And after Laurel's (Karla Souza) constant pestering, Michaela gives in, asking to work on the account for Antares Technologies, Laurel's dad's company. As for her own internship, Laurel convinces Bonnie (Liza Weil) and Nate to let her intern at the DA's office.
And as for the flash forward scenes, it looks like Laurel's baby might not be alive after all. This time around, we see Isaac confront Michaela — apparently, he knows who she is? — at the facility where Laurel is. It looks like it's a hospital, not a mental institution, because Michaela is looking at a room full of babies. She asks Isaac where Laurel's baby is, and immediately starts asking if the baby died. "Everyone dies around us," Michaela tells Isaac. "That's what they do."
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On the one hand, all of this did start when the Keating Five killed Sam. On the other hand, they've been through way more than anyone should have to live with.
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