Saturday, October 22, 2016

My Review of How To Get Away With Murder's 3x05: "It's About Frank"


Written by J. C. Lee
Directed by Jann Turner

Frank: "This is a woman who wants me dead."
Bonnie: "Because she blames you for the baby, and that's fair. You know that."
Frank: "Of course I do."
Bonnie: "Then come home and tell her that. She'll forgive you. You just need to forgive her first."

Holy shit! That is pretty all I can say about this show and yes, it'a weekly reaction because this series constantly seems to top itself and this episode was an absolute hell of a doozy with some many answered questions, including to ones that I hadn't even thought about to begin with.

First of all, in flashbacks which ranged from 1999 and near enough the present day, we saw Annalise and Sam when they first moved into their home and then we saw Sam persuade Annalise into helping out Frank from a prison cell. With the episode title having Frank's name in it, it wasn't exactly a shocker to see that this would detail all of his significant history with the Keatings and it managed to do so with aplomb.

Coming away from this episode, I definitely got a better understanding of Frank's character and the relationships he's had with Sam and Annalise. In the present day, we saw Bonnie track him down and thank him for bumping off her father. On top of that we also had Bonnie trying to convince Frank to apologise Annalise and sleep with him, only for Frank then to do a runner.

Of course, Frank can run all he wants but at the end of this episode, both Wes and Annalise became privy to his former whereabouts thanks to Laurel spilling her guts to them about things. I'm not sure what Annalise is going to do with Bonnie and Laurel but I imagine it'll something pretty drastic. However, the one thing we can also take away from this episode is that someone male died in Annalise's house as Michaela was revealed to be safe and sound too.

Speaking of Michaela, she really had her moments in this episode. Her verbal annihilation of Simon was without a doubt one of her best moments this week but the delving into her history was also rather unexpected. I wasn't expecting to see Brett Butler pop up as her adoptive mother, Trishelle and I'm also curious as to why Michaela is in possession of Connor's phone as well.

As for Simon Drake, he's been something of a minor thorn in the Keating Five's side for the last few episodes but this week, it was revealed that he was responsible for sending out the killer fliers about Annalise. I'm cool with it being Simon but I'm kind of hoping a motive appears for his actions outside of jealousy for the gang and Annalise though. I do think Annalise dealt with him well enough, though I'm still sure that Drake may pose a problem down the line.

Keeping with Annalise, she seemed to go through the gamut in this episode. She was a mess in some respects but she also got herself back together and even managed to get her teaching licence as well. I did like the reveal of Hargrove also being in the AA meeting too and I certainly appreciate that she's not actually that much of an antagonist towards Annalise either.

- Wes was on the verge of breaking up with Meggy after meeting her father in this episode.
- Nice cameo appearance from Mary J. Blige as Annalise's hairdresser this week. Nate is also still sleeping with the female lawyer whose hatred for Annalise is intensifying.
- Connor is now the only person whose parents we've not met so far out of the Keating Five. I still refuse to believe that he's under the sheet.
- Chronology: Three weeks before the events of the big fire.

This was one hell of an episode. It's About Frank certainly lived up to it's title, delving more into the character's backstory while also giving us some genuinely gripping flashbacks and present day moments for Annalise and the gang while tying up one mystery in a satisfying manner. It really does feel like all bets are off now til the mid-season finale.

Rating: 9 out of 10

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