Saturday, November 19, 2016

My Review of How To Get Away With Murder's 3x09: "Who's Dead?"


Written by Michael Foley
Directed by Bill D'Elia

Annalise: "What is it?"
Nate (re Wes): "He was already dead before the fire."

Well, they actually went and done it, didn't they? After weeks of thinking that either Frank or Nate were going to be the ones to perish, it was actually Wes who died in the fire after all. To say the reactions on Tumblr to this have been explosive would be underselling it but it's still a daring thing for the show to do.

Whether you liked Wes or not, no-one can deny that he was such a big character for the show to kill off and in this episode, they intensified that in a big way. Not only did Wes come close to betraying Annalise but he didn't even die in the fire at the house. Thanks to Nate, we found out that Wes had actually been killed prior to the Keating house catching flames, which is a nice way of setting up the mystery for the second half of this season.

It's a ballsy thing for the show to do to kill off Wes and while I will miss Alfred Enoch in the role, I do hope it's a plot point that can actually move things forward and bring the gang and Annalise closer together rather than tearing them apart. I'm not even sure who to suspect for killing Wes though. Frank? Someone from the Mahoney family maybe? Even Nate perhaps?

Things were also getting out of hand for Annalise. It seems like Atwood was close to bringing her down and with Oliver being prompted into looking into Sam's murder and when she wasn't getting drunk and destroying her laptop, Annalise also seemed determined to assemble the Keating 5 and Oliver together in order to come up with some kind of plan.

Atwood's hatred for Annalise though certainly took a sinister turn in this episode. While Sinclair was a pain in the ass last season, prior to Asher killing, Atwood really does seem to have it out for Annalise. She's not just content with sleeping with Nate (and demanding Nate stays away from Annalise) but she's also using Annalise's same hairdresser and going for her in a big way. Needless to say, Atwood is proving to be a big problem for the gang.

As for the rest of the episode, we got to see Michaela hash out some issues with her trashy mother, Trishelle (who I'm intrigued) while Frank didn't kill himself, Oliver dug a little deeper into things, Asher was in party boy mode and Connor turned on Thomas after having sex with him. The gang's reactions to Wes's death (including Meggy's) along with Annalise's thought was particularly devastating to watch unfold. It's going to be one hell of a second half when this show returns in January.

- Aside from the post sex of Connor/Thomas, we also had Michaela/Laurel and Annalise/Bonnie kiss each other as well.
- I just realised that Laurel doesn't seem to be aware of the fact that she's pregnant now.
- It was nice see Mary J. Blige back this week. I hope she pops up again in the second half of the season.
- This show will be back on ABC from January 19th.

Who's Dead really did turn things on it's head. Wes's death managed to shock and polarising as the character could be at times, the show is definitely to miss something without him. Alfred Enoch gave a great performance and I'm definitely interested in seeing how the aftermath of Wes's murder affects the show.

Rating: 9 out of 10

No comments: