Written by Brendan Kelly
Directed by Hanelle Culpepper
Annalise: "What do you think?"
Bonnie: "It's war."
Annalise: "Exactly."
Oh my God, this episode certainly didn't bullshit with that title. There's nothing more glorious than a vengeance stricken Annalise and in this episode alone, it was played to perfection. We've seen her humiliated, disgraced, beaten and falsely accused of murdering Wes. This was the episode where she truly started to fight back.
Atwood's been begging for a comeuppance all season long and this episode hopefully the beginning of a well deserved downfall for the woman. I loved that Annalise went above Renee's head and issued a letter of complaint of Atwood's conduct over the investigation and when that didn't quite take, Annalise took advantage of Oliver's hacking skills and made Atwood's incompetence into a public event.
Granted it was also a stunt that nearly blew up in Annalise's face, only for Frank to step in and save the day. I always do something of a groan when characters decide to represent themselves in courtroom scenes but in Frank's case, it was actually a stroke of genius. Not only was he able to command the room, but he also bought himself and Annalise more time and managed to ensure that Atwood suffered some consequences for her witch hunt of Annalise as well. Basically a good episode for Frank.
It also turned out to be a good episode for Nate too. Not that he did anything too extraordinary but more that he got off with signing over the papers to transfer Wes's body to another morgue while at the same time being ruled out as a suspect too thanks to the flashbacks. Nate's scenes with Annalise in this one were generally a mixed bag though.
Speaking of Annalise, you really could cut the tension between her and the gang with a knife in this one. Michaela tried to be aloof when Annalise was praising her for holding the fort while Asher was quite sympathetic to Annalise's plight. Laurel was more mad at Annalise while at the same time doing her own investigating while at the same time eventually coming around to her mentor.
As for Connor, even I wanted to slap him in this episode. His cynicism went into annoying levels of overdrive but I did like that Asher ended up accusing him of being the anonymous source before the flashbacks revealed something very interesting. Having Connor trying to revive Wes before abandoning him was unexpected but I can't wait to see where it leads to next though.
- Laurel hired a private investigator who revealed that Mahoney's wife had a DNA test done on Wes.
- Annalise figured out pretty quickly that Hargrove had been gotten to by Atwood. Expected but a bit of a shame as I do enjoy their sort of friendship.
- The last two episodes of the season will be aired as a double bill. The show did this before for the first season finale. Oh and it's been renewed for a fourth season.
- Chronology: Not long from where Go Cry Somewhere Else left off.
It's War certainly had a lot of bang to it's buck. Having Annalise back in fighting mode certainly helped and the pre death Wes flashbacks are still exciting week in, week out. With the last two episodes set to resolve this storyline, the killer really could be anyone.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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