Saturday, February 20, 2016

Recap/Review: How To Get Away With Murder's 2x11: She Hates Us

After the rather hallucinatory previous episode, things sort of got back to normal here before quickly going to hell in the last few moments as well.

Written by Erika Harrison
Directed by Bill D'Elia


Remembering Rose: This week, both Wes and Annalise were feeling burned out and this week, it nearly cost both of them. Wes ended up with a brief stay in a psych ward where he talked a bit about his mother's death and in more flashbacks, we actually saw a still heavily pregnant Annalise trying to get Rose on side over some potential case. I knew last week it wasn't a coincidence that Annalise and Rose met and this week confirmed it. Speaking of flashbacks.


10 Years Ago: When Annalise wasn't trying to get Rose on side, the flashbacks also focused heavily on her pregnancy and happier times with Sam. Yes, there was a time when the two of them seemed to be on the same page and excited for imminent parenthood. More interestingly was seeing both Bonnie and Frank (the former with longer hair) in the same position as the current Keating Five are and even then the relationships that Annalise would have with the two was clearly defined back then. The flashbacks were certainly a nice surprise and worked pretty well too. What exactly happened to Annalise and Sam's child and what was going on with Rose as well? I'm definitely intrigued by both stories.


Matters Of The Heart: Both Laurel and Michaela had some romantic problems in this one. If things hadn't been sour between Michaela and Caleb in the last episode, they definitely became that way when Caleb unfairly called her a whore and Michaela took her anger out on Annalise, as did nearly everyone this week (except Nate, he brought comfort food). As for Laurel, when she wasn't trying to get Wes out of the psych ward and reason with Annalise, she also managed to get Frank to admit that he killed Lila, which would've been a perfect way of ending the episode if something else hadn't appeared. Like Connor receiving a rather incriminating email that reminded audiences how much of a loose cannon Phillip is now going to be.


Welcome Outstayed: Last week Asher proved to be the handful as a roommate and this week, the welcome was well and truly worn out. Oliver's attempts to palm Asher off on Michaela were a bit mean but kind of understandable as was Connor's sympathy towards Asher. Actually this whole plot along with Annalise being cold with the gang actually united the Keating Five for probably the first time since the show actually began. That in itself was actually rather nice.


Mother's Love: Amidst the flashbacks, confessions and incriminating videos, there was also a case involving a mother not wanting her son's killer to get the death penalty. It was certainly one of the better cases we've had in a while, especially for the moment where the mother in question gave Annalise a piece of her mind. The case had some nice twists and turns and a certain level of poignancy.

Next week, the gang have to deal with being blackmailed.

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