My Review of How To Get Away With Murder's 4x14: "The Day Before He Died"

Written by Joe Fazzio
Directed by Scott Printz

Laurel: "Tell me who killed Wes?"

Um, we had the answer for that question last season but it seems that we're getting it again with Sandrine also (and not surprisingly considering the last few weeks) had some role in Wes's death when she called Jorge who then got Dominic to deal with Wes. Dramatically, the scenes played out well but it didn't leave quite the impact it was hoping for.

Probably because as I pointed out the whole thing was telegraphed from the last couple of weeks and also here during the flashbacks to Wes and Sandrine interacting with each other as the latter tried to pay Wes off so he'd dump Laurel, only for him to refuse and eh, the rest is kind of history at this point.

I did like the scenes with both Laurel and Sandrine when the latter was confronted by her daughter and those mischievous phone records but it was oddly the weakest point of an episode that fortunately had a few more things going in it's favour.

First of all, Bonnie managed to figure out that Denver stole the hard drive and has been playing the Keating 4 and Jorge against one another. Unfortunately the episode then ended with a car crash so it seems that perhaps the show has killed Bonnie off for good. Except knowing this show, it'll probably turn out to be someone else who was killed but either, it doesn't look too promising for Bonnie.

Not that Denver was the only problem for the Keating 4 this week. Simon was wake and the gang went from contemplating putting a pillow over his head to having Oliver marry him for a green card, which shows there's no in between for this lot at times. Thankfully Annalise had a slightly better (but still risky) plan with forcing Simon into agreeing into being a whistle blower. I have to admit, I actually felt sorry for Simon here.

As for the rest of the episode, I'm glad that we got some lovely scenes with Annalise and Frank and her and Isaac as well with the latter taking responsibility for his recent relapse. I'm also glad that Asher found out about Michaela and Marcus and that the show seems to be addressing her own issues with what she wants as well. Whether or not those two get back together, I'm not sure if it should happen even though I do like the pairing.

- Sandrine's comments on Laurel's need to fix men actually did tie in nicely to that argument she had with Wes before he died. Good one, show.
- I liked Michaela and Tegan's conversation in the bathroom. When this whole Denver/Jorge storyline is done, maybe she could be a future ally to Annalise.
- Wes's little shower moment was clearly a nod to a classic Dallas storyline, except Wes is still death.
- Chronology: Not long from the previous episode left off. Also eight months since Wes's death.

The Day Before He Died isn't the strongest penultimate episode we've had but it's definitely got enough going for it to be engaging though. I will be happy though to see the back of Laurel's family after next week's finale and let the ghost of Wes rest properly next season as well.

Rating: 7 out of 10