'How To Get Away With Murder' Recap: Don't Worry Baby

Of all the suspicious, questionable, just generally untrustworthy behavior exhibited by the characters of How To Get Away With Murder, by far the most unsettling is when they’re NICE to each other. Not so much because this niceness hides ulterior motives or deep-rooted deceit, but because these people are never nice to each other. Which stands to reason, I suppose, since they are reluctant co-workers, not best friends rappin’ about life and love down at Central Perk. But as one of TV’s finest feel-bad shows, HTGAWM has always trafficked in a cold meanness between its characters, and we’re only distracted from the nihilism by a metric ton of plot twists scored to an incredible soundtrack. But that just makes the occasional appearance of a smile that much weirder.

As is tradition with this show, the first episode back after a hiatus is very much a “clearing up old business” situation. The first nine episodes all built to a dizzying, densely layered showdown resulting in at least one corpse and a possibly dying leading lady, so HTGAWM was going to need at least one episode to get itself out of THAT corner it’d painted itself into. For anyone looking for hints at what the next set of stresses Annalise and the gang will face in the coming weeks, you were out of luck. But “What Happened to You, Annalise?” was still a lot of fun as well as a delightful reminder of just how insane this show can be. Let’s talk about it!

Meanwhile Wes had taken to bed and was refusing to see anyone. He had fallen into just the sort of funk one falls into after nearly murdering one’s mentor after said mentor informs one that one’s girlfriend is dead. Also he had a beard now.