Season 3, Episode 1
Original Air Date: September 22, 2016
Grade: A
“We’re good people now,” the always-fierce Annalise Keating states to her long time students after they express their concerns about someone tagging her as a “killer” on campus. Not only does this quote serve as the episode’s title but the theme of the season in many ways. The focus has derived from trying to get away from the consequences of the all mistakes made in the past two seasons to focusing on moving forward after the amount of turbulence of last season.
Sure, Wes now has to contend with watching the father he just met in front of him die, but that drama is wrapped up pretty quick and fast forwarded to four months later, where he has a new girlfriend and has managed to confide in Annalise, screaming with her in the middle of the woods as a form of release. This mirrors my own way of solving stressful times and I can assure you that it probably helped both of them.
The fast forward has now left Frank on the run, with a whole new look and Annalise looking to find him due to all of the secrets that are stored in that head of his. The absence of the Frank actually somehow makes Laurel more interesting as she struggles with how to move forward herself from their failed relationship and her apparent interest in Wes. It’s amazing to see that finally all of the Keating 5 seem to have their own interesting quirks and traits. No longer does anyone feel like a waste of space.
Annalise has now transitioned her class into the students becoming pro bono lawyers, taking on actual cases and shaking things up by making it more competitive based on the student’s knowledge of cases and expertise in crafting a plausible argument to dismiss guilt on the clients they take. This is a really good tactic because it introduces new students who serve to thwart Keating 5’s plans of being her favorite. Of course, with all the drama that reigned last season, Keating 5’s grades have slipped leading to the administration to pull back on Annalise’s objectives for this school season and Keating 5 to be looked at as less of a threat and just a mere presence due to Annalise’s favoritism.
The discoveries of this episode and what probably will continue as the previous seasons have done, is in the flashbacks. Flashbacks that theorize that Frank was responsible for Wes’s dad’s death due to Frank’s vengeful support of Annalise after the drama surrounding Annalise’s miscarriage. While an interesting theory, there may be more to this and with Frank not actually pulling the trigger, there’s still the matter of finding out who the killer is and also who the trickster is posting photos of Annalise with “killer” scrawled across them around campus.
But that may not be the thought on audiences’s minds after the final scene. Proving that How To Get Away With Murder is quite aware of its strengths, the ending treats us to Annalise fighting through police to run to a stretcher and being emotionally crippled with the image of someone who she cares for deeply dead, while her house is on fire. Who is it? Of course, we won’t know until the season finale. But it serves as a reminder of just how much Murder writers delight in providing us with just enough details to keep us on the edge of our seats.
How To Get Away With Murder airs Thursdays on ABC at 10pm EST.
