'How to Get Away with Murder' Recap: "There Are Worse Things Than Murder"

Nora Dominick ‘17/ Emertainment Monthly Executive Stage Editor
How to Get Away with Murder continues to revamp the hit ABC drama with the latest episode entitled “There Are Worse Things Than Murder.” This season looks to focus on the ongoing investigation of who will be dead in two months. While we can rule out one character after this episode, there’s still a lot of mystery surrounding the event. How to Get Away with Murder also presents a very fascinating and heartbreaking case in present day. Let’s recap the latest episode.
Episode two picks up right where we left off in the season premiere. In a two month time jump, Annalise (Viola Davis) watches as her entire house is engulfed in flames and a body is loaded into an ambulance. At this point it’s unclear who is under the sheet, however it seems that the cops are pointing fingers at Annalise. In typical Annalise fashion, she’s completely insulted that they would even accuse her of being involved in this.
Flashback two months and Annalise is all but consumed in finding Frank (Charlie Weber). Last week, we watched as Annalise was on the phone as Frank coldly murdered the private investigator she had tailing him. This storyline picks up the next morning when Annalise is still reeling from the event. She brutally ends up smashing the phone after talking to a distraught Frank.

The search for Frank continues and in this episode more characters are involved in the chase. After Frank kills the private investigator, Annalise turns to Nate (Billy Brown) for help. Although Nate has all his resources as a cop behind him, Frank proves to be that much smarter (he was trained by Annalise after all). Just when Nate thinks he has a lock on Frank’s whereabouts, it turns out he’s been tracing an unreliable cell phone signal.
While Annalise hunts for Frank, Frank is dealing with his inner demons all alone. After having another death on his hands, Frank drives the investigator’s car into a tree, puts him in the front seat and sets the car on fire. If this taught us anything, Frank has a flare for the dramatics.
Although she didn’t see much action in the premiere episode, Bonnie (Liza Weil) begins to jump into the bigger storyline of finding Frank in this episode. Going against Annalise’s wishes, Bonnie snoops into Laurel (Karla Souza) and Frank’s relationship. After getting drunk, Laurel confides in Bonnie that she’s been leaving voicemails for Frank and still has feelings for him. Ultimately what we are calling “the dream team” (Annalise, Bonnie and Laurel) devise a plan to leave Frank one last voicemail where Laurel assures him that no one is mad and everyone wants him to come home. This is going to lead to an interesting storyline, we can feel it.
Finding Frank isn’t the only problem Annalise is dealing with. Flyers of Annalise with the caption “Killer” continue to surface all around the university prompting the university board to look into the incident (even if it’s a great picture of her). Their search is futile when they end up suspending Annalise by the end of the episode. Their reasoning? To protect her and her students. Of course, if we’ve learned anything from the three seasons of How to Get Away with Murder its that Annalise doesn’t go down without a fight. She threatens to take serious legal action against the school and will continue to teach her class. After all, what would Middleton University be without Annalise Keating?
This week’s How to Get Away with Murder involves a case of a battered wife, Irene (Amy Madigan), who murdered her husband close to 30 years ago. She is up for yet another parole hearing after being denied countless other times. Annalise enlists her class to present her with the best narrative to help get her out of prison.
This week it was Connor’s (Jack Falahee) time to shine. Irene connects with Connor and chooses him to be number one chair. One all too real point Annalise makes to the students is that all three members of the parole board are old, white men. They should assume the board won’t be on Irene’s side. Connor tries to convince Irene to tell the board about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband. Irene is skeptical that this will even help her case. When the hearing comes around, she remains very silent on the subject causing Connor to angrily interject.

Realizing his mistake, Connor talks to Annalise. She urges him to take a deep breath and remain level headed. Of course this is How to Get Away with Murder and that would be way too simple. Connor councils Irene once again and reveals to her that he has also killed someone. He discusses that as long as she’s silent about her abuse, she’ll never be released from prison. While we are freaking out that Connor just told someone he’s a murderer, Annalise is lurking in the doorway and hears the entire thing.
Irene returns to the hearing and after numerous years finally discusses some of the horrible sexual abuse she was subjected to. She tells the board that she doesn’t regret her actions and  killing her husband was the only way she could be set free. By episode’s end, the parole board approves Irene’s parole much to Connor and Annalise’s delight.
While Connor is wrapped up in Irene’s case, Michaela (Aja Naomi King) and Asher (Matt McGorry) are dealing with trying to define their relationship. Since the end of last season of How to Get Away with Murder, the duo have been secretly hooking up (in Asher’s RA dorm room). In this episode, Asher tries to convince Michaela that they should tell people about their relationship. In typical Michaela fashion, she tries to talk herself out of the notion that she might actually want to date Asher. Michaela tells Asher that they are just too different, she doesn’t want to date him, and calls off their entire relationship.
Asher has never been the person to take anything sitting down. So, he doesn’t let the idea of him and Michaela being too different go. He tries to convince her that there is something special between the two of them. The episode closes with a distraught Connor walking in on Michaela and Asher sleeping together. Guess the cat’s out of the bag.
On the Connor and Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) front, they are still broken up and news is spreading throughout the Keating Five. The rest of the group thinks Connor is reverting to old habits and cheated on Oliver. They are ultimately stunned to learn that Oliver broke things off with Connor. The real meat of their storyline comes after Connor returns from winning Irene’s parole hearing. He comes back to the apartment and they share a kiss. Connor takes this as an opportunity to beg for Oliver to stay with him. In a heartbreaking moment, Oliver tells Connor “If you really want to make me happy, you’ll let me go.” Cue the waterworks from our end. So, Oliver ends up choosing his job with Annalise over his relationship with Connor? Not something we would do champ!
How to Get Away with Murder ends this week by jumping back to the future. It’s here that we learn who the first “safe” character is. Oliver staggers out of the crowd and goes over to Annalise. Our dearly loved Oliver will be making it through this murder spree! To add to the suspense, Annalise, somewhat discretely, hands Oliver a hard drive and tells him to destroy everything on it. The episode ends with Annalise beings placed in handcuffs and getting hauled away by the police. We may learn the identity of one of the survivors, however the most surprising thing in this episode is that Wes (Alfred Enoch) seems to be doing the best! Shocking, we know!
Who do you think is under the sheet? Could we be saying goodbye to a member of the Keating Five? And when will we see Frank shirtless again? All very important questions leading into episode 3 of How to Get Away with Murder.

How to Get Away with Murder airs Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC

Overall Grade: B+