‘How to Get Away with Murder’ recap: The battle of the sociopaths

Chaos reigns in this week’s episode of “How to Get Away with Murder” that ends up leaving us with more questions than answers in the “Who shot Annalise” saga.

The episode opens with Annalise (Viola Davis) desperately gasping for breath after being shot. We see her in the care of EMTs who have just arrived on the scene as her students and Nate (Billy Brown) are fleeing. As the EMTs are working hard to revive and stabilize Annalise, the story jolts back four weeks to when Annalise and the Keating Five are taking on an disturbing new case.

Keating is defending a teenage girl, Zoe, who stabbed her best friend Rachel 52 times after being “brainwashed” into doing it by her other two friends — or at least that is what her story is. However, hidden video footage on Zoe’s phone finds that her sociopathic behavior runs much deeper than being brainwashed by her friends, in fact the new footage makes her look like the ring leader. Annalise — who is quite the sociopath herself — plans to destroy the footage of Zoe’s guilty admission, but before she can, Connor (Jack Falahee), who feels a bit brainwashed and used by Annalise, slips the footage to the prosecutor.

Although this is a major setback for the case — because it proves that Zoe is, you know, a manipulative sociopath — Annalise manages to counter it with another video that shows Zoe mimicking the exact actions of her friend who Zoe says brainwashed her. This plan backfires when Zoe gets so agitated by her “friend’s” remarks in court that she stands up, yells at the girl and threatens to kill her with an ominous “you’re next.” Despite this not being entirely Annalise’s fault, it is still very weird to see her lose a case.

She does, however, figure out it was Connor who slipped the video evidence to the prosecution and confronts him, accuses him of killing her husband — even though she knows it was Wes (Alfred Enoch) — and blackmails him into never messing with one of her cases again by reminding him that they used his truck to dispose of Sam’s body.

While Annalise is working the psycho teenager case, she is also reeling from the fact that her ex-lover’s — or current lover, it’s really hard to tell with these two — wife, who is battling ovarian cancer, is asking her to help her commit suicide. Even though Annalise’s past behavior often paints her as an uncaring sociopath, she cannot bring herself to help end another person’s life and denies Nate’s wife’s request.

Annalise was not the only one distracted from the teen’s case as Asher (Matt McGorry), who has been dodging work, is trying to strike a deal to testify for the prosecution in Sam Keating’s case in return for no longer being blackmailed about Trotter Lake. Bonnie (Liza Weil), however, finds out about this and tells him that she killed Sam in hopes that he will not testify — at least I hope that was her plan when she decided to flat out lie to him.

Wes, Nate and Levi (Matt Cohen) are still hot on Annalise’s tail and are trying to figure out what exactly happened to Rebecca. Their latest clue leads them to a cemetery, where they believe her body was dumped after being murdered in Keating’s house. However, their investigation hits a snag when Nate realizes that Wes brought Levi in without consulting him.

Not much happened this week in terms of the Caleb and Catherine case other than Michaela (Aja Naomi King) being tasked with helping prep them — and trying to discover if they are really sleeping together. They aren’t -- Catherine is still a virgin. However, it looks as though there may be something between Michaela and Caleb from the look she was giving him in the hospital to the fact that in the episode’s final moments she goes back to her apartment to find him there.

Speaking of the final moments, this week’s definitely added to the ever growing confusion over who shot Annalise, but from the look of next week’s episode we may be getting a better glimpse soon. So hold on tight, I have a feeling this is going to get bumpy.

Sound off in the comments about what you thought of the episode and your theories as to who shot Annalise. Also be sure to check back for what trouble Annalise and her crew get themselves into next week.

Suspects so far in Annalise’s shooting:

Levi: Rebecca’s foster brother sure seems like he is out for revenge and pretty much assumes that Annalise is responsible for his foster sister’s death, so maybe he is the one who shot her.

Nate: OK, honestly, he has the biggest motive of all after what she has put him through. Also, he is driving the other students around and seems to have a pretty sure plan in place. Did he orchestrate Annalise’s shooting?

Wes: Will he find out about what really happened to Rebecca and snap? Who knows, but he definitely has a motive.

Connor: At first he seemed a little guilty by saying this was her fault and that everything was her fault as she lay dying, however, after this week’s episode and the pair’s heated exchange, it looks like he has a bit more of a motive. Could he have pulled the trigger?

Caleb and Catherine: The shooting still took place at their mansion, it looks a bit suspicious and Caleb was waiting for Michaela at her apartment; something isn’t right there.

Best quote:

“What’s the matter, you don’t know how to use your boobs?” - Annalise Keating (Viola Davis)

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