How to Get Away With Murder Season 5 Episode 3: The Baby Was Never Dead Review

If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.

Synopsis: Annalise and Emmett defend a wealthy CEO accused of killing his business partner; the governor goes after Annalise; Bonnie struggles to accept her budding romance; Asher tries to outmaneuver his old mentor. (TV Guide)

Writer: Erika Harrison

Director: Valerie Weiss

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 43mins

Airs: Thursdays at 10pm on ABC (United States)/Fridays at 9pm on CTV (Canada)

Surprisingly not much happened in this latest episode as it could be considered as mostly filler. The plot in the episode was arguably on the weak side but at least it found a way to use Asher and featured a few revelations such as the identity of the kidnapper of Bonnie’s now alive baby and a new potential body in the snow (and you’re not going to like it).

The episode started with the flashforward. We still don’t know whose blood was on Bonnie. In the present, Bonnie and Miller were still flirting with one another.

Annalise was working the case she reluctantly took on of a CEO named Niles Harrington (Mark Harelik) accused of strangling his business partner. Harrington was a wealthy client who could potentially offset Caplan & Gold’s losses so the firm had a lot riding on the case. The case wasn’t going to be easier said than done as far as Annalise was concerned with her client being a male chauvinist. During court, Harrington’s alibi disintegrated. Trying to prove his worth, Asher offered unsolicited Annalise advise to Miller. His past relationship with Bonnie would also cause problems between Bonnie and Miller that they were eventually able to overcome.

Annalise and Crawford’s different vested interests made it difficult to work the case as they shared different opinions about allowing Harrington to testify. It was obviously a bad choice but Crawford chose to follow their client’s wishes. As a backup plan, they set out to find another suspect. Meanwhile, Annalise’s class action case appeals were faced with another obstacle as an executive order from the governor of Pennsylvania meant that all the students in her clinic must pass a legal ethics exam in order for them to continue working in the clinic.

Sensing vulnerability, Miller offered Annalise help with her students’ legal ethics exams in exchange for a plea. Assuming Bonnie’s involvement, Annalise confronted her and she revealed Asher’s involvement. Oliver found out that Harrington’s wife was having an affair with his business partner. His wife was the one who killed the partner. Harrington did not want to sell out his wife so it was up to Annalise and Crawford to figure out a new defense so they decided to pin it all on the secretary who sold them out earlier. Ultimately, their plan failed while Harrington still did not want to sell out his wife.

The legal ethics exams were pretty much uneventful until Connor decided to challenge their true purpose before falling in line, however, everyone passed anyway.

Michaela is still trying to mend her relationship with Tegan who still wanted nothing to do with her. Tegan had to give up her life and her family for her career that was now on life support because of her and now she could only watch Michaela have a life that she could no longer have.

Gabriel has secrets and Frank was determined to find the truth. After Gabriel left his apartment, Frank found an Illinois ID with a different name and a secret drive with a browser that allowed him to send anonymous emails. Continuing his surveillance of Gabriel, Frank had a keylogger installed. On his way out, he ran into a drunk Michaela who seemed to be trying to get Asher back. Oliver suddenly became suspicious of Gabriel for whatever reason.

Nate was investigating the kidnapping of Bonnie’s baby, speaking with the nurse who was working the night the baby was kidnapped. Despite the executive order, at least Nate’s dad got a court date for his appeal. The nurse had cancer so he appealed to her conscience so she revealed that it was Bonnie who took back her baby. Nate later took what he found to Annalise who told him that it wasn’t Bonnie who took back her own son but rather her sister.

Finishing off with the flashforward, Connor and Oliver were being called to the dancefloor but Oliver was nowhere to be found.

Overall, this was a decent episode where not much happened plot wise but offered a few revelations, none bigger than Oliver’s potential demise. The series likes to give us plenty of red herrings so maybe this is just another one. Gabriel has secrets and we already knew that. This episode found Asher something to do though one could only imagine how long his insight will actually last. The exams were kind of non-climactic and the Harrington case could have been fun, however, it sort of got lost in the shuffle with everything else going on. This episode’s purpose was mostly seed planting and for that it did a decent job so hopefully things can pick up from here. Please don’t die Oliver!

Score: 7.5/10

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.