How to Get Away With Murder Season 5 Episode 9: He Betrayed Us Both Review

For our review of the last episode of How to Get Away With Murder, click here.

Synopsis: The crew must deal with the consequences of the murder on the wedding night; Annalise is forced to reckon with secrets from her past. (TV Guide)

Writer: Daniel Robinson

Director: John Terlesky

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 43mins

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

How to Get Away With Murder comes back with a whimper.

The episode started with Bonnie washing up after stumbling on to Miller’s tragic demise at the literal hands of Nate. Frank needed her to watch Annalise but she was clearly preoccupied. Meanwhile, Annalise was preoccupied with Gabriel who just wanted answers.

Connor and Oliver were enjoying their wedding night until they got interrupted with Gabriel news. Everybody was on edge and they were starting to connect it with what happened with Bonnie. Frank and Bonnie were waiting to hear from Nate. The others were trying to figure out what was going on. They were worried that Gabriel may reopen Sam’s case. Nate finally got a hold of Bonnie and Frank supposedly helped him dispose of the body. Oliver told Connor what his father’s warning but really the opposite was the case.

Gabriel claimed that he was being truthful in his attempts to get closer to Annalise. He was keeping what he was doing from his mother. The episode would then go back and forth between the present and the time after Annalise’s baby died. During the later, Annalise was a wreck while we learned more about the relationship or lack thereof between Sam and Gabriel and also that of Annalise, Sam, and Wes/Christoph who they had put up for adoption. Meanwhile, Bonnie was worried about Sam while Frank was distraught after having caused the accident that led to Annalise’s and her baby’s injuries. At that point, nobody knew that they were together.

Bonnie caught Annalise hitting rock bottom after overdosing on medication. Frank knew what was going on with Sam but he set him straight and convinced him to forget about Gabriel’s mother. Gabriel just wanted to know what Sam would like and how he died. Annalise played Wes’ confession tape and tried to convince him that he wasn’t a good person though he persisted. Despite what Annalise was saying, Sam wasn’t necessarily being a bad person. He was trying to meet Gabriel, however, his mother didn’t want anything to do with him. He still managed to run into him by chance which was a nice moment.

The episode ended with Sam writing one last email to Gabriel’s mother while he left a message for some mystery person telling them that he screwed up since everyone knew who he was now. Also, the person that Frank had been communicating with was Eve. The two had a close relationship pretty much from the beginning so who knows how involved she really was. She knew about Gabriel and also delivered Sam’s email to Annalise.

Overall, He Betrayed Us Both was a decent episode that provided a few revelations about Gabriel and Sam but was a mess for the most part. The story around the death of Annalise’s baby and its connection to Wes was compelling, however, it didn’t really fit within the rest of the episode. Spending time in the present and the past, the episode would have been better served choosing one or the other and was a let down in terms of continuing the story after the tumultuous midseason finale as this episode almost went nowhere in that regard. Despite the subpar story, Viola Davis continues to be a force and her breakdown following her baby’s death was very strong as was Tom Verica’s performance as Sam. The last few episodes have not stumbled while failing to maintain the intensity of the middle of the first half so hopefully the final stretch picks up the pace and gives us a satisfying season finale.

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.