If you would like to read my review of last week’s episode, click here.
Synopsis: Bonnie goes to surprising lengths to get answers about Annalise’s big case; the genesis of the two women’s long and complicated history; the shocking whereabouts of one of the Keating 4 is revealed. (TV Guide)
Writer: Sarah L. Thompson
Director: Lexi Alexander
Rating: TV-14
Running Time: 43mins
Now things are getting intense in the present and the future and we also got to understand more about Annalise and Bonnie’s relationship and how they first met.
The episode started with Bonnie running in the rain to visit Isaac. He still doesn’t know who she really was. Bonnie needed to talk to him about her relationship with someone named May (but we know who she’s really talking about). She admitted to him that she didn’t go to Isaac to get better but rather to hurt May, however, not in the way that he thought. We then get a flashback to Bonnie’s rape case from 2002 (we know she was abused as a child), featuring Annalise who was defending her rapist.
It was also Oliver’s first day at Caplan & Gold. Connor seemed more interested to play on his phone rather than get a job. Laurel and Frank were getting intimate until Bonnie called Laurel to the office.
As we all know, Annalise was building a class action lawsuit against the government but first she needed clients so she weaseled her way into prison to meet potential clients who all appeared to be interested in what she had to offer. Meanwhile, Bonnie was doing an investigation of her own into what Annalise was doing.
Back to the rape case, Bonnie was an extremely sympathetic witness who had been repeatedly raped by several men. She even had a baby that she never saw as she passed out during labor. Annalise was working for a law firm at the time and had a reputation of being a shark in the courtroom. She had been looking to have her name on a door. However, she was not looking forward to cross examining Bonnie.
Now with Isaac, Bonnie believed that she and May were similar people who had lost children. Bonnie tried to be her child and wanted her approval. She compared her relationship to May with her relationship with her father.
Back to the rape case, Annalise started throwing softballs at Bonnie but after being pressured by her boss to go harder, she accused Bonnie of making up her baby and having false memories years after being raped. She created doubt within Bonnie in that she could have confused the face of her client with any of the other men who raped her. Feeling guilty for what she did to Bonnie, Annalise quit her job at the firm.
During her investigation, Bonnie found that some of Cross’ past clients no longer had lawyers assigned to them so she believed that Annalise had taken her place. Nate wanted her to back down but she was determined to find out the truth. He decided to go to the prison for her. At the prison, he ran into Annalise and scolded her methods in getting the signatures she needed. He then told Bonnie that he found nothing and that if she had a problem with Annalise then she should talk to her herself.
At the prison, Bonnie was being stonewalled. One of the clients that Annalise was pursuing just happened to be one of her former cellmates named Claudia who wasn’t exactly happy to see her. Annalise managed to convince her to join her lawsuit.
At Caplan & Gold, Tegan rewarded Michaela with a pair of very expensive shoes. She then pulled Oliver aside to make plans to get into Tegan’s computer while she was going for dinner. As they approached that time, Connor had made dinner for Oliver and Laurel was trying to reach Michaela. Since she couldn’t reach her, Laurel turned to Frank who was with Asher to study for his LSAT exam. Connor looked for someone off a gay dating app. While this was happening, Michaela and Oliver found a cease and desist letter on Tegan’s computer. They managed to get a picture of it before they were found out by secondary security.
Now with Isaac, he believed that Bonnie felt this was because she loved May and until she could admit it to herself, she won’t be able to move on. She just wanted to feel better. Isaac wanted her to say that she loved May out loud. She didn’t think she’d mean it. She said it once then a few more times, getting more emotional every time.
In the past, Annalise approached Bonnie to tell recruit her to the law school where she was set to teach at. Annalise believed that Bonnie could be like her and she was also willing to help.
Connor showed up at Annalise’s hotel room instead of meeting the man he was communicating with on the dating app. He told her that he dropped out because of her. He couldn’t move on from everything that had happened. He was jealous of Wes for not having to live any of it anymore. She believed that he was selling himself short. He wanted to die but he visited Annalise instead.
Frank was at Laurel’s and he wasn’t in the mood. He asked if Laurel’s baby was hers. She regretted not telling Wes about the baby and wanted Frank to leave. Once Michaela, Laurel, and Oliver conferred after their discovery, they learned that the dead former employee of Laurel’s father’s company was sent the cease and desist letter a week before he died. Asher called Michaela who told him that she was at the office but he knew the truth as he was watching her from outside.
Annalise got a call from the prison telling her that Claudia got her 15 more clients which was all that she needed. However, her celebration was shortsighted as Bonnie figured out what Annalise was doing and used her power to convince most of her clients to drop out. She then confronted Bonnie in a parking garage. This brought up their past where Annalise told her that she helped her not because of guilt but because she saw herself within Bonnie. She never saw Bonnie as nothing and she was proud of what she had done.
The confrontation with Annalise brought an onrush of feelings within Bonnie and we learn that her meeting with Isaac at the beginning of the episode was as a result of the confrontation. It hurt Bonnie to say that she loved May because she missed her and the life that came with it. Meanwhile, Frank was writing his LSAT and Annalise asked Connor for help with her lawsuit. From what he’s heard throughout the episode, Isaac gathered that Bonnie was talking about Annalise and that her name was Bonnie and started to become uncomfortable.
In flashforward news, Bonnie asked about the suspect and she learned that he was in jail where we got a shot of Asher crying alone in a cell.
Overall, this was a great episode that made some headway in both the present and future timelines with Annalise with Connor and Bonnie going head to head, Laurel and Michaela’s investigation with the potential involvement of Asher leading to the flashforward while also giving us some backstory for Annalise and Bonnie. What tied this all together, however were the performances by Viola Davis and Liza Weil in depicting Annalise and Bonnie’s complicated relationship.
Score: 9/10
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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.