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The second season of How To Get Away With Murder ended with a lot of shocking twists.
Caleb Hapstall (Kendrick Sampson) was found responsible for the murder of his parents. Wes's (Alfred Enoch) father, Wallace Mahoney (Adam Arkin), was murdered right in front of him. Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) declined Connor's (Jack Falahee) acceptance to Stanford without even letting him know. Frank (Charlie Weber), meanwhile, was nowhere to be found.
Now, in the show's third season, the so-called "Keating 5" are in their second year of law school at Middleton and they're acting as practicing lawyers, working on pro bono cases. The transition is less about their experience, though, and more about Annalise's (Viola Davis) reputation at the university. In an August flashback, we see Annalise meeting with Middleton's new president, who informs her that a different professor will teach her beloved course this fall. As the president notes, the students Annalise chooses to work for her are usually at the top of their class — but the Keating 5 are in the bottom of the bunch, a fact their classmates are eager to point out, too.
The episode is framed through the lens of the students' return to Middleton, but it relies heavily on flashbacks to explain the details of what's happened over the summer while they weren't at school. The flashbacks also fill in the gaps about what, exactly, happened to Wes' father.
Apparently, Frank is to blame for Mahoney's death — or that's what Annalise believes, anyway. Wes tells her that Frank came to his apartment, telling him that he could find his father. Frank drove Wes to Mahoney's office so he was the one who killed him, Annalise deduces. She thinks Frank feels guilty for his involvement in the accident that led to her late-term miscarriage. Frank helped Mahoney, who caused the car crash, so Annalise believes he's atoning, in a twisted way, by killing him. (And poor Wes is stuck with the blood of both of his parents quite literally on his hands.)
The episode isn't all flashbacks, though — the most thrilling part is a dramatic flash-forward to two months later. We see Annalise's house on fire as a stretcher is loaded into an ambulance. It's not clear who's dead, but Annalise begins weeping when she pulls the sheet back. Could it be Wes? Annalise certainly cares about him enough to be saddened by his death. My money's on Nate (Billy Brown), though — especially since he and Annalise seem to be on good terms. He's put up with a lot of her antics already — like when she framed him for her husband's murder! — and dying because of an incident related to her work would be quite a dramatic end to their relationship.
We still don't know where exactly Frank is either, but Annalise is onto him. She's using a burner phone to contact a PI to find him. But when the PI does manage to track Frank down, Frank gets to him first and pulls a knife after hearing Annalise's name on the phone. So it's safe to say we shouldn't expect a reunion between Frank and the rest of the group anytime soon.
Click through to see where each of the Keating 5 stand — and let us know who you think is on the stretcher in the comments section.
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"You finally get to be me," Annalise tells the students in her law clinic. Each of the students will have their own pro bono cases and clients, but not all of them will make it to the courtroom.
The first case the class discusses is that of Karim Assaf (Assaf Cohen), an Iraqi refugee facing deportation after pleading guilty to having intent to distribute marijuana discovered on his person. Laurel (Karla Souza) later discovers that the marijuana was actually Assaf's daughter's, and he covered for her.
Annalise is trying to make the best of the fact she's teaching a different class than she normally does. But someone's running a smear campaign against her by leaving posters that say "killer" alongside an image of her face across the Middleton campus.
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Asher (Matt McGorry), the show's poster child for white privilege, asks Annalise for a tuition loan, since his late father can't pay for his education anymore. Annalise denies his request, telling him to get a job. That doesn't sit well with Asher, who says he chose her over his father. It does, however, lead to a hilarious turn of events in which Asher is stuck living in a college dorm.
Michaela (Aja Naomi King) visits Asher's dorm room to hook up, only to leave and tell him that she's a "grown-ass woman" and can't be having sex in dorm rooms. But she doesn't leave without stealing his ideas about Karim's case.
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In an August flashback, we see Annalise picking Michaela up from jail after an apparent drunk driving charge. Michaela calls Annalise a "bitch" so it's safe to say they're not on the best terms.
With the help of Asher's stolen notes, along with some legwork of her own, Michaela is able to create a breakthrough on Karim's case. She replaces one of their other classmates (who's not a member of the Keating 5) in the courtroom, and for a brief moment, it seems like they might actually be able to focus on what they came to Middleton for — learning about the legal system.
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Despite watching his father die before his eyes, Wes seems to be doing pretty well for himself. It hasn't always been smooth sailing for him since the second season ended, though — at the beginning of the episode, he and Annalise scream together in the woods after she explains Frank's motives for killing Mahoney.
Wes has a new girlfriend, Meggy (Corbin Reid), and he earns the top spot in Karim's case. We see Wes in action in the courtroom alongside Bonnie (Liza Weil), bringing character witnesses to the stand to help Karim.
Wes is so good at defending his client that the other members of the Keating 5 are impressed — but it's not enough. After Annalise proposes a lesser charge of possession for Karim, the judge decides that Karim's apparent lying under oath calls into question all the character witnesses Wes brought in — and rules that he should be deported.
"Justice is the exception, you should know that by now," Annalise tells Wes of the loss.
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Through the episode's flashbacks, we learn that Laurel spent the summer visiting her mother in Mexico and that she hasn't heard from Frank. She and Annalise appear to be on better terms, at least. Annalise essentially tells Laurel she has to pick a side, and Laurel tells her that Frank is dead to her.
At the end of the episode, Laurel visits Wes's apartment, after an awkward interaction when the two meet on campus. Wes tells her that when he looks at her, he sees Frank, and he doesn't want to be reminded of what happened to his father. Ouch.
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In the episode's most heartbreaking twist, Oliver breaks up with Connor, after Connor doesn't get mad that he denied his Stanford acceptance letter (a fact Connor only discovers because Annalise tells him).
Connor tells Oliver that he must not have been listening to him enough if he felt strongly enough about moving to deny the Stanford offer. Oliver is baffled by Connor's response — he deserves to be upset that Oliver lied to him. But Connor says he forgives him, and that's not appropriate in Oliver's mind.
Oliver tells Connor that he doesn't know who he is — and he wants to figure that out alone. They'll still be seeing a lot of each other, though, because Annalise hires Oliver to work for her.
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