After a sloppy start to the fourth season, How to Get Away with Murder had to pull off a lot in the opening episode to keep audiences engaged. Fortunately, it was able to effectively capture the audience’s attention and drop a few bombshells along the way. Here are the top five moments from How to Get Away with Murder’s mid-season premiere.
1. Frank’s paternity test came back
In the first half of the season, viewers were left guessing as to who the father of Laurel’s (Karla Souza) baby was. Frank insisted he was the dad, but as audience members know, the baby could also have been Wes’ (Alfred Enoch). After much arguing, Laurel gave Frank (Charlie Weber) a paternity test — and the results are in.
When confronted by the Department of Human Services, Frank learned the paternity test came back negative, meaning he is not the father of Laurel’s baby. Annalise (Viola Davis) and Frank stood shocked, now knowing the baby must be Wes’.
2. Laurel’s baby was taken
Shortly after arriving at the hospital, Annalise spotted Mr. Castillo, Laurel’s father, going in to see the baby. The Department of Human Services told Annalise that Mr. Castillo had emergency custody of the baby because Laurel had an unstable mental history and had cocaine in her system at the time of the baby’s birth.
Annalise quickly realized Mr. Castillo forged the documents that said Laurel had cocaine in her system and understood it was a plot to get custody of the baby. Despite her best efforts, Annalise failed to stop Mr. Castillo from getting the baby transferred to a new, unknown hospital, causing detrimental effects for Laurel and the group.
Now that Mr. Castillo has the baby, he will almost certainly use it as a bargaining chip to get the hard drive that incriminates him back from the Keating 4. Unfortunately, the Keating 4 don’t even have the hard drive, leaving them with nothing to bargain with and no hard drive. In the coming episodes, audiences will surely be interested in finding out where the hard drive is.
3. Simon didn’t die from the gunshot
Before they were interrogated, Michaela (Aja Naomi King) convinced Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) to devise a carefully constructed alibi. The story asserted that Simon (Behzad Dabu) killed himself after a high-stress confrontation with the Keating 4. The only truth they revealed to the police was that Asher (Matt McGorry) picked up the gun because they knew his DNA would be all over it and it would be undeniable. Their statements seemed to match up with one another, but things quickly went awry.
After Asher was released from prison, he comforted the group by saying that even if he ended up charged, it wouldn’t be murder because Simon didn’t die. The group was momentarily relieved before realizing their statements all rested on the idea that Simon had died. With Simon alive, there is the possibility he could tell the police the truth, resulting in more trouble for the Keating 4.
4. The body count rose again
In one of the most surprising moments of the episode, Frank knocked out Dominic (Nicholas Gonzalez), Wes’ killer, who was trying to track Oliver. After he was knocked out, Frank took him to a dark room, where he tortured him and tried to get him to reveal the location of the missing hard drive. Dominic refused to answer his questions but egged Frank on, only adding to Frank’s aggression. The scene culminated gruesomely when Frank broke Dominic’s neck, killing him.
What seemed like a victory for the Keating 4 soon turned out to be otherwise when Frank returned to the hospital. Laurel said she thought she could get the baby back with the use of Dominic’s help. Frank and Annalise argued it was pointless to try and enlist his help considering he murdered Wes, but Laurel was adamant. She called Dominic’s phone, only for it to ring and be revealed in Frank’s pocket. Now that Laurel knows Dominic is dead, it will be interesting for audiences to see how the Keating 4 attempt to get Laurel’s baby back.
5. Wes knew who Dominic was
The biggest bombshell of the episode came in typical How to Get Away with Murder fashion: at the end of the episode.
After Frank killed Dominic, he went through his phone to try and find information about the hard drive. Though the phone was wiped clean, he did find an interesting voicemail, which he shared with Annalise. The voicemail was left by Wes — who used his birth name, Kristoff — and was a plea for help. Wes expressed that he thought the Keating 5 were in trouble and needed help.
This adds an entirely new dimension for viewers, as it was revealed Wes not only knew his killer, but called him for help shortly before his death. Such a big twist is definitely what How to Get Away with Murder needed to hook the audience into watching the rest of the season. No matter the outcome, it will certainly be entertaining to see how the season unfolds.
