Next week, we'll finally know who's under the sheet after the fire at Annalise's (Viola Davis) house. But until then, we've got a lot to think about from tonight's episode.
In last week's episode of How to Get Away with Murder, we saw Frank (Charlie Weber) go to Laurel's (Karla Souza) house, only to overhear her telling Wes (Alfred Enoch) over the phone that she loved him. Frank is still trying to convince Laurel he loves her, though that ship has long sailed — Laurel reminds him that she's called him, many times, and he never answered. She also reminds him of his whole "I went to jail and never told you" thing — not a great sign of love. Still, she lets Frank spend the night at her apartment, after Annalise tells Laurel she'll shoot Frank if he goes to her house.
The show doesn't bother with a case at the legal clinic this week; the only real scenes we see on the Middleton campus feature only Annalise and the university president, Soraya Hargrove (Lauren Luna Velez). Hargrove is enlisting Annalise's help in her fight for custody of her children. The case becomes a lot more challenging for Annalise when she realizes Hargrove pled guilty to child endangerment after one of her children found her drunk in her car. (We don't see any AA meetings in this episode, but it's still possible Hargrove could become Annalise's sponsor in the future.)
The Keating Five may not have a case to work on, but there's still one that needs their attention — Charles Mahoney's (Wilson Bethel) trial for the murder of his and Wes's father. Which is a murder that, of course, Frank committed. Wes told the police he saw Charles at the scene — a lie — to strengthen the case against Charles after Frank planted a gun with Charles' fingerprints on it.
When everyone learns Frank is back in town, though, not everyone wants to get involved with Charles' case. Connor (Jack Falahee) and Michaela (Aja Naomi King) back out entirely. Asher (Matt McGorry) is the only one who stays to help Wes. On the one hand, you can't blame Connor and Michaela for not wanting to be involved with Annalise's scheming, but on the other, it's kind of shitty of them not to help Wes after all they've been through together.
To stall the trial, Annalise decides it's a good idea for Wes to disclose his medical records, while Frank looks into Charles' alibi. Wes goes to New York for a psych evaluation, which he passes. And Frank does discover the alibi, too. It turns out that Charles was sleeping with a longtime employee of his father's company — a woman who happens to be the same person who convinced Frank to help orchestrate the car accident that caused Annalise's miscarriage.
Frank suggests to Annalise and Bonnie (Liza Weil) that he kill the woman's child ("an eye for an eye," retribution for Annalise's baby), but Annalise tells him there will be "no more blood" on the group's hands. Instead, Annalise and Frank orchestrate a plan to sneak Charles a burner phone in prison, and Frank calls the phone's number from the woman's house. It calls her account (and Charles' alibi) into question, as she says she hasn't been in touch with Charles since he was arrested. It's still unclear whether or not the judge will sentence Charles for his father's death.
As for who's dead, we learn this week that it's not Connor. In the flash forwards, we see him sleeping with the guy Oliver's been on a few dates with recently. Connor and Oliver recently reconnected, and it seemed like they might get back together, but Oliver suggests that Connor is "damaged," a word he doesn't take kindly to. We don't know why Connor wasn't at Annalise's, but he's safe.
That leaves Frank and Nate (Billy Brown) as likely possibilities. At the end of tonight's episode, Frank puts a gun to his head after trying to apologize to Annalise. She tells him to pull the trigger, but it's not clear if he actually does or not. It's possible he and Nate could both die next week — Nate in the fire, Frank by the gun. Or, maybe there's a character we haven't even considered who could be the one to die. Anything is possible with this show.