How To Get Away With Murder 5×07 recap: Annalise and Governor Birkhead go to war

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers from Season 5, Episode 7 of How To Get Away With Murder, titled “I Got Played.” Do not read if you have not seen the episode or read ahead at your own risk.

With the fall finale of How To Get Away With Murder just one week away, Thursday night’s episode is leaving us with more questions following Annalise’s showdown with Governor Birkhead.

Thursday’s episode picks up by revealing Nate Lahey’s (Billy Brown) father was killed by a gunshot wound to the head after a prison guard said he allegedly reached for her gun after stabbing her in the leg with a pencil.

Annalise (Viola Davis) knows this is a lie. She says there conveniently was no other witness and the cameras were ‘malfunctioning’ that night as well. She believes this was a cover-up and an ordered hit from the Governor.

Nate barely speaks in the episode until the very end, obviously upset his father isn’t getting justice in the aftermath of his death. Annalise works with D.A. Miller to get an inquest so a new jury can hear their version of events. But not even powerful testimony from Annalise works as the jury finds that no negligence took place during Nate Sr.’s transfer.

Can we discuss what a phenomenal job Viola Davis has done in displaying powerful emotion in some of these scenes? The entire first half of this season shows what a true talent she is and that she is deserving of another Emmy Award.

Anyway, Annalise is called to the Governor’s office, where he tells her she can no longer move forward with the Pennsylvania Fair Defense Project because of the negative press surrounding Nate Sr.’s death. This causes Annalise to go OFF on the Governor, who accused her of covering up the murder and manipulating her.

Birkhead tells her she can destroy Annalise’s reputation, again, with evidence of her adoption papers.

I literally said to my TV: “Wait. What adoption papers?”

We don’t get any additional clues about what adoption she’s talking about or how Annalise is a part of it. But later at her house, Bonnie (Liza Weil) visits and discovers Annalise is drinking again because “the Governor knows about the adoption.” Bonnie then pours a glass of Vodka and tells her one more glass won’t hurt.

This adoption thing must be really bad for Bonnie to let Annalise willingly drink.

Okay, so about that flash forward. After killing the mystery person in the snow, Bonnie goes to a second person and tells them: “Listen to me, real close. Take his car, and him, and drive away. We can figure out the rest later. Just do whatever you need to get yourself together — I know you can. I’ll take care of everything. Just trust me.”

From this, we get a few clues: the murder victim is a man and it looks like Bonnie didn’t intentionally murder him, just finished the job. The person who committed the murder clearly hasn’t killed before and is freaking out, which is why Bonnie is calming them down.

Episode Notes:

• We find out more about Gabriel Maddox (Rome Flynn) and none of it is good. We see Michaela (Aja Naomi King) and Gabriel getting close, even making out in his apartment. Laurel (Karla Susana Olivares Souza) and Frank (Charlie Weber) argue about if they should tell Annalise or not. Frank replies with “Gabriel is Annalise’s worst nightmare.”
• To make matters worse, Bonnie walks in and discovers everything. From Frank secretly spying on Gabriel to Laurel knowing who he is. And judging by next week’s preview, it looks like Bonnie finds out too.

#WhoDiedAtTheWedding

Okay, so I’m going to give my prediction on who is dead in the snow. But first some thoughts:

Bonnie finished this person off, looking emotional as it happened. This suggests she is close to this person or has been in the past.

I don’t see anyone having a reason to kill Oliver, despite him being absent from the wedding reception. Bonnie telling this person to “take him and his car” suggests they would have to carry the body. And I don’t see Connor strong enough to carry/drag a body.

Laurel, Frank, and Bonnie all know about Gabriel, but I also don’t see Peter Nowalk killing him off just yet when there is still so much mystery surrounding him.

We see, when Bonnie turns around, that the person in the snow is a male, wearing a black jacket over a white shirt. In the promo pictures and preview for next week, we see Nate wearing this exact outfit. But this is too easy and this show never does obvious. Killing off Nate would be lazy writing from Nowalk, after offing Nate Sr. already.

Prediction: I think the show wants to explore Nate and Annalise working to take Birkhead down and I don’t see Tegan going to those great lengths. I think Nate is the killer, losing it on DA Miller and it turns ugly with Bonnie finishing him off. Bonnie knows it would kill Annalise to lose someone else close to her with all she is going through.

What about Annalise’s reaction? I feel this is possibly due to Frank telling her the identity of Gabriel and she slaps him.

We’ll find out next week for sure.

Who do you think #DiedAtTheWedding? Be sure to tell us in the comments below.

How To Get Away With Murder airs Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC.