‘How To Get Away With Murder’ Season 5 finale recap: Questions, cliffhangers, and Castillos

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the Season 5 finale of How To Get Away With Murder titled “Please Say No One Else Is Dead”. Do not read if you have not seen the episode or read ahead at your own risk of being spoiled.

How To Get Away With Murder ended its fifth season with revelations, mystery, and one heck of a cliffhanger on Thursday night that left fans wanting more while ABC mulls over renewing the show for a sixth season.

Thursday’s show began with a flashback of Nate Sr. (Glynn Turman) getting a visit from Laurel’s brother, Xavier Castillo (Gerardo Celasco). He tries to get Nate’s father to drop Annalise (Viola Davis) as his lawyer. This idea does not sit well with Sr. and he tells him to go to hell in so many words. In the present, we see Annalise upset over this and somewhat turning on Laurel (Karla Souza) a bit.

Throughout the hour, we see DA Miller (John Hensley) in flashbacks. It is revealed Xavier did corner him, asking him if he wants to be DA. Miller then calls Xavier and agrees to do something, but we don’t know what just yet. It looked like Miller was okay with Nate Sr. getting murdered, but he wasn’t actually. He was playing Xavier the entire time and asked the warden to transfer Nate’s father at night, a full 12 hours before Xavier wanted.

Xavier somehow got ahold of this news and obviously ordered the prison guards to kill Nate’s father. Miller gets a call from Xavier, who threatens him and tells him to never play again or he will destroy him, first by killing Bonnie (Liza Weil).

After dissecting the phone records, thanks to Frank (Charlie Weber), Annalise realizes they are fake. As it turns out Governor Birkhead (Laura Innes) wanted Emmett Crawford (Timothy Hutton) to go down for the murders of Nate’s father and Miller. Tegan gets him out the jam for now, but little does Emmett know – something big is coming.

Annalise and Laurel decide to confront Xavier about what they know, that he had Nate Sr. killed and he’s been working with Governor Birkhead to destroy Annalise. Laurel mentions having their mother killed as well, but Xavier claims to have nothing to do with that. This is a Castillo we’re talking about; we all know they can’t be trusted. As Annalise and Laurel leave, Xavier makes a phone call to Birkhead, confirming to viewers that they indeed are working together. Birkhead said it is time to go to “Plan B.”

The Governor makes a live TV announcement and publicly blames Emmett for the murders of Nate’s father and Miller. Tegan calls Annalise to give her this news, but at the same time, we see Emmett on the floor clutching his chest and struggling to breathe. Now, it could be either a heart attack or poison. But with this show, let’s go with poison. Also, unless we see them die on screen, there’s a chance Emmett is still alive.

Annalise realizes Laurel has disappeared and is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Frank barges into Laurel’s house to find an empty crib. Baby Christopher is also missing. Unless Xavier had his goons climb the walls like Spiderman, I think Laurel probably took him.

Episode Notes:

• Despite the show not officially being renewed for a sixth season yet, the finale was written in a way that makes it highly likely that there will be a sixth (and final) season of the show.
• Annalise’s line of “We can thank your penis for that” (Laurel’s hiring) was a highlight of the finale for me.
• Anyone else sick of the Castillo family after two seasons?

What did you think of the episode? Let me know in the comments below!