How to Get Away With Murder Review: It’s About Frank (Season 3 Episode 5)
Why can’t anyone just be happy?
This is a question certainly all How to Get Away With Murder fans must find themselves asking after every episode. “It’s About Frank,” in particular is light on the murder and heavy on the characters.
The sad, sad characters.
Case of the Week
Study break!
Characters of Focus
- Frank
- Annalise
On this aptly named episode, “It’s About Frank” (a little on the nose but okay), we finally discover what crime put Frank in jail all those years ago. For reasons that aren’t revealed either simultaneously or concurrently, Frank attempted to murder his father by running over him with a car, something for which he feels some sort of remorse.
Okay, but why?
Was Frank’s father as abusive as Bonnie’s? It would certainly explain the unspoken (and previously platonic!) bond between them. But we met Frank’s father a few weeks back when Laurel went searching for him, and he didn’t seem like a bad fella.
Then again, I suppose not all abusers have “bad guy” tattooed on their foreheads.
Bonnie and Frank have a slumber party and talk about what life could be if they were to leave Philadelphia and Annalise behind. It’s a scene very reminiscent of Scandal’s iconic “making jam in Vermont” scene, right down to the score playing in the background.
It’s at this moment when I legitimately got sad. Frank says that, of everyone, Bonnie deserves to be happy the most.
But that’s not true. Everyone in this show deserves to be happy. They were all good people before they met each other, before making bad decisions that led them down this dark, windy road to the Upside Down.
Granted, yes, they’ve all got blood on their hands. And granted, no one is forcing any of these characters do anything; we’re just seeing the manifestations of base instincts and desires surfacing under extreme pressure. One might say that this is who they always were.
Anyway, Frank takes off post-coitus, leaving Bonnie to grieve the loss of her father and her bright fantasy future in a strange motel room. Isn’t that just like a man?
If anything, this episode shows that everyone is responsible for their own happiness. Frank chose to make an attempt on his father’s life. Sam chose to counsel Frank. Bonnie made the choice to sleep with the bastard. Annalise, after some goading from Sam, chose to represent Frank.
All these decisions lead us to the sad unhappy state we’re in today.
Then, of course, there’s Annalise, who appears to be reaching her tipping point. Her alcoholism is now more than just a ploy to get her license back. Throwing away her bottles, she admits to herself that, at the very least, she needs help.
The scene where she meets Wes at the door, stumbling drunk, is one of those cries for help. Annalise (and consequently, Wes) reach the conclusion that they shouldn’t drag genuinely unburdened, innocent people into the gutter with them.
Connor: None of us at this table is fit to date civilians.
Annalise has been through so much in this show. As we go further and further back into her history with Sam, we see that she was once full of light and joy. Even her damn house was brighter.
We also discover the culprit behind the slanderous fliers is none other than resident ass-Xeroxer, Simon Drake.
In an interview with Tell-Tale TV, Behzad Dabu, who plays Simon, stated that Simon is desperately seeking the attention of Annalise and the Keating 5. He got that attention in a big way when Annalise strolled into his house and shut him down.
Simon’s involvement with that particular storyline makes me think that he’s going to have a bit more to do with the charred remains of The Law Firm of Annalise Keating than we previously thought. Only time will tell.
In the mean time, here’s a small prayer that eventually, Annalise and her crew will find happiness one day. That day will probably be the series finale. At this point, the only person who’s found peace is that dead body that was pulled from the fire.
In keeping with the week-to-week process of elimination, we now know that all the female cast members are safe and the dead body belongs to a male. That leaves Simon (too likely), Connor (killing off a gay character= publicity nightmare), Asher (I’ll fight you), Wes (meh), or Frank (just the right amount of likely).
Murder of the Week
Simon’s dignity by Michaela
Xeroxed Genitalia
- The Keating 5 actually do study from time to time. I keep forgetting. So far, it seems like Michaela really is the only one that deserves to be here.
- That scene in the beauty shop reminded me of so many Saturday mornings waiting for my mom’s hair to dry, minus the champagne and disassociating.
- Frank has been in prison since he was 13. Yikes.
- Did Annalise suspect that President Hargrove was going to be at that AA meeting and decided to put on a show? We’ve seen Annalise be manipulative, but we’ve also seen her be genuine.
- During the entire scene where Annalise packed up her alcohol, a background song with the lyrics, “Let go” played. How apt.
- Wes has probably lied to so many of his dates about how his mother died. He’s got it down to an art.
- As together as she may seem (har har), even Annalise is not immune to the dreaded drunk dialing.
- Billy Brown meets the shirtless quota this week. I was a little worried there.
- According to Dr. Google, the only doctor I trust, it takes about 8 to 10 days after conception for pregnancy to be detectable via blood test. It’d be great if they pair her off with everyone in the next few episodes, just to throw us off. The baby could be Oliver’s!
This is an intimate episode and probably one of my favorite of the series so far. What did you think of this episode of How to Get Away With Murder? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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How to Get Away With Murder airs Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC.
James A. Windley
James A. Windley, Writer, Virgo, Loaded couch potato. James' love of television began at the intersection when Saturday morning cartoons met to Xena: Warrior Princess syndications, and his head has been a mess ever since. He loves superheroes, drama (in life, not television), and misses when very special episodes were a thing.