How To Get Away With Murder Review: Who’s Dead? (Season 3 Episode 9)

In which we feel betrayed by the reveal of who’s #underthesheet.

Case of the Week

• Ted Bundy versus a bunch of law students.

Character of Focus

• Who cares anymore? Life is awful.

Well, uh… Hm.

After weeks of speculation on the part of many loyal fans, How to Get Away With Murder Season 3 Episode 9, “Who’s Dead?,” reveals that the body over which Viola Davis lost her sh*t is none other than…

Wesley Gibbins.

Surprised? You’re not alone.

A previous episode had safely (or so we thought) established Wes as among the survivors, leaving either Frank, Nate, or the oft-berated Simon as potential victims.

As the episode continues, the viewers are meant to cross out those potential victims. Frank calls Bonnie, so it’s not him. That’s it, then. It’s Nate. (Annalise doesn’t give that much of a damn about Simon, let’s be honest.)

The camera rolls up to the coroner as she examines the body: black male of an indeterminate age. Aw, man. Goodbye, Nate. We hardly knew y— wait, is that Nate walking up to the coroner?

Wait. Wait.

Many had predicted that the victim would be a twist, someone we didn’t expect, but I never thought it’d be poor Dean Thomas.

Our expectations were skewed by an unreliable narrator (in this case, the writers themselves) who shifted Wes’ scene at the precinct to make us believe it was happening simultaneously to Annalise’s house burning.

We discover that this scene actually takes place hours earlier and for some reason, both Wes and Laurel end up in the house as it explodes.

To add fuel to the fire (sorry), the very last minutes of “Who’s Dead?” tell us that Wesley didn’t die in the fire, but that he was murdered.

I’m not going to be hypocritical: I began the season hoping that Wes was the hapless victim #underthesheet, and nothing he’s done this season has endeared him to me in even the slightest. He’s always been a bit of a static character who could be counted on to gaze wide-eyed as things happen to him and then make the wrong decision when left to his own devices.

As Connor pointed out, everyone is better off without him.

But having been previously assured that he was alive in the aftermath of the house fire, I let my guard down, and accepted that Wes was simply going to be a part of our lives forever.

Then, whoosh. Like the other characters (except Connor), the audience is left reeling as the ground is ripped from under—

Alright. Enough. I’m being dramatic.

The point is Wes’ death is an unexpected development and an intriguing cynosure around which to form new plotlines. Not many shows can safely kill off a character as central to the identity of the show as Wes was (not my claim, but a lot of Twitter folks are pissed) and still live on to episode 100.

Where do we go from here?

Hopefully, this doesn’t signal a return to the shock-and-awe storylines of previous seasons. “Who’s Dead?” delivers much of the character development we’ve come to expect of Season 3 (Michaela’s fights with her mother are particularly good TV), but Wes’ death serves as a stark reminder of the kind of sensationalism that brought this show ratings to begin with.

For now, the most pressing question is: if Wes didn’t die in the fire, who killed him? Was it the same person who planted what seems to be a bomb?

More burning (hah hah) questions: Who is the father of Laurel’s baby? How will Oliver react to finding out that Connor (and everyone else) was involved in covering up a murder? Will Annalise drop the “functioning” part of “functioning alcoholic” after the death of her surrogate son? Will Frank grow that beard back?

We had damn well better find out in the back half of Season 3.

Murder of the Week

• Wes by ???

Wayward Case Files

• Annalise seemed simultaneously shocked yet unsurprised by Bonnie’s confession that she slept with Frank. Startled, maybe?
• I’ve never been to law school, but it seems tedious to listen to each student in a class give their answers aloud. I would just Frankenstein everyone else’s answers.
• Now that I think about it, this was probably an oral component to the exam as well as a written, since Michaela mentioned getting a 96, which, by the way, those results came back fast.
• High fives for everyone but Simon. Why is he still around? I need to knoooooowwww.
• Viola getting therapy from Mary J. Blige is the kind of quality content I like to see on my television.
• I love Mary J. mentioning D.A. Atwood’s 3C Curly hair. If you didn’t know that there were specific types of curls, educate yourself.
• Annalise relapsing after her talk with Nate hurts my heart.
• “I’ve got the cancer.” I just realized that Michaela’s mom is Brett Butler. Funny because Michaela always has such grace under fire.
• Annalise kissing Bonnie is gross in an incestuous way. We’re going to have to talk about it eventually.
• After two seasons, Oliver gets dragged into the dirt with the rest of them. We had known Annalise asked him to wipe her phone, but him hacking the D.A.’s office broke the seal.
• Bet money Connor will be treated like a suspect because of his… muted reaction.

What did you think of this episode of How to Get Away With Murder? Anyone else think that Asher is the killer because we can’t have good things? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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

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