How to Get Away with Murder Review: Stay Strong, Mama (Season 4 Episode 6)

On How to Get Away with Murder Season 4 Episode 6, “Stay Strong, Mama,” we learn more about Isaac’s trigger, Michaela and Oliver excel at in playing Inspector Gadget, and we finally learn why Mr. Castillo kills Wes.

With each episode, this season is getting better and better.

The beginning of How To Get Away With Murder Season 4 had trouble getting the scooby gang’s stories off the ground, but now that the main story of gaining momentum, the scooby gang’s personal arcs are finally getting interesting.

Connor slowly rises out of depression and self-hatred with all-new purpose, due to Annalise.

I have to say these Annalise and Connor scenes are doing wonders for both of their developments. It’s amazing to see the difference in how Connor and Annalise interact now versus how they interacted in the first three seasons.

Annalise also gets a confidant in the bargain.

She shows a vulnerable side of herself to Connor, and Connor rewards her transparency with support and encouragement. I love their new camaraderie. It’s nice to see a non-toxic, beneficial relationship on How to Get Away with Murder since there are so few on this show.

Speaking on non-toxic relationships, Michaela finds her own brand of happiness and her new mentor Tegan.

In addition to my previous reasons as to why Tegan would be a wonderful addition as a reoccurring character, as detailed in my review of How To Get Away With Murder season 4 episode 4, Tegan also shows great promise as a mentor for everyone. She’s someone who can balance Annalise.

I really enjoy Tegan, and what she brings to this show: composure in the face of adversity, optimistic but discerning insight on life, and her willingness to trust people, etc.

Can you imagine everyone having not one but two strong black women to learn how to successfully disarm those who want you to fail?

I feel a rock in my stomach every time I anticipate that Michaela will betray Tegan for Laurel. I know she will do it again, and I hate it.

Michaela and Oliver are doing amazing at this Inspector Gadget work, which leads them to uncover a lot of information on how to take down Laurel’s dad.

But now that Laurel has finally figures out that her father killed Wes so he could make his company go public, Michaela has to do more spying, betraying, and jeopardizing her promising future for a “friend” who frankly doesn’t deserve it.

The same woman who keeps demanding Michaela take down her father. Laurel doesn’t want to do it because she loves Wes (like she swears she does) or because she wants to get justice for him.

She’s putting everyone’s lives on the line because she wants to assuage her guilt for getting him killed.

As much as I hate it, Laurel loves Frank and she will always love Frank. Her and Frank’s romantic arc has been building since How To Get Away With Murder Season 1 when she cheated on Kan to be with him.

So this little vendetta mission she’s on is complete crap.

Michaela and Oliver are sacrificing everything just to make Laurel feel better about herself for using Wes to try and avoid her feelings for a sociopathic killer.

Don’t get me wrong, I know Frank is growing and becoming a better human being. In this respect, he even gave Asher the smartest advice in dealing with Michaela’s secrecy:

Just be a person. Go talk to her.

And trust me, I want to justice for Wes like everyone else, but this romantic development with Laurel and Frank, again, shows that that’s what this whole narrative was meant to do for her.

While Annalise’s whole world is crumbling due to Wes’s death, Wes’s death simply means guilt for Laurel and angst for her romantic arc with Frank.

They were always meant to come back together. Wes was just a little bump in the road of their love story, and it makes me so mad there is literal steam coming out of my ears.

How dare the woman who used him constantly attack and berate Annalise, the only living woman who actually loved him. How dare the woman who got him killed demand everybody else ruin their lives and also risk getting killed just to make her feel better.

Just after Tegan praises Michaela for having a loving relationship, Asher leaves Michaela because of a secret she felt forced to keep for Laurel.

Who knows what Asher will do now. I pray it’s not get with Bonnie just because she realizes she was a spoiled little brat who has ruined people’s chance at justice over some personal concocted vendetta.

Thank God Annalise has a decent support system in Isaac and Connor.

She’s shown that she will get justice for herself and the people that the Justice Department has disillusioned. She is a woman on a mission, and she will not be deterred.

This guiding purpose and new-found strength is precisely the reason why the last scene of this episode makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry.

In spite of my prayers throughout the season, Annalise is embroiled in another murder with someone else’s blood all over her. It does not look good for our favorite lawyer and her scooby gang.

Stray Observations:

• I’m glad Annalise let go on Bonnie to focus on herself. It’s healthy to distance yourself from others for your mental health.
• We still don’t have an answer regarding the phone call Isaac made in How to Get Away with Murder Season 4 Episode 2. My suspicion still lingers.
• It’s so sad to see Asher losing it because he hasn’t found a place to feel useful. That’s why I worry he will get with Bonnie because she needs him and he needs to feel needed.

Overall, this episode is another wonderful installment of a progressively amazing season. How to Get Away with Murder Season 4 Episode 6 really hits the nail on the head with this episode.

What did you think of this episode of How to Get Away with Murder? Share your thoughts with us 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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