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'How to Get Away With Murder' Review: Season 1, Episode 12

By Mark Wilson, Esq. on February 13, 2015 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Well, they found Sam -- or what's left of him, anyway. After Sam's sister, Hannah, learns about his demise, she gets all accuse-y with Annalise. Now every lawyer in town -- nay, every person in town -- thinks she killed Sam.

In the meantime, there's some baloney about a search of a shipping container that everyone thinks was super-illegal, but was really totally fine, but because this show's technical adviser (assuming they even have one) never even cracked open so much as a bar review guide, it's aaaaall unconstitutional.

Everyone's having a breakdown and You Won't Believe What Happens Next.

Cheer Up

Annalise isn't having such a good week, and to top it all off, her sister-in-law is determined to prove that Annalise killed Sam. Thanks to a contested hearing for a search warrant -- because every single bit of any possible criminal action in Pennsylvania apparently involves a contested hearing -- the cops are going to search Annalise's house. You know, the one where Wait List Wes bludgeoned Sam with the Lady Justice trophy. And Annalise is getting really tired of people telling her she doesn't look sad enough about Sam.

Let's see: Hannah has a breakdown, Connor has a breakdown, and Wes is on the verge of a breakdown over the new mystery of Rudy Walters, the person who used lived in his apartment (and who I happen to think is buried under the floorboards, Edgar Allan Poe-style). Believe it or not, Bonnie is the voice of reason in this episode. Several shots of her suspicious-face reveal to us that she's figured out what's going on. Rather than the blow the whole thing, though, she actually decides to be helpful. I guess we don't have to choose between Team Frank and Team Bonnie, after all.

Something, Something, Fourth Amendment

The Case of the Week involves something about the Feds searching a shipping container and finding a bunch of drugs. I'm really not sure why this is an issue, because as far as I can tell, the Feds didn't do anything wrong.

Nevertheless, The Gang is really upset about the use of a confidential informant (not a problem), their lack of a good reason to search the container (a CI's allegation is good enough), and whether or not the DA promised a witness a green card for his cooperation (why, oh why is the DA prosecuting a federal case?).

Episode Superlatives

Best Quote: "Incest is best. Put your brother to the test," says Annalise to Hannah, commenting on Hannah's unusual fascination with her brother.

Jerkiest Move: Wait a minute! After all that Detective Lahey has done for Annalise -- including losing his job -- she's going to throw him under the bus? Lahey must be in on the plot, otherwise there's no guarantee he won't spill the beans about all the questionable stuff Annalise does.

Least Law School Moment: Not only is there a sub for Annalise's class, but for some reason, he's lecturing about negligence in a criminal law class. No wonder that poor student didn't know what negligence was!

Or maybe this is more of that cross-curricular nonsense that makes Annalise's students "practice ready."

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