How To Get Away With Murder Season 2 Episodes 8-9 Reviews: And The Shooter Is...

The creators of "How To Get Away With Murder" promised Annalise's shooter would be revealed by the midseason finale. I'm happy to report that they delivered and then some. Here's what we knew at the beginning of the year. Annalise lay on the ground with a nasty gunshot wound. DA Sinclair also lay dead on the ground. The Keating Five, Bonnie, Frank and Nate were probably somewhere nearby. It all has something to do with the Hapstall siblings because the crimes take place at their mansion.

Did anyone predict the specifics regarding the shooting? If you say "yes", I'll be highly suspicious. I seriously double anyone could have guessed this convoluted mess. Not that I'm complaining. It was highly entertaining to watch (just not very probable).

And now for the specifics.

Phillip- the Hapstall cousin born of incest was thrown out as a red herring. He and Catherine appear to have some sort of relationship. She picks him up at the police station. He has one of her paintings in his apartment. He could still be involved in some way but I think he's just meant as a distraction.
Asher- Annalise secretly releases what she knows about the Millstone coverup. Instead of facing public scrutiny over corruption charges, the judge hangs himself. In a heartbreaking scene, Asher's mother asks why he chose Annalise over his own family and then disowns him. Asher then confronts Emily in the parking garage. She says his father was a bad man and people are better off without him. He freaks out and backs over her-- killing her dead. He calls Bonnie for help. On a side note, we still dont know why Sinclair was so obsessed with sticking it to Annalise. That was one major vendetta.
Bonnie- arrives in the garage and confirms Emily is dead. She and Asher put the body in the trunk. She phones Annalise. Bonnie brings the body to the mansion. She and Asher push it off the roof. The rest of the Keating Five dont know what Asher had done until Annalise tells them. Likewise Annalise tells Asher that the rest of the Keating were Sam's actual killers (instead of Bonnie). Previously my money was on Bonnie as the killer due to her bizarro love/hate relationship with Annalise.
Annalise- this is where is gets even crazier than usual. Annalise's plan is to pin EVERYTHING on Catherine. Yep, her parents deaths, her aunt's death, Sinclair's death, and Annalise's shooting. In order to accomplish this, Annalise has Frank kidnap Catherine. He then drugs her, pours alcohol down her throat and leaves her to be discovered. How could this possible work? I have no idea. And just to top it all off, Annalise wants someone to shoot her in the leg. She goes through Connor, Lauren, Michaela and finally Wes. She finally convinces Wes to do the deed by telling him Rebecca has been dead all along. At the last second he decides to shoot her in the stomach instead of the leg. He's about to shoot her again when an injured Annalise says "Christophe" over and over again. Flash back to Annalise and Eve in a police station watching a young Wes being told his mother is dead. We still dont know exactly what her relationship is with Wes but I dont believe Annalise is his mother. Maybe she was responsible for his mother's death as well. The woman certainly does leave a trail of mysterious deaths in her path.

Grade: 4 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). Yes this scheme is quite improbable but who cares. It's still great fun to watch the screws turn on Annalise and company. I'm more than happy to suspend reality if I'm entertained. On a related note, what kind of hold does Annalise have on all these people to keep getting them to do horrible things over and over again? And where can I get something like that? Just kidding... or not.

We'll have to wait till February to check back in with "HTGAWM". How is the gang going to top this next year? The stakes keep getting higher and higher. We know that Asher went to the police station (while Bonnie was cleaning up in the rest room). Will he confess and implicate everyone else? Will Caleb spill the beans on the crew in hopes of defending his sister Catherine? If so, he may be the next to die.