How to Get Away with Murder Ep 7 Recap: He Deserved to Die

The rumors become true between Wes and Rebecca this week in “He Deserved to Die”. Took them long enough! On to the recap!

The Present

Rebecca has blood all over her. Wes carries her up the stairs. Michaela’s crying and starting to curl in a corner. Sam lays dead on the floor. Connor and Laurel look shocked.  Wes brings Rebecca to the bathroom and helps clean her up and change clothes.  He puts her bloody clothes (and hopefully the cloth he washed her with) in a plastic bag. Connor calls from downstairs to hurry up. Rebecca thanks Wes and they share a kiss.  He says that everything will be fine.  When he leaves the room, Rebecca has a thoughtful look on her face.  Can’t tell if it’s from what just happened or Wes’s reaction.

At hotel room 203 Wes advises Rebecca to stay there while he goes out to the others to make a plan. She starts confessing saying he would’ve killed me.  She had no choice. She saw the trophy, picked it up and he deserved to die.  Wes tries to get her to stop talking but she’s like no. We learn that her trial starts in a few days.  Rebecca figures she will be going to jail anyway and she feels like now he might go because of her.  She wants to help him for once.  I actually thought Rebecca sounded sincere.  Wes tells her he will let her know what the plan is.  While he’s gone, she paces back and forth, watches TV, anxious and bored.  In a moment of panic she calls 911 but then says it’s a prank call.  Wes eventually calls her.  It is the same conversation from the 2nd episode where he calls her from a prepaid cell from the gas station.  He says that the others are on board with protecting her and they are taking care of everything.

The Past – 2 Weeks Earlier

This was a definite time jump from 5 to 2 weeks earlier! Rebecca’s in the hot seat telling Annalise, the Keating 5, and Bonnie what happened the night of the murder. She described going to the frat house, selling coke and molly (there’s a drug named that now?)  to Griffin after he called her. He invited her to hang out so she did a few lines and went to his room to smoke pot.  They started kissing when Lila came in.  She doesn’t remember texting her.  Lila was upset, beat up on Rebecca a little bit, and Griffin pulled her off.  She tried to find Lila to explain but couldn’t.  Rebecca then lies by saying she went to the roof, strangled Lila, and put her in the water tank.  Annalise tells her that she needs to take the prep seriously or go to jail.  Rebecca’s like isn’t that her job to make sure she doesn’t? Annalise responds by calling her all kinds of names including white trash and garbage. According to Annalise, this will be the public’s perception of her if she keeps up. She needs to tell them what happened the night of August 29th. Laurel’s face when Annalise was going into the name calling was priceless. She looked so shocked.  Wes suggests everyone takes a break. Annalise says 5 minutes.  Here we go with the teasing.  Connor talks how Wes rescued his “Juliet” again. Laurel thinks it’s sweet. Michaela says that it’s unprofessional.  Asher wonders if Wes and Rebecca are doing the nasty.  He also gives Michaela a lewd look after asking if she broke up with her fiance yet. She threatens to file a sexual harassment lawsuit if he tries that again.  Frank rushes in to warn folk that the “sex is out of the bag.” Everyone goes to watch the news in the living room.  The report says they were given an anonymous tip that Griffin and Rebecca had sex the night of Lila’s murder and that Rebecca was the aggressor.

Annalise requests a gag order from the judge after the news report.  There was a lot of accusation on who leaked the information, especially between D.A. Wendy Parks (Alysia Reiner) and Keegan (Greg Germann), Griffin’s lawyer.  Annalise points out that it’s the woman who always looks like the villain as is the case in several articles that were written already vilifying Rebecca.  The Judge, Carol Morrow (Tamlyn Tomita) grants Annalise’s gag order.  While there Keegan puts forth the motion to have Stangard’s body exhumed as his coroner found what appears to be fingernail marks around the neck.  Both Annalise and D.A. Parks object to the exhumation.  The judge allowed Keegan’s coroner to testify.  It should be noted that Rebecca’s appearance look chaste in the courtroom scenes compared to her casual wear.  She even wears light make up.

After the hearing, Connor bumps into a guy he slept with.  He tries to play it off but the guy calls him out on not remembering his name.  Michaela points out that Connor is so hung up on Oliver that he’s not remembering the names of the guys he slept with.  Connor retorts that the important thing is that they remember his name.  Asher of course agrees!  When the Keating 4 turn the corner, they see Wes try to step in between Rebecca and Griffin.  Griffin accuses her of putting the phone in his car. Rebecca denies it.  They both call each other stupid and Griffin points out that she will lose. Wes has to hold Rebecca back, especially after Griffin said that she’s trailer trash.  Keegan walks up and accuses Rebecca of harassing his client.  Wes blames Griffin.  Annalise steps in at this point, sides with Rebecca and she has witnesses in the Keating 4.  Keegan backs down.  Everyone leaves the courthouse.

Annalise laments to Sam about Rebecca calling her a terrorist and glad of the miscarriages she had.  That was a harsh Annalise!  She at least gives Keegan credit for trying to get the body exhumed.  She would’ve done it herself if she didn’t feel like it would reveal something incriminating against Rebecca.  Sam tries to massage Annalise’s shoulders but she’s not having it.  Sam tells her that he will there when she’s ready to forgive him.

Frank tells the Keating 5 that they need to find dirt on Dr. Erik Turner (Mark Adair-Rios), Keegan’s coroner so they can discredit him on the stand.  While Frank hands out information to everyone, he slaps the papers down on the table instead of handing them to Laurel.  Real mature there Frank!  Bonnie tells them to come up with theories for the marks around Lila’s neck other than fingernails.  Michaela asks for some hours off because she got a call from prestigious law firm Sterling and White to meet with them.  Bonnie allows it as long as it’s quick.  Wes prefers everyone work on the case full time.  Michaela reassures him that she will be here to help his girlfriend.  He denies that Rebecca’s his girlfriend but no one listens.

D.A. Parks shows up to talk with Annalise about working together to stop the motion of the exhumation.  She hands Annalise information that discredits Dr. Turner.  Parks reasons that she can’t use it because Dr. Turner also testified on convicted cases.  In class Annalise tells her students that coroners can be paid for their testimony.  Asher has the trophy with him on his desk like a proud papa.  He even holds it while he answers a question about how to discredit the expert using questionable evidence found in a previous case.  Annalise uses the D.A. information while Parks acts ignorant in court.  Annalise also tells the class to find an expert that can help overshadow their opponents.  She does that for Rebecca’s case when Wes interviews the original autopsy person and the examiner testifies that the marks came from insect bites instead of the initial report saying the marks could’ve been freckles.

Annalise tells the group they need to find a way to convince Lila’s parents to testify against the exhumation. She teases that whoever is able to convince the parents gets a prize bigger than the trophy.  Kan approaches Laurel at his office about working for him even though he doesn’t usually hire first years.  She tells him she will think about it.  Back at his apartment Wes recommends approaching Lila’s parents from a religious standpoint but according to Rebecca they are not religious because they got upset when Lila made the virginity pact with Griffin.  Rebecca places her fingers where the marks are on a photo of the body.  She thinks that they should measure her fingernails to see if they match but Wes shuts that down.  She thinks that he’s patronizing her.  She mentions that he seems to be very private.  He reveals that he went to a community college then got a degree from a night school in Willowick.  He wants her to go to college after all this is over instead of being a drug dealer.  She jokes that she could run for office. Wes tries to move in for a kiss when she tells him to not stop trying to help her. She quickly leaves.

Michaela goes to Sterling and White.  She thinks that she is being interviewed but the lawyer informs her that he is representing Aiden’s parents.  He presents her with a pre-nup.  Michaela’s not happy.  When she gets back she plays it off that it was a great first meeting but she wants to go to other firms first before making a decision. Connor is sarcastic about the firm not hiring her on the spot but she counters he will not get an interview if he stalks Oliver.  Rebecca leaves the room bored but asks Wes if he wants food.  Sam walks in and she greets him with a “hey Mr. Darcy.”  Sam goes to Annalise’s office and wonders why Rebecca hangs out their a lot.  Annalise reasons that they need to keep a close eye on her so she doesn’t sabotage her own case.  He approaches Annalise with a way to convince the Stangards to testify against the exhumation.  He says that the parents felt that Griffin was trying to pressure Lila to become religious.  They didn’t trust Griffin and thought he was trying to be controlling.

Annalise has Frank take Laurel to meet with Mrs. Stangard (Bonnie Burroughs).  Laurel tries to convince Frank to not make things weird.  Frank thinks that because he got rejected he doesn’t have to like her.  Mrs. Stangard is now in the area walking her dog when Laurel approaches her.  Mrs. Stangard recognizes her and asks to be left alone.  Laurel still manages to persuade her by mentioning that Griffin’s lawyer asked for an exhumation for three of his clients and they all got off.  At the courthouse Rebecca is troubled by Mrs. Stangard’s speech for non-exhumation because Lila was her friend.  She starts crying and walks away from Wes who was trying to comfort her.  A few feet away Michaela assumes there’s trouble in paradise.  Connor’s mystery man walks by again checking out Connor.   Asher is jealous that guys are still into Connor even though he doesn’t know their name.  Connor approaches mystery man, whose name is Julien (Michael Adam Hamilton) for a date.  Julien mentions that he also forgot he has a boyfriend.  Connor is embarrassed but Julien’s like no biggie they met on HumpR.  He hardly remembers their encounter. Connor makes him remember in the bathroom stall with a quickie.  However, Connor didn’t look happy doing it.

Sam brings Annalise a drink.  He even offers to make dinner.  Sam is really pulling out all the stops for forgiveness. She thanks him for the Standgard information.  Back at court D.A. Parks blindsides Annalise with her own motion for exhumation and submits written testimony that corresponds with Keegan’s expert about the markings being fingernails.  Annalise and her team try to find out why.  She first asks Nate.  They meet in her car that evening.  After she tells him what happened at court he figured out that she wants him to find out why.  Annalise starts to get emotional and insists that Sam didn’t do it and her reasoning is to help her client.  Nate believes that she’s just trying to help her husband.  He busts her by mentioning that he knows that she planted Lila’s phone in Griffin’s car.  As Nate is leaving, he warns her that he gave her an opportunity before things go down.

Bonnie informs everyone that in order for them to find out why the D.A. turned, they need to talk with one of her employees.  D.A. Parks’ assistant, Ally Burnham (Sarah McMullen) and some of the other female co-workers hang out at a bar called the Thirsty Whale.  Bonnie sends Asher, Connor, and Wes to flirt to get the dirt.  When Asher wonders why he needs to bring Connor and Wes, Connor responds that this (meaning him) works on women too.  Bonnie agreed.  She says no Rebecca’s offer to go help flirt.  Rebecca doesn’t look forward to the girls night in.  She overhears Laurel talking with Kan and informs her she knows her secret including her attraction to Frank.  Michaela overhears them talking and joins the conversation.  Rebecca tells Michaela Laurel’s secret and also puts Michaela on blast about her pre-nup.  They each agree not to share each other’s secrets.  Rebecca especially won’t tell if they stop talking about Wes and her behind their backs saying they together when they are not.

Meanwhile back at the bar, we learn that Wes has no game.  He’s more concerned with taking the direct approach to find out the information.  Connor talks to Ally about his relationship woos (Oliver is Olive) and asks advice on what to do.  Meanwhile Asher starts flirting with another employee while Wes sips on his drink.  Asher, who is drunk, and Wes come back to the office. Wes reports that one of the temps at the office (my guess is the girl Asher flirted with) revealed that Keegan and Parks worked out a plea deal as long as Parks supported the exhumation.  Annalise tells them to leave and Bonnie backs her up when Asher asks if there was a prize.  Bonnie thinks they should go to the judge but Annalise thinks there is another way.  Annalise is then talking with both Wes and Rebecca and informs them that the D.A. may back off the plea deal if something horrible got leaked to the press about Griffin.  Rebecca offers to be that leak.  Annalise and Rebecca ignore Wes’ protests.

There is another court appearance to discuss the tabloid article about Rebecca claiming Griffin raped her.  I was not comfortable they went that route.  The judge sanctioned Annalise for violating the gag order.  She could get a disciplinary hearing if the Judge finds any misconduct.  Annalise assures her she will cooperate fully.  They pan to Wes when she says it and he shakes his head.  Interesting.  Judge Morrow decides to have the exhumation take place after all because of the conflicting testimony.  The Judge will have her own examiner perform the autopsy and will send sealed reports to the lawyers.  Parks confronts Annalise about using rape to stop her plea deal and Annalise brings up that Parks was taking the easy road instead of really trying to find Lila’s killer.  Parks thinks Annalise should pray the autopsy report doesn’t say reveal that they marks could be Rebecca’s fingernails and Annalise thinks prayers are weak and looks forward to beating her in court.

Wes initially gives Rebecca the cold shoulder back at the apartment claiming he has to study.  Rebecca doesn’t understand why he cares so much since it appears as though his life is fixing people’s messes.  He responds that he just wants to help, not fix her.  If she wants to call people rapists that’s her prerogative, but don’t blame him for just trying to help.  I guess this was a turn on because Rebecca kisses him.  They both initially say they shouldn’t do this but they have sex anyway.  The show switches back and forth between Wes finally getting a love scene and Lila’s dead body getting examined.  It was eerie the way Rebecca laying down looked very similar to the dead body.  In the afterglow, Wes reveals several things about himself:

• He was born in Haiti, moved to Ohio
• Grew up as the only black kid and couldn’t play basketball (that must’ve been hard)
• Has a bad sense of direction
• He’s allergic to peanuts (Darn he can’t enjoy peanut butter)
• His mom committed suicide when he was 12
• He doesn’t like superhero movies (Boo hiss)
• His favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip….wait back up!

He just glossed over his mom’s suicide.  All he reveals is that while she was sweet and funny, she was messed up.  Wes also revealed that he wants to adopt a dog from the pound, he’s afraid of heights, and he has never been to Europe. I find that funny considering the actor, Alfred Enoch is from England!

Meanwhile Connor takes Ally’s advice and goes to Oliver’s place with flowers.  Another guy answers the door and Connor initially thinks Oliver moved.  The guy is actually Oliver’s new man and knows Connor.  He suggests that Connor stay away if he ever cared about Oliver.  My heart just broke a little for Connor then. Back at Annalises’s front porch Frank thinks this is Laurel’s last day.  Rebecca spilt the beans about Laurel considering the offer to work at Legal Aid.  She tells Frank that she has not decided yet.  Frank doesn’t want her to leave because of him being a jerk.  Just because he may have feelings for her doesn’t mean that she should leave.  He will eventually get over it.  Laurel doesn’t want him to get over it.  That’s Frank’s cue to kiss her again. They make out and possibly have sex…outside…on Annalise’s porch.

At a convenience store, Rebecca is unable to find mint chocolate chip ice cream.  Nate approaches her introducing himself as someone who used to work for the Philly police department.  She assumes he’s a creep.  She mentions her boyfriend is in the car and starts walking away when he tells her he knows she didn’t kill Lila. They both know who did.  Nate wants Rebecca’s help in catching him.  Speaking of Sam, he tries to get Annalise, who’s in her nightgown, to stop working and takes the laptop away so she can sleep.  He is also trying to butter her up.  It looks like it’s working when mood killer Bonnie knocks on the door.  She tells Annalise that she got a call from a friend that works at the medical examiner’s office.  The good news: the marks are ant bites.  The bad: Lila was six weeks pregnant.  Annalise turns to give Sam this look and he has a guilty face.  Sam just took several steps back on the road to forgiveness.  He was making such progress too.

This show definitely knows how to end on a slight cliffhanger every week! For the next episode it looks like we will be getting some backstory on Lila and Sam’s relationship!

What did you think of this episode! Were you surprised by what was revealed at the end? What do you think of Wes and Rebecca’s relationship? Sound off below in the comments!

*Photos courtesy of ABC/Michael Ansell, Nicole Wilder