How to Get Away with Murder Recap Ep 8: Of Course He has a Wife!

Of course Debbie Allen would direct the episode before the winter finale! This was a great set up for the night of Sam’s murder! On to the recap! We start off with Lila’s dead body and then we flashback too….

June 2014 – 6 months earlier

We see Lila alive! She is with Rebecca snorting coke. Lila is wondering what her first time will be like.  Rebecca thinks that with Griffin it will be fine.  Lila asks Rebecca to keep a secret, she reveals that she met a married man.  She calls him Mr. Darcy because she promised not to reveal who he was.  At least Rebecca was telling the truth about that.

July 2014 –  Rebecca meets with Lila on the roof near the water tank where she is found. That seems to be where they meet a lot.  Lila brought beer. Rebecca brought some drugs too.  Lila tells her that she had sex and from the smile on her face it was good. Lila felt comfortable and safe.  Lila mentions that the wife must not put out because he couldn’t get enough of her. She asks Rebecca to swear again that she won’t say anything.  Rebecca could care less about her sex life and thinks she’s an idiot.  Lila gets the text with a picture of Mr. Darcy’s member. She shows Rebecca who jokes that she now knows why Lila thought it would hurt.

August 2014 – Lila is upset. Mr. Darcy wants to break things off.  Lila regrets not keeping her virginity pact because, “bad things happen when you have sex.” Rebecca thought that she broke things off with Griffin and should because he’s a control freak.  When Rebecca asks what bad things can happen, Lila evades the question and asks her to stay. Something tells me she found out she was pregnant around the same time Mr. Darcy was breaking things off.  Lila wants to go over to the house and show the wife all of the naked pictures of her husband. Rebecca advises against it.

August 29, 2014 – Bonnie saw Lila on the night of her murder.  Lila came to the house crying demanding to see Annalise.  Lila sees her car when Bonnie initially lies about Annalise being home.   Bonnie doesn’t know who she is but tells her that she will regret it if she keeps up.  Bonnie asks her to calm down and leave.  Lila eventually does walk away but not before telling Bonnie she has something important to tell Annalise and he can no longer keep the secret.

Case of the Week & Other Tidbits

Annalise introduces to the class her current case.  Gretchen Thomas (Stacey Edwards), wife, mother, and successful real estate agent is accused of murdering her nanny, Elke.  She claims she was sleep walking at the time so doesn’t remember.  There’s a home security camera that caught her dragging the body outside and turning on the hose to clean the body.  Annalise and her crew go to the Thomas house. Gretchen is busy in the kitchen still trying to finish up plans for her daughter’s birthday .  While there, Frank propositions Laurel to try to sneak away for a quickie. How rude to even suggest going upstairs in the client’s house! Annalise interrupts a call Gretchen made so she could go over Gretchen’s testimony.  Gretchen changed her mind about taking the stand. Mr. Thomas (David Burke) tries to get her to reconsider but she stands firm.  Annalise reason’s that it would be good for her to testify to establish that she was close to the nanny so she wouldn’t have had a motive to kill her.  Gretchen believes that she committed the murder so she should be punished for it.

Bonnie tasks the Keating 5 to prep the family members to testify about Gretchen’s history of sleep walking by acting as  prosecutors. Michaela complains that they do most of the work and they need time to study for exams coming up. Asher preens that he doesn’t have to worry about studying because he has the trophy.  Connor approaches Wes first then Laurel about doing a study group that weekend.

Connor preps Cody Thomas (Max Gray Wilbur), the son.  Wes talks to Mr. Thomas. Michaela questions Gretchen’s mom, who watches Court TV.  Laurel preps  the daughter.  I liked how the prepping seemed to flow with the questioning by the Keating 4.  I guess they ran out of family members for Asher to prep.  We then see Cody on the stand explaining that his mom was upset when she was told what happened. Things seem to be going well, even defending his mom when the prosecutor started asking questions. Then he revealed that he was in love with Elke and the reason he was up at 3 am was because he was going to her room.  Oops! Possible motive revealed! Connor screwed up on that one! Annalise even makes a crack that he has to sleep with someone get evidence. Ouch! When Bonnie tries to defend him Annalise goes off on her too about not doing her due diligence so she’s not blindsided in court.  “And in return I tolerate your pitiful, pathetic mousy appearance in my house.” Harsh!

Back at the house Michaela teases Connor about getting yelled at so close to getting grades.  He counters that he has last year’s exam and doesn’t include her in the study group even though she has good information. Laurel gets a call from Frank for a quickie in his car.  He had put the picture of himself bare-chested on her phone while she was in the shower earlier that day.

Asher tells Bonnie that Annalise was wrong for berating her like that.  She thinks he’s trying to suck up. He wants to leave early for a party at his place before the bonfire and invites her. She gives permission as long as he gets his work done.

Connor tries to get more information about Cody’s love affair with Elke. Cody calls him out on being gay when he tries to tell him a story about loving his sister’s older female friend.  What Cody does reveal was that his relationship with Elke wasn’t perfect. She gave him a STD. Since Michaela was a premed before going to law school she is able to figure out what disease it is by the way Connor crudely described it.  She looks for the medicine used to treat it. Tinidazole was the medication prescribed.  In court Mr. Thomas is testifying.  It is revealed that Mr. Thomas was also having an affair with Elke and gave Cody the medicine.  He winds up admitting that he killed Elke because he was mad that his son was also sleeping with her.  As the police take the husband away Gretchen blames Annalise for what happened. Annalise knows Gretchen really blames the husband though.

Lila Standgard Murder Case

We pick up where we left off last week with Bonnie revealing that the autopsy report will show Lila was 6 weeks pregnant. Annalise asks Bonnie to stay because she wants a witness so she knows if Sam’s telling the truth. Bonnie looked surprised when Annalise revealed that Sam was not at Yale the night of the murder.  He denies knowing Lila was pregnant.  Sam is not sure if he’s even the father. When Lila’s virginity came up Annalise told him that he would’ve known if she was one the first time they had sex. When Annalise looks to Bonnie, she slightly shakes her head.  Annalise admonishes him for not wearing a condom.

After Bonnie told the Keating 5 about their assignment on their current case, she informed Wes that Annalise needed to see him.  He is told about Lila’s preganancy.  Annalise also adds that the reason it was missed the first time is because they didn’t see trauma around that area so they didn’t do any further testing.  Griffin will be tested to see if he’s the father.  Annalise doesn’t want Wes to tell Rebecca even though this is good for her case.  When he asks why she thinks that Rebecca could mess up her case by acting rashly.   She also adds that she learned her lesson from the last time she tried to keep something from him.

So guess what puppy does? He tells his boo Rebecca of course!  He even told her that Annalise didn’t want her to know.  She thinks the baby was Sam’s. Rebecca asks if he trusts Annalise given her husband is involved. He doesn’t know.  Rebecca wants to go to the police about Sam. He reasons that Annalise would quit her case, especially if Sam is questioned and released.  He also brings up the possibility that Sam may not be the father. Wes will keep an eye on Annalise until he can figure out their next move.  They share a kiss and a hug.

Rebecca is nervous and she meets up with Nate. She’s wondering what’s in it for him. He’s helping himself because he lost his job to this case.  She tells him about Lila’s pregnancy.  He wants her to go get a sample of Sam’s hair and bring it back to him.  Nate will have someone from the police run the DNA test. If it matches, the police can start investigating Sam and her case would go away.  Rebecca looks tempted.

Rebecca took the bait because she shows up the next day at Annalise’s house.  Sam, who is alone, answers the door and Rebecca greets him as Darcy. Annalise is at court. She lies and says that she left her gloves there and wants to look for them. She initially goes in the living area and looks around the house.  Was it just me or was she being suggestive in the way she bent on the couch?  She asks to go to the bathroom and Sam asks her to leave. She’s only invited when Annalise invites her around. Rebecca leaves.

Bonnie sees Sam walk in after talking with Asher.  She tries to talk to him about the night of Lila’s murder. Mostly about him not being at Yale that night. Annalise interrupts asking if she needed her.  Bonnie responds no and leaves.  Sam tells Annalise that Rebecca was there earlier looking for gloves. He asks if Rebecca knows.  Annalise informs him that she told Wes.  All she thinks about is him with Lila.  She thinks she deserves what happened because she slept with him while he was married. She feels like she’s less of a woman because she was barren but Lila was able to conceive after only a few times with Sam.  He admits that he broke their relationship so he wants to fix it.

Rebecca calls Nate and informs him that Sam got suspicious so she wasn’t able to get a DNA sample.  She did suggest to somehow get a record of the texts Sam sent to Lila.

I refuse to sign the Prenup!

During a court recess Michaela berates Aiden about not supporting her decision to not sign the pre-nup, then hangs up on him to join the others. After the case is over she asks Annalise for the trophy since she helped win the case.  Annalise thinks it doesn’t matter who has the trophy and feels like if Michaela really wants it, she should take it.  Later her future mother in law, Mary Walker (Lynn Whitfield) pays her a visit.  Mrs. Walker felt that she needed to discuss the prenup with Michaela in person.  They both go to a restaurant.  Mary wants Michaela to sign the prenup to protect the company the Walkers created a long time ago.  Michaela tries to reassure her that she loves Aiden and plans to stay married to him so no need to sign.  Mrs. Walker mentions that Michaela came from the bayou. Michaela almost slaps her.  Note: this is the night of the bonfire.

The Night of the Bonfire

Laurel and Frank enter his apartment making out. Sasha, Frank’s girlfriend interrupts.  She thought that she would surprise Frank since her firm gave her a few days off. She even refers to Laurel as the “student of the month.” Laurel gets upset and leaves.

Bonnie is outside the office watching people head toward the bonfire.  Sam walks out of the office.  Bonnie mentions she saw Lila the night she was killed.  She knows Sam knew about the pregnancy.  He thinks there’s no point in telling Annalise now.  He still insists he didn’t hurt Lila.  Sam kisses Bonnie claiming he needs her now more than ever.

Bonnie is distressed and she tells Annalise what happened including about the night of Lila’s murder.  She didn’t know who Lila was at the time and she thought Sam had an alibi.  She cries in Annalise’s lap.  Bonnie gets fired and asked not to come back.  Bonnie looks devastated and leaves. Annalise is crying too and looking like she’s had enough.

Nate gives Rebecca a flash drive which will help download Sam’s phone information, including anything that he deleted.  He wants her to get it from his computer.  Nate does ask if she’s sure she wants to do this.   Rebecca gets out of the car and Wes sees her.  He confronts her about what her plans are and tells her that Nate is Annalise’s lover.  He now thinks that Annalise sent Nate to set up Rebecca and himself.  Wes remarks that Annalise always has a plan.  Wes laments that she should’ve trusted him, especially when he has told her things about himself.  Rebecca’s excuse: she was trying to be helpful.  Connor knocks on the door, and when Wes opens the door Connors notes that Wes lives in the ghetto.  He thinks he interrupted something but Rebecca leaves.

Asher is getting pumped about his party when Michaela arrives, he’s surprised to see her.  Aiden is trying to call her but she doesn’t answer.  As Asher goes to get food and drinks, she steals the trophy and leaves.  Asher’s stumped that she left.  Back at the apartments Wes bangs on Rebecca’s door to try to talk to her but there is loud music.  Laurel arrives with her eyes still red from crying but she shrugs it off when Connor says something.  Connor suggests to Wes that Rebecca may be throwing him off with the loud music.   Wes then goes back into his room and realizes the flash drive is missing.  He asks if Connor brought his car.

Sam walks into his house.  Annalise is on the phone.  She then reveals that she called the D.A. to suggest they do a DNA test of all of the men in Lila’s life, including the teachers at her school.   She wants to get to the truth one way or the other.  Annalise walks upstairs leaving Sam stunned.

We are so close to the finale I can almost taste it!  We will finally find out who killed Sam next week! Sound off below on who you think killed Sam and why!

*Photos courtesy of ABC/Mitch Haaseth and Nicole Wilder