How to Get Away With Murder Season 2 Episode 15 Anna Mae Recap
Let me tell you something about How To Get Away with Murder. This shit is cray! I don’t know how we are supposed to wait all the way until September to find out what the hell happens next. Now, keep up as I walk you through the last episode of the second season. A lot is going on here.
Laurel shows up to the Keating house hung over and realizes that she is the reason Annalise took off to Memphis, leaving the crew scattered to the wind. While they panic, Oliver hacks Annie’s credit cards and finds out that she’s gone to Tennessee.
Speaking of Ana Mae, her momma, Ophelia (played by Cicely Tyson) is so thrilled to have her home, she throws a party and literally, it seems as if all of Memphis shows up for the shindig. While Annalise doesn’t really want to deal with her family, she tolerates the situation, even grows to enjoy it. That is until her dad shows up. As she helps her mother in the kitchen, she stops in her tracks when she sees him walk through the door. “Didn’t I tell you to stay outside,” her mother snaps. Annalise stares at him in silent disgust and then walks out of the house, apparently disturbed. Annalise, who despises her father for beating her mother and leaving, finds out that they started seeing each other right after she was shot.
Back at the Keating House, Michaela overhears Nate tell Bonnie and Frank that there is a warrant out for Annalise’s arrest. She asks Oliver to hack into the DA’s system to see it but Connor and Bonnie firmly tell him no. Meanwhile, Wes confides in Laurel that Wallace Mahoney is his father and lets her know he plans to see him. Of course, she can’t keep her mouth shut and tells Frank, who tries to hide his discomfort with the subject. And why is he uncomfortable you ask? I’ll get to that in a few.
Nate visits Annalise in Memphis, pleading with her to come home but she says no, “not now.” Ophelia and Celestine (Annalise’s sister) drool over him from the window, and then convinces (makes) Nate to stay for lunch. Annie’s father also attends the meal, and she makes it very uncomfortable for everyone. Momma O gives her a verbal lashing saying, “That’s why you never had any babies” and Ana Mae sits in silence. Later, while Ophelia is alone, she tells her about the baby that died. O is devastated.
In Philly, Ollie hacks into the police department’s surveillance after the crew sees Annalise’s arrest warrant and realizes that the blacked out portions means ADA Denver has an informant. What they find is that the mole is none other than… CALEB! Yep, that’s why they haven’t heard from him, he’s been ratting on them.
At her mother’s house, Ana Mae finally has a face to face with her father who miraculously “found” her phone (Ophelia took it away when she first arrived). He apologizes to her about his leaving and running all her life and tells her that he loves Ophelia. She doesn’t want to hear it. Just as she kicks him out of the room, she gets a call from Michaela, who tells her everything. Annie rushes home.
She visits ADA Denver, and we find out that not only is Caleb the snitch, he is also the one who killed Helena Hapstall. He convinced Catherine to take the heat for him because she is in love with him. The night Philip caught Annie is Wes’ apartment, he gave her a USB with Caleb’s tracking info on it (he was wearing a Fitbit the night he committed the murder). Philip turns himself into the police (as a formality), and Catherine admits that she and Caleb had sexual relations but never had sex. Although the truth about the situation comes out, Caleb will never be tried because he kills himself by slitting his wrists in a bathtub full of water.
After everything is said and done, Annalise returns home, and Bonnie delivers the biggest blow of the night-Frank betrayed Annalise, which ultimately lead to the death of her son.
Ten years ago, Frank was talked into planting a wire in Annalise’s hotel room during the Mahoney trial in Ohio. The woman he met in the bar (and commenced to screw), actually worked for Wallace Mahoney and offered Frank a butt load of money to turn on Annalise. Little did he know that doing so would take the life of her baby. Through the wire, Mahoney’s minion heard that Annie was planning to rat on him and bam; they caused the accident. Oh, and the suitcase of money Frank had at the beginning of the season when Wes was looking for Rebecca was Mahoney’s dirty money from a decade before.
Annalise had no idea what Frank did and in fact, blames him and Sam for making her think the situation was her fault all these years. She gathers herself and tells Bonnie “he has to go.” Scene switch to Laurel searching Frank’s apartment, which is void of all his personal belongings.
The episode ends with Wes confronting Wallace Mahoney in New York, telling him, “I think I’m your son.” Mahoney asks him, “What makes you think that” and before Wes can answer, Wallace is shot in the head by a sniper. I personally believe that it’s Frank, but that’s just me being messy.
I don’t know about you, but that exhausted me. I just might need until Fall to ready myself for what’s next.
Naturally, we’re left with a ton of questions even with some things wrapped up nice and tidy on “How to Get Away with Murder.” Luckily, Executive Producer Peter Nowalk is there to answer you fans questions.
Where is Frank? Is he on the lam? Did Annalise take care of him after she said that he “needs to go”?
Peter Nowalk: [Laughs] Those are good questions. The last time we saw Frank, he knows Annalise is coming home, and he knows Bonnie is going to try to smooth things over, but I think he knows Annalise. He had a decision to make. Either he tries to do something to win her love back, or he takes the money and takes off. Those are things we’ll get into next season. To me, yes, we solved the big mystery between Frank and Sam, what their secret was, but I think a lot has gone on that we have yet to see. There’s 10 years between that hospital scene and him killing Lila, so clearly a lot has happened, as well as, how did Sam and Frank first meet? These are all stories that I’m excited to show you guys when it’s right.
Annalise has said that she hired Frank only because Sam took him in from the “gutter.” Is it easier for her to cut Frank out of her life now because of that, or is it harder because they’ve grown close and she feels betrayed?
Nowalk: I think when she says, “He needs to go,” she’s very resolved in the fact that she’s done with him. What that means actually and what she intends to do is purposefully vague. He killed her baby and kept it a secret with Sam. I don’t see how she forgives him, knowing who Annalise is. This is a guy she’s trusted and really relied on and counted on as family. The reason the betrayal feels so big is that he, someone in her new family, has been a snake. That’s why she had to flee to her original family.
He was basically her surrogate son. Could Frank have shot Wallace? He seemed filled with regret. Could this be his way of making it up to Annalise?
Nowalk: I definitely think that’s what makes sense. He just found out this episode that Wallace was also Wes’ father and he knows Wallace caused that car accident. That would make complete sense. I think I know who shot Wallace at this point and I will not tell you if you’re right or not. I will say sometimes we like to shock you guys and sometimes we like to do what makes sense. It’s all up for grabs.
So you have the shooter in mind already. Could that change?
Nowalk: Everything can change! [The murder] is a mystery that isn’t fully planned out yet. I used to think that Laurel shot Annalise and that changed to Wes. At the same time, I always felt Wes was the one who killed Sam and we kept it that way. The writers’ room is fun because it’s like, “Here’s an idea. Can we beat it?”
Wes didn’t seem that stunned by a man getting his brains blown out a foot in front of him, so he and Frank could totally be working together.
Nowalk: [Laughs] Well, that’s because you always think Wes is a sociopath! He looked pretty stunned to me!
I would’ve been more freaked out. But maybe he’s not fazed by people dying in front of him anymore. He also had doubts about whether Annalise was telling the truth. Is a DNA test going to confirm Wallace is his dad?
Nowalk: If I’m Wes, I’d definitely want that. Whether he gets a chance to get that test or not is the question now that the guy is bleeding out before him!
Will we be seeing more of the Mahoneys in Season 3?
Nowalk: Those actors [Arkin, Roxanne Hart, and Wilson Bethel] are amazing and we barely got to meet those characters, so that’s definitely a possibility too. Having not planned any of Season 3, I don’t know.
What is Annalise and Wes’ relationship going to be like now?
Nowalk: I think the ball is mostly in Wes’ court there. I think he understands now why Annalise has been doing everything and treating him that way more than he did before. Whether he can trust her again and whether he wants her in his life is the big question. I will say he’s alone. He doesn’t have anyone and here’s this person who’s protected him from a lot. That’s a big dilemma for him, but I would like to see them not hate each other for a little bit.
I thought it was interesting that Annalise’s mom told her everything’s hard because she’s trying to do it all alone. And Annalise later told Bonnie to stop believing what men tell her. Is Annalise going to keep people at even more of a distance now because of all these men who’ve burned her, or is she going to take what her mom said to heart and not try to take everything on by herself?
Nowalk: That is a great question for the character and the series. How do you trust people again when you’ve been burned so much? Her scar is that she’s been betrayed so much by a few family members as a child. I understand why Annalise can be so closed off. Who knows? Maybe she doesn’t need to be. Maybe she’d be happier. I think that’s all good emotional stuff we’ll delve into next year.
I don’t think you can ever have complete closure from losing a child, but do you think Annalise got some of that after telling her mom about her son, burying the note for him and learning the truth about Frank and Sam?
Nowalk: I think she’s closer to healing. I totally agree with you that that’s not a grief you can ever fully heal from, but I think she’s closer and I think taking the step of telling her mother helped. Her mother forcing her to do this pseudo burial was very cathartic for her, and I think in some ways you might see a different Annalise.
Are we going to see more of Annalise’s father?
Nowalk: That actor is Roger Robinson. He’s a Tony Award-winning Broadway star. He’s fantastic. That relationship is not resolved. Yes, we wanted Annalise to go home, but we didn’t want to tell the whole story. She’s not going to get over her father’s abandonment in one conversation. Even the stuff with her sister—I think this was just our first opening into her childhood. I would love to keep exploring it.
In another big but comparably minor betrayal, Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) declined and deleted Connor’s (Jack Falahee) acceptance into Stanford. Will that come out? Will Oliver confess?
Nowalk: That is a huge betrayal. Oliver and Connor have really been leaning on each other in a quite romantic and idealistic way. I think both of them are going through major changes and they’re different people. I think Oliver is extremely different from how he started the season and he wants to live large. Obviously I love them together, but they’re young and they’ve got a lot of things to work out.
Oliver just wants to stay out of hacker rehab. He was definitely on a huge high there, getting Annalise’s arrest warrant.
Nowalk: [Laughs] Yeah, he’s really addicted!
What about Michaela (Aja Naomi King) and Asher (Matt McGorry)? Is that fling over? They almost had sex on Annalise’s bed, which is wildly inappropriate.
Nowalk: Very kinky. Michaela now knows Caleb was a serial killer. She fell for it all. I think she’s in a very vulnerable place and she looks to Asher, who is actually a good guy in the grand scheme of guys on our show. I do think Asher is impressed by Michaela. He got dumped by Bonnie … and I think [Michaela] represents a real challenge. I feel like he would think she would make him a better man. I’m excited to see if there’s any potential for them and if there’s not, then they’re friends.
Is the Hapstall case done for good even though no one’s found Caleb’s body yet?
Nowalk: That was always intended to be the case of the season, so I’m 90-percent sure we are done with that case and all of it. That’s not to say that we’ll never bring it back in some way, but as of now, I think it’s closed.
The lady from the bar told Frank they’d see each other again. Are we going to see her in Season 3 and fill some of those 10 years of Frank’s life?
Nowalk: That’s another TBD. We start the writers’ room up again on May 2, so I’m going to jot these down. [Laughs] These are all good questions. These are talking points and I’m going to test everyone and have them come up with their theories. That actress is Emily Swallow and she was great. I wouldn’t mind seeing her again.
Do you have any loose plans for Season 3 right now? Is there something you want to accomplish, even thematically?
Nowalk: They’re even looser than that. I want to keep revealing the characters’ home lives before they met Annalise. I want to meet Laurel’s father, I want to meet Michael’s family. I want to really explore new dynamics and have all the characters grow. The one thing I’ll say is, I don’t want to follow a formula. What’s great is the network encourages me to take risks. I want to come back and feel like we’re doing something fresh.