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There’s My Baby
Original Air Date: Mar 10, 2016
Caitlin- Senior Staff Writer
caitlin@thetwocentscorp.com
Confession: Every time I see this title, I think of the old song: “Yes, sir, that’s my baby. No, sir, I don’t mean maybe. Yes, sir, that’s my baby now.” (Yes, I know it’s not quite the same. Hush.) Acknowledgement: This episode shares absolutely none of that cheerful sentiment.
We’ve been wondering, for quite a while now, what happens to Annalise’s pregnancy of ten years ago, as she clearly doesn’t have a child now. And I think we’ve always known that whatever happened had to be devastating. Well, we were right. More right than we’d ever want to be.
That whole “Phillip jumping Annalise” thing gets resolved- the most temporary sense ever- in that he runs off without doing much harm to her. This doesn’t do anything to soothe anyone else- they’re all basically on house arrest in Annalise’s living room, knowing only that Phillip is out there looking for them. The whole “What did we do?” line is pretty anti-climactic, too- it was, just as it appeared to be, simply related to Eve and Annalise’s guilt over Rose’s death.
Eve joins nearly every other character on the show at Annalise’s place to try and figure out why she still cares about Wes so much- and to ask her to go to New York with her. A road trip seems like a very bad choice under these circumstances, but to each their own. But nobody is going anywhere just yet, because Caleb has gone missing. Michaela fully believes that Phillip has set out to murder him and blames Annalise, who wouldn’t let them tell anyone of their plans.
Nate is the one who brought the news over, and he and Eve mutter at each other a bit before she stalks out. The next bit of unwelcome news is even worse, speaking at least in terms of our characters: everyone is going to have to speak to the ADA about the night at the mansion. By now, though, our kids are alarmingly un-rattled. In turn, they each basically tell him where he can shove it. And when Asher tries to take the blame, Bonnie tells him- and Frank- that guilt really lies with Lila’s killer. Ouch.
Given what Bonnie now knows about Frank, she might or might not be surprised that he used to be the kind of who could hook up with a woman in seconds, but who was also rather kicked around by Annalise. The Annalise of right now would probably not be capable of such things, especially as she has Frank bringing her vodka to guzzle behind Bonnie’s back. Meanwhile, Wes is still suspicious he killed his mother, and Asher is utterly guilt-ridden. But, hey, at least Oliver comes over and brings pizza!
Nate calls again for…some reason, but that’s not really important right now. What is important is our next flashback, with Eve and Annalise discussing what happened to Rose. Annalise wanted Eve to tell the police that Rose said she was threatened by the Mahoneys. When Eve resisted, Annalise pledged to do so herself, even at the risk of her own job. And so she set off for the police station to do so. Halfway there, she was blindsided by a red-light runner and hit head on.
By this point, modern Annalise is completely drunk. This is an especially big problem when Asher also gets called in to testify, and seems to be less able to keep his cool than the others. They all wind up back at house, throwing around still more lies, but when Bonnie tries to claim the random conversation Annalise saw between her and Frank was about Wes, Annalise explodes. She orders everyone except Wes out of her house, apparently not caring that being out there could get them all killed.
The idea solution in the face of such a dire problem is basically anything except more drinking. And so, of course, the students head out to get drunk. Laurel sulks, Asher and Michaela dance together, and Oliver tells Connor that he quit his job. Meanwhile, Annalise is determined to tell Wes everything. But first, she is haunted by her own memories. Because that car crash killed her baby. And the following scenes, with Annalise holding her dead child, are simply devastating.
Everyone was left reeling in the aftermath. Annalise blamed herself and would up all but catatonic. Sam told Eve to have Annalise removed from the case, and she agreed immediately. But, this aside, we are still left wondering why: why has Annalise remained so devoted to Wes? Why did Rose choose suicide? Wes wonders, and so do we, and finally Annalise tells all: Mahoney Sr. had been raping Rose for years. And that makes him Wes’s father. Are you feeling sick yet?
If so, try to hold back a minute before you run off to the toilet to vomit. First you have to see Michaela tearfully trying to leave a message for Caleb, Asher awkwardly attempting to comfort her, and that, somehow, leading to a hookup between the two of them. You have to see Bonnie, at possible risk of her life, going to visit Frank again. And you have to see a very drunk Laurel showing up at Annalise’s door and telling her that she knows Frank killed Lila- on Annalise’s orders, according to her.
This last realization is what drives Annalise to pack a suitcase and run to her mother’s house. And whatever I expected to see happen between them, Anna Mae joyfully welcoming her daughter in as though she hadn’t seen her in decades probably wasn’t at the top of the list. But she does, and this is where we leave the last episode before the season finale- right there, with the promise of multiple (yes, multiple) more dead bodies to come next week. Have fun, everyone!
Next Week: Anna Mae