S01.E05: We're Not Friends

[theatremouse]

When she confronted Sam about the affair and asked him how many times it happened and WHERE, he said something like 6 or 7 and that it was only in his office, and one time in her car.

Clearly it also happened in their bedroom.  She didn't recognise the wallpaper?

Technically doesn't prove he slept with Lila in their bedroom. Only proves his took naked photos from his bedroom and sent them to Lila. I think it's plausible she recognized both the penis and the wallpaper in the moment she saw it and when confronting him, but by later with the stupid plan to bring Rebecca to their house was no longer focused on the wallpaper and potential for it to be recognized. I mean, since it's a show it's most likely writer-fault, but if I considered it like a real world scenario, I could easily buy it that someone in looking at the whole picture (literally), recognized both automatically, but then later, sort of...the wallpaper to her didn't sink in as much? Like she recognized it without recognizing it as a separate detail and so forgot to consider the need to make sure anyone who'd seen the photo and did not yet suspect Sam should have no opportunity to see the wallpaper and make the connection. Or maybe she just didn't think someone would have memorized the background when there's genitalia taking up the bulk of the image.

[PrincessTT]

The writing was a little sloppy.  Annalise clearly recognises Sam's penis.  Maybe she was too focused on the picture of him to notice the wallpaper.  How can someone like Rebecca notice the wallpaper and instantly make the connection with Annalise and Sam?  Yet Annalise, a smart and successful attorney, didn't?  When she confronted Sam about the affair and asked him how many times it happened and WHERE, he said something like 6 or 7 and that it was only in his office, and one time in her car.

 

Clearly it also happened in their bedroom.  She didn't recognise the wallpaper?  Or if she did, it is not believable that she wouldn't have confronted him about it and called him out on his lie right there and then.

 

Sam taking a picture of himself in his bedroom and sending it to Lila doesn't necessarily mean that he had sex with Lila in the bedroom.

Edited October 28, 2014 by PrincessTT

[DeeDee79]

I like Annalise as strong; I don't want to see more scenes with her basically begging Nate to take her back. Sam has seemed shady from day 1; it won't shock me if he was the one who killed Lila. Bonnie bugs as her longing for her bosses husband is less than subtle; Frank has zero sex appeal and I don't buy the connection with him and Laurel and Wes's awkward neck movements annoy me. I'm very amused by Connor, bored by Michaela and annoyed by Asher.

Edited October 28, 2014 by DeeDee79

[shapeshifter]

She didn't- Wes did. Rebecca came out of the room from her "evaluation" and asked Wes where the bathroom was. Still ridiculous that there is no downstairs bathroom though.

Actually, I lived in an older duplex with only one bathroom upstairs, and I think my sister's house was like that when she bought it--it may still be. I think the duplex was built in the 1960s.

[PrincessTT]

Most of the people that I know only have an upstairs bathroom... However if you decide to use the downstairs of your house as your office then surely you would have a downstairs loo put in for your colleagues & clients to use.

[Mabinogia]

They should have thrown in a comment about how the downstairs loo was being repaired or remodelled or something, anything to explain why a home business wouldn't have a guest bathroom for clients to use. And was it a proper upstairs bathroom and Rebecca just decided to go poking around in the bedroom or did she actually have to go through the bedroom to use it? I didn't pay enough attention to that.

 

Or, if we want to go really convoluted plot twist, Wes knew the wallpaper would match, he's been in that room, and purposely sent Rebecca to that bathroom in the hopes she would notice. Why? Because why not? This is a Shonda show. Logic has no place here. But really, Wes could have so easily said "the downstairs bathroom is being worked on but there's one upstairs you can use". I just found it the most rediculous thing this show has done to date because it's something that could so easily have been fixed.

[J-Man]

Did anyone notice how they just slapped a "Wawa" logo on what is clearly a California convenience store? The signage on the store indicated they sell liquor, which in Pennsylvania is only done at state stores. 

[helenamonster]

Aw man, I didn't notice that, I'll have to go back and look. I keep forgetting the show takes place in Philly, but it's cool they added that little detail. Even if they did forget that you can only buy liquor at state stores in PA. Wawa is the bomb.com, I miss it so much when I'm at school.

[DollEyes]

This was more subdued (aka boring) than the previous episode, but not by much. Then again, Laurel, the Student of the Week, is boring most of the time. Laurel is IMO the least interesting character on the show. Wes may not seem especially mesmerizing either, but at least I get the sense that there's more to him than meets the eye, otoh, Laurel doesn't even give me that much. Laurel's asserting herself with Annalise at the beginning of the episode was impressive, but her crusade for the Client of the Week, the boy who killed his abusive cop father to save his mother, was predictable. To Laurel, the boy was just another cause, whom she used to make herself believe that the "good" guys could still win, hence her "accidentally" leaking that jury nullification story to a juror and causing a mistrial, bumping his case down to Juvie. It would've been so much better if, after being released, the boy killed his mother because she didn't protect him from his father and he couldn't be prosecuted because of double jeopardy, making Laurel learn the hard way that there are some people who aren't worth fighting for. That lesson could also apply to Laurel's love life. She has Khan, a smart, sweet, funny and gorgeous guy who cares about her and treats her with respect, but she can't seem to stay away from her boss Frank, who's also hot but he's also a rude, condescending asshole who sees Laurel as just another notch on his bed post-at first, anyway. Laurel's not screwing Frank of the their kiss and screwing Khan moments later would have impressed me more if I didn't believe that Frank was at least part of the reason for it. Based on what I've seen so far, Khan is the kind of guy whom Laurel needs while Frank is the kind of guy whom Laurel thinks she wants, aka the "bad boy," a phase which Frank himself should've outgrown a long time ago. Chances are Frank's eventual willingness to help Laurel with the cover-up of Sam's murder doesn't say anything good about either character, their intellect or their sanity.

 

  Re Annalise and Sam, everything about their marriage became about as exposed as Annalise at the end of the previous episode. As for Annalise and Sam's initial affair breaking up Sam's first marriage, to quote Dr. Phil, "If they do with you, they'll do it to you." That picture that Sam sexued to Lila proves that, at the very least, he's got a serious problem if he's sexting other women in general and students in particular, especially if one of them turns up dead. Sam's certainly not smart enough to hide the bathroom wallpaper, as Wes and Rebecca learned. A prosecutor would have a field day with this: whether it was Sam sexting Lila, was sleeping with her, he broke it off and Lila threatened to tell Annalise and Sam killed her, Lila broke it off and promised not to tell Annalise, but Sam didn't believe her and killed her or Bonnie found out about Sam's affair with Lila and since Bonnie's obsessed with Sam, if not screwing him herself, she killed Lila to eliminate the competition because in Bonnie's mind, if anyone's gonna be the other woman, it's her, if Sam's not the actual killer, then I believe he's definitely the cause of Lila's death, in one way or another.  

[Chicago Redshirt]

It would've been so much better if, after being released, the boy killed his mother because she didn't protect him from his father and he couldn't be prosecuted because of double jeopardy, making Laurel learn the hard way that there are some people who aren't worth fighting for.

Double jeopardy means that you can't be prosecuted a second time for the same crime after being acquitted. DOW getting acquitted for killing daddy would not prevent him from being prosecuted for killing mommy. But the point otherwise stands.

[racked]

This was more subdued (aka boring) than the previous episode, but not by much. Then again, Laurel, the Student of the Week, is boring most of the time. Laurel is IMO the least interesting character on the show. Wes may not seem especially mesmerizing either, but at least I get the sense that there's more to him than meets the eye, otoh, Laurel doesn't even give me that much. Laurel's asserting herself with Annalise at the beginning of the episode was impressive, but her crusade for the Client of the Week, the boy who killed his abusive cop father to save his mother, was predictable. To Laurel, the boy was just another cause, whom she used to make herself believe that the "good" guys could still win, hence her "accidentally" leaking that jury nullification story to a juror and causing a mistrial, bumping his case down to Juvie. It would've been so much better if, after being released, the boy killed his mother because she didn't protect him from his father and he couldn't be prosecuted because of double jeopardy, making Laurel learn the hard way that there are some people who aren't worth fighting for. That lesson could also apply to Laurel's love life. 

 

How would there be double jeopardy for that? Two different murders. But I thought there would be a twist with this COW too. It was straightforward and kind of boring, but I at least appreciated the little clues that the father was in fact a controlling abusive POS. 

 

Totally agree that Laurel is a snoozefest. The actress is very pretty but everything she says seems so sloow and muted. 

[tomorrowgirl]

This show just hasn't gelled for me.  I'm still watching it, but I only know a couple of the character's names, and I don't yet care about any of them.  All the time switches don't help in holding my interest.  They seem to make the show needlessly convoluted.   I want to like it, but at this point I'm just watching it out of habit.

 

The fact that there is apparently no downstairs bathroom in a house that big and expensive looking bothered me too.  And is there only one bedroom in the house?  Annalise told her husband to sleep on the couch, instead of telling him to sleep in the spare bedroom.

[discoprincess]

 

 Re Annalise and Sam, everything about their marriage became about as exposed as Annalise at the end of the previous episode.

 

 

I loved how the writers chose to expose that and how Viola played those scenes out. That was beautiful. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

I'm operating under the assumption that there are multiple bedrooms in the house, but most of them have been converted to office space and/or "sleep on the couch" may have been metaphorical. 

[helenamonster]

I was fanwanking that there was a guest bedroom/were guest bedrooms, but Annalise's rage was so strong that she demanded he stay on the couch and have an uncomfortable night's sleep as opposed to sleeping in another bed.

[PrincessTT]

I'm operating under the assumption that there are multiple bedrooms in the house, but most of them have been converted to office space and/or "sleep on the couch" may have been metaphorical. 

 

I don't think it was metaphorical... When Wes crept into the house at the end to check the wallpaper, he walked past Sam asleep on the couch. 

 

I'm assuming that other rooms have been converted to make office space.

[Chrissytd]

I don't think it was metaphorical... When Wes crept into the house at the end to check the wallpaper, he walked past Sam asleep on the couch. 

 

I'm assuming that other rooms have been converted to make office space.

Isn't the office only on the first floor?

[Chicago Redshirt]

I'm assuming the 1st floor is where Annalise's law office is. However, Sam may have his own personal home office as a professor. And Annalise might for whatever reason want to keep a separate office for her work as a professor as well. 

[darkestboy]

This episode was pretty good. Nice to get a little more on Laurel, even if it meant that she was cheating on her hot boyfriend and causing a mistrial, but er, swings and roundabouts really.

While I do think Michaela and Annalise are stronger characters, I'd put Laurel on a par with Bonnie and think she's preferable to Rebecca (who isn't really?)

Interesting how Wes became privy to Annalise knowing about Sam and Lila. The wallpaper people, I tell you.

Connor and Asher's scenes together are pure gold. I love Asher's curiosity at times. Also, he is literally the only one of the Keating Five who hasn't done anything unethical so far to get results.

The case of the week itself was interesting enough too, 8/10

[rubyred]

It's interesting going back and watching the repeats; I've found it easier to notice nuances in the story and the performances when not distracted by the driving plotcakes of Wes/Annalise/Rebecca/Sam. For instance, the Great Love of Laurel and Frank. Still underwritten and out of nowhere, but at least I noticed it happening this time! And Jack Falahee and gal who plays Layla are particularly good in their reaction shots. Laurel is as dead-eyed as ever. Frank remains unimpressive on every level. I can't believe this was the guy who played Ben on Buffy. I just can't believe it.