S05.E11: Be the Martyr

[Bort]

Quote

Nate is on a mission to prove he was right about the culprit in his father’s murder. Bonnie begins to doubt herself. Annalise turns the tables in the courtroom.

Airdate: Thursday, January 31, 2019

[Lady Calypso]

So...is it bad that I kind of was rooting for Nate to be arrested all episode? Because I really, really need him off the show. 99% of the time, I just really couldn't care less about him. His scene with Bonnie was decent, but other than that? A big fat meh. 

Finally! We learn something new about Michaela! It's been a while! Thank you, show! And it made me interested in her for the first time in a while. 

This show drags because of how depressing and dark it gets at times. Connor/Oliver seem to be the only semi-happy couple and we don't really see them do anything happy to begin with. 

So....Gabriel's in jail. And I should care...why? 

I see that the show doesn't know what to do with Asher so they're pushing him toward Bonnie again. That being said, Asher was fairly decent in this episode. 

I can get Laurel's anger, I do. At least her story here has nothing to do with her father. I was surprisingly ok with it. 

The Emmett stuff was actually pretty decent. 

[stonehaven]

Decent episode and some of the AK and Teegan stuff was great but I kept yelling "Shut up Laurel"..that chick cannot stop thinking and whining about herself...and God knows, I never thought I'd say this but Michaela is my second favorite character to watch after AK...

Great stuff with Bonnie...and a nice plug for the Suicide Hotline at the end.

[PsychoDrone]

Shut up Laurel.  "Am I being crazy?"  Yes, yes you are.  Your baby is not traumatized or experiencing PTSD.  Show really went over the top with her reaction.  He's a baby, not even one yet.  Not going to remember anything, much less be traumatized by it.  Overprotective parent of 1st kid to the nth degree.  Michaela being effected by something she saw at 2-years old is more believable than an event "seen" by a not-even-1-year old.  I would be more concerned that Bonnie had my baby out in the cold, sitting in the snow vs what he supposedly saw.

Edited February 1, 2019 by PsychoDrone

[tennisgurl]

I swear, if I have to hear Laurel say the phrase "I lost the love of my life" one more freaking time, I might be the one committing murders. Laurel was driving me up the freaking wall all episode, going on about how her baby might have baby PTSD for ever and ever, and acting like Bonnie did this on purpose to fuck with her or something. Girl, not everything is about you! Dont we have enough drama without you just making crap up so that everything is somehow about you and her dead boyfriend and your baby?

Michaela: "See, look how great I turned out!"

Laurel: "...my baby is gonna be a serial killer."

I dont know if thats the look the actress was going for, but it was totally what it looked like to me. 

Speaking of phrases, how many times did we get to hear Nate say the word "Pops" this week? Honestly, I hope that Miller really didnt have anything to do with it, because Nate is getting on my last nerve. Dude, you beat your friends boyfriend to death because of a picture. Your kinda looking like the bad guy in this situation. 

Bonnie and Frank are really sweet together. 

Edited February 1, 2019 by tennisgurl

[Annber03]

35 minutes ago, PsychoDrone said:

I would be more concerned that Bonnie had my baby out in the cold, sitting in the snow vs what he supposedly saw.

 

This. Plus, while I wouldn't blame her for being mad about that, at the same time....if she's that concerned about her son's well-being, I'm thinking continuing to hang out with this group of shady and murderous people probably won't help matters much. Also, I think Bonnie is very well and deeply aware of what exposure to violence does to a child, so Laurel wasn't exactly telling her something new there. 

Bonnie broke my heart. As did Michaela's story from her childhood. Agreed on the mention of the hotline at the end of the episode, and I'm rather interested to see how Asher and Bonnie interacting again will play out over time. I liked the different ways in which Asher, Nate, and Frank were all showing concern for and/or being protective of her this episode. 

And I'm also kinda curious about what led Gabriel to wind up in jail. 

Edited February 1, 2019 by Annber03

[HunterHunted]

45 minutes ago, PsychoDrone said:

Shut up Laurel.  "Am I being crazy?"  Yes, yes you are.  Your baby is not traumatized or experiencing PTSD.  Show really went over the top with her reaction.  He's a baby, not even one yet.  Not going to remember anything, much less be traumatized by it.  Overprotective parent of 1st kid to the nth degree.  Michaela being effected by something she saw at 2-years old is more believable than an event "seen" by a not-even-1-year old.  I would be more concerned that Bonnie had my baby out in the cold, sitting in the snow vs what he supposedly saw.

When we look at all of the various murders on this show, most of them have been committed by people with troubled childhoods, but that's because these dopes seem to attract troubled people to them. However, we've also had Asher murder someone and his upbringing was privileged if WASPy and withholding.

[renatae]

Anyone have any idea what the song they were playing when Bonnie was sitting in the running car was? I searched using the lyrics and couldn't find anything. I though t maybe the name was "Follow me home," because that's repeated many times, but nothing that came up matched.

ETA Finally found it by looking up "music from HTGAWM" It's "Home" by Solomon Grey.

Edited February 1, 2019 by renatae

[NUguy514]

I, too, noticed Nate's saying "my pops" approximately three hundred thousand times tonight, and it irritated the hell out of me for reasons I can't quite explain.  If he's going to continue to be this unbelievably annoying and beshirted, then I am going to move him gently but firmly to the door.  It's time to go, hon.

I think it would be a MUCH more interesting choice creatively for Miller NOT to be culpable in some way, but the show would never go in that direction.

Laurel, oh my god:

[Jeopardy15]

Can we just get rid of Laurel and let Annalise adopt Christopher? All of her whining about losing “the wuv of her life”. Ugh! Really? 

I wonder if the end game is to bring down Annalise? She never actually killed anyone or was even involved in killing anyone in all these seasons. 

[Free]

9 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

When we look at all of the various murders on this show, most of them have been committed by people with troubled childhoods, but that's because these dopes seem to attract troubled people to them. However, we've also had Asher murder someone and his upbringing was privileged if WASPy and withholding.

That's probably because Annalise surrounds herself with emotionally damaged people or they get involved.

2 hours ago, Jeopardy15 said:

I wonder if the end game is to bring down Annalise? She never actually killed anyone or was even involved in killing anyone in all these seasons.

That or everything catches up to them in a final season.

[HunterHunted]

3 hours ago, Jeopardy15 said:

I wonder if the end game is to bring down Annalise? She never actually killed anyone or was even involved in killing anyone in all these seasons. 

It's absolutely the end game for the various unseen agents of law and order. This show has demonstrated time after time that Annalise doesn't have it in her to kill anyone, but that she's still not a good person. I find it so funny that outsiders are always trying to prove that Annalise has killed people when her ultimate unnoticed skill/talent is being a talent scout for damaged people. She has this ability to find troubled damaged people, put them together with other messed up people, and let them spin out and destroy everything around them.

I kind of hope the last episode is Annalise like Al Pacino in the Devil's Advocate laying bare all of the group's many sins and disabuses them of the notion that they only did these things because of her.

[helenamonster]

I think I missed something in the Michaela/Tegan/Nate civil suit storyline. Michaela definitely just wrote up that suit on her own without Nate's input, right? And Nate said he didn't want to get into it, and Annalise is probably right that he'd rather pursue criminal justice over civil at this juncture. So why were Michaela, Connor, and Oliver so insistent that she wasn't lying to Tegan. She clearly was, right? Idk, something about the tone of the whole thing was really off and left me deeply confused.

However, it is drawing Tegan more into the main story, and more Tegan is always good in my book! I mean, getting closer to these people ups your chances of a suspicious and untimely death by 1000%, but hopefully this show wouldn't be dumb enough to get rid of its most delightful character.

Nothing really more to say...this felt like such a blah episode after two very strong ones. Though I am looking forward to where this all leads.

[ursula]

Did ABC include a Suicide PSA after the episode that depicted Annalise's suicide attempt? 

Because if they didn't, the optics of including one for Bonnie's attempt and not for Annalise's is horrendous.

Edited February 1, 2019 by ursula

[colorbars]

I don't recall if they showed one. I'm guessing they showed it this time because they actually showed Bonnie attempting/everyone worried about her doing it all episode,

Laurel was being so annoying this episode, that's hardly the main concern right now. Does she think Bonnie decided to take Christopher out to go commit a murder? She happened to have Christopher when she found Nate and Miller. She, of all people, should know that murder happens at inconvenient times. I was waiting for her to throw some kind of dig about Bonnie not being a mother at her like she did the others, to really kick Bonnie while she was down. It would've been unknowingly, of course, but still.

It was really nice to see so many people worried about Bonnie this episode, it's what she needs. I continue to really enjoy the dynamic between Bonnie/Frank and scenes with Bonnie are about the only times I have any kind of feelings about Nate.

I think Miller will end up being innocent of the Nate Sr stuff - and Bonnie will just have to learn to live with it, and maybe find some kind of peace in knowing she protected Annalise because of his investigation into her - but the Governor will be the one that ordered the hit on Nate Sr, so it'll all work out in the end, as far as guilt/taking down the one responsible goes.

Edited February 3, 2019 by colorbars

[darkestboy]

I wasn't that keen on this episode. I know it advanced certain things and brought Tegan into the game but it still felt a bit on the filler side of things.

Annalise and Emmett - at least that storyline is done for now but he seems to have a thing for her, so that could raise some future problems in the remainder of the season.

Even though Laurel had a point to be worried, she was a bit annoying this week as well.

Gabe's been arrested, the FBI might actually work with Nate and there was some decent Frank/Bonnie scenes but other than that, it wasn't the best episode we've had, 6/10

[Joimiaroxeu]

Nate trying to set up the governor for the DA's death. He's in for a bad time. But it's starting to look like the actor is doing his HTGAWM swan song unless the storyline is indeed going to pin it on the governor, eventually. She has gone unpunished for having Nate's father killed so it's not like she doesn't have somebody's blood on her hands.

[Queena]

I thought that the FBI said that the blood test results on the gun didn't match Nate Jr (and Nate Sr.)blood on the gun, so they were doctored. That's leading me to believe that Miller wasn't so innocent. Along with him investigating Annalise, I think that he was trying to pull Bonnie away from AK. That all leads me to believe that he's not so innocent. 

[helenamonster]

20 hours ago, ursula said:

Did ABC include a Suicide PSA after the episode that depicted Annalise's suicide attempt? 

Because if they didn't, the optics of including one for Bonnie's attempt and not for Annalise's is horrendous.

There was the episode where Frank threatened to shoot himself that they aired a disclaimer about intense material before, which I found odd as the scene was definitely intense, but it hardly justified needing a disclaimer in a show that features a revolving door of brutal murders. If anything, the disclaimer almost became a red herring for me as it was the same episode where Frank hides in the home of the woman who paid him to help the Mahoneys orchestrate Annalise's car crash, and I assumed that we were going to see him murder her and her child.

There were also the completed suicides of Asher's father and Caleb Hapstall and no PSA was aired after those. All in all the content warnings for this show appear to be arbitrary (and probably come down from the ABC suits who probably don't watch the show beyond what they need to for their jobs).

[rur]

On 2/1/2019 at 12:43 PM, helenamonster said:

I think I missed something in the Michaela/Tegan/Nate civil suit storyline. Michaela definitely just wrote up that suit on her own without Nate's input, right? And Nate said he didn't want to get into it, and Annalise is probably right that he'd rather pursue criminal justice over civil at this juncture. So why were Michaela, Connor, and Oliver so insistent that she wasn't lying to Tegan. She clearly was, right? Idk, something about the tone of the whole thing was really off and left me deeply confused.

The gang had just found out the night before that Bonnie and Nate were involved, and I don't think they'd had time to come up with a good cover story, so I attributed their behavior to their impromptu attempts to prevent Tegan from going forward.

On 1/31/2019 at 11:33 PM, PsychoDrone said:

Shut up Laurel.  "Am I being crazy?"  Yes, yes you are.  Your baby is not traumatized or experiencing PTSD.  

 

I found myself wishing Bonnie would have said the baby was facing in a different direction and didn't see anything, true or not, just to shut her up.

Edited February 3, 2019 by rur

[wanderingstar]

This episode was blur of meh to me. I did enjoy the Michaela/Laurel scene. And I find myself mildly curious about what leads Gabriel to end up needing Annalise as a lawyer.

[Hazel55]

Is anyone else finding this season's big bad, the governor, to be less obnoxious than Nate at this point? The governor may be morally corrupt and possibly murderous, but at least she manages to act with a reasonable amount of intelligence. Nate just blunders around railing about "Mah pops" to everyone who will listen, clearly illustrating his animus against the late Miller, and repeatedly articulating his reasons for killing Miller to every law enforcement figure he can find. Usually I would conclude that Nate is just Too Stupid to Help Himself, but Analise and the other smarter characters (everyone, at this point) have repeatedly advised him to abandon his current course, to no avail. 

On 1/31/2019 at 10:33 PM, PsychoDrone said:

Shut up Laurel.  "Am I being crazy?"  Yes, yes you are.  Your baby is not traumatized or experiencing PTSD. 

Exactly. 

And on the slight chance that Laurel is right, and that little babies can experience PTSD (something that I've never heard, and a conclusion for which Laurel offers no support) then I think the baby would be far moer likely to experience PTSD over the terrible experiences that Laurel's own actions have led her to expose it to. Being born in an elevator? Being exposed to an accidental shooting because mommy brought a gun to an office building? That's all on you, Laurel. 

If Laurel were anyone else I'd probably be on her side; but since Laurel spent the entirity of last season actively endangering her unborn child, all I can do is roll my eyes. 

Other thoughts: Michaela looked especially gorgeous tonight. I love that pink dress she was wearing, it really flattered her skin tone and her figure. 

Also, I think Asher is a total sweetheart. Though I know a lot of people are bored with him at this point/ feel he should leave the show, I think he continues to be compelling and sympathetic. The problem is (and, I believe, the reason why a lot of people are finding him "boring") is that he is simply never given his own storylines, he's always the supporting player for others. Analise lectured him about "finding himself" rather than simply continuing to play the clown/ kind supporter at the beginning of this season; which I thought would lead to some further development of his character and some beefier storylines. However, so far, that just hasn't panned out. 

Also, I thought Michaela and Asher were a fantastic couple, and I still don't see their reasons for breaking up. (The whole "Michaela falls for Marcus after knowing him two days, and decides to throw away the close, loving relationship she's been forming with longtime boyfriend Asher over the past year to sleep with Marcus once" was simply ridiculous and contrived, IMO.) 

[helenamonster]

23 hours ago, Gillian Rosh said:

This episode was blur of meh to me. I did enjoy the Michaela/Laurel scene. And I find myself mildly curious about what leads Gabriel to end up needing Annalise as a lawyer.

I mean, it's definitely because he's a suspect in Miller's disappearance, right?

[jhlipton]

Lauren is a psychopath and the daughter of two psychopaths -- that's far more reason for her son to be damaged than sitting in the snow watching Celebrity DeathMatch.

17 hours ago, Hazel55 said:

I thought Michaela and Asher were a fantastic couple, and I still don't see their reasons for breaking up. (The whole "Michaela falls for Marcus after knowing him two days, and decides to throw away the close, loving relationship she's been forming with longtime boyfriend Asher over the past year to sleep with Marcus once" was simply ridiculous and contrived, IMO.) 

Same.

[Flyin.Bryan]

There was part where Laurel was saying something like "He's not okay! I'm his mother! I can tell!" and there was just enough of a pause in the delivery that for a second I thought she said "He's not okay; I'm his mother!" and it was the truest damn thing anyone has ever said.

[jhlipton]

Truth!

[blackwing]

People I couldn't care less about on this show:  Nate, Laurel, Gabriel, Asher.  All of them can just die ASAP.

Could someone please remind me of the connection between Tegan and Special Agent [Middle Aged Blonde Lady]?  And what the significance is?  Who owes who a favour?

[helenamonster]

3 hours ago, blackwing said:

Could someone please remind me of the connection between Tegan and Special Agent [Middle Aged Blonde Lady]?  And what the significance is?  Who owes who a favour?

I think Tegan flipped on Papa Castillo which led to his arrest. Because it would violate attorney-client privilege (and he's a powerful, connected man who has had people murdered before) she was kept anonymous in the official record. I would think Agent Anna Draper would be the one who owed Tegan a favor since Tegan put a lot on the line when she talked.

[blackwing]

2 hours ago, helenamonster said:

I think Tegan flipped on Papa Castillo which led to his arrest. Because it would violate attorney-client privilege (and he's a powerful, connected man who has had people murdered before) she was kept anonymous in the official record. I would think Agent Anna Draper would be the one who owed Tegan a favor since Tegan put a lot on the line when she talked.

Ah makes sense, thank you.  So Tegan is calling in her chips and telling the woman that she wants information about Annalise?  Why?  I thought last episode Tegan was seemingly intrigued with the thought of dating her.  Now she's trying to get information to take her down?  Just because Annalise schooled her on why her pending Nate Lahey Jr filing was a bad move?  Doesn't seem like her.

[possibilities]

I think Tegan was cued into the fact that something shady is going on because the kids were acting suspicious. So she wants to get to the bottom of it before it bites her in the ass again.

[jhlipton]

23 minutes ago, possibilities said:

So she wants to get to the bottom of it before it bites her in the ass again.

So many dirty thoughts expunged herein....

[mrsbagnet]

On 1/31/2019 at 11:54 PM, tennisgurl said:

I swear, if I have to hear Laurel say the phrase "I lost the love of my life" one more freaking time, I might be the one committing murders. Laurel was driving me up the freaking wall all episode, going on about how her baby might have baby PTSD for ever and ever, and acting like Bonnie did this on purpose to fuck with her or something. Girl, not everything is about you! Dont we have enough drama without you just making crap up so that everything is somehow about you and her dead boyfriend and your baby?

 

Laurel's life has gone through complete upheaval. It would have been better for her and us, as the audience, if she'd taken a year off and gone into hiding.

[Dee]

Frank needs to go. ASAP.

[jhlipton]

15 hours ago, mrsbagnet said:

It would have been better for her and us, as the audience, if she'd taken a year off and gone into hiding.

Make it 10 -- no, 20 -- and I'm in!

[Milaxx]

On 1/31/2019 at 11:33 PM, PsychoDrone said:

Shut up Laurel.  "Am I being crazy?"  Yes, yes you are.  Your baby is not traumatized or experiencing PTSD.  Show really went over the top with her reaction.  He's a baby, not even one yet.  Not going to remember anything, much less be traumatized by it.  Overprotective parent of 1st kid to the nth degree.  Michaela being effected by something she saw at 2-years old is more believable than an event "seen" by a not-even-1-year old.  I would be more concerned that Bonnie had my baby out in the cold, sitting in the snow vs what he supposedly saw.

On 2/1/2019 at 12:41 AM, HunterHunted said:

When we look at all of the various murders on this show, most of them have been committed by people with troubled childhoods, but that's because these dopes seem to attract troubled people to them. However, we've also had Asher murder someone and his upbringing was privileged if WASPy and withholding.

Most of the people on this show have daddy issues. AK, Connor, Wes, Laurel, Frank, Asher, Bonnie, Nate. Even Oliver said his dad was “cold & distant”. Micheala’s bio dad is ( so far MIA).  I think we can safely say “sins of the father “ is an undercurring theme.

On 2/5/2019 at 10:51 AM, blackwing said:

People I couldn't care less about on this show:  Nate, Laurel, Gabriel, Asher.  All of them can just die ASAP.

Could someone please remind me of the connection between Tegan and Special Agent [Middle Aged Blonde Lady]?  And what the significance is?  Who owes who a favour?

When Tegan gave up the info on Jorge, that was her FBI contact. It may be my imagination, but the way Tegan sounded when she called her, it sounds like they got a little more friendly that just agent/informant.

[Milaxx]

Studies have shown that babies as young as Christopher can indeed experience PTDS.  Not that he would remember the incident, but he would remember the emotion, the trauma.  Detachment disorders are often the result of early childhood trauma. That was the irony of Micheala telling about how she was found as a child. Part of Micheala’s behavior could possibly be linked back to her early childhood trauma, even if she doesn’t recognize it as such.