The show opens by showing the night of the party and the murder. We see Wes clean blood from Rebecca’s face. The pair share a kiss and Wes tells Rebecca everything is going to be fine.
Rebecca is giving the team a rundown of the events surrounding the event. Annalise grills Rebecca to prepare her for the grilling she is going to receive from investigators. Wes Gibbins (Alfred Enoch) suggests taking a break and the group is given five minutes. The pair is beginning to grow frustrated with Wes and Rebecca’s relationship.
On the news, the reporter begins reporting on Rebecca’s case and reveals Rebecca Sutter (Katie Findlay) was the one that initiated the sexual relationship. After the short intro, we’re in the court room and Annalise begins accusing the team of leaking information to the press to improve their case. It seems she is going to attempt to get the judge to induce a gag order. The judge grants the gag order.
Keegan (Greg Germann) stands to present more evidence. He provides the judge with pictures showing the victims neck, which shows fingernail marks. The evidence could very well implicate Rebecca and help his client, Griffin O’Reilly.
As the show returns, the team is exiting the courtroom and discussing the case. Connor encounters an old comrade, but cannot remember his name. Griffin O’Reilly (Lenny Platt) begins accusing Rebecca of planting the cell phone in his car. After a squabble, the prosecutor suggests keeping things civilized. Annalise and Sam are seen in her office. He offers Annalise support, but she doesn’t seem interested.
The team is beginning to form a plan to prevent the body from being dug up and reexamined. The team hassles Wes about his relationship with the defendant, as Prosecutor Wendy Parks (Alysia Reiner) enters and offers Annalise some information. She offers her a case file to help her destroy Keegan’s experts along with several previous convictions. Annalise doesn’t say whether or not she’ll use it.
In class, Annalise discusses the legality of hiring experts to testify in favor of your case. In the case, Annalise gets to cross examine the expert. She reveals Doctor Turner (Mark Adair-Rios) was previously banned from testifying. She mentions the previous case of a murderer by the name of Holden! Could it be Daniel? A potential Rectify shout out?
Another expert, who is more favorable to the defense, testifies that the marks on her neck were made from insect bites, after her death. Laurel discusses the case with an old friend, who offers her a job, without an interview. She says she’ll think about it. The pair share a kiss and embrace.
Wes begins discussing the possibility of preventing the excavation on religious grounds. Rebecca comments about making a comparison between the marks and her fingernails. Wes suggests Rebecca should quit selling drugs and go to college or do something good with her life. Rebecca makes a job out of it, to which Wes says he’ll stop trying to help. Rebecca insists Wes keep trying, before rushing out of the room.
The show flashes back to the night of the murder and shows the event that takes place in motel room 203. Rebecca insists Sam tried to kill her and she had to protect herself by killing him. Wes tells Rebecca to stay put, before leaving and we head into a commercial break.
As the show returns Michaela Pratt (Aja Naomi King) attends an interview. Michaela is surprised by a prenup. Back with the team, everyone is growing tired of one another. Rebecca and Sam share an awkward moment. Sam questions Annalise about Rebecca’s presence in their home. Sam reveals that Rebecca told him that her parents didn’t trust Griffin and suspected other motives.
Connor and Laurel have to plan. Laurel approaches Mrs. Stanguard (Bonnie Burroughs). Laurel explains that Parks has a history of letting defendants go free and that digging up the body would do no good. Back in the court room, Mr. Stanguard takes the stand and insists they do not go through with the reexamination of the body. Of course, she has harsh words for Rebecca and Griffin, which upsets Rebecca outside the courtroom.
In the hallway, Connor encounters his old comrade again and Asher says he is upset he wasn’t born gay. Connor sets up a date with the man, but forgets he already has a boyfriend. Another unnecessary sex scene.
Annalise and Sam are in their office and Annalise thanks Sam for helping to get the excavation blocked. Wendy is in the courtroom and declares she has hired another expert, who has also found the marks to be finger nails.
Annalise meets with Nate Lahey (Billy Brown) and questions him about Wendy’s actions. Annalise says she doesn’t want him to help her but her client. Nate finally reveals he knew about the planted phone. Nate says he tried to give Anna an out and she should remember that when everything goes to hell.
As the show returns, we’re shown the night of the murder. Rebecca is show pacing the room and flipping through television channels. She reaches for the phone and places a call to 911. She says it is a prank call, before hanging up. The phone rings back. She is hesitant to answer. Finally, she picks up and it is Wes. He tells her they’re taking care of the situation and will protect her.
Bonnie gives the crew a new witness to visit. Laurel and Rebecca discuss Laurel’s job opportunity. Rebecca believes Laurel is trying to get as far away from her case as possible and wants to take the job with her boyfriend. Michaela learns about the situation and questions Rebecca about her relationship with Wes.
At a club, Wes and Conner are talking to Ally Burnham (Sarah McMullen). Connor is trying to get relationship tips, while Wes tries to bring up her job in the DA’s office. Asher tells Wes to chill and let Connor work his magic. Asher goes off to chat with a girl. Back at the office, Asher is drunk and talking nonsense. Ally told the crew that Parks worked out a plea deal for Griffin, if she supports the excavation. The crew begin considering their options, before Annalise says she has an idea and we head into a commercial.
The crew begin to understand how the plea deal system works and Annalise admits something needs to be done to prevent the plea deal. The group suggests leaking something to the media. Rebecca says she’ll do it and is willing to put herself at risk. The next we thing we see is a news headline, with Rebecca saying Griffin tried to rape her. The plea deal is off the table and the judge declares the body will be excavated.
Rebecca follows Wes home and questions why he didn’t wait for her at the court house. Wes is visibly angry. Rebecca begins upsetting Wes and suggesting his mom or dad must’ve messed him up. Again, he says he is just trying to help and will stop if she wants. Instead, she kisses Wes. The pair has a full fledged sex scene. The body is dug up and reexamined.
As the show returns, Rebecca and Wes are seen in bed. Rebecca mentions Wes being born in Ohio and says he doesn’t seem very Ohio. Wes says he was actually born in Haiti. He says he was the only black kid in town and everyone wanted him to be good at basketball, but he sucked. His mother killed herself, when he was twelve.
We seen Connor outside of an apartment. He says he used to know a guy who lived there. The man at the door mentions Oliver and Connor tries to run off. The stranger says that Connor should stay away, if he cares about the guy at all.
Frank questions Laurel about taking the other job. He suggests she shouldn’t take the job because of him. He confesses his feelings for her, but says he’ll get over it and she shouldn’t quit because of him. She says she might not want him to get over it, as the pair begin to kiss.
Rebecca is at the store looking for chocolate mint ice cream, when she is confronted by Nate, who says he knows she didn’t kill Lila Stanguard and that both of them know who did. Outside of Annalise’s and Sam’s bedroom, Bonnie knocks on the door. She says the marks on the neck weren’t fingernails and were ant bites. She says they missed something in the autopsy the first time. Lila was six weeks pregnant at the time of her death.
Review
Where do we start? The courtroom drama was definitely more realistic this week, with the gag order and the request to excavate and reexamine Lila’s body. We also learned quite a bit about the night of Sam’s murder. What was Rebecca thinking calling 911? That was incredibly stupid.
What is up with all of the sex scenes and relationships? In most cases, these scenes do very little to progress the story along and only fill up time. Are the producers attempting to shock us? The show would be just as good, if not better, without these scenes. Please spare us ABC! Why ruin an intelligent, thinking man’s or woman’s show with uncreative, shock scenes? Not every character in the show needs to be in some type of relationship.
Still, this was an entertaining episode. Despite the fight to prevent the excavation, it was unavoidable, which was definitely worth it, in the end. Lila was pregnant at the time of her murder was definitely a shocker. On the other hand, what exactly is Nate up to? For leaving us guessing, this episode deserves a 8 out of 10.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
