HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER “Whose Blood Is That?” (S5E2): Shines Brightest With Davis

Having promised more standalone episodes, How To Get Away With Murder delivers just that; it has returned to its case-of-the-week format while still managing to interweave the wider narrative arc in with the supporting characters, no doubt leading up to that mid-season cliffhanger that bookends each week. In “Whose Blood Is That?”, the series tackles the timely as well as giving us more of the intricate melodrama that keeps viewers coming back for more.

On one narrative strand, we have Annalise (Viola Davis) and three of the Keating Four (plus Oliver The Add-On, god love him, and the ever-mysterious Gabriel Maddox) undertaking a relevant human rights case as part of her clinic arrangement with Caplan and Gold: when a Muslim immigrant is imprisoned for the murder of her wife, she becomes the clinic’s first beneficiary of Annalise’s class action, working alongside Michaela (Aja Naomi King) on the case despite a clear frostiness between the duo.

The pair’s conflict has been running deep now for a season or two, mainly due to how similar they actually are; Michaela’s confidence has always arrived in the room before she has, and that’s been explored effectively enough – but it’s clear that Michaela gets to be a powerful, confident black woman because Annalise has opened doors in her career. It’s fair to say that Michaela has not fully earned that right yet, especially when she starts running before she can walk – leading to a scathing scolding from Annalise. Their dynamic has always been interesting to watch unfold and King shines brightest when she’s opposite Davis, who generously manages to bring out the very best in all of her co-stars.

“Not bad for a millennial, huh?”

Speaking of which, a two-hander between Davis and Liza Weil is a standout moment of “Whose Blood Is That?”. It’s been a rough time for the pair but they seem to thrive most away from each other; of course then, this dinner table meeting was always going to be explosive. Bonnie’s new relationship with the possible new District Attorney concerns Annalise and in a beautifully emotional moment, Bonnie declares her belief in the new relationship because her file contains all the reasons he shouldn’t want anything to do with her – but he still is interested. You will catch me saying this an awful lot, but Weil is one of Murder’s more overlooked assets but here’s to season five finally capitalising on her greatness.

As mentioned last week, How To Get Away With Murder isn’t the most subtle show and it always takes the path of hammering its point home. It is as if, at times, the series struggles to place complete trust in its audience, leading to overt, quite literally finger-pointing that spells the message out by the letter. That’s perhaps a bigger flaw of the overall case-of-the-week set-up: it’s very much contained to, say, 15 minutes of screen-time and when you’re dealing with themes and issues as vital as Murder does, it has a lot of plot to pack in. It doesn’t always get the breathing space it needs to mature and develop, relying on theatrics that works for the thrill but not always the fulfill.

“Whose blood is that?!”

Even still though, we should relish the fact that Murder takes the time to explore this big human right issues and wider problems with juridical system alongside the pulpier melodrama of the series. It could become very easy to fixate wholly on the #WhoDiedAtTheWedding flash-forward but episode writer Sarah L. Thompson gives us enough to chew on in between those bookends. Thanks to some sharp dialogue, particularly encased within the court scenes  – always a highlight of the show – “Whose Blood Is That?”enjoyably zips through its three-quarter hour runtime.

“Whose Blood Is That?” continues to illuminate one of the show’s biggest issues though; when Davis isn’t front and centre, the series, frankly, isn’t nearly as strong. And so, with Frank’s investigation into Gabriel proving to be a major piece of this season’s puzzle, it’s one of the more arduous elements of the episode, alongside the DNA tests that continue to render Nate the most meaningless character of the series. He’s been kicking around like a dog without a bone now for a couple of dozen episodes and it’s tiring, in all due respect. Maybe it is he who dies at the wedding; it would help chop a lot of dead wood.

In Conclusion: Murder‘s “Whose Blood Is That?”

Another decent episode of How To Get Away With Murder, “Whose Blood Is That?” continues to build a solid fifth season but it’s yet to match the series’ highs we’ve seen before. It’s still early days though and for now, Murder teases a fascinating fast-forward for us to work towards and as long as that build-up is robust enough, there’s plenty more fun for us to have.