How to Get Away with Murder season 4: What we want to see when the show returns

Now that How to Get Away with Murder is on hiatus, it’s time to ask: What do we want to see from the show when it comes back in January?

How to Get Away with Murder has finally wrapped up the first half of its fourth season on the air, and I’m not going to sugarcoat it: It was … not great, especially toward the end. But there are glimmers of a good season somewhere in there. They might be very hard to see, but we’re going to try and be positive about it and talk about how the show could improve in the back half of season 4, rather than talking about the things we wish it would get rid of.

Michaela

Michaela’s already gotten a lot of focus in this season as one of the characters who keeps pushing things forward. It’s a good thing, because Aja Naomi King has stepped up and owned the material. Case in point: we know just as well as Simon Drake what her strained smile looks like.

But beyond that, Michaela’s ended up driving the plot quite a lot this season. Although How to Get Away with Murder hasn’t finagled another way to get Annalise into Caplan & Gold just yet to re-examine the differences between her and Tegan when it comes to how they mentor Michaela, the Tegan-Michaela relationship is fascinating all on its own, without any help from Annalise.

Move out of conspiracy theories

Hopefully, the Antares files that the group stole manages to actually make this plot relevant and interesting. The show has had to mention multiple times that the plan is to “bankrupt” Laurel’s dad by exposing the dirty dealings ahead of an initial public offering. It seems as though wrapping Annalise back up in this might be a solution to the problem, because right now, Laurel does not seem to be doing so well with her plans.

(And, assuming the baby lives, she’ll also be trying to deal with parenthood.)

Keep Isaac around

When a show has Jimmy Smits, it should probably put him to use. How to Get Away with Murder hasn’t told its viewers everything about Isaac Roa just yet, and it seems like there’s still room for his relationship to Annalise to undergo some further changes. Is Jacqueline going to get more involved as well? Right now, she’s not quite as involved in the overarching plot of the show, but we’re not discounting Kathryn Erbe making a few more appearances in the role of Isaac’s ex-wife and his therapist.

Next: Outlander S3E10 recap and review: Heaven & Earth

What do you want to see when How to Get Away with Murder returns Jan. 18?