How to Get Away with Murder season 4 episode 10 review: Not the elevator again!

How to Get Away with Murder must have really invested quite a bit into the elevator scene, because it keeps popping up again and again.

Serious question here, How to Get Away with Murder: How many more times do we need to see any footage of Laurel in the elevator? It is important, of course, to explore her and Annalise’s emotional states — they’re going through a lot right now. That includes a custody hearing as well as her father going ahead with the IPO. That doesn’t stop it from being frustrating to see it in flashback over and over again. Speaking of flashes, there are good parts to this episode. There really are! But overall, it’s muddied by everything around the good parts.

Even though she’s still in the hospital, Laurel is at least able to convince Michaela to give over her phone, which seems like a mightily bad idea for all involved, since it summons Annalise to file a special petition … which Annalise lies about already doing.

This week’s episode effectively sequesters Oliver, Asher and Connor with the class action lawsuit (and also creeping on Simon, because Oliver is a magic hacker who is never ever caught). Nate pays a visit to warn Asher that things aren’t going well. Oliver breaks sequester to go see Simon, lies about being his boyfriend (!), and manages to get in anyway because he says Simon is still in the closet and looks really sad when he says it.

Yes, this is what’s making me lose my suspension of disbelief. This, after almost four complete seasons. Oliver is a great character, and I’m glad that Conrad Ricamora has gotten more screentime, and this is pretty natural for his character (he’s always been more guilt-ridden), but that does not stop it from being patently ridiculous in the bad way. Then he starts confessing, and then Asher shows up and offers some actually decent for this show, if not emotionally healthy advice about repression.

Meanwhile, Frank and Annalise are about the only people who know everything and aren’t incapacitated … or at least not enough to put them in the hospital. This basically means plenty of opportunities for Viola Davis to do as she always does, particularly in dealing with plenty of traumatic flashbacks (both with the elevator and of Wes in general) but Charlie Weber holds his own against her and in his portions of the episode, which include getting rid of Dominic’s body, but not the phone.

Of course, Annalise then pays a visit to Bonnie. Unsurprisingly, although the conversation is ostensibly about doing some more unethical things, it turns into what sounds like a conversation after a breakup. Their relationship, if written well, could be enormously intriguing. As it is, they sell the emotions as best they can … just including Bonnie saying that that their relationship is based on “apology.” See, the idea of guilt leading to more guilt and what’s close to codependence is complicated to pull off. It comes close at the end, when Annalise points out that so much could have been avoided if Bonnie could have “let [her] go” way back when, but everything that builds up to it lessens the emotional payoff.

Michaela ends up revealing that Frank caused Laurel’s premature labor, because she wants Laurel out of the hospital (because she’s stronger). This gives Jimmy Smits an opportunity to throw up his hands and be frustrated at Annalise, especially when she brings his dead daughter into the mix. Annalise cries some more and has a moment — and in that sense, his character continues to make sense as a more objective observer of what’s going on.

So Dr. Roa agrees to do the emotional evaluation, which involves Laurel talking about her own emotions as well as her family history — particularly in relation to her mother. It’s a great scene for Karla Souza, frankly, and plot-wise, it gets her out of the hospital … and right into the overarching plot again, because she hears the plot-important voicemail from Wes, then answers the number that’s been calling Dominic’s phone, only to say “Hi, Mom.”

Next week, we not only get to see Laurel’s mom, but also the custody hearing for the baby.

Next: 5 ways Riverdale failed up this week

Quick thoughts:

• Is this the first time Oliver gets to name an episode? Is this the fastest time an episode has been named?
• Annalise rattling off only about half of the plot of this entire show in about 20 seconds, and it only emphasizes how absolutely bonkers it all is.
• Bonnie’s casual blackmail of ADA Denver is impressive.
• “It’s remarkable how important you think you are.” Tegan’s takedown is impressive, and hopefully, this isn’t the last we see of her.