‘How to Get Away with Murder’ season 6: Was it the worst?

Like most Shondaland shows, How to Get Away with Murder was a golden gem when it began back in 2014. But as the show went on, the twist became sillier, and the drama stopped being drama and started feeling like a comedy. As the show bid adieu on May 14th, it felt like ABC finally stopped beating this dead horse. 

While the show started with the simple mystery of Annalise’s husband turning up dead at the hands of her students, the mysteries thrown at us over the past six seasons are completely outlandish and insane. But maybe that was the plan all along, as season six finally sees these outrageous crimes catching up to the main cast. 

One thing’s for sure: no matter how crazy everything gets, we can always count on a perfect performance from Viola Davis as Annalise Keating. Maybe Annalise losing her mind is exactly the ending this show needed. After the past two seasons feeling weak and messy, season six reminds us so much of why we fell in love with the show in the first place. 

The (now) Keating 3 can’t seem to get along

As the series moved on, the Keating 5 became the Keating 4, and now, they remain the Keating 3 after Laurel (Karla Souza) disappears with her son Christopher. But the dynamic between this group has never been one of friends, but of convenience. 

It’s clear that as Asher (Matt McGorry), Michaela (Aja Naomi King), and Connor (Jack Falahee) move on in their professional lives, their dynamic remains the same. The three only end up together if it’s convenient for them, especially as Michaela continues to prove her career is the only thing that matters to her, not her friends. 

Asher has always been a man who needs someone to step up and hold his hand, leading him in the right direction. After his father’s death, this group was the one to do so, but it’s no surprise the FBI were able to sway him to rat on his friends, especially when he wasn’t involved in the majority of their criminal activities. 

Then there’s dear Connor. Connor has always thought with his dick and not his mind, considering that’s what led him to Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) in the first place. When his life begins to fall apart after getting shot down from his various internships, he relies heavily on Oliver to lead him in the right direction. It’s no surprise he takes jail time as he can’t find work. 

The people that deserve a happy ending get one

Surprisingly, Annalise’s funeral that they’ve been teasing is actually just after she died of old age. She lived a full and happy life after being exonerated for her crimes, alongside longtime girlfriend Eve (Famke Janssen). 

Attending her funeral are Oliver and Connor, who didn’t get divorced and remained happily married, and Laurel and a now-grown Christopher, in a spitting image of his father Wes (Alfred Enoch). Apparently, Christopher was mentored by Annalise until her death, because he took over her Criminal Law 100 class at Middleton Law School. 

Michaela may have finally gotten what she wanted and become a judge, but she didn’t have the love and support of her friends. We don’t know if she ever makes up with them, only that she did eventually become a mother. Nate (Billy Brown) ends up using the money from the case of his father’s death to open up a criminal justice center in his father’s name. 

Bonnie (Liza Weil) and Frank (Charlie Weber) on the other hand don’t survive the show. After the trial, Frank murders the Governor during his press conference, and return fire kills both Frank and Bonnie. Though both have had a decent redemption arc this season, it’s no surprise that they both caught a bullet after everything else they’ve done. 

The loose ends get tied up

How to Get Away with Murder season 6 had a big focus on trying to clean up the messes of the past before they caught up to the leads. Maybe that’s because the writers knew they had a lot of loose ends to tie up themselves before the show left the air. 

Nate’s fight to get the truth about his father’s death has been going on for far too long. It felt like forever since we first found out he was murdered in prison, but season six finally brings us justice. Dear old Xavier Castello ordered the murder, but it turns out he only did it because the Governor asked him to. 

Laurel ends up reappearing, and her disappearance is because she knew her family was going to end up on trial sooner or later and didn’t want to testify. But while she starts out testifying against Annalise, she backtracks and basically blames it on Wes, freeing Annalise from her husband’s murder. 

The group questions her decision, but Laurel reveals she just wants to stop living a life of lies and mistrust. It works out in her favor, as her and Annalise remain close all these years after. Plus, Laurel uses her connections to have her father killed, especially after he lied on the stand on behalf of the Governor. 

We’ve long known that Jorge Castello is a problem child. He’s the one who ordered Wes dead, controlled her life, and just made things beyond miserable thanks to his power. So for Laurel to have her own father killed is a power move that we didn’t even know we wanted to see from her. 

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How to Get Away with Murder season 6 is far from perfect, but it’s clear that the show was at least trying to go back to its old ways. Fans of the show who dropped it somewhere along the way may find it worthwhile to reach back out, because it’s a somewhat satisfying end to an insane show.