ABCABC, we think you meant to call this episode "Saddest Christmas Ever," not "Best Christmas Ever."
While the holiday season has sadly come and gone for the rest of us, How to Get Away With Murder is belatedly celebrating Christmas in Thursday's all-new episode, which finds (some) of the Keating Five heading home for the holidays.
No, Annalise (Viola Davis) was not going to host a nice little dinner for her husband-murderin' group of law students, and yes, you probably forgot that Connor (Jack Falahee), Asher (Matt McGorry) and Michaela (Aja Naomi King) have lives away from. But are they lives they really want to return to?
We chatted with the ABC hit's cast about the "cool" and "awesome" Christmas-themed episode and why fans should probably feel free to throw more than a few of the characters a pity party...
Wes (Alfred Enoch) and Rebecca (Katie Findlay): HTGAWM's young couple will actually be staying on campus for the holidays, just spending time together in Wes' apartment with that sad-but-adorable Christmas tree. "I think the interesting thing about the Christmas episode is it juxtaposes Wes and Rebecca and the rest of the kids because you get to see everyone else go home, which is hilarious and really great, and then you really get a sense of the lack of home to go to with them," Findlay previews. "They have each other, they have an apartment, the heat's on, alright. It is a little eerie."
But Enoch adds, "There's a little bit of something nice to it," as we get to see a little bit of the couple's routine.
Asher: The last time we saw Asher interact with his family, it ended on less than stellar terms as he finally realizes his father, Judge Millstone, isn't the noble man he thought he was and called him out for it. And it seems like it'll be a big episode for McGorry as he had a lot trouble previewing Asher's storyline, apologizing for the lack of spoilers. Even his co-star Falahee says, "I don't know if you can really say much, dude!"
Michaela: When asked to tease what we'll see from Michaela's trip back home, King just laughed nervously. But she did say she really liked Michaela's line in last week's episode about having to reinvent herself in the past. "That was a great, great line. I hope that it's a story that we will learn more about as the show continues to go on for years and years and episodes and episodes to come," King hedges. File this one under: things that make us go hmmm....
Connor: We will finally get to meet members of Connor's family, but prepare for a lot of awkward tension around the dinner table. "We're showing snap shots into the families of each character and what their home lives look like," Falahee says. "It's really fascinating, too, because you see a scene of Connor with his family and he's obviously not doing well. It's chalked up to the rigors and stressors of law school, but it's like, 'Well, I kind of killed a guy.' You see this palpable tension in everyone's holiday."
And while the hour is "really sad," Falahee says it "opens up a lot of options" for future storylines.
Laurel (Karla Souza): "It's the first time you get to see them outside school," Souza says. "You see whether or not they have something to fall back on, whether or not they have a Plan B, and if they don't? Well, s--t." Or what if they do have a viable Plan B and they might "crack" when it comes to the murder cover-up, Souza teases.
Bonnie and Frank (Charlie Weber): Quick to call their characters Annalise's "children," Weber previews that fans will get to see more of the trio's family dynamic. "You're going to see that we don't have anybody and it's why we take our life [with Annalise] so seriously," Weber previews of Annalise's two trusted aides' holiday break. "I think it taps into the loyalty and, with Frank, almost this blind loyalty. But it's not, it's just a complete loyalty to the matriarch of my life and someone who saved me on a certain level a long time ago."
How to Get Away With Murder airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on ABC.