Celebrities
Who’s not under the ‘HTGAWM’ sheet?
During the final seconds of Thursday’s (Oct. 20) episode of “How to Get Away with Murder,” the show tipped its hand just a little with a telling news report.
We now know that the body under the sheet, for better or worse, is male.
Deductive reasoning would have brought us there eventually — seeing as all the major female characters have been declared alive — but at least we now know it’s not someone disappointing like Meggy (Corbin Reid), President Hargrove (Lauren Vélez) or Rene (Milauna Jackson).
RELATED: Liza Weil: The ‘night is young’ on ‘HTGAWM,’ so… no one’s safe?
Funny enough, we think the bigger clue as to who’s not under the sheet comes from Bonnie’s (Liza Weil) short phone call at the hospital. It’s hard to imagine her forgiving Frank (Charlie Weber) for sleeping with her and then bailing after killing her father (side note: yikes this show is crazy!). We certainly can’t see her using a reassuring tone with him like she did.
The fact that the caller also likely asked about the baby daddy given Bonnie’s “I have no idea” response makes us think it’s not Wes (Alfred Enoch) either, who still seems to be in the race for that title given his feelings for Laurel.
We’re going to hesitantly guess that Asher (Matt McGorry) is on the other end of the line, but according to Weil, we won’t figure out if we’re right for quite a while. Screener spoke with Liza Weil about this Bonnie-centric episode and her mystery flash-forward caller.
Bonnie was one of the first declared alive. Was that a relief for you?
Liza Weil: Not really [laughs]. I don’t know if any of us really felt that relief. I think that we are very conscious that the night is young and that things are not what they seem. There’s definitely an element of relief, and then you have survival’s guilt, and that feels awful.
You guys keep saying the night’s not over yet. Should we be worried for ‘safe’ characters?
Yeah, it’s worrisome.
Where is Bonnie at mentally now that she knows Frank killed her father?
The death of Bonnie’s father is a relief, but it’s still a huge loss … Our creator, Pete Nowalk, has done a really beautiful job sort of sprinkling these backstory breadcrumbs and insights into how Bonnie operates. I think it’s been building these past few episodes, and it certainly all comes to a crescendo in Coalport.
I think that she has been feeling the loss of Frank in that house, and that’s been very surprising to her. Since the beginning of the season with him gone, she’s been questioning her identity in that house, her role with Annalise. The dynamic has shifted so much, and without Frank, she’s had no real touchstone. Annalise is not accessible to her in the way that Bonnie craves. I think with the loss of her father, there’s this real need to belong to something or someone.
Do you think she would have actually run away with Frank?
There’s been so much chaos back at the house that there’s almost this desire to hit the escape hatch, and the reset button, and the idea of running away with Frank and being normal with someone who understands her — and she understands him in a very real way — it’s a very beautiful idea.
And then of course that comes crashing down when he leaves her there, which I think really cuts deep, especially because she knows her so well, and I think he is very aware of what that’s going to trigger in her. He knows her past and he knows the effort and concentration it’s taken to keep herself tethered, and I think the abandonment there is going to make all these destructive feelings that she fights against bubble to the surface, and that’s not an ideal place to operate from moving forward.
Bonnie and Frank were both so vulnerable and intimate with each other, do you think that was more about comfort or romance?
I think it’s all those things. There’s so much going on all the time that a desire to connect to someone and feel seen and heard is a very huge motivator. We’re seeing a lot of new colors with Bonnie and Frank. They’re much more vulnerable than we’ve ever seen them be with anyone else really. I’m very curious about what that’s going to look like moving forward as well.
RELATED: One of ‘HTGAWM’s’ Keating 5 is safe… and pregnant?!
Now that Annalise knows Bonnie lied about meeting Frank, how is that going to affect their relationship?
In [episode] 306, we will see how Annalise reacts to Bonnie seeing Frank in Coalport, and how Bonnie’s going to spin that. I do think there’s an element of all these people that’s expecting betrayal; it’s kind of how they’re built. Bonnie is aware that Annalise hasn’t been entirely honest with her and has kept huge pieces of information from her, which I think informs her motivation to go to Coalport and keep that from her.
I think Bonnie will surprise us. I think she’s a smart cookie and she knew going into that situation there could be a considerable fallout there. I think it will be surprising what she has in store.
How long should we expect to wait to find out who Bonnie’s on the phone with in the flash-forward?
I think that comes out in episode 9. I didn’t know who I was speaking to when we were filming it.
How much do you guys know episode to episode? Do they tell you little pieces, or is it a shot in the dark?
Oh, it’s a shot in the dark. It’s so interesting because every season I think I have amnesia of what it’s like to specifically film “the night of” scenes because they are episode by episode, scene by scene. When Bonnie was revealed to be safe, and she showed up at the crime scene, I sent an email to Pete, knowing that I probably wasn’t going to get any answers, but you have questions like, “Does Bonnie know who’s under the sheet? How does she feel about the person under the sheet?” And he’s like, “I don’t know yet. But yeah… .”
It is a great challenge and exercise to play these puzzle pieces moment by moment to the best of your ability and hope that you’re not being general, and that it is informed by something. It’s challenging.
Do you know who’s under the sheet, and if so, how do you feel about losing that person?
Yes, I do know who it is, and it’s devastating. It’s a huge loss. It’s something that is going to rock all these characters to their core, but it’s also a huge personal loss that’s very potent. It’s quite a thing, and I have to remind myself that that [actor] is not actually dead every day.
“How to Get Away with Murder” airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.