The final season of How To Get Away With Murder is in full swing, and as always, there’s a murder mystery to solve. The show seems to be pointing to Annalise (Viola Davis) as the victim, but it may well be a bait and switch. Since the season 6 premiere, fans have been led to think that Annalise Keating would be the final death in the series - but as anyone who watches knows, this show is all about surprises. Instead of ending with her actual death, perhaps the final season will end with something else: Annalise faking her own death, and finally getting a happy ending.
Thus far, fans have been led to think that Annalise will die in a few ways. She had not one but two funerals shown in the first episode - and while one was revealed to be her own visualization while at rehab, the other shot (of her photo framed with a funeral wreath, next to a coffin) seems to be real. In addition, the first hint at the big murder of season 6 was a scene of a bloody poker being used, which was juxtaposed with a scene of Michaela (Aja Naomi King) holding that same poker and being very angry at Annalise. However, How to Get Away With Murder doesn’t usually give away the victim at the start, and this week’s episode had some very different hints.
“I Hate The World” was a surprisingly happy episode for Annalise. She and Tegan are on good terms again, and she goes on a nice date with Robert (Cas Anvar). She’s not currently drinking, in jail, beating herself up, out of a job, or on trial for murder. In addition, viewers learned this week that she’s been squirreling away some serious cash in an offshore bank account, with $200K in Barbados - suspicious, even for Annalise. It’s been clear from the start that she has money, so the fact that she has a secret account (and uses a burner phone to move money to it) suggests that she’s got an escape plan… like faking her own death. This would explain how she manages to elude the FBI, why there’s a funeral with none of her family or her students present, and lines up nicely with the introduction of her original therapy tapes. It’s all coming full circle, and Annalise has an out.
In addition, more clues have arisen to suggest that Annalise isn’t the person killed with the poker - mainly that the people interrogating Michaela and Connor (Jack Falahee) say that they’ve got “a dead informant on our hands.” Annalise would be the last person to work with the FBI, primarily because the FBI is looking to corner Annalise herself! Nate (Billy Brown), however, is already working with the FBI (if only a little), so it’s looking like he may be the character who dies in the end instead.
Annalise faking her own death and running away to a tropical island would be a phenomenal twist ending for a show that specializes in twist endings - and one that would give a strong, successful, independent, LGBTQ, black female lead a happy ending (rather than killing her off, which could be read as a form of fictional ‘punishment’ for stepping outside traditional roles). It would also act as a brilliant nod to the title of the series itself, making How To Get Away With Murder about Annalise getting away with murdering… herself, so that she can have the life she wants.
This also may be one of the only ways to give Annalise an out, given FBI scrutiny, her unhealthy attachment to the Keating Five, and everything that has happened so far, while still explaining the ‘funeral’ scene and keeping the real big death a surprise till the end. Of course, this is all speculation, but it would definitely be a great way to wrap up the final season of the show.
