How to Get Away with Murder opened with a five-week flashforward to the night that Sam Keating (Tom Verica) was murdered. Asher (Matt McGorry) is in the midst of throwing himself a solo dance party when he realizes that his trophy is gone, which leads him to Annalise’s (Viola Davis) office and house. Inside, are Laurel (Karla Souza), Wes (Alfred Enoch), Connor (Jack Falahee) and Michaela (Aja Namoi King), who are fearful of getting caught with Sam's body. Michaela sends Asher a text that she’s at the library to get him away.

How To Get Away With Murder Recap

Five weeks earlier, four of the the Keating 5 are sitting through a class on habeas corpus when Annalise learns that she’s got a new case – an appeal that will decide whether a man will die in two weeks for a murder he didn’t commit. Wes had placed the statue in his seat in his place, still enraged over the fact that his professor hid her husband's involvement with Lila. Annalise pays him a visit at home and wants to know what he wants. He wants her to find Rebecca (Katie Findlay), or else he’ll take everything he knows, including her husband’s affair with the deceased, to the police.

The death row case follows David Allen, a black man who was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering his girlfriend Trisha Stanley on only circumstantial evidence. When the law students are sent off on their separate missions, it’s Michaela who learns from the prosecutor that he stepped away from the case after the judge – who happens to be Asher’s father – did nothing with information that a witness had perjured his or herself under oath.

Asher, who has long idolized his father, goes to the family home to see if there is anything to the angle his teacher and classmates are taking against his father. After running into the housemaid Gloria, Asher continues to rifle through his father’s belongings, including the detailed meeting-note diaries he kept for all 30 years of his time as a judge. When his father William Millstone comes home, he tells him he’s working on the David Allen case and notes that one day in 1993 he failed to take notes of a meeting with a prosecutor on Allen’s case. One month after Allen was convicted, William Millstone got his federal appointment. “Tell me you didn’t get to where you are on the back of a guy who’s about to die,” Asher says to his father before he’s booted from the house.

Annalise, after a meeting with David, believes that finding Jason Watkins will win the appeal. Jason was David’s little brother in a mentoring program and had been picking a suit out of his closet when Trisha was killed. David had been coming from this meeting with Jason when he arrived at Trisha’s home to find her dead. Unfortunately, before Annalise can make it the crux of her case, she learns that Jason died of an overdose 15 months ago. Composing herself, Annalise hands over an envelope to Frank (Charlie Weber).

Asher eventually goes to Annalise with the information about his dad, but asks her not to throw his dad under the bus and to award him with the trophy. With Asher's intel, Annalise then starts to go after Senator Art Truco. It was Truco who wanted David to get locked up for the murder, but they need to find out why. As it turns out, David's girlfriend Trisha had been spearheading a cause to keep the senator's real estate company from buying up property in the low income neighborhood. And, the only witness was living in an apartment owned by Truco's real estate company. In court, Annalise passionately cross-examines Truco and manages to get David Allen set free.

As for Rebecca, Annalise has Frank scrub Lila's phone of anything that could bring it back to her or Sam and then plant it in Griffin's car. With evidence that suggests Lila had been cheating on him, the police now reason Griffin had a motive to kill her, taking some heat off Rebecca. Wes, starting to trust Annalise again, urges Rebecca to come back and let his law professor represent her. At the Keating home, Annalise tells Sam she still loves him despite what he's done. Though, things may not move forward smoothly, as Nate knows that Frank planted the evidence on Griffin.

Five weeks later, with Sam Keating’s body wrapped in a blanket, Wes, Connor, Michaela and Laurel are driving off campus in search of a gas station. On their way, Connor comes close to hitting Asher, who is crossing the street. Asher had been on the phone with someone, seemingly excited that this person wanted to hang out with him. That person was Bonnie (Liza Weil). After sleeping with Asher, Bonnie gets a call from Annalise, who is in a panic after finding a pool of blood on the floor of her foyer and Sam missing.