By Monique
It’s finally happened: in How to Get Away with Murder‘s “I Want You to Die,” Bonnie’s finally gotten mad, and now she wants to get even. It’s about time, I’d say. Let’s get into some bulleted points.
• Bonnie’s story is completely tragic, and I’m glad she’s gotten to the point where she’s ready to stick it to those who have oppressed her, including Annalise. I think Bonnie’s incorrect in saying that Annalise doesn’t know how to love; she does. It’s just that she doesn’t know how to show her love in the correct fashion. Annalise was acting out of love in protecting Bonnie by using Bonnie’s own past. But Annalise has confused “love” with “domination.” She, like Bonnie, had been raped as a child, and both have internalized feelings of worthlessness and humiliation. Both are also trying to prove to the world that they’re healed from their past trauma, even though neither have even begun to do the real work of healing. Bonnie has stayed in a submissive state of mind, and Annalise has taken on what seems on the surface as a “domineering mother” persona with Bonnie, but actually, Annalise’s just become another type of molester in Bonnie’s life. Annalise might not be doing anything sexually, but Annalise has contributed to Bonnie’s mental state by degrading her all the time. The ultimate degradation was Annalise showing Asher Bonnie’s past without Bonnie’s permission. The decision to talk about her past is Bonnie’s decision only; Annalise had no right to use that, even if it was to save her.
Now Bonnie wants Annalise dead. It goes without saying that I’m not for killing people. But, speaking psychologically, Bonnie has been taking Annalise’s bullying for a while and it’s satisfying to see her show her backbone to the latest, and hopefully last, tyrant in her life. If Bonnie is capable of murder when she’s trying to save Annalise, I wonder what she’s capable of when she’s against her.
• Asher’s a dope, and we can see that sometimes, that dopey quality isn’t so lovable. The skeleton Asher’s been trying to hide is that a group of guys gangraped a girl at a party he threw years ago. Asher claimed he didn’t know what was going on at the time, but he has so much as admitted to seeing a couple of guys going upstairs with a girl, probably dragging the girl upstairs. Anyone would at least question why a group of guys was going upstairs with one girl. In short: if Asher wasn’t such a dope, he could have been more aware of what was happening at his party and intervened. He could have saved the girl. Now that it’s over, he feels there’s still nothing he can do and that most he can do is think about the incident a lot. But as Bonnie says, thinking about it doesn’t help, because it’s not action. Asher has still had opportunities to make things as right as they could be after the fact, like testifying against the men who got away, but he hasn’t done anything and the girl has to live with the fact that no one did anything to help her. Her rapists are still out there and Asher could have been (or could still be) the person to take them down. But he hasn’t done anything.
Just like I said last week, I appreciate How to Get Away with Murder the most when they bring in real world issues, and I’m happy they shed a light on America’s sexist attitudes towards sex crimes. Too many times, the onus is put on the victim instead of the rapist. A person never asks to get raped. The rapists should always be held accountable for their crimes, just like how a murderer should always be held accountable for theirs. Instead of asking “what did you wear” or “why did you put yourself in this situation,” we should be asking the criminals “why did you harm this person?”. The PSA at the end was valuable, and I hope the episode and the information given at the end of the episode affected people to act. Just to drive the point home about acting, here’s the link to RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline. You can also do like me, and donate to RAINN.
• So Wes is Annalise’s son after all. People have been theorizing this since the first episode, so it’s no surprise to a degree, but it was still a bit sobering to hear it.
• Don’t let the murderer kill Oliver! Oliver’s my favorite! I do get why Connor was dead set against Oliver joining Connor’s group of murdering friends. Oliver’s the one thing that’s stable and normal in Connor’s life, and him getting mixed up in the craziness is the last thing Connor needs in his life.
What did you think of the episode? Give your opinions in the comments section below!
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Graphic from HTGAWM’s Facebook page
Julian 