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This week’s episode of “HTGAWM” should have been appropriately entitled, “How To Not Marry The Wrong Person” as Shonda Rhimes continues to serve up the inevitable marriage downfall of Professor Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) and her husband Sam, the impending doomed marriage of perfectionist/elitist law student Michaela Pratt and her bi-curious fiancé Aiden, along with the hooker/bomber mom who rides off into the sunset on Megabus with her old criminal boo; and it is all just so much! Last night’s episode was riddled in bad romances.

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As we are still using scenes from the previous episodes to try and decipher what actually happened to Professor Keating’s husband Sam, we are met with additional story lines that not only give us background on what and who may have caused his death, but also what led each student to that fateful night. We learn that Professor Keating has been granted a lot of leeway by the university president because she has increased enrollment at the law school due to her unconventional methods of instruction.

This explains a lot about her taking her students away from time that they should be studying torts, constitutional law, contracts and possibly vying for a spot on law review. We learn that a married mother of two prostituted herself out in a park to get a thrill tantamount to one she once had when she was blowing ish up in the name of being a revolutionary in love. And then there’s law student Michaela Pratt and her not-so-straight engagement and lost engagement ring both coming back to inevitably haunt her in the end.

Little Miss Michaela Pratt is everything that is wrong with the “sanctity” of marriage. Lies, fallacies and fairy tales appear to be what make up her relationship. She is the prototype of that chick that we all have encountered. You know her. She is the one who is more concerned with building a mirage of a picture perfect life than actually living an authentic one. She is always put together with the right things to say at the right time, the impeccable wardrobe, and impressive transcript and resume, a 20 year plan pinned on Pinterest, yet, struggles with low self-esteem and a strong desire to “win” at any cost.

Now, I for one really thought her fellow classmate Connor Walsh was just attempting to get under her skin by throwing shade with inferences that he and Pratt’s fiancé, Aiden, were once “familiar” with one another. What better way to get home girl off her legal game than to come for her man? As law students are continuously vying for the number one spot in their class, I can definitely understand Connor’s game plan.

What some of us were not expecting were the inferences to be true and Little Miss Michaela’s justification for continuing her engagement despite learning of her fiancés former tryst with Connor at boarding school. Apparently she is willing to do something strange for some Vera Wang, which is marrying, despite her apparent gut check, a man who has had same sex encounters. From his own mouth he declares to Pratt that he is not some “horny guy on the down low,” but a man who is straight and in love with her. She seems to be following the blueprint of Dina McGreevey despite Professor Keating’s chilling declaration to her to choose her husband carefully; but hey, that’s none of our business.

Each day the students continue to seek the approval and praises of Professor Keating by not only showing their knowledge and comprehension of legal elements in class, but also by giving all of their remaining time and assistance to helping her law practice. Additionally, each day, Annalise Keating is haunting her ex-bae, Nate, for information and proof regarding her husband’s whereabouts on the night Lila was killed.

I, for one, have no idea why Nate lied to Annalise about Sam’s location that night. Maybe he wants her to work on her marriage and leave him alone, or, maybe he is covering up something himself. Why is she so insistent on contacting him or being with him after she played him on the witness stand and after their relationship ended? Why is she so drawn to this man, other than due to the obvious? (Brother IS foine!!) Who knows?

This episode gives us a little more of what we wanted, including more insight into how Rebecca, Wes’ next door neighbor, may have a hand in everything. After being detained for the murder of Lila, and upon Wes finding Lila’s phone in his bathroom cabinet (that Rebecca left in there), Rebecca shuns Wes’ help and ultimately rats him out to prison security guards for not being an attorney. This man went and broke all types of laws to falsify attorney identification to meet with her and this is how she repays him?

I’ve heard of some law students going above and beyond the call of duty to impress a professor, but risking imprisonment by falsifying documents isn’t one of them. Additionally, after Wes begs and pleads with Professor Keating to defend Rebecca, and not the star football player who was also implicated in Lila’s murder, Wes receives the statue trophy as top student, and Keating learns that Rebecca made a videotaped confession implicating herself in the murder of Lila. I am pretty certain Keating will totally dissect this alleged confession during the next episode and argue that it was a coerced confession or that Rebecca was under extreme duress to keep that confession from being admitted to the court, but, we have to wait until next week to find out!

We were given just enough information to continue to form our own hypotheses of what led to Sam’s death, but not enough to be 100 percent certain of anything. I have my suspicions about Wes Gibbins, but will save my assumptions for later. Something in the milk ain’t clean about him, and I would not be surprised if it is revealed that Wes isn’t even a law student at all!

Rashida Maples, Esq. is Founder and Managing Partner of J. Maples & Associates (www.jmaplesandassociates.com). She has practiced Entertainment, Real Estate and Small Business Law for 9 years, handling both transactional and litigation matters. Her clients include R&B Artists Bilal and Olivia, NFL Superstar Ray Lewis, Fashion Powerhouse Harlem’s Fashion Row and Hirschfeld Properties, LLC.

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