Sam's Killer Revealed on "How To Get Away With Murder": A Real-Time Reaction Recap!

(WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!)

When I say that I’m obsessed with this show, I’m not kidding. I am UH-BSESSED. The first episode aired on ABC back in September, and they just aired their winter finale last night. Unfortunately, I don’t have a TV at my house, so I watch new episodes the following day on ABC.com… and if that isn’t torturous enough, now I have to wait until January for my beloved show to return!

Everything about this show is perfection. The characters, the storylines, and the intense drama that shows up around every corner leaves a murder mystery junkie like me on the edge of my seat 24/7. Viola Davis (Annalise Keating) is a STAR and makes me want to skip out on my journalism career and become a lawyer.

This entire season includes flashbacks from the first day of Annalise’s “How to Get Away with Murder” class, to clues connecting the students (Wes, Connor, Michaela, Laurel, and Asher) to present cases, and, most importantly, to Sam Keating’s death. Within the first few weeks of the season, I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to kill Sam. It just didn’t make sense. But the show has dropped some major bombshells on me and now I get it. I mean, did he kill Lila, the college girl he had an affair with? It’s possible since he found out Lila was pregnant right before her disappearance… he just isn’t a good guy, and as more of the season’s secrets unfold, the more of a psycho he seems to be.

I haven’t watched the winter finale YET, but before I do, I have a guess as to “who killed Sam” -- In the second-to-last episode, it ends with Annalise calling her assistant Bonnie (who she later fires for kissing Sam and lying to her about evidence), crying hysterically and asking her if she was with Sam because “something terrible has happened.” Also, in one of the flashbacks, Wes carries Rebecca (who’s on trial for killing Lila) upstairs of Annalise’s home when she’s covered in blood, and Sam is dead on the floor…. So, did Rebecca kill him? I mean that would be too easy, right?! What about Wes? Was he trying to protect Rebecca? Or was it Bonnie? She just got fired, and it could be considered an intent to kill since she loved working with Annalise so much.

Hmmm, I’m going to put my money on Wes, only because he is the student that knows all of the ins and outs of the murder trials and has a special and secret relationship with Annalise.

Ok guys, be right back…with all of this recapping, I’m super pumped to watch the finale. Let’s see what happens! I’m dying to know if I’m right...

(45 minutes later)

OH. MY. GOD.

WHERE DO I BEGIN? There are so many thoughts going through my head right now, and I want to scream as loud as I can but I’m in the office and it wouldn’t be appropriate!!! All I can say is that I was right... SORT OF.

So, flash-forward to when Rebecca is in Annalise’s home, trying to get technological evidence that Sam killed Lila. Michaela shows up to the house to return the class trophy (the prize that all the students want to win for doing A+ work). While drunk Sam is talking to Michaela, Michaela notices Rebecca on the stairwell and asks her what she’s doing there. Rebecca yells “Call Wes!” and runs upstairs trying to get the evidence. She locks herself in Sam’s bathroom while Michaela is frantically calling Wes to get them to safety. Wes arrives to the house with the other students. After Wes calms everyone down, Rebecca walks out of the bathroom with the evidence on the flashdrive. Sam promises he won’t do anything to hurt them (LIES!), and he tackles Rebecca to the ground! Laurel grabs the drive out of Sam’s hands and runs out of the room. There’s so much movement going on and out of nowhere, Sam runs after Laurel and MICHAELA shoves him out of the way, and SPLAT! There he falls -- off the balcony -- and onto the first floor. Everyone panics, and we all think Sam is dead. When Wes declares Sam’s death is all their fault, all of a sudden, we see Sam ALIVE, strangling Rebecca on the floor! The next thing we know, Sam is hit in the head with the trophy, his blood splatters all over Rebecca and he dies from the blunt force. As I’m screaming my head off (in my mind, of course, because I don’t want to disturb anyone in the office), NOBODY knows who hit Sam with the trophy. The camera pans to all of the students and we find out that…

dun...dun...dun...

WES KILLED SAM AND SAVED REBECCA!!!!

Wow! It’s such a relief to know who killed Sam, but I also feel a panic attack coming on again, because IT IS SO INTENSE. I’ll skip through the rest of the episode, because the majority of it is flashbacks that help tie pieces together for the audience. However, I WILL go to the last few minutes of the episode that impresses me to no end.

All of the students are summoned to Annalise’s place. Suddenly, there’s a knock on the front door. Annalise knows it’s the police and tells her students that she believes Sam may have fled, after she accused him of murdering Lila. She tells everyone that she needs their help in finding him, and wants all of them to be as honest as possible with the police. And, of course, Wes is the one to assure Annalise that they will do as she asks. We flash back to see why.... After Sam’s murder, Wes goes back to the house to get the trophy and tells Sam he was sorry for what he had done. An unexpected voice says, “Don’t be.”

OH MY GOD, GUESS WHO IT IS?! THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S ANNALISE. She KNOWS he’s dead and a suddenly a new question arises -- will the two of them make a secret plan on how to get away with murder?!?!??

In conclusion, I was half-right. And I’m so happy because Sam is finally dead, and I can’t WAIT to see where the rest of this season goes. And, like I said earlier, us crazy fans have quite awhile until the show returns. So, until then, I’m going to watch all of the episodes over and over again to keep my inner lawyer/investigative journalist self happy!

You can watch full episodes online at ABC.com, including the amazing winter finale "Kill Me Kill Me Kill Me".

(Screenshot via YouTube)

- Nicole Koch, YH Staff