How To Get Away With Murder S1E13 - "Mama's Here Now" Recap

Nate Lahey has been brought in, having been arrested for Sam's murder. Rebecca is now under suspicion by police because she is shown to have called Nate the night of Sam's murder. (Remember they were in cahoots to try to get Sam arrested for Lila's murder).

Annalise's mother, Ophelia Hartness is in town, having responded to Annalise's voicemail pleading for help. She's tough, no-nonsense, and doesn't bother hiding her "I told you so" over Sam being no good and never having cared for him. She starts cleaning up and wants Annalise to do the same for herself. Over the course of their time together, we learn that Annalise was poor growing up and how they had to use hand-me-downs from the church after their house burned down. Also, Annalise is upset about Ophelia seemingly not intervening in the abuse she faced from the hands of her uncle. Ophelia isn't happy about Annalise changing her name (it was Annamae) and acting like she's too good for Ophelia. Ophelia also asks Annalise outright if she killed Sam, saying that only God can judge her.

The client of the week is Jolene Samuels, a timid young nurse accused of raping one of her patients, Chad Manning. Since Annalise is still out of commission, it's up to Bonnie to handle the case. Bonnie flubs her opening statement and receives pressure from the hospital's lawyer to settle. The team is able to discredit the witness claiming to have witnessed the rape based on the fact that he had a small stroke on that day. But things take a turn for the worse when the tech-investigator discloses that Jolene had been on an online forum of sexual exploits and admitted to having sex with a patient (Chad Manning).

Wes seeks advice from Annalise regarding Rebecca being called in for questioning about Nate and she gives him some advice on her to stick to her story until Ophelia shows up to kick Wes out, believing there could be some brewing sexual chemistry between the two of them. Rebecca claims that Nate propositioned her to work together to incriminate Sam but then also says that he had wanted her to plant evidence in Sam's house but that she didn't go through with it.

Oliver is helping Connor with hacking for the case but Oliver also wants Connor to introduce him to his friends so he doesn't feel like a dirty little secret. Connor agrees to do so and Oliver finds that Chad Manning is gay. Bonnie brings it up in court but the judge feels that the information isn't pertinent to the case and borderlines on discrimination. Again, the hospital lawyer wants Bonnie to settle but Bonnie is determined to get her client off.

Michaela flirts with the lawyer working on Nate's case to get some information on it. Through doing so, she learns about Rebecca claiming that Nate threatened to hurt her if she didn't plant evidence to incriminate Sam. She shares this with the rest of the group and learns that Rebecca lied about the circumstances of Rudy's arrest and that he is now in a psychiatric facility.

Annalise tells Ophelia about the case going on and Ophelia finds it ridiculous to think that women could be capable of rape and goes on to claim that men take things. Annalise hits a breaking point and outright blames her mother for not ever acknowledging the abuse she faced. Ophelia says that she herself and all the women in their family have been raped by men and that they have to keep pushing forward, unlike Annalise who went to a "head shrink" (Sam) to talk about it and ended up marrying him. Annalise then tells her mother to leave.

Asher tells Bonnie that Chad Manning had visited the hospital repeatedly but went to the legal department. Bonnie then tells Connor to call up Oliver to get some help. Bonnie then feigns a plea deal for her client (which would get her a reduced sentence and not hurt her career so much) in order to get the hospital lawyer, David Tucker, to testify in court to agree to the settlement. Bonnie then uses the opportunity to show that David and Chad are involved in a romantic relationship and schemed together to go after timid Jolene for this crime in order to get money from the lawsuit so they could run away together. Of course this results in Chad's lawyer dropping the charges. In a good mood from her victory, Bonnie hooks up with Asher in the parking lot as he had been routing for her the whole time. Frank is also in the parking lot and spies them getting busy.

Oliver comes out to meet Connor and the rest of the Keating Five (but not Asher). They're all friendly for the most part but Wes is distracted. He steps outside to lie to Rebecca and claim that he's out studying. Laurel comes to talk to him afterwards and admits that she does the same thing to Kan sometimes. Wes tells Laurel about how Rebecca lied and that Rudy was actually on drugs the night he was taken away. Also, it was the same night of Lila's murder. Wes ponders on whether he was wrong about Rebecca the whole time (about damn time!) and is wracked with guilt over Nate now wrongly being behind bars.

Ophelia tells Annalise she'll be leaving in the morning and begins to brush Annalise's hair. She talks about the house that they grew up in before it burned down and how she loved it so. She talks about how Uncle Clyde came to stay with them because he needed a place to stay. She said how one night, she woke up and saw Clyde coming out of Annalise's mouth and knew exactly what he had done. She goes on to say how he was a heavy smoker and would often fall asleep with cigarettes in his mouth which she would put out. But it's then that we get the big revelation. The night that the house burnt down, Clyde had passed out drunk with a cigarette in his mouth. Ophelia packed up the kids and brought them all to stay at their aunt's house. Then, the house burnt down with Clyde still inside. Ophelia tells Annalise that she doesn't blame her if she "did what she had to do" (meaning she doesn't care if Annalise killed Sam since if she did, she must have had a good reason). It's an exquisite moment between the two as Annalise now felt a closeness to her mother like never before, finally understanding the weight of her mother's love for her.

A drunk Oliver wants Connor to have sex with him but Connor tells him he wants all of that and more but only once Oliver is sober. As Connor is leaving the room, a drunk Oliver admits that he loves him.

Michaela shows up to Nate's arraignment and so does Annalise. Michaela doesn't feel like they can be okay with an innocent black man ending up behind bars like this. Annalise tells her not to worry about it and that it is her own job to fix it. Annalise goes to visit Sam and seemingly tells him off for killing Sam (they're being filmed by the surveillance camera above the back of Annalise's head). But she uses the opportunity to slip Nate a note telling him to fire his lawyer and call a different number instead.

Using a fake ID, Laurel fools the nurse into thinking that she is Rudy's family so she can visit. Wes is posing as her husband. They are brought back to meet Rudy, who has scratches on the wall above his bed like that in Wes' apartment. They ask Rudy about what happened and how he ended up there. Wes asks if he knows Rebecca, showing her a photo of her from his phone. The only word Rudy is able to get out is "wet," making Wes realise he is talking about the water tank Lila's body was found in. Meanwhile, Rebecca is shown to be tracking Wes' phone online and sees that he is currently at the hospital Rudy is at.

How To Get Away With Murder airs on Thursdays on ABC at 10PM.