Entertainment

What Is The New 'HTGAWM' Telling Us?

by Kaitlin Reilly

It's been far too long since we've seen mayhem ensue on How To Get Away With Murder — and fortunately, fans don't have to wait very long for the second half of Season 2 to commence. How To Get Away With Murder returns to ABC on Feb. 11, and with it, the conclusion of the mystery that has plagued us since the first episode of the second season. Of course, there's more at stake this season than finding out whether Catherine and Caleb were really involved in the Hapstall murder: we're also getting backstory about Wes and Annalise that we've been waiting for since day one. Fans have long speculated about a connection between the law student and his morally dubious professor, and now, a new promo for Season 2 of How To Get Away With Murder suggests that these two have a long history. Could Wes be the baby that Annalise is holding in the new promo?

Like the show itself, the new promo for the second half of Season 2 is seriously mysterious — each shot is like a piece of the puzzle and we have no idea where it fits. Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising shot in the promo is one that features Annalise running out of her house, holding a baby in her arms, and shouting at an unseen person "I can't!" While there's a chance that this baby could be a connection to one of her new law cases, there's a very real possibility that this scene is actually a flashback — which could mean that this baby is Wes.

I mean, just look at that face. Totally Wes-esque, right?

We found out at the end of Season 2A that Annalise has a connection to Wes that extends beyond law student and professor. We saw a flashback with Annalise and Eve watching as an officer talks to Wes about his mother's suicide. As the couple watches a (clearly disturbed) Wes, Eve turns to Annalise and asks, "What did we do?"

It makes perfect sense that Annalise would have a connection to Wes — she has always gone out of her way to make sure that he is OK, even when he's done questionable things, like, uh, murder her husband. Now that we know the connection extends to when Wes was a child, it's highly possible that it also extends to when he was an infant. Annalise may have kept an eye on Wes his entire life, without Wes ever being the wiser. (It certainly makes the fact that Wes shot Annalise at the end of Season 2A all the more painful.)

If Wes is the baby that Annalise is holding, that could mean a few things. The first, most obvious one, is that Annalise is secretly Wes' mother and that she gave him up for adoption years earlier. The show definitely makes Annalise a maternal figure for Wes, so it is possible that she's his biological mother as well — however, it seems almost just a little too on the nose for this show. My personal theory is that Annalise was tasked with caring for Wes, but chose to give up custody to the woman Wes believed was his biological mother. When that mother committed suicide, Annalise felt responsible for letting Wes down and vowed to care for him from the sidelines.

No matter what the connection is between Wes and Annalise, they clearly have a big one — and all will begin to be revealed when the series returns on February 11.

Check out the promo video for the new season below:

Images: ABC (2); Giphy