How To Get Away With Murder season 4 recap: Catch up for season 5

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Your TGIT crash course

Thursday nights are about to get juicy again. On Sept. 27 at 10 p.m., Annalise and the Keating Four are back in season 5 of How to Get Away With Murder. Last season's finale allowed many of the characters to find a modicum of peace and happiness—but if we know Annalise and this group, that peace will be short-lived. Let's recap everything you need to know before the season 5 premiere.

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A new beginning

Season 4 saw Annalise (Viola Davis) piece her life back together, finding an unsteady path toward sobriety and clearing her conscience with a class-action lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Her victory there led her to be declared a "legal powerhouse on a national level," which means season 5 is likely to kick off with Annalise at the top of her game.

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R.I.P., Denver

ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder" - Season Three — Mitch Haaseth/ABC/Getty Images

District Attorney Denver (Benito Martinez) met an untimely end in the season 4 finale—a carefully orchestrated car crash removing him as a threat to Annalise and the Keating Four. Denver's dealings with Jorge Castillo (Esai Morales) and crew proved to be his undoing, but his open files of blackmail material on Annalise and her collegaues will likely have continuing repercussions well into this season.

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Mommie dearest

ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder" - Season Four — Mitch Haaseth/ABC/Getty Images

Laurel (Karla Souza) has finally found some peace, winning back custody of her son, Christopher, and moving in with Bonnie (Liza Weil) to escape the memories of Wes' apartment. But is she capable of murder? After discovering her mother's involvement in Wes' death, Laurel visited Sandrine (Lolita Davidovich) in her hotel room, and her mother disappeared shortly after. Laurel insisted to everyone she knew nothing, but a final shot of her revealed her arms were covered in scratches and cuts that suggested she was hiding something.

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No get-out-of-jail-free card

After seasons of behind-the-scenes machinations, Jorge Castillo has finally received justice (for now). Laurel's plan to steal files from Caplan & Gold to incriminate him ultimately worked. Annalise tricked Jorge into recanting his testimony, releasing Christopher back into Laurel's custody before an FBI sting arrested him for wiretapping, tax evasion, and first-degree murder. At Caplan & Gold, Tegan (Amirah Vann) turned anonymous whistleblower to help bring Jorge down.

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Immigration woes

After Simon (Behzad Dabu) suffered a life-threatening gunshot wound to the head midseason, which the Keating Four painted as a suicide attempt, he gradually regained his memory of what happened that night and how he'd uncovered the K4 trying to steal company files. Annalise promised Simon an immunity deal to help bring down Jorge, but in a stone-cold move, Michaela (Aja Naomi King) turned him in to ICE first, leading to his transfer to a Department of Homeland Security facility.

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Annalise 2.0

Michaela is at a major moral crossroads. After the horrific midseason events at Caplan & Gold and losing Tegan's trust, she went a bit off the rails. Cheating on Asher (Matt McGorry) while helping Annalise at the Supreme Court led to their breakup. And in a bid to protect herself (and everyone else), she turned Simon in to ICE—a move she insisted was a crucial step in becoming the truest version of herself. Eek!

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Love and marriage

After four very bumpy seasons, Connor (Jack Falahee) and Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) are finally headed for marital bliss. We can't wait to see a Coliver wedding this season. It turns out Connor didn't drop out of law school; he flunked out. Buoyed by his success helping with Annalise's case, Connor is reapplying to law school (with some application help from Michaela) for a chance at a fresh start.

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Crisscross

Nate (Billy Brown) has changed sides more than anyone else in this series, flip-flopping between allegiance to the force and Annalise. From his position inside, Nate used his connections to help bring down Denver and protect the Keating Four—most notably, he tracked down Denver's secret files on all of them. Annalise and the Four believe he destroyed them, but the closing montage revealed he'd kept them for his own purposes. Whatever those may be.

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Starting over

Asher has picked up the pieces of his broken heart after Michaela cheated on him and moved out of their place into Wes' old apartment. He's also primed to be Oliver's best man.

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Forgiveness

After temporarily turning against Annalise out of her fury at being abandoned, a chastened Bonnie has come back to the fold, helping Annalise bring down Denver and Jorge from inside the D.A.'s office. Season 4's end saw the flickers of a romantic connection between her and Denver's replacement, Ronald (John Hensley)—but Denver's blackmail files also hinted that Bonnie might have a secret child, a result of the sexual abuse she endured as a young woman. Whether or not she's aware of the potential child's existence remains to be seen.

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Back to school

For a guy who started out as Annalise's muscle and has endured his fair share of soul-searching for his role in the death of her child, Frank (Charlie Weber) has become surprisingly sympathetic. For his second chance, Frank ended season 4 going on a prospective student tour of Middleton. But Frank's hopes and dreams are interrupted by the appearance of another individual on that tour....

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The good times are over

ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder" - Season Five — Richard Cartwright/Getty Images

This new character, Gabriel Maddox (Rome Flynn), arrived in the final minutes of the season 4 finale, apparently taking the same prospective student tour as Frank. Frank recognized the kid (or at least his name) and called an unknown party, telling them, "Good times didn't last too long. Her kid is here." We suspect the person on the other end of the line and who the "her" in question is will make up the bulk of season 5's mystery.