
Show: How to Get Away with Murder
Character Status: Regular
Current LI: None
Current Season: On Show
Endgame: TBD
Orientation: Bisexual
Show Status: Still Airing
Tropes: Abused, Cheating, Obsessive towards LI, Sexual Assault, Unstable
Show: How to Get Away with Murder
Character Status: Regular
Current LI: None
Current Season: On Show
Endgame: TBD
Orientation: Bisexual
Show Status: Still Airing
Tropes: Abused, Cheating, Obsessive towards LI, Sexual Assault, Unstable
Bonnie Winterbottom is one of the main characters of How to Get Away with Murder, and lead Annalise’s dedicated assistant. She is the only person out of Annalise’s Keating 4 groups that remained with her over the years.
Bonnie’s father sexually abused her as a child and the case was presumably taken to court since Annalise had access to related files.
Bonnie only had relationships with men on the show. In season 1, she hooked up with an unnamed man at a bar and went back to his hotel room. It was also implied throughout the season (and Annalise suspected) that Bonnie was secretly in love with Sam Keating, Annalise’s husband, and in an attempt to manipulate her, Sam kissed her, and Annalise fired her as a result.
Bonnie then slept with and started dating Asher Millstone, one of Annalise’s interns, but broke up with him first when she suspected Asher of cheating and then permanently when she discovered his role in a gang-rape coverup.
In season 3, episode 5 Bonnie traveled to Coalport to take care of her father’s funeral arrangements and to meet with Frank Delfino at a motel, trying to convince him to come back to Philadelphia – and telling him that he and Annalise just needed to forgive each other for everything. Later, Bonnie was in bed while Frank slept on the floor. He suggested they run away together, to a small town somewhere where they could live normal lives and have a family (“We’d have cute babies, no?”) but quickly added he was only teasing. After Frank had a bad dream, Bonnie tried to relax him which lead to them kissing and having sex. It was unclear whether it was the first time or whether it had happened before.
Throughout the show, Bonnie’s relationship with Annalise toes the line between mentor-mentee and single white female obsession on Bonnie’s side. Throughout the series, Annalise emotionally abuses and takes advantage of Bonnie and they share a co-dependent bond.
Bonnie is also responsible for the murder of Rebecca Sutter, whom she strangled with a plastic bag, because she believed that Rebecca had killed Lila and wanted to protect Annalise.
Actress Liza Weil also called the relationship maternal: “There’s a real need to connect and feel seen, so I think that can be confusing to everyone. But I think there’s also a maternal thing that they have with each other. They take turns taking care of each other in a very pure way. I don’t know if it’s going to be as sexualized as people might initially think.”
In episode 3×06 Annalise got into an argument with Bonnie, after she found out Bonnie met up with Frank. While trying to convince her she hadn’t betrayed her, Bonnie told Annalise she was willing to put up with whatever treatment she wanted to dish out, and also told her that she loved her.
In episode 3×09, after Annalise was charged with arson and first-degree murder and she was convinced she’s be going to jail, she went to see Bonnie, who instead of joining her drinking, fed her soup and coffee, tucked her into bed and kissed her. Both executive producer Pete Nowalk and Viola Davis called it a moment of drunkenness.
Relationship story arc with a woman: Questionable
Relationship story arc with a man: Yes
Storyline during sweeps? No
[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.
I like that their relationship doesn’t fit in a box, I think Annalise was really drunk. I think they’re both victims of child abuse. They’re really close. I think Annalise feels really lonely — there’s multiple tiers of that. It felt really weird and messy to me.
— Screenertv, Executive producer Pete Nowalk, talking about the Annalise/Bonnie kiss in episode 3x09.
Pete Nowalk
November 21, 2016
My guess is it’s not going to be sexual, but that’s my guess. I don’t know with Pete [Nowalk], though, because she does kiss Bonnie in this episode, but it’s more out of — well, it could be sexual — but it definitely is loneliness, it’s definitely abandonment, it’s definitely in a drunken stupor; it doesn’t make it any less real, though.
— Entertainment Weekly, Viola Davis (Annalise), talking about the kiss with Bonnie in episode 3x09.
Viola Davis
November 18, 2016
There’s a real need to connect and feel seen, so I think that can be confusing to everyone. But I think there’s also a maternal thing that they have with each other. They take turns taking care of each other in a very pure way. I don’t know if it’s going to be as sexualized as people might initially think.
— Entertainment Weekly, Actress Liza Weil (Bonnie), referring to the relationship with Annalise.
Liza Weil
November 18, 2016
A kiss can mean a lot of things, but Annalise is at rock bottom in episode 9, even before she finds out her house has been burned down and Wes has been killed inside. She’s desperate and she’s drunk and she’s alone. She’s as alone as we’ve seen her, which says a lot, and in a moment of drunkenness, she needs to feel close to someone. So, yes, there’s a kiss between her and Bonnie. I think what I love about the show and the characters is they’re really messy and they cross boundaries they shouldn’t have crossed.
— Entertainment Weekly, Executive producer Pete Nowalk, talking about the Annalise/Bonnie kiss in episode 3x09.
Pete Nowalk
November 17, 2016
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!