HTGAWM Season 5 Finale: Was that the end?

Television writing has to be harder than most people outside the biz understand.

How to Get Away With Murder's fifth season came to a close Thursday night. As of now, there is no confirmation that the show is getting renewed for a sixth season.

So the writers were in a tough spot. They had to choose if they wanted to write the type of episode that would be fitting for a series finale, or stick with a finale that could lead to Season 6, like past finales have done.

The writers did think ahead just in case, though. The past few weeks, the FBI has gotten involved with the murder of a person close to the entire group, and one agent has done her research. We recently got a glimpse of her suspect board with photos of all kinds of people, including major characters from seasons past. The past few episodes brought back all kinds of dirt and theories, and they unveiled other possible motives and theories of past events.

To me, that was a sign that the end was coming. And it was a great idea. In those preamble episodes, the FBI was digging through old cases about which we, the audience, already knew the truth. We got a reference to the bon fire from the beginning of Season 1. We brushed on Sam's story, Wes' story, and heard mentions of Rebecca. This all seemed to be leading to a fitting conclusion of the overarching story of these characters I've followed for five seasons.

Instead, we got a solid episode that brought a decent conclusion to the second half of this season's story involving Nate Lahey Sr.'s death. The Governor was involved after all (I suspected that all along), and Nate Jr. and Bonnie have been trying to figure out if Ronald Miller, the interim DA whom Bonnie was dating and whom Nate Jr. killed in cold blood, was in on the Governor's elaborate cover-up murder plan. He wasn't, but in a crazy twist, they were lied to and led to believe he was involved. It was good stuff.

The plot twist involved another connection to the series' past: Laurel's brother, Xavier Castillo, who turned out to be the one in cahoots with the Governor (not Miller). And when Laurel and Annalise find this out, there's hell to pay.

As a sub-total, it would seem this all adds up to a great finale episode. For the most part, it does.

But if this show does not get renewed for a sixth season, I'm going to be furious.

We got no real closure on any of the main characters, including their history and where they go from here. Long gone are the episodes that show these kids actually attend school (well, they vaguely did in the first handful of episodes this season, I guess). I kind of imagined the series finale ending with Asher, Michaela, Conner, and Laurel all walking across the stage at graduation as they get ready to start new lives without the baggage they've carried for so long now. Baggage that includes living with all murders, lies, and cover-ups they've conducted all this time. To me, the show has to have the dark ending that they all get away with it, as the show's title implies.

The other part of me kind of wanted Annalise to be put in a desperate situation of either going to jail or letting her students take the fall. It would've been fascinating to see if she actually felt guilt in that scenario considering she never cares whom she has to push aside to get her way. It'd be the ultimate Catch 22 ending to the series.

Heck, I could hypothesize half a dozen other great ways they could end the show. The point is, the writers didn't do that. This finale did nothing to acknowledge the characters' growth, or lack thereof, that is demanded by a series finale.

Instead, they left us with two cliffhangers: Another man is dead, and both Laurel and her baby son are missing.

I'm sure there's some metaphorical stretch by which we could assume this was a suitable ending to the show if it, indeed, does not get picked up for Season 6. Maybe we're left to believe you can't ever get out of the hole you dig for yourself, especially when you dig using lies and murders. Maybe the writers implied that the characters always will get their just due.

That's not what's going on, though. We all know it. So again, we're left with a situation where the show could've had the perfect ending after the writers brought so many story lines back into the fold. But instead, we're left with a cliffhanger that implies the lying, murders, mysteries, and covers will not come to an end any time soon. Don't get me wrong, I'm on board for another season, but this could've been the perfect time to end the show. Now, they'd better renew it for a sixth season, or so help me, I'll find a way to exchange some pleasantries with the TV execs who made such a miscalculation.

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