How To Get Away With Murder: The Best New Show On Television And We Tell You Why!

The Show: How To Get Away With Murder

The Network: ABC

The Genre: Legal Drama, Mystery

The Challenge: Give a show four episodes with which to draw you in, impress you, challenge you, make you feel something deeply. Four episodes for the chance to find out if you care what happens to the characters you’re watching enough to become invested in the story. If after all that, it does none of those things for you? Then no biggie. You gave it a good shot and you can move on. But if you love it, you’ll be glad you stuck around.

The Premise: Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) is a criminal law professor at the fictional Middleton University in Philadelphia, one of the most prestigious law schools in the country. She is also a defense attorney and selects five students from her class to work at her firm. The cunning Connor Walsh (Jack Falahee), the ambitious Michaela Pratt (Aja Naomi King), the privileged Asher Millstone (Matt McGorry), the empathetic Laurel Castillo (Karla Souza), and the waitlist-wildcard Wes Gibbins (Alfred Enoch). Also working for her at her firm are associate attorneys Frank Delfino (Charlie Weber) and Bonnie Winterbottom (Liza Weil). In addition to watching her thrive professionally and her students’ attempts to make a name for themselves working beneath her, we get a glimpse into her personal life. She has a shaky marriage to Psychology professor Sam Keating (Tom Verica), who may or may not have been having an affair with a student that was murdered, Lila Stangard. Annalise is having an affair of her own with local detective Nate Lahey (Billy Brown). Also present in the plot are Rebeeca Sutter (Katie Findlay), Wes’ mysterious neighbor and eventual love-interest who may or may not have played a part in Lila’s death, Oliver (Conrad Ricamora), an IT tech whom Connor is involved with and uses for his hacking skills, and Kan (Arjun Gupta), a legal aid whom Laurel strikes up a relationship with.

RELATED: How To Get Away With Murder Review: Episode 1×04 – “Let’s Get to Scooping”

#1: Phenomenal Story-telling

In addition to the case of the week, all of which have been at the very least excellent, the present portion of the arc is interwoven with a flash forward that is being built to. In the pilot when we are first introduced to it, we find Wes, Connor, Michaela, and Laurel struggling to deal with the disposal of a dead body. At the end of the episode, we learn that the body is none other than Annalise’s husband Sam. Every episode since has shown new snippets from this night that nicely accompany whatever or whomever the story is choosing to develop that week. Week 2 focused on Wes, Week 3 three was Michaela, and Week 4 was Connor. The writers have developed a very organized way of introducing these characters to the viewers and to top it all off, the material is excellent as is the acting. The only downside is that the longer certain characters take to be developed, the weaker they seem in comparison, but with how strong overall the character development has been, we reckon whomever’s stories are tended to later will likely be worth the wait. With the slow tease and piecing together of the events in the flash forward, a certain level of tension is maintained as we sit back and wait for Sam’s inevitable demise.

RELATED: How To Get Away With Murder Review: Episode 1×02 – “It’s All Her Fault”

#2: Quality Representation

Shondaland shows have always been a haven for POC and LGBT viewers to watch and feel represented but How To Get Away With Murder has given us all of that and then some. This might be Viola Davis’ best role to date and that speaks to the nature of what roles she gets offered as a WOC working in Hollywood. Annalise has countless layers, strengths, vulnerabilities, flaws, and makes for a powerful lead on a gripping show. Michaela is shamelessly driven and ambitious, but also works to balance her love-life with her professional aspirations. Both of these women are presented as having sexual desires but are never hyper sexualised into objects, something far too common in the depiction of black women. As for Wes, he has the most adorable puppy-dog charm and quirkiness virtually nonexistent in black male characters in Hollywood media. Laurel is Hispanic-American (actress Karla Souza is Mexican but they have yet to delve into Laurel’s background). Connor is gay, and has no problem using sex as a weapon in his arsenal. What’s so fantastic about these characters is that the diversity they offer is not diversity for diversity’s sake. As for Asher, he’s not solely there to be comedic relief, his character is also a clear statement about white male privilege. This is not a show that is congratulating itself for being inclusive to demographics that are under-represented in Hollywood media, let alone in a non-offensive manner. These character’s ethnicities/sexualities are not the most interesting part of them. The Othering of POC characters is something that has long outstayed its welcome and finally, we have a show to watch that blows past it in every way conceivable.

RELATED: How To Get Away With Murder Review: Episode 1×03 – “Smile, or Go to Jail”

#3: Sailing All The Ships

Watching characters hook up and having relationships to route for (or ship, if you will), has always been something that when done right, sucks viewers in and gets them craving for more. How To Get Away With Murder has found a nice balance of showing people getting in and out of relationships, be they casual or serious, in a way that doesn’t feel like pandering or baiting viewers who would thrive on the drama. They feel like a natural part of the characters’ lives. Annalise is married but it’s a fractured relationship, as her husband seems to cheat quite a bit while Annalise has sought refuge in the (toned) arms of another. Wes is revealed to be in a relationship with Rebecca in the future arc, but has yet to win her over in the present day. There’s some tension brewing between Laurel and Frank, Michaela has a fiancé, and Connor is involved with Oliver (this also serves as double representation, as it is both an LGBT and interracial relationship). If you enjoy watching fictional couples on the journey of their relationship, there will be stories that satisfy you comprised of couples that mostly have terrific chemistry (we’re still iffy about Wes/Rebecca). But if it’s not your main priority, there is plenty of other content to sink your teeth into.

RELATED: How To Get Away With Murder Review: Episode 1×04 – “Let’s Get to Scooping”

#4: The 9-Word Bomb Drop

Everything in the first four episodes has built to this anticipated set of nine words, and none of us could have expected how brilliant this whole sequence would play out. For those of you who didn’t see it, or simply need reminding, Annalise confronts Sam with her newly acquired phone belonging to Lila. On it, there is a sext of a faceless man exposing himself but Annalise doesn’t need to see the face to know who is in the photo. “Why is your penis on a dead girl’s phone?” Yes, this is one of the most shocking lines to end an episode we’ve ever heard. But we were entirely unprepared for the groundbreaking artistry that would lead up this line being delivered. Annalise carefully peels off her false eyelashes, removes her wig, and begins to wipe off her makeup and with it, the carefully built-up ironclad walls that she uses to keep anyone from seeing her vulnerabilities. Viola Davis gave some of the most exquisite acting we’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing and the fact that she came up with the idea to have a wig-removing scene for Annalise makes us adore and respect her all the more. There is a lot of conflict over the white standards of beauty and all the negativity that black women are subjected to because of them. But here we have a woman who dares to show her natural hair on television. No chemicals, no weaves, no wig, as if daring the naysayers to say something as she drops some of the finest acting you’ll ever have the privilege of seeing in your life. This scene wasn’t just a game changer for the show itself, but for all the media content that will follow it.

Final Verdict:

This show has more quality in regards to writing, acting, representation, and direction, than we ever could have hoped to have at this stage in history. It is so clear that this will be one of the shows that will be remembered decades later for being revolutionary in the scope of film and television. All of the episodes so far have been strong, but episode 4 has been the best one yet. There’s so much brilliance here that we implore all of you to watch it, especially since it’ll be much easier to get caught up now with only a few episodes having aired. How To Get Away With Murder fits right in with the other phenomenal content that Shondaland has produced over the last decade.