TV: How to get away with murder (2014-)

Viola Davis is a bamf

I've been seeing this show mentioned a lot lately, funnily enough there's only two episodes out and in this day and age that's impressive. The curious soul that I am, I hastened a glance and it's certainly the stuff of interest. We follow Wes Gibbins  (Alfred Enoch) who steps into a class headed by Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) - a brilliant criminal defense professor, and who you instantly know is someone to admire. Unsurprisingly it helps that Viola Davis is playing her, since the woman is a tour de force and truly believable as the professor of her class. 

The second Wes walks into the classroom the majority of the students are chattering about her methods, some out of fear, some out of awe and some were just terribly smug in belief over their own skill. She instantly sets off about a case, one she's currently defending - a secretary accused of having poisoned her boss who was also her lover. Knowing crime shows and other law-related things, this is quite standard, but it's a difference perspective on how things are done. Keating writes 'How to get away with murder' on the blackboard, underlining how much it's all about this, whether or not ones client is guilty, and it's perhaps morally ambiguous, but it's bloody good television. 

Ginny should never have dumped Dean Thomas

However, all of this, one has to note is past-tense, as the whole of the pilot begins with four of her students including Wes who have somehow embroiled themselves in a murder. These students are of course all of them set apart immediately in the class, thinking differently than the majority, so one does wonder how their current problem took place. None of the characters seem stereotypical in any way, and are actually interesting all-in-all. Besides Wes who seems to be the person the audience can relate to, there's Connor Walsh (Jack Falahee), Rebecca Sutter (Katie Findlay) and Michaela Pratt (Aja Naomi King); all of them with tiny moments in the episode, none of which are insignificant. 

I've not seen a lawyer-related show in a while that doesn't thread into the stereotypical form. Every episode becoming identical and boring the pants off me, but let's hope this isn't the case. I'd hate to see it try to duplicate itself constantly, since that never stays interesting long. It helps that there are seemingly different sub-plots probably connected in some way or the other, though that remains to be seen, and I do indeed look forward to it. For a pilot - this is beyond stunning, in execution, in cast and direction. Keep an eye on it. I'll go watch the next episode. 

9/10