In a decade which has seen unrivaled growth in quality and diversity in the television industry, viewers around the world are well and truly spoiled for choice. Television creators are producing incredible, unparalleled work. It is work that is taking more risks, telling more stories, and representing the world's diversity more accurately than ever before.
However with every revolution, there are a select few leaders to which much of the credit is due. They test the waters, they puncture the walls, they stand taller than the crowd, not afraid to have their heads chopped off by the lawnmower of standards and decency.
One such television show, and one such showrunner, has proven beyond reasonable doubt that they belong at the very top of this revolution. Of course, that is showrunner Pete Nowalk, and his television show, How To Get Away With Murder.
Forget the story, forget the cast, forget the characters. The title says it all. It's blunt, to the point, and deadly accurate. Many other television shows have put together a story which depicts someone getting away with the ultimate crime, but none of them have said it damn straight. The title "How To Get Away With Murder" cannot be mistaken. The ripples in the water, the cracks in the walls, the taller blade of grass, is present right then and there.
But the story, cast and characters are all phenomenal in their own way.
The story throughout the series' fifteen episodes and fourteen weeks on air is a cut above the rest. It's akin to running over a tree stump with your lawnmower. Its strong foundation, varying layers, and density stop a lawnmower in its tracks.
The tree stump has to support a lot of weight, which, in this metaphor, comes in the form of the incredibly talented and diverse cast, and the fascinating, multi-dimensional characters they play. Led by Academy Award nominee Viola Davis, her partners in crime have been equally impressive right throughout the season. Alfred Enoch, Jack Falahee, Aja Naomi King, Matt McGorry, Karla Souza and Katie Findlay are major talents who will surely be around for years to come. Liza Weil, Charlie Weber and Billy Brown have performed beautifully as powerful, yet loyal sidekicks, and a superb guest cast featuring the likes of Cicely Tyson, Marcia Gay Harden, Tom Verica and Megan West has added yet another dimension to the series.
The characters were led by an female African-American lawyer and professor, married to a white husband, with a group of students of varying backgrounds and upbringings, gender, color, and sexual orientation, all of whom were explored in detail on a regular basis. It's clear diversity was on the cards from the beginning, but most importantly it wasn't ever diversity for the sake of diversity. It received no great deal of attention or explanation, aside from occasional moments during ordinary conversation. In the end, the diversity was irrelevant with how the storyline played out. You could have mixed it up even more and the results would have been virtually identical. That's a powerful precedent that has been set.
However, enough about the series as a whole, let's look at last night's terrific two hour season finale.
Let me start by saying that "The Night Lila Died" and "It’s All My Fault" combined to produce the best two hour season finale I've ever seen. Part one, "The Night Lila Died", was written by Mike Foley and directed by Laura Innes, with part two, "It’s All My Fault", written by Pete Nowalk and directed by Bill D'Elia. This quartet did a stunning job in creating a two parter which flowed seamlessly, despite featuring their own styles and storytelling.
Interestingly, part one featured a procedural case, with a priest in the firing line for murdering another priest who had abused a teenage boy. This was one of the more compelling cases the team has dealt with, and the creative team made this one different by having the client in question change his plea upon the appearance of a woman who he had feelings for showed up for his court hearing. The priest's decision to reverse his guilty plea took Annalise by surprise, but she was up to the task as she laid the blame squarely on herself and her own personal problems when providing a reason for the change in plea.
Now tasked with proving his innocence, Annalise enlisted the help of the woman who caused the change in plea, and got her to lie on the stand and admit to a sexual relationship with the priest. The priest once again changed his plea when he saw what was happening. Needless to say, Annalise wasn't overly impressed.
In amongst the case, character and storyline development continued at breakneck speed. Going into details would double the length of this review, but notable events include the steamy moments between Rebecca and Wes, even though both had caught each other in a lie, Nate being denied bail and then assaulted in prison under Annalise's orders, Asher's conversation with the judge in Nate's case causing a new one to be appointed thanks to conflict of interest, Rebecca's interrogation by the students as a result of the digging Wes and Laurel did, and finally, Connor and boyfriend Oliver getting tested for HIV.
That's quite a mouthful, but there's still part two to go, and that's where the big stuff occured. My pages of notes on the second part of the finale were four times longer than the first.
Part two picked up in Wes's apartment, with Annalise having been called to resolve a major situation. Her students were having a fit over whether Rebecca really did kill Lila Stangard on the night of August 29th. Rebecca had been bound and gagged in the bathroom by the group, but Annalise wasted no time relocating the chaos back to her house.
With flashbacks a vital part of the series in its 8 2014 episodes, they returned in last night's final hour with around 8 in total - more than any previous episode, though this time they were much shorter.
As always, they were beautifully executed. The series is not far behind Person of Interest in its quality and scope of flashbacks. They told a shocking story of the night Lila died.
At the center of Wes and Laurel's curiosity in last week's hour was a student named Rudy Walters. The pair had found Rudy in a mental hospital, but Rudy was competent enough to recognize and point the finger at his former neighbor, Rebecca. That, however, turned out to be the least of everyone's concerns.
In flashbacks, and in present tense conversation, Rebecca revealed how she had coerced Lila's boyfriend, Griffin O'Reilly, into having sex with her at a drug filled party, having texted Lila on Griffin's phone telling her to come and meet him. The resulting walk-in was used by Rebecca to prove a point to Lila that Griffin was no good for her, and that she should end the relationship.
In further flashbacks, we see a volatile Lila struggling to come to terms that she is pregnant with Sam Keating's baby. Not wanting an abortion, Sam had a real problem on his hands. In a flashback we saw in the first half of the season, Lila had visited the Keating household to reveal to Annalise that she was pregnant, but Bonnie had bounced her back out the door. Seeking a quiet place on the roof of the building where she would later meet her demise, Sam came to see her as promised, but then had Frank strangle Lila and dispose of her in the water tank. A concerned Rebecca had gone looking for her friend, but discovered Lila's phone, and moments later her body. She had to hide in the tank until it was safe for her to return to her apartment, where she hung out with her neighbor, Rudy. A dangerous cocktail of drugs sent Rudy over the edge, and into the hospital where he now resides.
It was no doubt a tragic series of events, but beautifully orchestrated by the creative team, with top notch writing, acting and directing to boot. In a way it seems pretty simple now that the facts are out there for all to see, but the careful release of information throughout the hour and the season as a whole has made the case incredibly compelling and addictive.
But things were far from over - in fact they haven't really begun. To reach the conclusion that Rebecca was innocent had had been telling the truth, Annalise tasked her students with treating the predicament as a case instead of a massive argument. Everyone presented the facts, and delved deep into the evidence to come up with a conclusion. But it wasn't enough. Annalise remained unconvinced that Rebecca was guilty, so the not guilty plea stood.
Like its previous hour, the second episode still found ample time to progress other storylines. Michaela was one such person who spent time in the spotlight. Her mother-in-law to be requested a meeting, and virtually ordered Michaela to rekindle her relationship with her fiancé, Aiden. It took some convincing, but Michaela eventually got the job done, and stopped things for good. Following on from their HIV testing in the earlier hour, Oliver revealed to Connor that he had tested positive - something I had expected because having two negative results would have nullified the purpose of the storyline.
In an interesting twist, with a beautiful segway into season 2, having earlier turned up to interview Annalise, the replacement prosecutor on the Sam Keating murder trial, Emily Sinclair, showed up at Asher's doorstep wanting to ask some questions about his boss. Still completely unaware of the events on the night of the murder, his answers in the season 2 premiere will surely define the direction the series will take in fall 2015.
Further on Michaela, Laurel revealed that she had found the ring Michaela lost on the night of Sam Keating's murder. Laurel stated that she had found the ring in Connor's car, but did not return it because without it, Michaela would not have been compelled to stay quiet about that night. This really was a masterful touch - one of the series' best to date. Laurel and Wes have formed a much closer working relationship, and with Laurel displaying the ability to make incredibly good, future focused decisions, and Wes's ability to manipulate and investigate, this is a match made in heaven for season 2.
But the biggest shock of them all was left to the very last minute, as promised in last week's promo. Moments after vindicating Rebecca, Annalise went down to the basement to release her, but found the door wide open and an empty chair. When Annalise later went down to the basement again, she met Frank, who claimed he had not done it. As the camera panned down, a deceased Rebecca appeared, crumpled under the basement stairs. "Now what?" says Frank.
Despite loving Katie Findlay's performances throughout the season, I almost cannot contain my excitement for the second chapter of this remarkable series. If the previous two murders are of any indication, what transpires will most certainly be more compelling, addictive television, where a murder committed in-house looks set to pit the characters against each other more than ever before.
What a way to end the season!
A final congratulations and thank you to creator Pete Nowalk and the world class cast and crew who work to bring the series to life. Congratulations on a groundbreaking freshman season, and on being called back to do it all again later this year. You've proven that a daring concept, executed with precision and attention to detail will indeed win viewers over. Long may the lawnmower stopping continue.
It's been a pleasure reviewing How To Get Away With Murder for you all this season. I've loved every minute of this series and the wild ride, spirited debate, and countless hours of theory spinning that it's given us all. It's fantastic to see a series and showrunner stopping lawnmowers in their tracks, and leading the way in so many areas. Thanks for reading this series finale review and all the other reviews I've written this season. Unless I end up in a water tank or charred and dismembered in a forest, I'll be reviewing the series again later this year.
