Last week's promo assured us that our jaws would hit the floor upon hearing Viola Davis's last nine words. Promos have a tendency to prefer exaggeration over straight fact, but I'd say the promo was bang on the money.How To Get Away With Murder is fast turning into ABC's number one drama. Though last night's episode of Scandal was incredible, I'm very glad I chose to view the former first last night. I can't recall the first four episodes of a freshman series being as consistent as Murder's has been. It's very pleasing to see.
In line with the previous three episodes, including the premiere, last night's episode, titled "Let’s Get to Scooping", kicked off with flash forwards the night Annalise Keating's students are in the middle of disposing of Sam Keating's body. In last night's installment, the action centers on the increasingly freaky Connor, who thinks it's a great idea to lie down beside the bloodied corpse to get what can only be described as a better look. I'm noticing a trend with these flashbacks, and that is they slowly move further back in time. Episodes 1 and 2 opened at the disposal site, while episode 3 and last night's episode beginning their events at the Keating house. If things move in pairs, then next week we are due for a change in scenery which I'm looking forward to. Opening all episodes with timeshifted events is also unprecedented for a television series in my recent memory, and I'm definitely a fan with how Murder's creative team are pulling this off.
Written by Erika Green Swafford and directed by Laura Innes, last night's episode focused on Rebecca's complex, yet largely unknown circumstances. Though she features infrequently compared to the other leads, Katie Findlay is the strongest female lead behind the incredible Viola Davis, who took her character to new heights in this episode. Rebecca revealed she gave into the pressure asserted on her by the police, and conceded that her savior Wes was correct in predicting her framing. Rebecca continues to be my favorite character so far, given her mystery and her involvement in the flash forwards. She isn't off the hook by any means, because she's clearly observed something that ties her to the death of Lila Stangard.
Keating rallied her troops to produce the most unified display by her team so far. On top of Rebecca's case, Keating had to deal with an old friend's alleged insider trading, which provided a colorful procedural element to the episode. Of the bunch, it was Connor who stood out, leveraging his sexuality to the max and catching the real fraudster. Alongside Connor's dealings which took center stage, fellow students Wes, Michaela, Asher and Laurel adopted some interesting investigative tactics, providing some nicely timed comic relief to a literally dead serious drama. In present tense, Sam Keating's tale continues to develop nicely. Believing he's been exonerated by his wife, Keating leaves for another late night, but came across Detective Nate Lahey, who had been examining his car's GPS history. We catch a glimpse of the screen, but the locations don't ring any bells at present. I'm sure a flashback in a coming episode will reveal more.
Growing the characters was a big part of the episode, with Connor leading the way until the final few moments. Annalise showed another part of herself upon removing her fake eyelashes, wig and makeup. I was shocked to see that. That adds a whole new level of depth to the character, and shows the sheer prowess of Viola Davis in the role. This scene was exquisitely acted and directed, and is easily the series' best scene to date.
We glimpsed Laurel's boyfriend, which Frank Delfino was taken aback by, but back to Connor. His freaky demeanor right throughout the episode, including the way he was joyfully hacking apart Sam Keating's corpse was rather disturbing. Wes and Rebecca grew in present tense after Wes met Rebecca by her apartment door, gaining her trust and the phone in the process. This was another fantastic scene, and was followed shortly after by those last 9 words we were promised in last week's promo, which make up the best final words of any television episode I've seen this season. Their delivery was so eerily beautiful, and the fallout will undoubtedly be incredible to watch unfold.
One criticism I want to mention for this episode of Murder is the lack of classroom time. This series was sold to the viewer based on a law class Keating teaches, but the series has increasingly deviated away from that since the pilot, instead focusing on the 5 students handpicked by Keating. We saw around 20 seconds worth of classroom time last night, which isn't good enough for me. The classroom scenes were among the best scenes in the premiere, and they are a handy tool for learning how Keating operates, and where her morals and values align.
That being said, that's a very minor criticism. Murder continues to take Thursdays by storm. This series is being executed with unrivaled precision among ABC's lineup, and is thoroughly deserving of the praise it is getting. The intensity is building each week as present day aligns with the flash forwards. ABC is the place to be on Thursdays, 10|9c, and I cannot wait for more.
Thanks a lot for reading! Are you seeing a murder suspect emerge? As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts and theories and your answer to that question in the comments below. Don't forget to keep tabs on How To Get Away With Murder's record breaking ratings on my TV ratings website, www.seriesmonitor.com/howtogetawaywithmurder.
Jimmy.
I loved it. I knew that Connor was crazy. There is no way someone can be so promiscuous and be 100 percent fine. There is a moral gene missing and that hacking at the body proved he is off the rails. He just manages to hold himself together but underneath he is a mess.
ReplyDeleteAs for the murder of the student, we now begin to see how everyone is connected to it. Rebecca must have witnesses Keating's husband with the student and knew she was cheating on her boyfriend Griffin. Keating must have somehow found out about the picture and worked with Griffin to kill the girlfriend because she would have ruined him. Or maybe she was blackmailing him.
its been so good I've totally glanced over the fact that they've hardly been in the classroom.... lol
ReplyDeletegreat review
you toss out some good theories...there
ReplyDeleteAgreed on Connor
ReplyDeleteAnything's a good guess at this point, but it's clear Rebecca was more than just neighbors with Lila and Griffin
Thanks, glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteThis was my favourite episode of the season so far. The last few minutes when Annalise removes her wig and makeup, set up to that haunting song by Bastille "No One's Here To Sleep", were incredible. That scene alone should warrant Viola Davis an award nomination.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it was the best episode, but it had by far the best scenes in it. Agreed with giving Davis a nomination at the very least
ReplyDeleteGreat review!The show continues to be incredible.The last scene really was something else.
ReplyDeleteJack Falahee,the actor who plays Connor is impressive,in my opinion.I'd never seen him in anything before this but here he's just awesome.
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Agreed, Falahee is setting himself up for a career. He's the sort who could become the next Bryan Cranston or James Spader
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jimmy enjoyed your review as always they're isn't much I can add to the discussion cause you already said everything I do want to add that the writing and the acting on this show is the best I've seen on network tv, Connor and Michala onions are slowly peeling, it's definitely something under those layers, Wes with his puppy dog eyes we know there is more there Man, if they keep up this intensity were in for a hell of a ride the rest of the way, I'm enjoying reading your take on things till the next time:)
ReplyDeleteViola taking off her wing and makeup huge moment ,huge moment on so many ways!! one of the tv scenes that i''ll never forget.love it!! emmy nomination plsss!!! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat review as always!
ReplyDeletewell, I haven't enjoyed a thrilling episode like this in YEARS, it was that good, superb acting by Viola Davis and Jack Falahee, and I mean they deserves accolades for it! the story was very interesting and the character developments are running smoothly I must say! a 9/10 for me.
ok he's good but he's not in the same league as James S... he's one of a kind....
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked the review :-)
ReplyDeleteHe's not in the same league....yet. Spader is one of a kind for sure, but someone's going to have to take his place eventually
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked the review :-)
ReplyDeleteHow to Get Away with Murder is by far the Break-Out series of this TV season. I can't imagine anything that coming-up being nearly as good. Especially on Broadcast TV.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I can't believe you used the words "morals" and "values" in speaking about Annalise--or any of the characters in this show. This is truly a series filled with characters who are amoral. All of them: students, teachers, police, lawyers...all are without a moral compass. IMO, the series creators are making a statement about modern culture and morality.
So we could say this is the beggining for Connor's breakdown and Sam Keating's murder was the last drop?. There is so much more from this characters than we see. Connor seemed taken aback when the woman was yelling at Pax about how his family thought he was worthless, that look on Connor maybe it hits to close to home there?. He is trying to be this "I dont give a F about anything " but that moment before the guy decided to jump was kind of hard for him.
ReplyDeleteThat final scene was like the tittle of your review says "jawdropping" i am so bad at noticing things like hair and all of that i thought that was her real hair and when she pull that wig off; I was shocked. That was one the best scenes so far. Now i would love to see what Sam is going to say about that.
I digress about your thoughts on morals and values. You can do all sorts of somewhat dodgy actions as Annalise and her team have displayed thus far, but ultimately its the reasons behind said actions which determine the morals and values the characters possess. Is doing something wrong for the right reasons always a bad thing? More often than not it isn't. That's where I'm sitting at the moment, but that's open to change as the series progresses
ReplyDeleteI really thought that it was her real hair too! but I just love how she bears it all, it was insanely dramatic.
ReplyDeleteI kinda felt really bad for both Connor and that assistant , that lady did kill him , she embarrassed him for who he is, and scared him off with her homophobic slurs, and Connor was just there, taking those words hard as they were meant for him...I actually do find him more interesting than Wes and the others, and I can't wait to see how the story folds from now on.
I think we have seen more of Connor than the others even if he is just doing a guy or the guy doing him. I found really interesting hat he went to Olliver's and noone else, he is a loner and maybe he found something in Olliver that he doesnt know how to act on it?. I hope we see more of Olliver.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think Connor has been rejected by his family for being gay or something, and having Oliver as the only stability in his life helped him a little when they were together, and I still think last week's episode wasn't the end between them, cause I don't think he'd show up to an ex's door without seeing him for months.
ReplyDeleteI love this show. It's my favorite new show and second favorite show ever. It's amazing how they push boundaries with Connor's (very sexy) sex scenes and make subtle commentaries on race while maintaining an incredibly entertaining show.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite character is Michaela because we have the same name and it's even spelled the same way. Sadly, that actually is a factor. I mostly like her though because she is tightly wound, obsessed with status and a bit of a teacher's pet. She probably comes from a wealthy family, was popular in high school and has gotten used to being praised all of her life. A character who would have been a two-dimensional mean girl in a teen drama is actually portrayed somewhat sympathetically in this show and given some depth. from the promo for the series and the first episode, I thought that she would be a more tightly wound version of Cristina, but I like that they're going in a slightly different direction with her. I like that she fell apart during the coverup of the murder because it's a human reaction and given her willingness to act immorally to get what she wants, if she had kept her cool, she would have seemed too much like a sociopath.
It seems like Wes is Keating's favorite (which they actually touched on in this episode), but Connor is Paul Nowack's favorite and the other writers are taking their characterization cues from him. Of all the students, he is the one who has been fleshed out the most so far and given the most depth. The writer's don't really seem to know what to do with Laurel at this point, which isn't a huge problem since she'll probably be given more development later, although hopefully start a relationship with Frank. It would be cliche and creepy and given how much he disrespected her when they first met, I wouldn't believe she would actually give in to it.
I love the show and I loved your review. It's great how spoilertv seems to assign reviewers to shows they actually like because it sucks to watch a show that you love get ripped apart by a reviewer week after week because it's not their cup of tea or because they'd rather be doing something else.
I must confess: This is amazing to watch. It keeps me so foccused in this. Amazing episode. I am a big fan of Revenge but with the plot of Murder, I might this is becoming my top show
ReplyDeleteGreat review btw
Good theories... I think Sam tried to rape or kill Rebecca ( because she may know a lot) and it´s when the students came and have him killed
ReplyDeleteConnor is crazy, that guy have serious problems. I agree with you Jimmy, HTGAWM is very solid so far, great performances (that last scene surprise me too) and clever script.
ReplyDeleteP.S: Someone knows the name of the song of the last scene?
You analyze the characters very well. Glad you liked the review too :-) Us reviewers always at least enjoy the shows we watch - it makes a big difference and it's great to hear it pays off. Other sites who consistently bash a show drive me up the wall. It's such a waste of time writing and then reading something like that
ReplyDeleteI like this theory. I hope things aren't completely over between them, 'cause I'd kinda like to see where they could go from here. I like the idea of Connor having a stabilizing influence in his life. It was great to see his more vulnerable side this week with the guy's suicide, especially considering how cocky he was the week before when teasing Michaela about his fling with her ex. And seeing his breakdown in the "flashback" moments was disturbing yet intriguing all at the same time.
ReplyDeleteOthers have noted this, too-it's interesting that the people in this little gang who appeared the most self-assured and together at first are the ones who are cracking. Meanwhile, people like Laurel or Wes, who are kinda timid, kinda hesitant, kinda "wet behind the ears" in many ways, are suddenly stepping up and becoming more confident with each passing week. It's a nice switch.
I LOVE your analysis of Michaela, especially the idea of her going beyond the "mean girl" stereotype they could've played her as. Yes. It was easy to feel for her when she was dealing with the awkwardness of finding out her fiancé had some secrets in his past. She's one of those girls who needs her life to go a certain way, and while in most cases it'd be easy to find that sort of attitude annoying, in her case, I want her to be able to work everything out. I'm glad that we have a character who's reacting the way she is-I'm not the sort of intensely driven person she is and I would definitely be reacting in a similar fashion. I can relate very well to her panic and worry, and I just want to give her a hug and tell her everything will be all right (whether that's true or not!).
ReplyDeleteI agree that they'll likely build on Laurel's character as time goes on. I hope they do-I like the slight moments of confidence she's been displaying so far, so I'd love for her to start getting more take-charge and assured in herself and her abilities. I agree that she should stay far, FAR away from Frank, though. There is just no way that will end well on either side. And he's just a jerk-she deserves better.
Excellent summary of the characters and the series thus far. I agree with you on the reviewers as well-I'm all for critique, of course, as not every episode/season/storyline will hit it out of the park. But yeah, there are those reviews where it seems the person just out and out hates the show and it makes me wonder why they're still watching. A criticism would mean more to me coming from someone who still genuinely loves the show and yet can see where it can improve or change something...all while still acknowledging any good points the show has as well.
Thank you! That's one of the reasons spoilertv is one of my favorite review websites. It's always nice to be entertained by a series a second time by reading a review written by someone who enjoys the show and puts his or her own unique take on it instead of someone who seems to be phoning the review in or someone who enjoys verbally ripping the show apart.
ReplyDeleteYou're completely right. Constructive criticism does mean more when it's given by someone who actually enjoys the show overall and will acknowledge its strong points instead of just nitpicking over small things or turning their nose up at the show in general.
ReplyDeleteYou're also right about Laurel deserving better than Frank. Every time I watch him hit on her, I want to scour my brain with bleach.
I disagree about the ending. Considering that we already knew Annalise strongly suspected her husband of being involved with the dead girl, what's so "jaw dropping" that she found proof and confronts him with it? I thought it was a lot more jaw dropping how much less attractive Annalise is without her makeup.
ReplyDeleteI found it empowering that she confronted him naturally! Like hey you bastard I'm not hiding behind fake hair and eye lashes this is real and I'm not playing your mind games again. I'm not trying to be pretty for you. I'm not sugar coating it. Your not forgiven. I'm not defending you. So yeah definitely jaw dropping but not because of appearance. His reaction yeah.
ReplyDeleteHi Jimmy. Hey, do you remember the ABC interview where Ellen, Kerry and Viola are talking with Shonda Rhimes? I was wondering that , if you had a link to it, you could send it to me, please. I know we're about to end Murder's first season but I'm still a bit curious of how the talk went, and I was never able to watch it because of territory restrictions and when SpoilerTV finale released region free I never find the time. Thanks for reading.
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