Every year unconventional Criminal Law professor, Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) chooses five students to be her interns. In exchange for this opportunity they must work for free for her law firm alongside her two assistants, Frank (Charlie Weber) and Bonnie (Liza Weil), doing whatever it takes to win cases.
The five students find themselves dealing not only with Annalise’s challenging clients and cases but also her complex personal life. When intern, Wes’ (Alfred Enoch) neighbour, Rebecca (Katie Findlay) is accused of murder things get even more complicated. Is Annalise involved? Is her husband? And what really happened on the night of the bonfire?
How to Get Away With Murder tells its story bouncing between different timelines, past, present and future and does it surprisingly well. Viola Davis, is as always absolutely brilliant playing the ruthless but broken Annalise. Watching her life collapse and learning more about her past is the most compelling part of the season. The supporting performances are mostly decent, the cases the team take on are twisty and turny and there’s enough intrigue to keep you hooked not only into the episode but also into the overall story.
It’s very, very dramatic in a very, very American way. If you’re used to the serious, slow burning pace of British crime dramas or even the stylish surrealism of something like Killing Eve there are bits that seem a bit over the top. There were moments that I really could not take seriously but that the show seemed to think were serious. This tonal imbalance is what makes this pacy show good rather than great. If you can sink yourself into the soapiness of it then it’s a lovely bit of escapism. If you get to the end of the first episode and your eyes are tired from rolling, then probably it’s not for you.
3/5