How To Get Away With Murder - Series Premiere - Review: Needs More Viola Davis

In short, by making the series more about her students, the show threatens to become far less immersive, and considerably less rewarding than if it simply were a character study of Annalise Keating. She's the interesting one. She's the one driving the story and delivering all the memorable moments. Even in this pilot episode, she proves to be more complex and fascinating than any of her students, which is why it's so disconcerting that the show decides to focus so much on the elements that don't work nearly as well as Davis.

Credit: ABC

Of the students, Connor Walsh (Twisted alum Jack Falahee) is the most interesting, showing an Annalise-like talent for getting the job done by any means necessary. In a critical defense case, he is able to obtain sensitive documents by sleeping with one of the male clerks from the opposing firm, which is an illegal tactic, but one that Annalise is able to use to her advantage. Yet, Connor's value as a character is almost immediately offset by the obnoxious nature of his classmates...

Credit: ABC

Michaela Pratt (Aja Naomi King) is borderline insufferable as the wannabe teacher's pet, the girl who must excel at all things at all times; Laurel Castillo (Karla Souza) is a misguided girl with good intentions who really can't seem to do anything right (angering Annalise within the first few moments of class by answering a question posed to another student, essentially robbing that student of a "teaching moment"); Asher Millstone (Matt McGorry) comes across as a bit self-involved, a dude-bro who manages to have an acumen for criminal law; and Wes Gibbins (Alfred Enoch) manages to advance in the class despite not appearing to know all that much about criminal law himself, having only been drafted to the law school from the wait list two days earlier. This collection of misfits form the basis for much of this pilot's action, as we get a flashforward story that takes place three months into the future that reveals that these four students have murdered Annalise's husband, Professor Tom Keating (Tom Verica). They dispose of his body, and light the corpse on fire to destroy DNA evidence, yet we don't know how or why they killed him. Of course, it only stands to reason that a series that features a course titled "How To Get Away With Murder" would invariably result in producing students who'd end up using those lessons to actually get away with murder. But will they get away with it? I suppose that's the question.

Credit: ABC

Yet the answer to that question doesn't interest me anywhere near as much as Viola Davis's performance. The premise of the series centers around the titular law school course that brings all of the student characters into Annalise's orbit, but it's most interesting moments come from the cases Annalise actually works. As we quickly learn, she uses some of her real cases as the hypotheticals in her classroom, meaning that her students are actually helping her with her current courtroom issues. Michaela helps discredit a witness in the case of a mistress accused of poisoning the married CEO with whom she was having an affair. Meanwhile, Jack obtains an email that casts doubt on the testimony of a difference witness, while Laurel accidentally witness a conversation between the mistress and the wife that suggests a criminal conspiracy. This is all well and good, I suppose, but Annalise's courtroom delivery is what sells the drama. She's always shown to be someone who thinks on her feet, such as when her client fails to disclose having purchased an incriminating substance on the night of the murder -- all of which was caught on a surveillance camera. In order to curtail the prosecution's case, Annalise calls her secret lover, Detective Nate Fahey (Billy Brown), to the stand to introduce the idea that the Philadelphia police have tampered with security camera footage in the past. And just like that, Annalise helps her client get away with murder, even while Wes proves to be the only classmate who knows of the sordid connection between Annalise and Detective Fahey, after having accidentally walked in on the two during sex.

Credit: ABC/Nicole Rivelli

In a moment of weakness, Annalise admits to Wes that Detective Fahey is her boyfriend, and that she and Tom have been trying to have a baby for some time, which has put strain on their marriage. Davis is tremendous at selling the pathos of a collapsing marriage, revealing a crack in Annalise's rigid armor. However, even this interesting kernel of a storyline is offset by the introduction of a murder case that could possibly involve Tom Keating, as one of his students has gone missing. By the end of the episode, the student turns up dead in a sorority house water tank; and, three months into the future, Tom is every bit as much of a goner. All that's left to piece together is the how and the why. Yet none of this is as interesting as a show that goes full-on House with its lead, making it about Annalise more than anyone else on the show. How To Get Away With Murder isn't the Annalise Keating Show just yet, but I have every reason to suspect that it will be, if the show recognizes the incredible strength it has in Davis's performance. Here's hoping the show reaches that level of self-awareness, because as it is now, How To Get Away With Murder isn't great television. It's simply an interesting diversion with brief flashes of possible greatness.