Melissa Almonor
Connector Staff
Shonda Rhimes, producer and creator of hit television shows “Scandal” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” premiered her newest TV sensation this fall, “How to Get Away with Murder.” The show stars actress Viola Davis as defense lawyer Annalise Keating who teaches Criminal Law, which she calls “How to Get Away with Murder,” at the fictional Middleton University in Philadelphia.
The series can be described as a combination of “Law and Order,” in the way that they investigate a different crime each week, and “Scandal,” by having the series center around one dominant woman trying to balance a career and personal life that bleed together.
Every week, Keating is faced with a complicated case in which she enlists her students to investigate, the incentive being a free pass from a future assignment and a potential position in Keating’s law firm. Cases have involved a man accused of brutally stabbing his wife 16 times, a woman accused of poisoning her lover and another woman entangled in unethical stock market trading.
These clients hire Keating specifically because of her diligence. Keating is headstrong and determined to win each one of her cases, whether she believes her client is innocent or not. This leads to unethical behavior from her students, who are determined to make a name for themselves in the eyes of their esteemed professor.
Keating’s do-whatever-necessary attitude leads to conflicts slipping from the classroom into her personal life as each character at some point has to ask themselves the trying question: how far will they go?
It was exposed that Keating’s husband is being investigated for his involvement in an unsolved murder case. Though the defense lawyer has doubts of her husband’s innocence, Keating chooses to stand by him and plans to cover all tracks pointing to him.
Last week, the writers took a completely different route by showing the story from the perspective of the victim; this makes for a new and innovative way for the audience to watch and interpret crime investigation shows.
The series will more than likely get another season, but the issue that comes to mind is what more they can do. The series is only seven episodes in and it seems like it has all been done. As exciting as this season had been, the longevity of the show may be in question.
The writers may have given the viewer too much in the first season. It is hard to imagine the next season being better when so much has already happened.
Tune in Thursday nights at 10 p.m. on ABC to see more.
