HTGAWM: "Smile, Or Go To Jail"
Friday, October 10, 2014 at 1:00PM We're three episodes in to How To Get Away With Murder and three episodes is where I draw the line if a show isn't working for me. Time is too precious: one season of a network series is time enough for ten or eleven movies, you know? You could basically catch up with the entire Best Picture lineup from 1939 in that time, something surely all of America is eager to do if someone would only suggest it to them as an alternative to watching another season of CSI: Wherever*. For love of Viola Davis I'm giving this series one more episode to win me over instead. Also because ABC has promised that my jaw will drop with "the last nine words" from Viola's mouth on episode 4. If their prophesy is true, we'll see. But I shall state it simply: after three episodes I can safely say that I think the show is bad. Trashy fun? Eh, Kind of. But more like Trash that thinks it Hot Shit.
On episode three we begin again with that hyper-caffeinated bonfire / murder coverup in the future so basically you never know which episode you're watching until like 5 minutes in. But even after that opening five, deja vu prevails since the show is so formulaic: 1. Annalise takes a case; 2. Her students help solve it with interstitials of them doing sneaky things; 3. The legalese is explained with cutaways to Viola's lectures in class; 4. We learn the client is guilty; 5. Viola wins, or, minor derivation in episode three: Viola doesn't lose; 6. Roll Promo for next episode!
Biggest Pet Peeve Runner Up: Professor Annalise Keating only ever calls on the 5 students who have series regular gigs despite hundreds of hands going up in her lecture hall. Come on showrunners, be good samaritans - give one of those extras their SAG card with a line, you know? This is highly unrealistic classroom behavior. I absolutely cannot buy that her classrooms arebig draws (we hear that she brings in the students for the university big time) when she doesn't remotely seem interested in teaching or involving her students unless they work for her for free when they leave the classroom like indentured servants and drop all their other coursework and abstain from social lives except when it comes to sex scenes which can be used to prevent people from grabbing remotes and switching channels.
Biggest Pet Peeve Winner (by which I mean we all lose)
For a show aiming to showcase Viola Davis she's often crowded out what with all the subplots and her students doing basically everything for her.
Gay Guy vs. Prom Queen shared a penis: pass it on.
This particular episode? If I must. Viola defends Ugly Betty's sister who went politically radical decades ago and bombed a building. Ugly Betty's sister skips bail so Viola's courtroom time abruptly ends. Meanwhile: Wes convinces Annalise to defend his neighbor across the hall instead of the quarterback that the university has asked her to defend in the murder mystery that the first season is built on. Who Killed Lila WhatsHerFace? Who cares! On the sex scene front, Viola is again rebuffed by her muscle stud cop boyfriend (who lies to her about her husband's alibi bur dor what reason? Surely to cause unmotivated hysterical drama later in the season) so Prom Queen gets this episode's big sex scene with her heretofore unseen fiancee who, as it turns out, once slept with Gay Guy Not Matt Not Wes when he was 16 at boarding school. Prom Queen absolutely freaks out because no straight guy in the history of the universe has ever fooled around with another student at an all male boarding school when he was a horny teenager. Say it with me: "SCANDAL!"
* Please do not tell me this is not true in the comments, he says weeping.
Reader Comments (22)
I'm with you Nathaniel. This show only aired 3 episodes and it's already a mess. And worse, Annalise Keating as a character gets worse every hour. Poor Viola Davis.
I'm tempted to stick with it just to see if it redeems itself like Scandal did midway through (I no longer watch it as well, but the second season was very good). But the show needs to give me something.
After this ridiculous murder plot, I need the students to go. It's Viola all the time or nothing for me.
I'm clinging to this with a desperate hope that it will start to suck less, soon. If they are going to feed us this warmed-over formulaic tripe I am going to need much, much more Viola per episode than they gave us last night.
Praying for a Scandal-esque renaissance along with Jay.
I'm also on board with your take down. .....MURDER just isn't remotely believable..(The perp was on trial for murder through a terrorist act and they gave her bail? Not to mention no monitoring anklet? And within 3 hours of his testimony, the fellow terrorist bf is set free? Ridiculous!). The show isn't even fun. Last night was just dreary. There is no humanity in any of the characters. It must be a miserable set to work on.
As much as the show feels like it's from CBS, it's actually on ABC. ;)
I'm with the crowd on this one. I don't think I've ever watched a star vehicle that has less of the star in it. When Viola, who at least is being smartly attired and looks great, is on screen she is terrific but her character is often an unsympathetic bitch. That's a hard thing to build a long running series on whose name isn't House. The show needs to re-evaluate its strong suit, Viola, and scuttle the messy junk around her. Although they could keep her hardcore assistant, she great.
Then their are her irksome supporting cast. Connor is a good looking guy but he's a shallow tool. The whiny chick bemoaning the fact that her wedding dress is Vera Wang and she doesn't want to spend that much money on a marriage that won't work out, is a selfish witch and whether or not her fiancee is a switch hitter or not he should run the other way instantly. Lastly long necked and completely annoying Wes PLEASE go away and never come back. He is a black hole whenever he's in a scene.
I going to try one or two more episodes but I'm discouraged.
I'm mostly enjoying the show, but then again it's mostly because there's at least one scene every episode that makes me go "ALL THE EMMYS ARE BELONG TO VIOLA!!!!!" The big murder-mystery plot is already WAY too complicated for its own good, and the supporting cast is mostly uninteresting. And yes, the fact that Annalise only ever calls on her chosen five students very nearly made me throw things at the TV this week. But as long as I have fun watching Viola (and as long as there is network-television-hot gay sex), I'm sticking with it.
I'm mostly enjoying the show, but then again it's mostly because there's at least one scene every episode that makes me go "ALL THE EMMYS ARE BELONG TO VIOLA!!!!!" The big murder-mystery plot is already WAY too complicated for its own good, and the supporting cast is mostly uninteresting. And yes, the fact that Annalise only ever calls on her chosen five students very nearly made me throw things at the TV this week. But as long as I have fun watching Viola (and as long as there is network-television-hot gay sex), I'm sticking with it.
Aw, give it a chance, at least through the season. Plus, the twitter feeds throughout the broadcast are hilarious!!! The masses are tuning in meaning it could have some longevity which might lead to more interesting story arcs. As some have said, it's not The Good Wife, but for folks who don't have cable, it's great TV. I want that plum leather jacket! I have faith in Viola's choice.
This show is completely ridiculous, and I'm in love with it because of that, and I agree with Nathaniel that the creative staff seems to think that it's a far better show than it actually is. Landing Viola Davis is only a part of it, Murder staff! You need to build a show around her that has legs -- Viola can support it through sheer talent, but you can't let her bear the load of the mediocre at best writing and shepherd an inexperienced cast for too long because she's still only human.
I will support the show regardless and record it on DVR just so it's logged to support Viola's strategy: to convince America that she can be more than a downtrodden black woman cloaked in misery while still maintaining some sense of dignity. I think this show goes too far in the other extreme of that, but if it allows her an opportunity to explore the fertile middle ground now and in the future, I will support Murder's trashy charms.
joel6,
Yeah, they should keep Lisa Weil's character and the rest can get in and out between episodes. Do it like House, keeping everything that is not Viola and 1 or 2 supporting characters peripheral.
And they need to work on these cases of the week, they're embarrassing. If the legal system worked that way, ANYONE can get away with murder. It's ridiculous.
denny,
No chance. Julianna Margulies is WAY WAY WAY ahead in the Emmy race already. 3 brilliant episodes for 3 and from the looks of this Alicia Florrick-centric season, Viola won't stand a chance. If not even The McConaissance got the Emmy, Viola - with THIS, in particular - has no shot in hell.
And Viola needs to work it, because it's shaping up to be a cool season for lead women again.
The only time anyone on ......MURDER smiles or (rarely) laughs is if they have just caused someone else pain and no one seems to like anyone else. At least on Scandal, you believe the Gladiators share a common bond of friendship.
Viola can only do so much with the bad writing and poorly sketched character(s).
Ehh...I'm reluctantly inclined to agree with Nathaniel on this one. Reluctant, not because of Nathaniel, but because I so so wanted the show to be good. I actually quite enjoyed the pilot. I thought it was a lot of fun, but yeah. Diminishing returns. I really think Viola should have held out for a cable show. HTGAWM is the type of show that really only has the freedom to stand out and be uber-trashy on cable and as such it feels like a neutered, watered down Damages. It sucks that the one she was developing with Dee Rees (Pariah director) never took. And, HTGAWM aside, I'm surprised that Davis wouldn't prefer to go to cable (shorter seasons, less of a time commitment, generally higher quality than network television can boast).
I like Viola a lot, but looking at how HTGAWM is progressing, I have to turn to her in my best Marge Gunderson voice and say "I'm not sure I agree 100% with your police work, there." I feel like this show is going to trap her.
What, no mention thus far of Viola's bedroom realness look? Obviously, I am watching the shiw differently than most people here. And loving it.
This show has WAAAAAAAY too much going on. Flashbacks, the Wes's neighbor murder case, the Weather Underground-type guy, plus Viola, her boyfriend, husband, assistants, students, their significant others. It doesn't seem worth the investment for such plodding reveals (they hinted how many times Connor had hooked up with the boyfriend?).
On a better show, the Weather Underground guy would have merited at least a full episode, but this show wants you to know it is PACKED.
I think ep3 was my last episode.
Marsha Mason (I loved your work in Chapter Two, by the way) I think that the sheer number of characters is part of the problem, but shows with large ensembles ("Orange is the New Black" or "the Wire") have worked before. These characters are just all so bland. The gay guy who's like a maneater manages to be so over-the-top, yet also so clearly neutered by not being on a cable show. It's like we're seeing the network television version of Brian Kinney and it's not terribly interesting, at least not to me. I also think the shows attitudes about sex and sexuality are incredibly adolescent in their conception. And the audience surrogate with the Mr. Fantastic neck is pretty and fun to look at, but he has almost zero charisma or screen presence. It's almost like "Laugh In" where it's almost just him looking at the camera and his eyes getting really big anytime anything happens. Like...we get it. You're befuddled by everything around you. I love Paris Geller and I legit forget that she's on the show until she pops up every time. It's too little Viola, where (broken record, I know) she could have tried to get something on cable that would have showcased her better and demanded less of her time because of the shorter seasons.
The Pretentious,
The problem is not the shorter season. HTGAWM will have a shorter season, I believe 15 was the request that Viola made. The season finale is in early 2015.
It's not a great show, but it's a fun, trashy show, and that's enough for me.
Not everything has to Breaking Bad.
But I agree, Viola Davis needs to be utilized more.
I watched the first episode and couldn't even return for the second.
Honestly, I never had any interest in the show, Viola Davis aside. The plot, the characters, nothing. I watched the first clip and was underwhelmed. And Viola is not even being utilized well, soo... this show is sadly a huge disappointment. Poor Viola.
I don't know why anyone ever expected believability given the show's title and Shonda Rhimes being an executive producer. It's probably about as believable with the law as Scandal is with politics, which is to say, not very. The show is rather "busy" but maybe they're hoping to distract everyone from Wes being the wolf in sheep's clothing.
I'm with you Nathaniel - I gave it three and now I'm out!
"Ugly Betty's sister" -- I'm weeeaaak. I mean, W-E-A-K. Hahaha.
But seriously, I can only assume that anyone who thought this show was going to be good has obviously never seen an episode of a Shonda Rhimes series. Lady V brings her A game to whatever she does, but I knew before I watched a single moment that even she wouldn't be able to elevate this mess but so much. Any time that her minions take center stage, I want to jam a pencil into each eyeball. Can *any* of them act?
Is the show good? No. Is the show fun? I think so! Trashy TV with Viola Davis > Trashy Reality TV
As far as this episode goes, I love how different the show's version of the legal system is from the reality of America's legal system. A woman is arrested, indicted, and tried all within the space of a week or two? Yeah, right!