Caution, spoiler alerts ahead:
ABC recently premiered it’s newest drama; you know, that one we saw previews for all summer with that One Republic song and Viola Davis furiously writing on a chalkboard, being a woman boss as per usual. Yes, the academy award nominee stars in ABC’s new hit drama titled “How To Get Away With Murder.”
Like many of us college students who don’t have the luxury of owning DVR recording device, we huddled around at exactly 10 p.m. to watch the premiere, and you know that any show with the word “murder” in the title is going to hook you within the first two minutes. Sure enough, the opening scene shows four college students in a park, late at night, fighting about what to do with a body that apparently they just did the dirty deed of killing off. As I was yelling “Wait, who is that?! Who did they just kill?!” the show cuts and starts again with that “three months earlier” hook, and boy did they hook me. Well played ABC, well played.
The puzzle pieces slowly come together as we find that the same four students from the opening scene are all students of high profile law professor, Professor Annalise Keating, played by Davis. The threads of mystery begin to unravel faster and faster as it is revealed to the audience who these characters are and more importantly, their secretive relationships with one another.
Out of a giant lecture hall, Professor Keating selects a handful of her best students to join her firm, which includes our four students from the opening scene. Their task is to join Professor Keating on whatever is her current case, contributing information. Over the course of the season, whichever student presents the most valuable tactics to defending her client is awarded with a gold statue, one with a woman blindfolded, holding a scale, classic symbol of law. Possession of this statue buys his or her way out of an exam. So now there’s stiff competition between all of the selected students and the audience is left to decide whom they want to root for, but more importantly, whom they can really trust.
The pilot episode ends with the victim of the murder from the opening scene being revealed who happens to be Professor Keating’s husband who she also happened to be cheating on with one of the detectives on her case. But that secret is just the tip of the iceberg. We find that each of our four protagonists, the students, each holding a secret as well. Student Wes Gibbons is convinced that he was only selected for Keating’s elite group because he knows about her affair. Similarly, Rebecca Sutter believes she was only selected due to the fact that Keating’s TA has interest in dating her. Pretty boy, Connor Walsh, uses his relations with other men to get one step ahead on clues and information. And lastly, Michaela Pratt is the prime teacher’s pet that will do anything to win this cutthroat competition. If you’re into drama and murder, be sure to check out this new show right after “Scandal,” Thursdays at 10 p.m. on ABC.