Television

Standard Of Review: 'How To Get Away With Murder' Is Back And As Bland As Ever

The show has changed its format but still has lots of problems, according to culture critic Harry Graff.

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How To Get Away With Murder 2 LF RFWho shot Mahoney?

I had assumed that most of the third season of How To Get Away With Murder would depict the fallout from the answer to this question. The show’s second season finale contained the twist of Wes learning that evil Cleveland-based hedge fund king Wallace Mahoney is his father. At some point between 2005 and 2016, Mahoney realizes that he hates watching quality basketball and leaves Cleveland for New York. As soon as Wes confronts Mahoney in the street, an unknown assailant shoots and kills Mahoney. But instead of dragging the Mahoney drama out for most of the third season, the show deals with it swiftly and then mostly ignores it (this review will contain spoilers through the first three episodes of the third season).

The third season premiere reveals within the first ten minutes that Frank (who in 2005 had been coerced by Mahoney to turn on Annalise and has been guilt-ridden about it ever since) is Mahoney’s killer. Frank then flees the scene, shaves his trademark beard, and goes into hiding. The show then moves forward to the beginning of the following school year (the main characters are finally 2Ls!) and depicts how Annalise and the rest of her murderous clan are attempting to move on and live normal lives.

Wes seems fairly unfazed by the traumatic experience of learning that his father is alive, only to see him shot dead five seconds after meeting him. He has seemingly gotten rid of his attractive therapist from last season and begins a relationship with a seemingly down-to-earth girlfriend, who is jealous of Wes for his closeness with Laurel. It is certainly possible that the show will return to Wes’s issues with his father, but it seems like a cheat to spend an entire half-season on the Mahoney plotline and then to drop it so quickly.

Asher seems fine mentally after his father committed suicide last season. But he is struggling financially, and he asks Annalise for a loan to cover his tuition. Annalise derisively rebukes him, instead suggesting that Asher get a job to pay for tuition. Asher therefore finds employment as an RA for freshmen. Wait, has How To Get Away With Murder never heard of student loans? And does Asher make enough as an RA to pay for law school? The whole subplot of Asher as an RA is clearly meant to be comic relief, such as Asher giving romantic advice to two freshman girls. But I wish that the show had made even a half-hearted attempt to learn how much law school costs or what Asher’s payment options are.

Asher also has continued his sexual relationship with Michaela. As I complained about last season, the show seems to have no idea what to do with Michaela; right now she mostly acts as a romantic foil for Asher. In this past week’s episode, I hoped that Michaela was turning a corner when Annalise picked her to “first chair” the defense of the alleged murderer of a prostitute, but Michaela never did any actual lawyering; instead she went with Asher, Connor, and Oliver on a mostly pointless trip to Atlantic City. And Michaela’s drama in that episode had more to do with her awkwardness with Bonnie over Asher; when it comes to Michaela, the show almost always fails the Bechdel Test.

Laurel is scarred by Frank’s abrupt heel turn, and repeatedly leaves him repeated pleading messages on his voicemail. She also seems upset that Wes has a girlfriend, given that last season she kissed Wes on a trip to Cleveland (Laurel is not doing much better when it comes to the Bechdel Test). Aside from her romantic subplots, in last week’s episode Laurel made contact with her father, who she had previously described as some sort of criminal. In a clever subversion of audience expectations (see, I can compliment this show sometimes!), Laurel’s father turns out not to be a mobster but a legitimate businessman; far from appearing dangerous, Laurel’s father employs a corporate mediator to ref their conversation. The show hints that there is much more to the father-daughter relationship (Laurel accuses her father of making weapons and drones for the government, and she asserts that she was kidnapped as a teenager and her father refused to pay ransom), but Laurel is one of the few characters right now whose storyline is actually moving.

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Connor has apparently gotten over his hatred of Annalise (by far the most interesting thing about him), but becomes heartbroken after Oliver breaks up with him. In this past week’s episode, Connor is extremely awkward around Oliver during the group’s impromptu trip to Atlantic City. Without the animosity between Connor and Annalise, Connor’s storyline plays as boring melodrama.

Annalise appears to have a good relationship with Nate, despite the fact that she previously framed him for a crime he did not commit. And lo and behold, even though her students are now 2Ls, she is still their professor, leading a clinic in which each week the class works together to defend a pro bono client. Middleton, the fictional university at whose law school Annalise teaches, has a new president, Soroya Hargrove (Lauren Vélez), who fires Annalise from her 1L class, not because she is not a tenured professor (which would have been compltely justifiable) but because she favors certain students who all have extremely low GPAs. Annalise is still allowed to teach her pro bono class, but matters become worse after someone begins hanging posters over campus that show Annalise’s face and the word “killer.”

Annalise’s clinic is unlike anything I have ever seen. Every week the class takes on a new pro bono case, and the students “compete” to be first and second chair in the ensuing court proceeding. This leads to an extremely disorganized defense strategy; each student just does his or her own thing, without any supervision. For example, in the season premiere, one student interviews the defendant’s family and community members, and convinces them to testify, without previously telling Annalise or the rest of the class. In the second episode, each student in the class is given one minute to present a defense strategy to the actual defendant, who decides which student she likes the best. In the third episode, Annalise chooses Michaela as the first chair because she raised her hand first. I cannot fathom why a defendant would agree to this nonsense. And the show is not even consistent about what being “first chair” means; sometimes – despite not being attorneys – the students actually get to speak in court. Other times, such as in last week’s episode, Annalise takes the lead in court and the “first chair” is basically a third chair behind Annalise and Bonnie. Further, even though the class has roughly fifty people in it, in all three episodes that have aired so far, the first chair is one of the main cast members (though, amusingly, the show introduces a brown-nosing gunner who always wants to be first chair but is never chosen).

Even though it is lacking in verisimilitude, this format could work for the show going forward. While I will miss the “case of the season” format that the show has utilized previously, which has led to many jokes by me about the Cruel Intentions Siblings or the Hedge Fund King of Cleveland, the case-of-the-week format allows each case to be over before it gets too absurd.

Nevertheless, How To Get Away With Murder has not eliminated its serial elements. This season’s “flash-forward” shows a distraught Annalise looking at a dead body in front of her house, which is on fire. The helpful ABC announcer tells us that every week, the show will reveal one character (besides Annalise) who is not the dead body. The second and third episodes reveal that Oliver and Bonnie, respectively, are still among the living. I hate this gimmick, mostly because hinting at a plot point at which the show will arrive in the future mistakes mystery for actual drama (Breaking Bad is my favorite show of all time, and even I disliked the flash-forwards that opened each half of the fifth season). Nevertheless, even though I hate myself for actually making a prediction, I am going out on a limb to predict that the identity of the deceased person will be anticlimactic, perhaps not a show regular, such as Annalise’s former lover Eve.

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I will definitely check in on How To Get Away With Murder at least one more time over the course of the half-season. And even without the “case of the season” approach, I am sure I will find plenty to mock.

Earlier: Standard Of Review: A Belated Catch-Up With ‘How To Get Away With Murder’
Standard Of Review: The Mid-Season Finale Of ‘How To Get Away With Murder’ Is Predictable And Underwhelming

Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at harrygraff19@gmail.com. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.

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