Television

Standard Of Review: Examining Two Shows - 'How To Get Away With Murder' And 'Suits' - For The Price Of One

We're currently in a stacked season for legal entertainment, so let's squeeze two shows into one column.

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Vintage TelevisionWe are currently in a stacked season for legal entertainment. With Billions back, and Trial & Error and Better Call Saul on the horizon, I barely have time in the packed schedule to examine the end of the short half-seasons of How To Get Away With Murder and Suits. So I am going to review them both in one column! This review contains spoilers through both shows’ season finales.

I previously predicted that the central mystery of this half-season of How To Get Away With Murder – who killed Wes? – would be resolved at the very last minute of the season and that any suggestion prior to that would be a red herring. Lo and behold, I was right! Even though the show strongly hinted that Nate, Connor, or District Attorney Todd Denver was the killer, unsurprisingly that was not the case. Instead, the season’s final moments reveal that Laurel’s father ordered Wes’s death, which was carried out by a man connected to him.

This is a problem that has plagued many television mysteries (The Killing in particular). Inevitably, the mystery will unravel in the final minutes of the season. But that means that the previous episodes contain all sorts of red herrings and dead ends, which is frustrating for the viewer, as there is little forward momentum. For How To Get Away With Murder, the easy solution to this problem is to stop being a mystery. The show can still twist and turn without being reliant on building up to a mystery that will be solved in the season’s (or half-season’s) final seconds.

These issues overshadow some really strong acting by the entire cast, particularly Viola Davis and Aja Naomi King. Davis is now a (very deserved) Academy Award winner, and she displays her skills by nailing a scene in the finale in which she breaks down at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting about Wes’s death. Davis gave a restrained performance for the vast majority of the season – which Annalise spent mostly in jail – so her explosion at the season’s climax really hits home.

King has been terrific all season as Michaela has taken on greater responsibility in the wake of Wes’s death and Annalise’s arrest, and King perfectly encapsulates the uneasy juxtaposition between Michaela’s steely demeanor and her growing love for Asher. I initially complained that Michael and Asher was a completely random pairing, but sometimes those can be the most effective (such as Sawyer and Juliet on Lost).

One of the strongest subplots this half-season was Bonnie’s frustration at her futile attempts to get the judge to grant bail to Annalise. Unfortunately, Bonnie never received her redeeming moment. I’m hoping that will come next season, as this seems like a loose end.

Suits, as expected, focused heavily on everyone’s favorite topic, character and fitness, as Mike Ross attempts to gain admission to the bar despite being a felon. In order to accomplish this, Harvey Specter engages in a complicated ploy to convince the unethical chair of the committee to vote in Mike’s favor. Harvey miraculously accomplishes this, but then is surprised to learn that A.U.S.A. Anita Gibbs, the dogged prosecutor who put Mike in jail in the first place, has finagled her way onto the committee. Things look hopeless until Jessica Pearson flies in at the last minute (even though Gina Torres has left the show to join the cast of The Catch) to make a veiled threat towards Gibbs that gets Mike approved.

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Most character and fitness interviews in New York are one-on-one and last for only a few minutes, so I actually don’t know what the process would be for someone in Mike’s situation. But a full-blown hearing that lasts for days on end and contains numerous panel members seems like overkill.

Mike spends most of the season as an advisor at a legal clinic. I enjoyed this storyline not just because it was different for Suits, but also because it illustrates Mike’s biggest weaknesses – his smugness and his tendency to lie. Mike thinks he is better than every actual attorney at the clinic, particularly after one attorney gets tongue-tied at oral argument, resulting in a client getting evicted. While obviously this attorney needs to work on his oral argument skills, Mike overreacts, and ends up patronizing him instead of teaching him. Furthermore, Mike is properly called out by the head of the clinic for hiding the true reason for taking a big class action case for the clinic:  a side deal with the head of the character and fitness committee to get him admitted. Even though Mike is rejoining Pearson Specter Litt next season, it looks like the clinic will play a major role, and I hope that the show continues to delve into Mike’s faults.

The other major storyline this season was Donna teaming up with the firm’s IT guy to create a device called “The Donna” that acts as a digital personal assistant. This plot actually gives Donna some real pathos at the end of the season as her dream is shattered by their inability to obtain a patent; I only wish it hadn’t begun as a bad Black Mirror episode (if such a thing could possibly exist).

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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