Television

Standard Of Review: How To Not Get Away With Bad Storytelling

There is too much going on on How to Get Away with Murder, according to culture critic Harry Graff.

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There is too much going on on How to Get Away with Murder.

Typically, I enjoy serial television storytelling that contains numerous plotlines and characters, such as The Wire and Game of Thrones. How to Get Away With Murder is not nearly as well written as those two shows, but lately, it has been just as complicated. In attempting to juggle numerous major storylines at once, How to Get Away With Murder is not able to properly explore any of them (this column will contain spoilers through last Thursday’s episode).

First, we have the season-long arc of Annalise’s defense of Caleb and Catherine Hapstall (Kendrick Sampson and Amy Okuda, respectively), two siblings accused of the execution-style murder of their adopted parents. When I last wrote about the show a few weeks ago, I noted the eerie parallels between the Hapstal siblings and Sebastian and Katherine from the classic 1999 film Cruel Intentions (one more parallel: Charlie Weber – who plays Frank on How to Get Away With Murder – was one of the stars of the direct-to-video Cruel Intentions 3, a  movie I did not even know existed until I began writing this column, which is surprising because I have actually seen Cruel Intentions 2 despite Amy Adams’s likely attempt to destroy all copies of that “film” from the face of the Earth). While I flippantly noted the sexual tension between the Hapstall siblings, I did not expect those characters to actually be lovers. But lo and behold, the show wasted no time making their alleged romance a key issue in their defense. Of course, the Hapstalls vehemently deny their sexual relationship, but nevertheless, I am going to take credit for this prediction (though I am still waiting for How to Get Away with Murder to fully embrace Cruel Intentions and play a Placebo song).

The Hapstall plotline has not been perfect so far (particularly the show’s attempt to force a romance between Caleb and Michaela (Aja Naomi King)), but (unlike some of the other plots summarized below) it’s somewhat interesting and has actual forward momentum. The problem is that it frequently seems like an afterthought. For example, last week’s episode relegated the Hapstall defense to the C story, and entailed Annalise’s attempt to discredit the testimony of Caleb and Catherine’s late aunt (another murder victim). But this story was given such short shrift that, for the vast majority of the episode, I honestly did not realize that this task was for a pretrial hearing, not the actual trial.

Second, we have the fallout from last season’s season-long arc that includes not one, not two, but three different unsolved murders: Lila Stangard (Megan West), Annalise’s husband Sam Keating (Tom Verica), and Rebecca Souter (Katie Findlay). Wes (Alfred Enoch) is particularly interested in Rebecca’s murder, and he teams up with her foster brother Levi Wescott (Matt Cohen) to investigate. Wes and Levi suspect Frank in Rebecca’s murder, and they manage to find Frank’s supposedly secret storage locker. But instead of Rebecca’s body, the amateur sleuths find a suitcase full of money. It turns out that this was all a ruse by Frank, who knew that he was suspected of murder. To add insult to injury, Frank successfully frames Levi for crystal meth possession.

With respect to Sam’s murder, Asher (Matt McGorry) is basically the only person on this entire show that doesn’t know the identity of Sam’s killer (Wes). Asher makes a deal with the District Attorney’s office to snitch on Annalise and her merry band of murderers, in return for immunity for some impropriety in Asher’s past. To prevent this, Annalise’s associate Bonnie Winterbottom (Liza Weil) lies and tells Asher that she killed Sam. Because Asher loves Bonnie (of course), he reneges on his deal with the District Attorney.

Both the Rebecca and Sam plotlines are problematic because the show throws numerous roadblocks to prevent the characters from learning something that we already know – the identity of Rebecca’s and Sam’s killers. Thus, How to Get Away with Murder is spending an inordinate amount of time on a borderline meaningless storyline that will have little payoff. The Bonnie-Asher plotline is even more troubling because those two characters have virtually no sexual chemistry with each other. I am no fan of the romance between John Bennett (McGorry) and Daya (Dascha Polanco) on McGorry’s other show Orange is the New Black, but they are like Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn when compared to Asher and Bonnie.

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Third, there is the flash-forward plotline in which Annalise has been shot in the stomach at the Hapstalls’ mansion. While this plot is being doled out in small parcels, at this point we know that virtually the entire cast (even including Caleb) is somehow involved. The problem with these flash-forwards is that they have virtually no dramatic stakes; no one in their right mind would believe that How to Get Away with Murder is going to kill off Annalise and jettison Emmy winner Viola Davis (by far the best actor on this show). There seems to be a recent trend in television in which shows pretend to kill off a main character via a stomach wound and then utilize an overhead camera shot that slowly zooms out on a dying body. Without spoiling anything, this has happened in 2015 on two other shows I watch regularly, including one very recently. And in all three shows, I am virtually certain that those dying characters are not dead. I hate this trend, which is a cheap and artificial way to create dramatic tension. It is particularly problematic on How to Get Away with Murder because it is taking away time from other storylines.

Fourth, there is the “case of the week,” which the show barely cares about. For example, in the October 15 episode, Annalise defends a high school student accused of brutally stabbing her best friend after being recruited to join a Mean Girls-esque clique. After viewing the trial, Connor (Jack Falahee) makes parallels between the high school clique and Annalise, concluding that Annalise has “bullied” her students into committing heinous acts, including murder. Connor then acts out in retaliation, including mouthing off to Annalise and day-drinking instead of working. While this is an interesting bit of character development (even though this revelation has been completely obvious to the audience), the show barely depicts the case itself, save for a few scenes. High school bullying is a hot-button topic that deserves to be explored in more than a perfunctory manner.

These are just the main storylines; the show also contains upwards of a dozen subplots, including that seemingly every character is sleeping with (at least) one other character. If How to Get Away with Murder wants to become a better show, I would recommend ditching most of these storylines and focusing on the defense of the Hapstalls. Or, alternatively, turning the show into Cruel Intentions 4.

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 [email protected]. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.

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