TV Corner: How to Get Away With Murder

[Content Note: Homophobia. Spoilers for the ABC television series How to Get Away With Murder.]


Can we talk about this show? Because OMFG this show.

I was hooked right from the first episode, mostly because Shonda Rhimes. By which I don't just mean her concept and writing, which are typically terrific, but also because the diversity of casting which is a signature of her shows, as well as the fact that the first episode of this primetime network series contained not only a scene of a woman getting head but a scene of gay men having sex. Yes, please!

Personally, I haven't felt in dire need of more sex in my TV viewing. It's just that, if there's going to be sex in my TV viewing, I'd like to see evidence of showrunners and/or producers who are aware that types of sex exist other than a dude and a lady having PIV sex (often with dubious consent). And I don't think it's coincidence that I see that mostly in shows with female showrunners and/or producers (see also: The Good Wife and Nurse Jackie, as but two examples).

ANYWAY! I'm into this show. And not just for reflecting a world that looks vaguely more like the one I inhabit. That is, with people other than thin straight white cis men and women. I also like the mysteries, and how the two ongoing mysteries intertwine with single-episode cases, too. It's a good combination of a serial drama and episodic drama, which holds my interest and makes the show eminently watchable.

I didn't, however, love the show until last week's episode. The final sequence, in which Viola Davis' character strips off her armor, her lawyer veneer, taking off her jewelry, her make-up, her wig, to ask her husband as his wife at her most vulnerable, why his penis is on a dead girl's phone, was extraordinary. Holy shit. The symbolism of that scene. Amaaaaaaazing.

I immediately texted Deeks about it, who replied: "RIGHT?!?!? OMFG. GIVE HER THE FUCKING EMMY RIGHT NOW!"

Liss: She is so fucking great!!!! I love herrrrrrrrrrr.

Deeks: That transformation.

Liss: It was one of the best things I've ever seen on TV, that transformation. I can't even deal with how great it was.

Deeks: Amazing.

This morning, Deeky tweeted at me this exchange Shonda Rhimes had with a viewer who complained about "the gay scenes" in the same episode. (Referring to another scene of two men having sex.) Rhimes' responses were priceless, culminating in: "If u use the phrase 'gay scenes', u are not only LATE to the party but also NOT INVITED to the party. Bye Felicia."

I said to Deeks: If you watched that episode and got pissed about seeing two men having sex instead of marveling at the final sequence, YOU FAIL AT LIFE.

How to Get away with Murder might not be for everyone, because it does contain images of violence. But it's a show for everyone who wants to come to the party, if you know what I mean.

So: Are you watching it? Tell me everything!