Rights holder / Distributor: ABC Studios / Shondaland / Nowalk Entertainment / Disney-ABC Domestic Television
„How can we get away with murder?“ (How to Get Away with Murder) is an American crime drama series created by Peter Nowalk and produced by Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Bears. It premiered on September 25, 2014 on ABC, and the story ends in 2020 after six seasons and a total of 90 episodes. It centers on the charismatic, uncompromising criminal law professor Annabelle Keating, who draws her students into a world where the line between law and crime is gradually disappearing.
Plot
Annabelle Keating is a successful criminal defense attorney and professor who selects several of her most ambitious students to work in her own firm. Among them are Wes Gibbins, Connor Walsh, Michaela Pratt, Asher Millstone, and Laurel Castillo, who quickly learn that real practice is far more dangerous than anything they learn in college. When they themselves find themselves implicated in a murder, Keating's professional knowledge becomes a means to cover up a truth that threatens to destroy them all.
The series constantly jumps between the past and the present, gradually revealing how the characters' decisions lead to new crimes, lies, and betrayals. Each season adds a new case and a new layer to the main story, with the personal relationships between the characters gradually becoming as important as the legal battles. This structure allows "„How can we get away with murder?“"to combine a crime mystery, a courtroom drama, and a psychological thriller without prematurely revealing the most important twists.".
Directing
Peter Nowalk builds the series around a fast pace, complex time structure, and constantly shifting points of view. Rather than a traditional courtroom drama, the production uses the cases as the basis for a much larger story of power, guilt, ambition, and moral compromise. The direction of the various episode directors maintains this dynamic approach, and the editing often turns individual scenes into parts of a larger crime mystery.
Particularly interesting is the connection with Shonda Rhimes and Shondaland – the company behind „Grey's Anatomy“" and "„Scandal“". Although "„How can we get away with murder?“" has its own style, it brings the typical mix of strong female characters, personal conflicts, dramatic twists and tense relationships typical of these productions. The series even connects directly to "Sshackle“" via a special crossover in 2018, placing him even more clearly in the television universe built by Rhimes' team.
Acting
Viola Davis is the undisputed center of the series and one of the main reasons it works so well. Annabelle Keating is at once a brilliant lawyer, a strong and vulnerable woman, a person with a difficult past, and a character capable of making morally questionable decisions when the situation demands it. Davis's performance is so strong that in 2015 she won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series - a historic moment, as she became the first black actress to win the award in the category.
Around her Billy Brown, Jack Falahee, Aya Naomi King, Matt McGorry, Charlie Webber, Lisa Weil, Conrad Ricamora, Carla Souza and Alfred Enoch build an ensemble that gradually becomes the true emotional core of the story. Each character gets their own storyline and development, and the relationships between the students, professors, lawyers, and their opponents constantly change dynamics. It is the ensemble that allows the series to go beyond the usual judicial formula and become a psychological story about people who find it increasingly difficult to escape the consequences of their own decisions.
Conclusion
„How can we get away with murder?“" is one of those crime series that gradually transforms its initial mystery into a much larger story of guilt, power, and survival. At times, the many twists and turns can seem overly dramatic, and some plot decisions are clearly aimed at maintaining tension at all costs. However, the series has enough strong characters and convincing acting to keep the interest going for six seasons.
His greatest achievement remains the image of Annabelle Keating and the performance of Viola Davis, which elevates the production above standard television crime stories. For fans of courtroom dramas, mysteries, and suspenseful films and series with many twists and turns, this is a title that deserves attention. "„How can we get away with murder?“" remains an important part of Shondaland's television success, along with "„Grey's Anatomy“" and "„Scandal“.
