Wednesday 16 December 2020

How to Get Away with Murder(ing your screenplay) - Season 1 (2014)

This review title isn't of course fair. It may be funny, but the screenplay - well let's say story - is at fault to begin with.

It's Legally Blonde! Well, sort of. Why are four law students disposing of a body in the green night? Through annoyingly flitty flashbacks, accompanied by wooshing sounds, we find out. It's untroubled by anything interesting, and populated by largely unlikable characters. The scripting or acting or directing is uncertain, e.g. the Viola character is hard-as-nails sometimes but weepy and weak in others, same applies to the nose-ring girl (and the collusive student).

Some of the dialogue is juicily bad, e.g. 'Why is your penis on a dead girl's phone?' Someone's idea to intercut love-making to an autopsy was really not a good one. It's just a bit incredible, and really not that good.


With Viola are Alfred Enoch, Billy Brown (cop), Jack Falahee (gay student), Katie Findlay (nose ring girl), Aja Naomi King, Matt McGorry (preppy), Karla Souza (legal aid), Charlie Weber (married attorney).


We made it as far as episode 10, expecting that to be the finale, only to find five more episodes of this turgid and unbelievable series awaited us, and promptly gave up. We could only assume it has kept running, series after series, because it follows the 'difficult case every episode' format, thus following in the lines of Ally McBeal, The Good Wife/Fight etc.


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