The anchor of the show is not actually Davis, though, but Enoch (who Harry Potter fans may know from his bit part as Dean Thomas in that franchise). As the normal, naïve underdog who finds out very quickly that he is in too over his head – he gets his name called out in class and stumbles through a pathetic answer – it is his endearing everyman qualities that makes one root for him. The rest of the characters, who are mostly interchangeable, are all smug overachievers willing to do anything to compete in Keating’s class.
The drama’s characters are vague because How to Get Away with Murder has flummoxing pacing. At moments when we jump between the two timelines, jagged edits and a sound cue like a record scratching on a turntable is more jarring than riveting. (Intense shifts from a close-up to a long shot and back again don’t help matters either). The episode whirls through exposition and story information; unfortunately, with such storytelling speed, some of the details are lost. The initial sequence of Keating’s first class is dizzying, with quick cutting and multiple angles that makes it difficult to comprehend the case of the week that the characters are discussing. The scene gets so thick with exposition that trying to catch character names and unique personality traits would be foolish.
How to Get Away with Murder is slick, full-throttled entertainment. The pace goes with Keating’s syllabus, which she explains is all about practicing law cases currently in the headlines, and little in the way of studying, articling or theorizing. (With such bluster to get down to courtroom basics, it seems to know it’s a TV show.) Its “mens rea,” – that means intent, as Wes learns in an embarrassing first class – is to provide fast, furious entertainment. On that count, How to Get Away with Murder delivers.
