Emmy Episodes: How to Get Away with Murder

It’s always my policy to watch every Emmy-nominated episode each year, which leads me to sample a handful of shows that I don’t tune in to on a regular basis. For the second year in a row, I’m making a special effort to spotlight each of those installments to offer my perspective on shows that I don’t review each week.

How to Get Away with Murder: Season 3, Episode 12 “Go Cry Somewhere Else” (F)
How to Get Away with Murder: Season 3, Episode 15 “Wes” (F)

This show is so, so bad. I got confused at first because I recalled watching “Scandal” for its entire first season and Liza Weil’s character getting killed off, but then I remembered that this show is much, much worse. It’s a good thing that this show is only nominated for acting and not writing since I don’t think I’ve ever encountered dialogue as bad anywhere else. I also think that this show needs a serious title change since obviously Viola Davis’ Annalise Keating is in jail and presumably wasn’t able to get away with murder. I’m also really not a fan of when a character’s demise is revealed at the beginning of the season but it takes the whole time for how they die to be revealed. Nothing concrete seemed to be accomplished between episodes twelve and fifteen, which was the season finale, and both hours were equally insufferable. “Go Cry Somewhere Else” is the submission for guest actress Cicely Tyson, who was last nominated for this role two years ago. She’s ninety-two years old and still working hard. I didn’t buy much of the performance mainly because of the writing, but the material does allow her to confess to Annalise’s supposed crimes and react to seeing her daughter in prison garb and then brutally beaten. The season finale is Davis’ submission. She won two years ago and was nominated again last year. I can’t comprehend how she can go from winning an Oscar for a sophisticated, serious performance in “Fences” and then return to film this dreck. There was plenty for her to do, but the performance and the show don’t belong in consideration with any of the other nominees. I hope never to need to encounter this show again – it’s awful.