How to Get Away with Murder: (S1E1)
It seems showrunner Shonda Rhimes’ empire continues to grow. I maintain that she is trying to amass an emotionally compromised, fashion savvy army to raise ABC’s prime time slot from the brink of death. She is their greatest asset after all.
Most likely feeding off the Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal overflow, it premiered with a stellar viewing record of 14 million despite going up against Thursday night football.
How to Get Away with Murder, written by Peter Nowalk, follows the career of four law school students as they work at their professors criminal law firm. The pilot began with what appeared to be a flashback of the four students frantically trying to figure out how to dispose of a body, nearly getting caught on two occasions.
The flashbacks continue on throughout the episode and, in between, the audience gets well acquainted with Professor Annalise Keating’s (Viola Davis) personal life. In fact, student and all around puppy Wes Gibbins, played by Alfie Enoch, gets a little too close for comfort when he finds himself in a shockingly awkward moment. This will have you wondering if it is as sexually tense or as disturbing as you are imagining. It is both, definitely both.
This interaction is one of the few exchanges between them that hints at the central development of their relationship. One of the staples of a Shonda Rhimes’ show is that you should never miss a second.
At one point during the beginning I must have walked away during a reveal because, as the show ended its runtime, it was disclosed that the flashbacks were really flash forwards.
Was this already common knowledge, perhaps. Did it’s shock value still hit home, absolutely.
While flashforwards may appear to be a risky storytelling device (why stick around if you already know what happens?), they work well for the show. We already have the who and the what, now we are just waiting for the why and the how.
Sexy, suspenseful, and dark HTGAWM earns its grade. A- (I feel obligated to tack on a minus so as not to make the other shows jealous).
Once Upon A Time (S4E1):
Sometimes you go to a restaurant and order your favorite drink only for the waiter to tell you that they are fresh out, ‘can I get you something else’. So you say ‘yeah, that’s fine’ even though it’s not and then you sip that lukewarm watered down beverage even though it is anything but fine. That is what Sunday night’s episode of OUAT felt like.
I was aware that I was being served an alternative, I wanted to accept it but I just couldn’t force it down. The actors look like the characters from Frozen, in fact the costumes are on par, but in essence, it felt bland.
I wasn’t expecting them to rip dialogue straight from the script. I wasn’t even expecting them to break out in song and dance, however, I was hoping that the writers could effectively capture the soul of Elsa, Anna and Kristoff.
The storyline that is set up takes place presumably after the events of Frozen with Ana and Christoph preparing for their wedding.
Elsa’s doing queenly things such as making it snow indoors and moping around when her sister isn’t looking. Eventually, as with all character arcs on OUAT, we come to find how Elsa has made her way to the town of Storybrooke. This is all fascinating, but I would much rather see how the writers have managed to turn evil queen Regina’s life to shambles as opposed to Elsa sneaking around corners and shots that linger on her CGI frosted hands.
Elsa make ice, big whoop. C+
Gotham (S1E1):
One of the many comic book adaptation coming to network television, FOX’s Gotham begins as you would expect–with the murder of Bruce’s parents–but with a twist.
A young Selina Kyle is the first we are introduced to. She looks a lot like Michelle Pfeiffer and wears a liberal amount of leather. After swiping a wallet and some milk to feed the derelict cats of Gotham, she stumbles upon the aforementioned crime scene.
While she is the most valuable witness, she doesn’t speak to the cops. Snitches, after all, get stitches.
That seems to be a running theme through the pilot as detective James Gordon tries his hardest to shake information out of Gotham’s worst and hardest criminals.
It is clear that he will do everything in his power to not only clean up the city but keep his promise to Bruce. He is combated by his new partner Harvey Bullock, a veteran to the force who has his own way of handling cases.
When the two are tasked with handling the Wayne murder case he wants nothing to do with it. While the audience is given the impression that he is cynical, Bullock is more of a pawn of the corruption of the city than he is involved in the bigger picture.
The two standouts in the everything but the kitchen sink pilot are the brief appearance of Edward Nigma (Corey Michael Smith) who seems impressed by Gordon’s quick wit and Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor).
His moods shift from ambivalent naivete and sassiness to restrained duplicity. B ( S1E1)
Red Band Society (S1E1 and E2):
While I initially thought Red Band Society would be an easy pass, looking like a cliched high school drama set within the confines of a hospital, it was the most emotionally satisfying and thoroughly surprising pilot of the bunch (HTGAWM notwithstanding).
Produced by Steven Spielberg, Red Band’s first episode begins with a freeze frame heavy show and tell of who’s who in Los Angeles’ Ocean Park Hospital.
Narrated by comatose patient Charlie, we are introduced to leader Leo Roth and his best friend Dash who is given the least to do out of the ensemble.
Also doing time is know-it-all Emma who is struggling with an eating disorder that mean girl Kara mocks at every turn.
Kara, more so than anyone, conforms to the age old Shrek onion metaphor–she is so wrapped up in layers, she’s afraid of her feelings.
The one character who sees this plainly is Nurse Jackson (Octavia Spencer).
A bit of a tough case herself, everyone is on her case about her inability to play nice (she threw away muffins, what kind of monster does that?).
Not entirely a comedy and not entirely a drama, the show is smartly written as well as filled with soulful monologues and quotable moments that could launch 1000 hipster posts.
It seems to have some elements of The Breakfast Club and John Green’s successful The Fault in our Stars.
Like both, it deals with coming age, death and the banding together of personality types that would have otherwise avoided each other.
That is a beautiful thing. B+ (S1E1 and 2)
Zhana Johnson
Senior Features Editor
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