It's that time of year once more, and with the 2016 Fall television season now underway, that means ABC's How To Get Away With Murder kicks off as well. The crime thriller's third season premiere was titled "We're Good People Now", with creator Peter Nowalk writing and Bill D'Elia directing.
HTGAWM is known for weaving compelling flashbacks and flash-forwards into its episodes which piece together the full season story arcs, and the creative team appear to have opted to combine both techniques in this third season. After a brief recap sequence, the hour picked up immediately after the shooting of Wallace Mahoney, the man known as Wes's father, and who he had gone to meet, and to reveal that he was his son.
The opening scene was full of class. In it we saw a bloodstained Wes being interviewed by police, and (what do you know!) lying about his reasons for standing right next to Mahoney. Outside the police station, Annalise picked Wes up, and through a flashback Annalise's version of events were played out. She told Wes that Frank had killed Mahoney, and fled the scene. Sure enough, subsequent scenes showed Frank changing his appearance by shaving his hair and beard. However, importantly, no angles showed Frank with a gun or pulling the trigger.
They're gone for good. We need to let them go.
The creative team let that lie, and opened proceedings in the present day, four months after Mahoney's death. The Keating 5 reunite in the lecture theater for their next law class being run by Annalise. The format has changed, with Annalise offering a course which gives her students the chance to cut their teeth in the courtroom for real, trying pro bono cases. An antagonist in the form of another student was introduced almost immediately, with Asher in particular taking things to heart.
The case centered around an Iraqi immigrant serving time and facing deportation on drugs charges. Annalise's students fought to get the charges lessened or thrown out, but even with Annalise's intervention with some strong-arm tactics, the judge opted to allow the deportation anyway on the grounds that the accused lied under oath. It was a shock for Wes, who won first chair on the case and performed amicably in court. Michaela was second chair for some of the time, and was responsible for finding evidence which made the case winnable, but it still wasn't enough.
Justice is the exception, you should know that by now.
More often that not, the case of the week doesn't add much weight to the direction of the larger storylines, but if Annalise's class continues it will give us a chance to see the other students in a different light. It's a coming of age thing too, but the class may be under threat, as we learned later that the university's president is looking to shift Annalise away from teaching and into a research role on the account that her 5 students are performing poorly in other classes.
Flashbacks were also used well to play back some of the action which went down while the students were on summer break. In May, Laurel approached Annalise to tell her she was off to Mexico. The originally docile conversation got amped up slightly when Frank became the topic of conversation. Laurel stated the following, though she's still trying to contact him:
He's dead to me.
In June, Annalise joined a sunbathing Connor. Connor made Annalise promise not to hire his boyfriend, Oliver, reasoning that he would become just as damaged as himself and his other friends. Moments later, Oliver himself got some one-on-one time with Annalise, and presented a proposal to her concerning data security, and a beautifully veiled blackmail threat relating to the stuff he knows about what's gone on in the past. Oliver also admitted deleting Connor's Stanford acceptance - by hacking Stanford's systems.
I can be bad, too.
In July, Asher approached Annalise for a loan to cover his tuition in the wake of his father's death last season. That was quickly rebuffed in brutal fashion.
Michaela didn't stay out of trouble. She was caught drink driving in August. Wes, meanwhile, hadn't responded to Laurel's texts, and had found a new girlfriend in Maggie. Laurel met Maggie in present day, and she doesn't seem half bad at all. The chemistry between Wes and Laurel only continues to gain intensity, so I'm not forecasting a happy ever after scenario for Maggie, though.
Wes talks about you all the time!
Nate is still in the picture and is seeing Annalise on the regular. But he wasn't the source of the season's major storyline, which was delightfully teased at the episode's closing, but was also built up during the hour.
On two occasions, flyers implying Annalise is a killer were pinned around Middleton University. Everyone knows about it, but Annalise is trying to play it cool, and is keeping her concerns private. Even Bonnie - who hardly featured in the premiere - couldn't get through to her boss.
We do know Annalise had a hitman tracking Frank, and she was communicating with him via burner phone. Frank was seen making short work of him in the episode's dying moments, but what followed was a flash-forward to 2 months later.
We watched as Annalise charged through a police line and demanded she see the face of a body being carried away from the scene. She looked under the sheet and broke down in tears immediately, as her home and office were burning down in the background. Someone is dead, but unlike previous seasons where we've known the deceased, along with something in the motive, method and opportunity bracket, this time we know nothing.
Bonus content in this episode included Asher and Michaela appearing to be in the early stages of a romance or FWB arrangement. No more Bonnie for Asher, it seems. Also worth a mention was Connor's amazing act of forgiveness to Oliver for ruining his Stanford chances, however their breakup moments later came as a shock. The friction between these two has the potential to cause some serious issues should it continue. Annalise and Wes screaming at the top of their lungs in the middle of nowhere was weird, and there's something missing in the version of events on the night Mahoney was killed.
Though nothing substantial yet, there's no doubt that the trouble the students caused Annalise over the summer will come back to bite them, Annalise, or both at some stage. Otherwise, why would the creative team have wasted precious minutes going into detail here? Time will surely tell.
Finally, I'm really pleased to see a new approach to the big reveal concerning the mystery body. This was detailed in ABC's promo for the season, which stated that each episode will rule out one person who is not dead. That's an exciting way to approach it, and will help deliver on Peter Nowalk's promises of late that this season will be easier to follow. Great stuff right there.
This brought to a close a very strong season 3 premiere of How To Get Away With Murder. There was no shortage of content, and with two main storylines being introduced via Frank's disappearance and the mystery body, there's going to be some great storytelling once more this season. The case of the week wasn't too burdensome, and the new angle of approach will give the characters some new perspective. While no acting performances stood out, everyone looks refreshed and raring to go.
Thanks for reading my review of How To Get Away With Murder's third season premiere. There's a ton more to be discussed, so please head down to the comments section below to share your thoughts and theories. Find out all you need to know about next week's episode - including the promo I just referenced, right here.
