HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER: PILOT {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The pilot in this series of legal dramas about a hard-nosed Philadelphia law professor who recruits her students to work in her firm – leading to their entanglement in a variety of ethically questionable schemes.
During a massive college party to celebrate an upcoming football game, four students meet in the woods; one of them has brought a trophy which they indicate was used as a murder weapon, and one of them suggests cleaning and replacing it before they can be found out, as well as burying the body of the victim. They disagree about what their exact course of action should be, and all of them are frightened. Ultimately one of them proposes flipping a coin to decide whether to bury the body.
Three months earlier, the four students attend classes at Middleton Law School, instructed by the notoriously hard-nosed Professor Annalise Keating, teacher of the introductory criminal law class there. In the first class, she presents her students with a case study for the “aspirin assassin,” about Gina Sadowski, a young woman having an affair with her corporate boss. The boss attempted to end the relationship after his wife discovered the affair, but then Gina attempted to murder him by switching his medication.
Wes Gibbins, newly arrived to her class, is bewildered by the pace of Annalise's class and the fact that his fellow students are apparently unfazed by it; he ends up embarrassing himself in front of the class by being unprepared; Annalise upbraids him for it. Wes admits that he was only accepted to Middleton two days ago from a waiting list, inciting much silent derision from his classmates. Annalise questions him about the case study but he remains silent; when another student, Laurel Castillo, answers the question for him, Annalise chastises her for “taking a learning opportunity away” from Wes in order to prove her intelligence. Connor Walsh, another student, is curious about the verdict of the case; Annalise reveals that it is one she is currently working on and she takes the class to hear testimony from Gina. She insists that she still loved her boss despite his having ended the affair, and that she would not have poisoned him. The case goes to court in two days; Annalise gives her class one day to devise a brief defense presentation for the case, challenging them to think of something better than her current strategy. She tells Wes that he will go last, putting him in the worst possible position. She introduces her students to Frank and Bonnie, her associates, encouraging them to be consulted for the assignment. She also reveals that the assignment will help her to determine which four students she selects to work for her in her firm, and that her top student will receive a trophy (which will later be used as a murder weapon); she likens it to an “immunity idol” that can be exchanged to get out of a single exam.
That night, Wes struggles to devise a suitable defense for Gina, but makes no progress. He asks his new neighbor to turn down her loud music, but she refuses. He is disturbed to find large scratch marks on the wall of his room. Back in present-day, Wes and Connor roll up the dead body in a carpet as the group struggles to carry it away. They are stopped by a campus policeman asking them about their improperly parked car. He inquires about the rug they’re transporting and they claim they are disposing of it as a favor to Annalise. They manage to bluff the officer to leave them alone.
Back In the past, the students present their arguments to Annalise about Gina’s case, and Wes grows frustrated that they present all of his potential arguments before he gets the chance to speak. Once he gets up, he improvises an argument claiming that Gina was acting in self-defense and was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome based on the psychological profile of her affair. Much to everyone’s surprise, Annalise allows Wes to move on to the next round, although she remarks that no student managed to beat her own approach: to discredit the witnesses and introduce a new suspect in the form of the boss’s jealous business partner, and then obscure the evidence with an overload of information.
The next morning, Annalise cross-examines a witness in the trial as one of her students, Michaela Pratt, struggles to reach the courthouse on time. She interrupts the trial and whispers something to Annalise which prevents her from being disciplined. Annalise then demonstrates to the court that the witness is colorblind, invalidating a key part of her testimony. During recess, Michaela reveals how she learned that the witness was colorblind and Annalise congratulates her, asking the others to perform with similar adeptness. That night, Wes conducts research on the case and has an epiphany, going to visit Annalise in the middle of the night. He accidentally catches her apparently engaged in sexual activity with an unknown man. Embarrassed, Wes starts to leave but Annalise asks him why he came. He reveals that his research revealed a similar previous case in which they may be able to request a legal maneuver known as a “directed verdict” which could end the trial prematurely. Annalise points out that this action is too risky to attempt, since its failure will all-but invalidate their case. She throws him out of her house.
In the present day, the students stop by a gas station with the body resting in Connor’s car. Back in the past, Connor hits on Oliver, a guy from the IT department of the advertising agency where Gina worked. He manages to flatter him and asks him questions about Gina, and later they end up having sex. This allows him access to several confidential emails sent by the boss and his partner; Annalise utilizes them in her case, tricking her way into getting them included despite the ambiguous legality of doing so. Connor does not reveal how he obtained the emails despite prodding from his fellow students. Laurel notices the boss pleading with his wife not to leave him when she has to go to the bathroom. Laurel goes in there and spies on Gina interacting with her boss’s wife in the bathroom. She puts a hand on Gina’s shoulder before Gina leaves, piquing Laurel’s curiosity. Wes goes home to find the aftermath of an argument between his neighbor and Griffin O’Reilly, the school’s football quarterback. He asks her if she needs help but she rebuffs him. Wes then goes to a cocktail party held by the dean and meets Sam Keating, a psychology professor and Annalise’s husband. Wes is uncomfortable around him due to having seen Annalise having sex with another man.
Back in the present, Wes, Connor, Michaela, and Laurel transport the body into the woods and dodge several partygoers who have wandered there from the party. They are nearly discovered when Laurel’s phone rings, but the partygoers decide to leave instead. Michaela notices that it was Frank calling and is curious as to why he is trying to speak to Laurel. In the past, Laurel tells Frank about what she saw in the bathroom, and believes that Gina and her boss’s wife joined forces in order to carry out the murder attempt. Laurel realizes that Frank already knew about this but said nothing so as to avoid admitting that he and Annalise are defending a guilty client. She decries him for moral bankruptcy, but he says that her “idealistic” type is common in law school, and believes she will end up taking a corporate job and quitting in order to raise a family. She retorts that he is misogynistic and storms out; Bonnie cautions Frank to “stop screwing the students.” In private, Wes tells Annalise that he has no intention of revealing her affair to anyone. She interrupts Wes to apologize and tearfully explains that her unsuccessful attempts to have a child with her husband have put a great strain on their marriage. She thanks Wes for keeping the matter secret and he nervously excuses himself.
Later, Wes returns to his apartment and looks over what appears to be a bite mark on his bed’s headboard. His neighbor leaves a bottle of wine on his doorstep as a present to apologize for her earlier behavior, and he learns that her name is Rebecca and that she works at a bar. He offers to open it and share it with her, but she says she cannot. The trial resumes and the prosecution presents evidence in the form of security camera footage from a convenience store showing Gina purchasing aspirin the night before the murder, presenting a challenge to Annalise and her students. Later Annalise yells at Gina for not informing them of the footage, and she also yells at Frank for seemingly failing to discover it himself. Back at trial, Annalise calls Detective Nate Lahey to the stand, and Wes recognizes him as the man with whom Annalise is having an in affair. Nate is confused as to why he was called up, and Annalise gets him to admit that he was not at his post in the precinct at the time that the footage was obtained, saying that he was “at a friends’” instead of admitting that he was with her. Annalise notes a large gap between the time the police obtained the footage and the time that it was logged as evidence, and she insinuates that the footage may have been altered in order to strengthen the prosecution’s case. The prosecution objects, but Nate haltingly admits that he is aware of prior incidents of doctored footage within his department.
The jury finds Gina innocent, owing to the level of reasonable doubt instilled in them by Annalise’s case. At her next class session, Annalise announces that Connor is the “stand-out” of her class and has been awarded the trophy. Connor, Michaela, Laurel, and Wes are selected to work in Annalise’s firm along with another student, Asher Millstone. After class, Wes speaks with Annalise and clarifies with her that Nate is her “boyfriend.” He believes that Annalise has given him the job based on his knowledge of her affair, and refuses to take it on those grounds. However, she says that she did what she had to and gets him to reconsider, claiming that his life will be vastly improved under her tutelage. A maintenance man accidentally discovers the body of Lila Stangard, a missing sorority girl, in the water tower of her sorority building. Griffin and Rebecca watch a news report about the discovery. Sam watches as well, clearly upset at the development. Annalise believes that “the boyfriend did it” and glares at Sam. In the present, Michaela, Wes, Laurel, and Connor burn the body in the middle of the woods in order to dispose of it. It turns out that Sam is the murder victim. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:59:57
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 117172
- GENRE: Drama, legal
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Drama; Drama, legal
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 2014-2020
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV – Commercials – AT&T phone service
- TV – Commercials – Apple mobile devices
- TV – Commercials – Chromecast digital media player
- TV – Commercials – Google web browsing app
- TV – Commercials – Kohl’s department stores
- TV – Commercials – Linzess irritable bowel syndrome medication
- TV – Commercials – Lowe’s home improvement stores
- TV – Commercials – Mercedes-Benz automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Old Navy apparel
- TV – Commercials – Party City costume stores
- TV – Commercials – Samsung tablets
- TV – Commercials – Sprint phone service
- TV – Commercials – Starbucks coffee
- TV – Commercials – Subway restaurants
- TV – Commercials – T-Mobile phone service
- TV – Commercials – Target department stores
- TV – Commercials – The Laughing Cow cheese
- TV – Commercials – Victoria’s Secret women’s underwear
- TV – Commercials – Volkswagen automobiles
- TV – Commercials – “Gone Girl” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “The Judge” motion picture
- TV – Promos – “Blackish”
- TV – Promos – “Castle”
- TV – Promos – “Cristela”
- TV – Promos – “Forever”
- TV – Promos – “How to Get Away with Murder”
- TV – Promos – “Jimmy Kimmel Live”
- TV – Promos – “Manhattan Love Story”
- TV – Promos – “Once Upon a Time”
- TV – Promos – “Resurrection”
- TV – Promos – “Revenge”
- TV – Promos – “Selfie”
- TV – Promos – “Shark Tank”
CREDITS
- Peter Norwalk … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Betsy Beers … Executive Producer
- Shonda Rhimes … Executive Producer
- Ann Kindberg … Co-Executive Producer
- Scott Collins … Producer
- Scott Printz … Co-Producer
- Noah Evslin … Co-Producer
- Holden Chang … Associate Producer
- Michael Offer … Director
- Photek … Music by
- Viola Davis … Cast, Annalise Keating
- Billy Brown … Cast, Nate Lahey
- Alfred Enoch … Cast, Wes Gibbins
- Jack Falahee … Cast, Connor Walsh
- Katie Findlay … Cast, Rebecca Sutter
- Aja Naomi King … Cast, Michaela Pratt
- Matt McGorry … Cast, Asher Millstone
- Karla Souza … Cast, Laurel Castillo
- Charlie Weber … Cast, Frank Delfino
- Liza Weil … Cast, Bonnie Winterbottom
- Tom Verica … Cast, Sam Keating
- Lenny Platt … Cast, Griffin O'Reilly
- Michael Gaston … Cast, Henry Williams
- Conrad Ricamora … Cast, Oliver
- Suzanne Savoy … Cast, Judge Kathy Powell
- Andrea Syglowski … Cast, Gina Sadowski
- Megan West … Cast, Lila Stangard
- Dave Droxler … Cast, Detective Gill
- Kate Kearney-Patch … Cast, Linda Tanner
- Joseph Melendez … Cast, Lionel Bryant
- Susan Wilder … Cast, Agnes Kaufman
- Greg Wood … Cast, Arthur Kaufman
- Robin Rieger … Cast, Reporter
- Brian Gallagher … Cast, Maintenance Worker
- Ian Bedford … Cast, Campus Cop
- Alan Robert Pratt … Cast, Football Coach
- Aaron Benjamin Miller … Cast, Nerdy Intellectual
- Timothy Reifsnyder … Cast, Quiet Guy
- Justin Backus … Cast, Drunk Guy
- John McKeever … Cast, Second Drunk Guy
- Allen Williamson … Cast, Third Drunk Guy
- Leah Dowdy … Cast, Drunk Girl
- Ellen Haun … Cast, Nervous Girl
- Leah Lamarr … Cast, Mean Girl
- Kara Shoemaker … Cast, Bouncy Girl
- Olivia Luna … Cast, English Accent Girl