HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER “Your Funeral” (S5E1): Solid Episode, Disappointing Premiere
There was a feeling of finality when How To Get Away With Murder wrapped its fourth season up in March. A surprising sense of closure and a rare glimmer of happiness usually uncommon with this series, How To Get Away With Murder reached a stage where it could do one of two things: peter out and call it a day, or pull a soft reboot of sorts. Of course, with season five’s opening episode premiering last week, you can tell that they decided on the latter.
With a couple of narrative threads still left dangling, toying with us over the show’s six-month break, HTGAWM jumps straight in to things with “Your Funeral”, while introducing a new mystery that will take us up to the mid-season finale: #WhoDiedAtTheWedding.
“Why do you look like someone just died?”
How To Get Away With Murder has always run the risk of becoming too convoluted; with twists and turns aplenty and a seemingly never-ending list of bodies to dispose of, you can see where such a criticism would stem from. While it’s not something I tend to agree with, there is no denying that HTGAWM is always so damn busy; the series needed this reset. However, judging by this episode, it’s only the calm before a rougher storm.
For an episode of How To Get Away With Murder, “Your Funeral” is solid. It has all of our favourite things – a towering performance from Viola Davis, sharp and sparring dialogue laced with themes of self-worth and value, and the Keating Four doing all they can to move on from their past mistakes and start taking ownership of their lives. Except, their season premieres are usually stronger than this. Despite some crowd-pleasing moments, “Your Funeral” rather lacked the crackle of the series’ stronger openers, playing out (rather surprisingly) as a mid-season filler episode; it wasn’t entirely out of kicks but having been so accustomed to the high-energy fervour of premieres gone by, it felt oddly subdued in its spirit.
That is, besides from the obligatory (but no less engrossing) flash-forward. Connor (Jack Falahee) and Oliver’s (Conrad Ricamora) wedding will be the crime scene for this season’s murder mystery, tantalisingly teasing an intense major blood spillage onto a snow-laden field. I’d wager that the ‘who’ of the hashtag isn’t necessarily the poor soul bleeding out in front of poor baby Christophe (Alfred Enoch) – as the show usually finds its way of pulling the rug from beneath our feet – but it is perhaps too early to be speculating. Still, that’s never stopped me before and from what we can gather (unless a major misdirection), the victim sounds to be female. Interesting…
In complete HTGAWM fashion, the show’s pre-flash-forward baptism lacks all subtlety, with its heavy-handed cross-cutting as gentle as a trophy to the skull – but goodness if it isn’t effective. All our main characters in a room, rejecting Satan, evil and sin, and with a speech of a figure rising from death, it’s a pointed metaphor towards some of the themes bound to shape this season – let’s hope it delivers on such a bold promise.
“That’s not a good look for a lawyer, let alone a man”
Annalise Keating continues to be one of the most exciting females on our television screens and, after the recent spell of news to dominate our airwaves, one we need in real life, too. Shonda Rhimes has continued to prove herself as a master-craftswoman of the female lead character and even five series in, proceeds to illustrate Keating as a woman still recovering from a life of trauma: her strength is a pleasure to witness and, in thanks to Davis‘ resolute commitment to character, continues to provide a number of rewarding moments, alongside the quieter intervals of grief. As the kids on Twitter are saying, “yas queen!”.
One area HTGAWM has often struggled with is balancing Bonnie (Liza Weil) and Frank (Charlie Weber): it seems that, to quote a popular Young Adult film franchise, “neither can live while the other survives”. Weil, in particular, has proven herself to be an overlooked asset and the series cannot quite figure out what to do with her at the moment: while I’m sure the ‘sticking around Denver’s office to find the files’ will reintegrate her into the main story eventually – as teased by that flash-forward, as well as a certain DNA test – she seems to be kicking her heels, waiting for the next big narrative development to materialise for her to sink her teeth into. Similarly, while Weber’s commanding the focus, for the time being, he needs something to do because this lovesick vibe won’t sustain us much longer.
Oh, and ask me next week what I make of Rome Flynn’s Gabriel Maddox. As of now, I’m not sold but may the benefit of the doubt prove me otherwise…
In Conclusion: Murder’s Your Funeral
Distinctively reminiscent of the show’s first season, with it looking to unfold on a case-of-the-week style basis, How To Get Away With Murder is taking one step back, hopefully, in order to take multiple steps forward. Whether “Your Funeral” is simply a sacrifice we must make as the show recomposes itself following a brief reset, or indicative of the series finally beginning to run out of steam, only time will tell: either way, I will be with you every week, reviewing the newest batch of episodes on a (hopefully) timely basis. Stay tuned and make sure you let me know your thoughts on #WhoDiedAtTheWedding.
What did you think of the season premiere Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
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