Welcome to the Weekend Binge. Every Friday, we’ll suggest a binge-able title designed to keep you from getting too stir crazy. Check back throughout the weekend for even more gloriously queer entertainment.
The Firestorm: How To Get Away With Murder
Magnetic. Elegant. Intense. Luminous. Magnificent. Does the English language have superlatives worthy of the power and beauty of Viola Davis?
The classy, firebrand actress has made a career out of explosive performances on stage and screen, having wowed audiences with her range, presence and ability to steal scenes from other great actors, including her friend Meryl Steep. No wonder Ms. Davis often gets hailed as one of the greatest actors alive. She also has picked up a devoted LGBTQ following thanks to her work in such films as Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Help.
Seriously, don’t act like you’ve not seen the memes.
For Davis at her most ferocious, and for a potboiler plot addictive as nicotine, look no further than the ABC series How To Get Away With Murder. As created by soapy drama impresario Shonda Rhimes, the series follows the plotting of law professor Annalise Keating (Davis), a ruthless lawyer and mentor to ambitious law students. Over the course of the show’s six seasons, Annalise finds herself in court cases involving torture, arson, wrongful conviction, kidnapping, and, of course, murder. As with all things Shonda Rhimes, each season features its share of twists, reversals, and reveals, peppered with a hearty dose of sexy situations.
And, as with all things Ms. Davis, How To Get Away With Murder finds the Grand Dame in great form; she became the first African-American woman to win the Best Actress in a Drama Emmy Award. Even better, HTGAWM also features a number of LGBTQ actors and characters, including the seductive gay, law student Connor Walsh (Jack Falahee), and the brilliant hacker Oliver Hampton (Conrad Ricamora, who is gay in real life). The show even won a GLAAD Media Award for its portrayal of gay characters and LGBTQ issues.
As legal dramas go, few shows hook fans as hard as How To Get Away With Murder. For that matter, few actors get more compelling than Viola Davis. The show’s suspenseful nature makes it a joy to binge-watch, as viewers no longer have to wait whole weeks to see the next plot developments. We recommend diving in for Davis’ master class in acting, and the sexy gay storylines.
Come for Viola Davis. Stay for the gay.
Rocinante
I thought this show was cancelled a while back. If this is new, then I get it but otherwise why is there an article about an old show that most of us have likely seen?
Jack
Honey, do you think monst gay men haven’t seen fricken HTGAWM? Clickbait from hell.
mecmass
Um, Sweetie, not all of us have seen “fricken HTGAWM”. Speak for yourself.
WillParkinson
Like Mecmass, I’ve never seen it and barely ever heard of it.
Carabalda
It was unquestionably a great series, and Davis’ work was typically fabulous. But David Reddish is simply wrong when he writes ” As created by soapy drama impresario Shonda Rhimes, the series follows the plotting of law professor Annalise Keating (Davis)…” The series was created by Peter Nowalk, and produced by Shonda Rhimes and ABC Studios. Peter is openly gay, and created those terrific gay characters – such as Connor Walsh – because, as he has said: “I wanted to write a character that I hadn’t really seen on TV before.” Thank you, Peter.