How To Get Away With Murder

I am slightly embarrassed to admit that my past week was spent watching the first season of a series I recently discovered on Netflix called, "How To Get Away With Murder." While super addicting, this show is not one that I necessarily felt comfortable watching. Two things in particular made me feel uncomfortable. One, the sex content is moderately high- frequently showing glimpses into both heterosexual and homosexual couples' personal lives. Not only that, but sex is particularly no big deal to one of the characters who is frequently hooking up with various people in order to get information. Second, the overall message I kept receiving was: It's ok to commit murder as long as your intentions in doing so are good.

The show is all about a woman, Annalise Keatig, who owns her own law firm. She is so good at what she does that she is pretty much able to get anyone free from the judicial system whether they are guilty of the crime or not. When she is not working with clients, she is an intimidating professor at a local college for law students. Towards the beginning of the series, she chooses five of her law students to come and work for her. They begin to adjust their morals and perspectives about justice to mirror Annalise Keatig. Spoiler alert: they end up committing a murder and Annalise agrees to cover it up for them and "protect" them.

Overall, I just was not impressed with any message included in this show. It is not one that I would feel comfortable letting children watch for sure.. so that tells me I should not be watching it either. I see the potential effects of this show being a degradation of values pertaining to sex and the sanctity of human life. Certainly, these are not good things to degrade. But after all, these are just my opinions and my own perceptions.

-L