Shonda Rhimes

How to Get Away With Murder, the new ABC drama from writer Peter Norwalk and executive producer Shonda Rimes, has the potential to drive off the rails at any moment. The premise it sets up for itself (spoiler alert: it’s a murder) cannot sustain itself for more than a season. Its characters, a group of ambitious law students, are pitched at tones ranging between frantic and rabid. Its procedural elements are nothing that would be out of place on a Dick Wolf show. But the one element that gives me utter confidence that this show is worth watching, besides Shondaland’s unquestionable track record, is the central performance of Viola Davis, one of the great American actresses of our time. Her role as Annalise Keating, criminal law professor at Philadelphia’s fictional Middleton University, shows herself to be charismatic, intelligent, and supremely manipulative in just a handful of scenes. She’s a predator with flashes of humanity. If the writing holds up, Davis will be able to create an antihero in the league of Tony Soprano and Walter White.

Though this season’s had some pretty wild ups (everything involving Rowan Pope) and downs (the Quinn, Huck, and Charlie love triangle), “The Price of Free and Fair Elections” closes season three on a relatively high note–literally, as Olivia Pope, who hasn’t been wholly herself in quite a while, finally takes up her father’s season opening offer and jets out of the city with Jake.

Scandal, Season 3, Episode 3, “Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington” Written by Matt Byrne Directed by Jeannot Szwarc Airs Thursdays at 10pm ET on ABC On this week’s Scandal, Olivia faces down the mother of a deceased terrorist, Fitz and Mellie fight, Huck seeks revenge, and Jake recuperates. At this rate, Scandal will burn through all of …