After rave reviews of its first season, How To Get Away With Murder had its season two premiere on ABC last Thursday at 10:00 p.m.. This show is the third drama created by Shonda Rhimes. Her other two shows are also extremely successful and their season premieres earned very good reviews. The first is Grey’s Anatomy, which is now airing its 12th season. The second is Scandal, which is in its 5th season. These three shows have been come to be known as Shondaland because they rule over all the Thursday night time slots on ABC.

How To Get Away With Murder has always been controversial for its bold acting, fast paced plots, and addressing of serious issues. In the first season, the issues ranged from rape to jury tampering to, of course, getting away with murder. For those who don’t watch the show, yes, the title is literal. The show follows six law students and their fearless professor as they are thrown into the midst of several intertwined murders. All characters are guilty of something and they are ready to do almost anything to get away with it.

The acting has earned consistent praise from critics, especially for the leading actress Viola Davis. The filmography and technical design have also received a great deal of positive attention. The scripts have been called witty and twisting, and have kept the audience consistently coming back for more. “It’s so dramatic, I love it so much!” sophomore Elena Cannon said. “It constantly keeps me on my toes, and I really love the court scenes where they’re all being really badass, like bam I got this evidence!”

Fans of this show are very passionate, and the showrunners certainly know how to publicize. This past month, the show has been getting even more publicity since Viola Davis won Best Actress in a Drama Series at the Emmys for playing the main character, Annalise Keating. Davis became the first African American actress to win in that category. Only six others have ever been nominated.

People were hysterical over the much deserved win and, even more, over Davis’ empowering acceptance speech. She called out Hollywood for not giving people with her skin color enough opportunities, all while using a Harriet Tubman quote and giving a moving call for change. It was met with universal praise and agreement. “I think this step forward has happened too late, but it’s still so great that it happened,” sophomore Annabelle Bailey said.

This excitement put original fans, along with newcomers, in just the right mindset for the season two premiere. Most fans are agreeing that it did not disappoint. It answered a few of the burning questions and gave fans tons more. Some serious character developments occurred in very shocking ways and a quick, but deliciously scandalous, flash forward to a very near future revealed a lot of new information.

Fans called it shocking and intriguing. Viewers reacted with extreme excitement. “Oh my God, it can’t have been him. Ugh! I don’t want Dean Thomas to have done it! But I just don’t know, she was obviously shot and bleeding everywhere, but she was still breathing, so…” freshman Sophie Lent said. “And this might make me sound creepy, but I love all the parts where they’re just totally murdering people so much. It’s so good!”