History YMMV / HowToGetAwayWithMurder

* FoeYay: Between Connor and Michaela since the beginning. For some fans, it's debatable if they had just VitriolicBestBuds vibes or weird BelligerentSexualTension (despite Connor is gay).
** Laurel and Frank too. They're in an on/off relationship with BST.

** Eve received a huge fanbase after her first appearance, due to Famke Janssen’s stunning performance, and being an interesting and likeable BadassGay Lawyer. It’s also much helped by her relationship with Annalise which is both complex and sweet with Eve being more or less the only person who can easily make Annalise happy. It’s not uncommon to see fans wishing that she will return in the future, or that Annalise had taken her offer for them to live together in New York.

*** She also some grief from parts of the fanbase for her inclination to cry at the drop of a hat whenever she gets into a sticky and emotional situation, especially when it comes to satisfying Annalise; this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MlOt07Wej8 SimGM parody video]] turns it up to its most absurd point, though it should be noted that Liza Weil liked it on Twitter, so even she takes it in stride.

* HolyShitQuotient: The show has ''several'':

* HoYay: Frank makes more than a few passes at Oliver when the two first meet in "I Want You to Die". You could say that it's mostly Frank being a snarky asshole, but he does make a lot of comments about spanking him . . . When Connor confronts Frank about his treatment of Oliver, Frank mentions that he's "not [Frank's] type." Again, could definitely be read as a flippant, snarky line, but he seems relatively serious about it.
** Asher turned it into a sport with Connor. There's a reason those two are the main non-canon ship in the fandom.
* JerkassWoobie: Asher in 'Freaking Whack-A-Mole' when [[spoiler: he discovers how his family's wealth comes from someone else's injustice]].
* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Connor has been shipped with practically everyone, even women despite him being gay.
* LesYay: In the event that they're all arrested, Connor offers to help Michaela achieve her first orgasm. Laurel immediately jumps in with "Back off, she's mine" and a wink.
* MemeticMutation: [[spoiler:"Why is your penis on a dead girl's phone?"]]
* {{Narm}}: [[spoiler:"Why is your penis on a dead girl's phone?"]]
** [[spoiler:"She's a murderer. She. Killed. My. Brother!"]]
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Asher started out as one for being an obnoxious and mouthy in the first couple of episodes. However, many people came around to him after his CharacterDevelopment, especially in ''Freaking Whack-A-Mole" and he quickly became a hit character instead.
* TheScrappy:
** Wes is getting this for his sanctimonious, self-righteous attitude, obsession with Rebecca, penchant for acting behind Annalise's back and threatening her, and lack of real, deeper interaction with other characters aside from both women. [[spoiler:Shooting Annalise hasn't helped in winning over fans.]]
*** Not helping his case: he goes into HeroicBSOD on the second part of the second season, making him acting as a jerk to everybody who tries to show any sign of helping him, particularly, Laurel and Annalise. He also ends up hogging a lot of the screen time of various characters due to having an entire side plot dedicated to his past, something that few viewers were interested on anyway.
** Nate. He has never been the most popular aside from being the show's resident MrFanservice, and his role on the show has greatly diminished since the first season despite being one of the series regulars. This has led many fans to wonder if he has any true purpose in the story anymore aside from occasional eye candy. Of all the characters closest to Annalise, he seems the most likely to betray her, considering she did frame him for Sam's murder. In season 3, he finally gets fed up with Annalise's lies and manipulating and ends their relationship. Now he seems focused on [[spoiler: getting back at Annalise, starting by sleeping with the ADA and trying to turn Wes against her.]] It doesn't help that many preferred Eve and Annalise together over Nate.
** Laurel turned into one over the course of season 3, but especially after [[spoiler: Wes' murder]] when her understandable grief over it was ''heavily'' [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] to the point of turning her into one of the biggest [[{{Jerkass}} jerkasses]] on the show, especially when she [[spoiler: shows an astounding lack of respect when Annalise reveals the truth about Baby Sam's death, yet the episode ends with Annalise having to comfort her and the implication that Laurel was in the right]].
* [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct She Really Can Act]]:
** Not that Liza Weil's talent was ever really in question, but her tenure on the comparatively LighterAndSofter ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' didn't often give her a chance to stretch her acting muscles as she does on this show. Her nuanced performance has won over ''many'' who were skeptical about the casting.
** Similar with Matt [=McGorry=] and Jack Falahee, who have exceeded expectations. Noticeable in [=McGorry=]'s case, where people seem almost dumbfounded by how good he is in a character so different from [[Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack John Bennett]].

*** Wes introducing himself to [[spoiler:Wallace, his suspected father, only for Wallace to be shot by an off-screen assailant.]]

*** Someone was burned to death in the burning of Annalise's house. It's [[spoiler: Wes, and he was dead before the fire began]].

*** [[spoiler: Frank]] being the murderer of Wes's father. Although the true circumstances behind why are a little trickier.

* TheWoobie: The Keating four are all victims of circumstance which have dug themselves deeper and deeper, which especially at the beginning was merely a result of them being in the wrong place at the wrong time and not necessarily of any choices they made.

* UnpopularPopularCharacter: Asher, who is probably the least liked and respected of the Keating 5 in-universe (he was even nicknamed "Doucheface" by Frank) is up there with [[BreakoutCharacter Connor]] as one of the favorite characters in the fandom.

* AcceptableEthnicTargets: Imagine this scene: A preppy, stuck up, privileged-looking white college dude is getting a blowjob from a black girl who looks like a good enough person. She stops. She asks if they can come out to their friends as a couple. He makes her stop, and informs her that they are not, nor will ever be a couple, because they are polar opposites. Besides, she's just "too black", and he doesn't have the time to teach her to be any better. He then tells her that she is nothing but a sextoy for him, and to either accept it, or move along. The black girl then sheepishly returns to blowing him. Outraged? Now reverse the genders and races, and you are looking at a scene with Michaela and Asher from the second episode of the 3rd season. This is just one of the many examples of white people being considered acceptable targets for putdowns and race-based insults in this show, with Asher typically being the recipient.

* AcceptableEthnicTargets: Imagine this scene: A preppy, stuck up, privileged-looking white college dude is getting a blowjob from a black girl who looks like a good enough person. She stops. She asks if they can come out to their friends as a couple. He makes her stop, and informs her that they are not, nor will ever be a couple, because they are polar opposites. Besides, she's just "too black", and he doesn't have the time to teach her to be any better. He then tells her that she is nothing but a sextoy for him, and to either accept it, or move along. The black girl then sheepishly returns to blowing him. Outraged? Now reverse the genders and races, and you are looking at a scene with Michaela and Asher from the second episode of the 3rd season. This is just one of the many examples of white people being considered acceptable targets for putdowns and race-based insults in this show, with Asher typically being the recipient. YMMV but you'd be forgiven for feeling like the writers operate on the misguided notion that you "can't be racist towards white people."

* MagnificentBastard: Annalise. She manages to [[spoiler:hide Sam's murder, protect her students, and ensure their silence, all the while appearing to be a grieving widow and competent lawyer]]. She also displays much of this with her regular dealings with her clients.

* BrokenBase: In regards to how characters treat Annalise. Is she a manipulative MagnificentBastard that has no qualms over using every aspect of the lives of the people under her, even the most embarrassing and dark ones? Yes. Do the characters have the right to be mad at her, being that she is dedicating almost every waking moment to guarantee none of them have to pay for their crimes, which include [[spoiler:the murders of Sam, Rebecca and Sinclair]] and is basically the single reason nobody of the team is in jail after everything? That's up for discussion.

** Wes/Laurel is gaining a following too due to their BirdsOfAFeather personalities and that their canon love interests are [[BaseBreaker Rebecca]] and [[{{Jerkass}} Frank]]. Wes and Laurel finally get together halfway through season 3.

* EpilepticTrees: Making any assumption about what led to the murder in the pilot, or about Rebecca Sutter in general, comes across this way.

** Wes/Laurel is gaining a following too due to their BirdsOfAFeather personalities and that their canon love interests are [[BaseBreaker Rebecca]] and [[{{Jerkass}} Frank]].
*** Wes and Laurel finally get together halfway through season 3.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Asher started out as one for being an obnoxious and mouthy in the first couple of episodes. However, many people came around to him after his CharacterDevelopment, especially in ''Freaking Whack-A-Mole" and he quickly became an EnsembleDarkhorse instead.

* TheWoobie: The Keating four are all victims of circumstance which have dug themselves deeper and deeper.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Laurel, in season 3. She is meant to be seem as a sort of JerkassWoobie as she keeps being a jerk to everybody while [[spoiler:grieving Wes' death]]. Her actions, however, are far more abbrassive and jerk-ish than what's acceptable for a griefing person, particularly actions as [[spoiler:showing no consideration for Annalise's lost baby and telling Connor to kill himself after he suspect he might have killed Wes]]. The fact she is a jerk even to people who have nothing to do with anything and is a random jerk especially to the people who are trying to help her. As a result, she slowly became the show's newest TheScrappy.
* UnpopularPopularCharacter: Asher, who is probably the least liked and respected of the Keating 5 in-universe (he was even nicknamed "Doucheface" by Frank) is up there with [[BreakoutCharacter Connor]] as an EnsembleDarkhorse in the fandom.

** Connor is arguably the show's BreakOutCharacter on account of his status as MrFanservice and the show's [[FemmeFatale Homme Fatale]] since Episode 1. His popularity has only skyrocketed since he's undergone CharacterDevelopment and his JerkWithAHeartOfGold status has become more focused on the heart of gold. [[spoiler: The fact he is one of the few non-murderers on the show also helps.]] Many fans are hoping that he gets a happy ending when his role ends rather than go to jail, despite the fact he ''did'' help cover up murders.
** Asher became very popular with the audience during the second half of Season One due to his CharacterDevelopment and reveal of his multiple HiddenDepths, changing him from an immature arrogant fratboy, into a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold complex and ignorant but well-meaning]] young man. It’s helped by the near universal agreement that Matt [=McGorry=] nails the role.

* AlasPoorScrappy: [[spoiler:Wes was definitely not the most popular character, but it was still hard to watch him as he's violently murdered, desperately crawling for help as he's easily overtaken, and the viewer is forced to watch as he can only struggle in horror as he's suffocated.]]

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Music/{{IAMX}}'s "I Come With Knives" being played over the ending of the pilot. Naughty Boy/Bastille's "No One's Here to Sleep" at the end of 1x04.

** Connor is arguably the show's BreakOutCharacter on account of his status as MrFanservice and the shows [[FemmeFatale Homme Fatale]] since Episode 1. His popularity has only skyrocketed since he's undergone CharacterDevelopment and his JerkWithAHeartOfGold status has become more focused on the heart of gold. [[spoiler: The fact he is one of the few non-murderers on the show also helps.]] Many fans are hoping that he gets a happy ending when his role ends rather than go to jail, despite the fact he ''did'' help cover up murders.

** A pretty common theory/wish is that Bonnie has actually been in love with Annalise the whole time instead of with Sam.

* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Conner has been shipped with practically everyone, even women despite him being gay.

* [[HeReallyCanAct She Really Can Act]]:

** Bonnie: After "I Want You to Die" the fandom was split over whether [[spoiler:Bonnie was right to turn on Annalise after the latter broke her trust by revealing her sexual abuse without her consent or being an ungrateful bitch to the person that saved her from going to jail.]]

** Bonnie gets some grief from parts of the fanbase for her inclination to cry at the drop of a hat whenever she gets into a sticky and emotional situation, especially when it comes to satisfying Annalise; this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MlOt07Wej8 SimGM parody video]] turns it up to its most absurd point, though it should be noted that Liza Weil liked it on Twitter, so even she takes it in stride.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Almost invetiable given the morality and themes of the show. By season 3, aside from [[spoiler:[[OneTruePairing Connor and Oliver]] breaking up]] right at the start of the season, every character has become, at least, a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, everyone spending almost all their time crying, screaming, turning against each other and suffering with nothing positive ever happening, with [[GenkiGirl Meggy]] leaving soon after being introduced and even Oliver becoming a darker and darker ALighterShadeOfGray. The fact that several characters do become apathetic jerkasses during the second half of the season makes it really hard to continue caring for the characters as if their TraumaCongaLine would get any better.

** Connor is arguably the shows BreakOut character on account of his status as MrFanservice and the shows [[FemmeFatale Homme Fatale]] since Episode 1. His popularity has only skyrocketed since he's undergone CharacterDevelopment and his JerkWithAHeartOfGold status has become more focused on the heart of gold. [[spoiler: The fact he is one of the few non-murderers on the show also helps.]] Many fans are hoping that he gets a happy ending when his role ends rather than go to jail, despite the fact he ''did'' help cover up murders.

** Simon seems to have almost no purpose on the show besides having someone for both the audience and characters in-universe to hate.

** Sam is disliked by most all viewers, though that one was more intentional.