'How To Get Away With Murder' Season 6 Episode 4 delivers a powerful message as it tackles social discrimination
Take the case of this week's episode four for instance. Carl, a differently-abled, single man is on the search for a woman to date (and feel loved) on a popular app.
However, his hopes are crushed when he finds that the app uses an algorithm that filters out "unworthy" matches. Feeling discriminated against for his disability, he decides to sue the app makers filing a claim to change the algorithm.
He hopes that he (and many others like him) can have a chance to love and date like a normal man. To this, the app company’s owner takes a stand that the algorithm has no role to play in a partner selection and that it would be ultimately a user's discretion to connect with a person they like.
On the outside, this looks pretty much like many lawsuits that arise out of a plaintiff’s frustration or lack of solid motive to harass the defendant. Even Annalise felt the same way at first, as did Tegan who offered a settlement to Carl.
But soon enough Annalise discovered that their client wants to settle only because she plans to sell the algorithm to the US government, to be used for different services.
This creates a stir, especially in Annalise's mind, as she envisages how the algorithm could be misused by the government to create more discrimination among social communities, genders, and so on.
To make it right, Annalise talks to Carl and makes him realize how she, being a dark-skinned woman, has been on the same boat of harassment and discrimination all her life.
Although the case is eventually dropped, Annalise condemns her client, while accepting that both will end up in hell because of the sinful acts they have done in their lives.
In a world full of dating apps and online hook-up sites, most people fall prey to false identities, wrongful claims, judgments, and shaming. Social sites have given people more than enough privileges to be blunt and offensive, even where it is not required.
Many singles looking for a partner, or even a simple date, find themselves browsing through dating sites and apps, only to end up with some kind of disappointment. While there are success stories, there are also incidents that make us question if this is the most prudent way to deal with our needs for a partner.
As traditional to the show, every season has highlighted a social issue, relevant to our times. Somehow, we have been missing that as season six took off, as the story’s priorities shifted to the underlying complexities of situations in the lives of Annalise and her K5.
But episodes two and four reminded us that HTGAWM still stands for its core vision of driving a powerful message.
Whether it is discrimination towards people of color, or towards disability, gender equality, sexual orientation, and similar other issues plaguing the world today, the hit legal drama has been successful in driving home a message with every case.
‘How To Get Away With Murder’ airs on ABC every Thursday at 9 pm/8c.