Mysterious, sexy, and powerful. Annalise Keating possesses all of these qualities and more. She is a star in the courtroom, as a criminal defense attorney and in the classroom, as a criminal law professor in Shonda Rhimes’ newest show, How To Get Away With Murder. Annalise Keating is mesmerizing. I love watching her in character and here all the reasons why:

She is mysterious.

I cannot figure out Annalise. Did she kill her husband? Does she think he’s innocent? And does she have a thing for Wes? I don’t know what to believe. She is confident one moment, vulnerable the next. Did she love her boyfriend? If so, why did she jeopardize his career as a police officer in order to win her case in the courtroom?

She stripped!

Every Black woman removes her wig, eyelashes, and makeup before she goes to sleep, but very few women will do so on-camera. For decades, society has referred to Black women, especially dark-skinned Black women, as less classically beautiful (a fancy way of saying ‘ugly’). Viola Davis – a dark-skinned Black woman – not only stars in a show as a sexy powerful woman, but she also strips herself of makeup and accessories that society deems as beautiful. Wow! I was impressed.

The way She Said “Why is your penis on a dead girl’s phone?”

Imagine this. You just found out your husband cheated. He’s cheated before, but he promised you that it would never happen again. He lied to you. What else has he lied about? You’re heartbroken. You’re angry. You’re disgusted. You’re devastated and now, it’s time for you to confront him. While we would have understood if she yelled and threw some fists at him, Annalise did not do any of that. She simply asked him a question. A question that left you an awe of Viola Davis’ talent.