20 TV Acting Performances That Are Totally Flawless

That Viola Davis is a phenomenal actress goes without saying, but aside from her Oscar-winning turn in 2016's Fences and scene-stealing roles in The Help and the so-so Suicide Squad, her most accomplished performance has to be that of ingeniously complex defense attorney Annalise Keating.

How to Get Away With Murder remains one of the decade's most intriguing and dark shows, and not one ounce of it would have worked without Davis' searing central performance as a woman corrupted by her past, unwilling to bow down to her future, and unflinching in the face of adversity.

Keating makes a captivating lead player, grounding the show's frequent plot twists and engaging melodrama with a calm, no bullsh*t outward facade and many lurking demons.

Davis may have become one her generation's best film stars over the years, but she's never really been better than she was in Peter Nowalk's spotless legal drama.