ABCToday is a huge day. HUGE. It is the 50th birthday of none other than Viola Davis. And that means we've been celebrating all day.
Because we're totally in love with Viola Davis! Not to be overly sappy, but the woman's got it goin' on. She's a great actress and a smart, strong woman, and if that's not worth a total celebration—on a milestone like a 50th birthday, no less—than we don't know what is.
It's hard to pick the best reason why Viola Davis kicks ass, but at this moment we'd have to say we're totally obsessing over How to Get Away With Murder. It's been a long summer without the Keating Five, and an even longer summer without the queen, Annalise herself. We didn't realize how much our Thursdays had improved until we had to go months without a new episode. We need to get our fix!
Since it's still a whopping six weeks until we'll have the chance to find out what's happened since the season finale, we decided to mark Davis' 50th birthday occasion with a little ode to her alter ego, Annalise. How much do we love thee? Let us count the ways.
1. Her class is law school's closest thing to a rock concert, complete with legions of adoring fans trying to get as close to the stage podium as possible.
2. She has no boundaries at all—literally zero boundaries—yet it somehow works to make her even more badass. Wes should be so lucky as to be inappropriately groped and comforted by his professor.
3. Everything she does is so grandiose that even makeup removal has the audience rapt for an entire scene. No one can take off mascara quite in the middle of a personal and existential crisis quite like you, Annalise.
4. She knows more than anyone that she's the best and she's not afraid to show it. Cue self-aware "I'm a legal genius" smirk.
5. She's so scary that even her compliments seem like insults. Awesome.
6. But actually, her insults are truly terrifying. Do not get on her bad side. But for the rest of us, we'll be sitting back with the popcorn watching it all go down.
7. MOVE OVER MICHELLE OBAMA. There's a new pair of arms in town.
8. She keeps things professional in the courtroom even though there's a whole lot of tempting reasons not to.
9. When she's not, you know, acting as an accomplice to murder, she actually chooses some really great cases to take on. There's a moral high ground somewhere!
10. The power of Annalise is so much that it's even felt off-screen. Here's to groundbreaking TV that affects real life!