In the recent episode of How To Get Away, viewers met Toby Solomon, who Annalise referred to as ‘Call Girl Creeper’. Toby was on trial for the murder of a call girl and had gone through five attorneys prior to Keating accepting the case.  Annalise told her class that it was their job to repair the damage to Toby’s case that the previous representation had botched.

This article contains spoilers so if you haven’t seen the episode “Always Bet Black,” please do not continue reading.

In his very first scene, Toby (Austin Basis) immediately tries to hit on first chair Michaela but faces a warning of bodily injury from Annalise.  It’s obvious that Toby Solomon has a strange perversion where women are concerned.  When watching and listening to this man, you get the immediate impression that Toby Solomon had been shot down by women his entire life as they felt he wasn’t physically attractive.

This was confirmed by Toby himself when he confessed to Annalise (Viola Davis) and Bonnie (Liza Weil) that he had killed 18 year old runaway Janey Sherman after she taunted him about his looks.  This enraged Toby, causing him to strike her with a baseball bat to the head.

In examining Toby’s character, low self esteem based on a lifetime of criticism of his appearance turned him into a sleaze who saw women as sex objects that could be his because he could afford them.  Words hurt isn’t just a phrase.  Bullying and name calling can have lifelong repercussions to someone’s psyche.  Of course, I’m not saying that Toby was justified in killing Janey, the killing was definitely a heat of the moment based act.

What made watching the character interesting is that the actor playing him Austin Basis is so vastly different.  Toby’s mannerisms and remarks made it difficult to have even the slightest bit of sympathy for him.  When he complained about the three year prison term deal posed to him by Annalise, she slapped him.  After all, he was getting off easy for killing two women.  Toby will now have to pay for his crimes.  Could Toby Solomon had been a better person if he had been shown respect in his life?  Was ‘The Call Girl Creeper’ a victim of society’s cruel judgments?

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