NAME: justine
AGE: over 18
CONTACT: wolvesmouth
CURRENT CHARACTER(S): n/a

NAME: Connor Walsh
CANON: Pretty Little Lawyers How To Get Away With Murder
AGE: 23-24
CANON POINT: Season 1, Episode 15
BACKGROUND: Wiki Article | Episode Summaries | HTGAWM Wiki

Due to the lack of substance the wiki provides, there's a bit of history/background interspersed throughout the personality. Hope that's alright!



PERSONALITY: Connor Walsh is a character constantly in flux. Always assessing the pros and cons, he is all about getting ahead and doing what is best for himself, taking advantage of a situation to best suit his purpose. Because of this, he puts on a variety of faces that are built to suit his emotional needs and desires.

A law student at the esteemed Middleton University, Connor begins his Fall semester with Annalise Keating's class: Criminal Law 100, or as she prefers to call it, "How to Get Away With Murder." Almost instantly, Connor makes an impression when called to speak first in the opening lecture. He rises, looking the perfect picture of posh and self-assured and this is his outward façade that 100% of the populace is privy to. It is clear that Connor comes from a background of privilege: expensive boarding school, sleek and classy clothing, the upward tilt to his chin and lift to his nose that gives him a haughty appearance with slicked back hair. He's a guy who's used to having it all in the palm of his hand, and he isn't afraid to show it, work it, and make it happen. This is his best face, the one he preens and projects outwards to almost everyone, a fine display of "no one is better than me and I get what I want."

Of course, Connor's methods for getting what he wants are not always legal, as he states in the very first few episodes. Connor is a manipulative man, loaded with a glib tongue and topped off with a pretty face. Upon observation of the Keating Five (students picked out by Annalise herself to work with her firm), one of her colleagues states that "[Connor's] got ice in his veins." True to the remark, Connor plays a mean game of duplicity and he plays to win. Having ice in his veins is an occupational requirement. No lawyer ever got by on being nice alone, at least not any good ones and he knows that.

Because of this, Connor is knowledgeable when it comes to reading people, and downright predatory about it. He'll grasp onto social cues and turn a situation around in his favor with all the right words. When confronted with the problem of one-upping his fellow student in gathering evidence to push a case in their favor, Connor hits up a local bar in search of some "help." There, Connor finds a lone IT guy who works for the company related to their current case. He immediately assesses him: low self-esteem, a loner, the perfect guy to buy a drink for, shower with attention, and glean some information from. The conversation itself is laid on thickly and Connor wears a veneer of genuine interest to make the guy feel important before going in for the kill and pulling all the strings he can to ultimately get what he wants.

Connor: I work in the bank across the street, and the only hot guys that ever come in here are from your agency.
Oliver: Hot? Wow. Uh... I don't work in the cool part of the company, if that's what you're thinking. I'm in IT.
Connor: IT? No... I think IT's very cool.

A good fuck and some chitchat later and Connor has him eating out of the palm of his hand, hacking into the prosecution's client's e-mail account to get incriminating evidence that ultimately wins them the case and earns him Annalise's approval and the trophy: a physical symbol of success (and an item highly coveted by the class as it allows you a free pass on an exam. Law school, remember?)

Connor's sense of shame is very, very, very low, you see. He'll use whatever tools are at his disposal to get the job done, and his body just happen to be his the powerful one (besides his brain, of course). There is very little that he won't do to get what he wants, and putting that together with someone who is determined and goal-oriented? You get a guy like Connor who will do whatever it takes to get to the top of the class. He maintains excellent grades, sure, and this is effortless on his part, but what matters most in Annalise's class is her acknowledgment, your cunning, and just how much you can do for every case at hand. Connor's purpose is to be recognized, lauded, and to be the guy that everyone else wants to be.

In the pilot's original script, Connor and Wes share a scene in which Connor reveals what exactly matters most to him in this great game of garnering Prof. Keating's favor. He tells Wes that getting a spot to work with Annalise isn't the point. He stats that, "Winning is the point. Law Review, Order of the Coif, a Supreme Court appointment... It all starts with that trophy. That's who [Annalise] is going to respect and mentor and make into a king. That will be me." While cut from the final production and woven into the narrative of How to Get Away With Murder as a more "show-don't-tell" portion of his character, it rings true to his inner processes. Connor always has his eyes on the prize, no matter how high, and he'll stop at nothing to obtain it.

Now, Connor likes a challenge, the exhilaration of the intellectual stalk, hunt, and chase, but he doesn't want to deal with consequences. He doesn't seem to care very much who he hurts in the process and he tries to be sure that things don't get too messy (but they do because this is a show with "murder" in the title). In life, people are made up of many different natures and Connor is no exception to that rule. What he wears as a mask that is collected and easy, confident and smooth can easily transform into panicked, fearful, emotional, and down right cracked when put under the right stressors. Connor is not someone who juggles his emotions well when it comes to wrenches thrown into his plans because the fact of the matter is this: for all his unorthodox methods of gathering evidence and information, Connor is a planner. He can roll with some punches, and he can go with spontaneity if it's on his terms only. For instance, when a one-night stand with a client's subordinate (for more incriminating evidence, of course) results in his frantic and sudden suicide out a window, Connor is visibly shaken up. This was not something he'd anticipated, having a hand in someone's emotional breakdown resulting in their untimely death. It wasn't something he'd seen coming and thus Connor fractures.

His cool and calm splits further upon witnessing the murder of his law professor's husband, Sam Keating. Connor's mind goes into shock and all he can do is help his fellow classmates roll the corpse up in a carpet and then load him into his car to get rid of the body. When plans go awry, Connor is at a loss, particularly in this situation. He doesn't have the stomach for murder, doesn't even have the stomach for being associated in the slightest with someone's death (and who does?) It frays his nerves, puts him on edge and contradicts the nature he works so hard to put forward. Murder was never supposed to be a part of Connor's life in law school. He was supposed to get in, be the best, make a name for himself, and get out. Instead, he's been roped into murder, becoming an unwilling accomplice. Connor slides into an unhinged and frantic mode from then on, the kind that cracks his voice while panic bubbles up inside of him. His paranoia kicks into overdrive as he gets behind the wheel of his own car, Sam's body rolled in a bloody carpet haphazardly. That is when he starts to pick apart all the holes in this little plan, the start of the Keating Five attempting to get away with murder. He frantically mentions eye-witnesses, Asher knowing that they were at her house, the fact that they still have to dispose of the body... etc. He freaks. The hell. Out.

It's only downhill from here, and Connor's inward bleakness at their situation begins to bleed outwards, making him appear worn, a little paler, a little less well-kept. Here is a more desperate side of Connor. He is selfish to begin with, sure, using people for his own means (Oliver, as mentioned before), but now it just gets uglier. Connor is a man bursting at the seams with selfish survivalism that only rears its ugly head when put under direct threat. If it means throwing people under the bus, Connor will do it if it guarantees the safety of his future and washing his hands of the entire thing. At one point, out of fear, Connor utilizes his power of persuasion over his intellectual rival and classmate, Michaela, to convince her that they ought to go to the police and blame the entire thing on Wes. To pin the murder on another would give them some wiggle room in the future--they wouldn't be totally clean, but the blood would come off. The smell would linger, but you can always cover that up, right? Of course, this plan did not go accordingly and Connor and Michaela find themselves ratted out to the rest of the Keating Five along with Annalise. The situation comes to a standstill, wholly "us against them" where Connor realized he didn't quite stand a chance in going through with his plan.

So he adapts, gracelessly, but it's all he can do for the time being. Annalise's moves in to calm them down, saying "I got you into this, and it's my job to get you out." In that moment, Connor decides that he'll go along with the rest of the group. The outcome, while terrifying in the long run, is most favorable if he doesn't want them to foist all the blame on him in return--it only takes one weakened link in the chain after all. Here, Connor never wholly adheres to one idea, never completely remains loyal to anyone but himself. If it means saving his own ass, he'll do it. As stated before, Connor is in a constant state of change, shifting and adapting (when stable enough). If the situation looks favorable, he'll choose one option over the other--but it must always remain in his favor to be a viable enough option to maintain. Annalise reads Connor's fear over being caught instantly when she is in the same room with him. She takes him aside and says what we're all thinking:

Connor: You said you'd protect us.
Annalise: Aren't I?
Connor: How could we know? I mean, you You only talk to us in code, y-you expect us to continue going to class and work your cases even though nothing makes any sense anymore... I want to trust you. I do, but...
Annalise: Do you know why I gave you that trophy the first day? Not because you screwed your way to it, although that's certainly something I've done in my day... But because I saw you, someone like me. Someone so scared that the only way you know how to handle things is by worrying your way through them... That's what you and I are: worriers. It makes us very successful, but also very tired, too. [ a pause ] Here's the thing, Mr. Walsh. You're not gonna trust me. That's just not in your nature. But you can stop worrying, because, and you might have forgotten this, but I'm your only option here. Without me, you go to prison.
Connor: Doesn't mean we won't end up there.
Annalise: No, it doesn't. But the odds are better with me.

Being in motion constantly takes a toll on Connor. As Annalise points out, he is indeed a worrier--someone who frets, who thinks of the worst underneath that exterior of cool and calm. It's what gets him so far, thinking of every hole in a situation and filling it with deft problem-solving. However, when he worries to the brink of exhaustion and paranoia, it shows. Connor is used to doing things on his own, him versus the World. He takes what he can get and uses whomever he wants to do so. But when he's worn down it makes him vulnerable, and that is what he hides beneath the mask of confidence he wears day in and day out. On the inside, Connor wants to be liked, wants to do the right thing, and pushes it all away. He says it to Michaela, he says it to Oliver, he says it to everyone who tries to get close. "I don't do boyfriends" or "We're not friends" only to be proven wrong by his actions. "Every minute you're not with me, you're with them. They're your friends," Oliver points out when Connor tries to tell him that they most definitely aren't despite the proof at hand.

Connor still keeps up a fairly put-together appearance when in public, as appearances are still half the battle--a nice coat, slicked back hair, neatly-trimmed beard, but the stress wears around his eyes when it hits and in the lines of his mouth. Outside of the public eye thought, when he's alone with the Keating Five, looking through the discovery files or investigating from the comfort of Annalise's house after the murder, he forgets the polished suits and pressed shirts, he dials it down to comfortable sweaters rolled up to the elbows and pulled at the edges, he curls up instead of sprawls out. It's a side of himself he wouldn't show to anyone if he could help it and here he is showing it to the people he would never openly call his "friends."

In the paranoia-filled days following Sam Keating's murder, Connor spends more and more time with Oliver (the IT guy he'd two-timed before, figuring he'd be a fling). Their relationship is something that develops over the course of the latter half of the season, Connor trying to win Oliver back quite resolutely even though he's proven himself to be untrustworthy in the past. It seems like Connor's attempt at making things right, finding a place to rest that doesn't involve surrounding himself with the five reminders of that night. It's a place where he can break down a little easier, feel a little calmer. If anything, Oliver is the only remaining "normal" part of Connor's life that exists and in his own selfish way, he wants to cling to that.

As a character overall, Connor is all about maintaining as much control as he can in an ever-changing environment, but on his terms. If he can't maintain it, he breaks. If he can, he's the king of the world and nothing can stop him. His mutability knows no bounds and when forced into a new situation, he will more than manage, even if he has to crumble a little first.

ABILITIES/POWERS:

— No supernatural abilities whatsoever. Connor is 100% squishy human and nothing will change upon arriving in Each.
— Manipulative and clever, Connor knows how to get what he wants through whatever means necessary. He's a great liar when he's not falling apart at the seams.
— Extremely well-educated, Connor's parents didn't skimp on paying for prime schooling. He is well-versed in criminal law.
— Keeping secrets is the name of the game if you don't want to get caught and do time for murder. Connor's good at keeping quiet if it suits his best interests.

INVENTORY:

— The clothing on his back | dark long-sleeved shirt, trousers, socks, a pair of dark oxford shoes, a coat, scarf, a pair of gloves, innerwear (top and bottom), all that good stuff. All in black. A silver signet ring on his finger.
— Whatever's in his pockets | keys to his car in his jacket pocket, his wallet with ID and some cash, maybe a condom or two.

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WRITTEN SAMPLE: