Presumed Innocent Check In
Presumed Innocent might be the best show on television right now.
A piece of television that has an overwhelming sense of what it is, and what it provides, Presumed Innocent is shot in a distinct manner, with some of the best performances of its all star cast. Despite being a remake of a movie that was originally based off of a beloved and acclaimed book, it is still managing to keep viewers guessing on what happens next.
The general premise is that Rusty played by Jake Gyllenhaal, works for the DA’s office. One of his coworkers, Carolyn, was gruesomely murdered, in a manner that replicates an old case that both Rust and Carolyn worked on. By the end of the premiere, it’s made apparent that Rusty and Carolyn were having an affair, and that he will become the prime suspect of the case. The rest of the series unfolds as both a crime drama and a detective case as Rusty is being tried, but he is attempting to find out who really murdered her to clear his name.
The writing is smart, it simply drops viewers into the characters and their lives. Within the first episode there are multiple allusions to the affair that occurs between Rusty and Carolyn, without ever outright saying it. There are clear dynamics between the characters on the show, not only how Rusty interacts with them, but how they interact between themselves. There’s a clear line in the DA’s office on which coworkers get along with each other. Rusty’s close friend and representation, Raymond (Played by Bill Camp) does not always get along with his wife, because the two disagree on whether Rusty committed or was even capable of committing the murder. The writing is sharp enough to not always be spelling all of this out, instead it shows viewers a scene and lets them come to the conclusions themselves. These feel like real life people not just fictional characters on our television.
It's not perfect, there are a lot of these jumps cuts to what is going on in Rusty’s head. From trauma or just generally trying to disassociate from his current predicament we’ll see multiple scenarios play out, some that involve him being gentle and kind, some that involve him being violent. It’s clearly a mechanic used to show his fractured psyche and to make viewers question if he is in fact the murderer, but they happen too often and it can be really jarring. There are also obvious red herring moments of the plot, like spotting Rusty’s son on Carolyn’s street the night she died. The drama and tension that occurs in the family unit because of this is interesting, but at the same time it’s such an obvious diversion to create another suspect it’s not worth seriously investing energy in.
The acting between all of the leads is really something to behold. Jake Gyllenhaal is giving one of his best performances. Opposite of him, Ruth Negga is giving the performance of a lifetime. In a character that is being more fleshed out than her movie counterpart, Negga counters everything Gyllenhaal gives her. She has so many subtleties in her acting, so many nuances, it really fleshes out the believability of this character and the complexity of this woman dealing with so much at this time. Peter Sarsgaard is giving deliciously foul as the lawyer who is prosecuting Rusty. There’s an obvious tension between the two as Rusty is probably the better lawyer, and an almost feverish desperation to lock Rusty away. In the most recent episode all of the breadcrumbs have been pointing at Sarsgaard’s character as the real murderer, and maybe part of his desperate attempts to lock up Rusty is to save himself.
But now, with only two episodes left we are left with who did it? The original ending is very well known. There are breadcrumbs to believe maybe it’s going in a similar way, but at the same time, maybe Apple wants to change it up. Tommy Malto (Sarsgaard’s character) is not on the front line of suspects. Barbara (Negga) has done and said some questionable things as the scorned wife in all of this. And there is of course the clearly unwell Rusty, played by an unhinged Gyllenhaal. I don’t want Rusty to have been the murderer, but if it’s revealed he was, it wouldn’t be unfounded. What is known is that reviewers have only received the first seven episodes, which means Apple wants to keeps the ultimate reveal close to their chest and to not be spoiled. So maybe, we are going to get something out of left field that is unexpected.
With a huge cliffhanger on episode 6, Raymond goes into cardiac arrest in the middle of the hearing, there is a lot of anticipation for the last two episodes. Will Raymond survive? Bill Camp has been one of the great joys of this season. Will Rusty represent himself? Hopefully, so Gyllenhaal can act even more unhinged in the middle of court. Who killed Carolyn Polhemus? We only have a couple weeks until we find out.