Jake Gyllenhaal has nailed his foray into OTT with Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent, a tightly woven legal drama that keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat from start to finish. The eight-episode limited series is based on Scott Turow’s 1987 novel Presumed Innocent, which was adapted into a film of the same name in 1990 with Harrison Ford as Rusty Sabich, a renowned prosecutor and devoted family man who finds himself in a legal pickle.
The Apple TV+ series begins with Rusty Sabich (Jake Gyllenhaal) enjoying a sunny day with wife Barbara (Ruth Negga) and their children when he gets the news that his colleague Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve) has been found brutally murdered. As Sabich is assigned the case in court, there comes a shocking twist — Sabich had been having an affair with Carolyn, making him the prime suspect in her murder. Presumed Innocent revolves around Sabich’s desperate fight to prove his innocence amidst mounting evidence against him.
A deft hand at legal drama plotting, Presumed Innocent show creator and scriptwriter David E. Kelley — known for TV shows like Ally McBeal, Boston Legal, LA Law and Big Little Lies — peels the details of the case gradually, maintaining a steady suspense. While packed with elements of a thriller, Presumed Innocent meanders around the themes of guilt, betrayal and the erosion of trust that infidelity invariably brings along with it.
Carolyn is initially depicted as just a colleague of Sabich’s but when their affair comes to light, his co-workers and his friend and boss, Raymond Horgan (Bill Camp), begin to doubt him. Sabich’s innocence remains ambiguous throughout the show, with his rash decisions, violent tendencies and erratic behaviour fuelling suspicion. He reexamines old cases he had solved with Carolyn, searching for clues that can help him prove his innocence.
Even his children begin to suspect that he might have committed the crime in a moment of passion-driven rage. Sabich’s wife Barbara, who had been aware of the affair long before Carolyn’s death, struggles with their strained marriage, seeking therapy and exploring a romance with a bartender (Sarunas J. Jackson).
As the show progresses, establishing the identity of Carolyn’s killer becomes secondary to the intense professional rivalry between Sabich and deputy district attorney Tommy Molto (Peter Sarsgaard). When Molto is assigned the case, old vendettas are reignited. The electrifying confrontations between Sabich and Molto — brought to life by Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard who are brothers-in-law in real life — provide some of the series’ most compelling moments.
Gyllenhaal’s performance as a supremely confident man slipping into desperation and paranoia when the odds are stacked against him is a standout and a far cry from the roles he has most often associated himself with. The supporting cast of the series is equally good, especially Ruth Negga as Barbara, who transitions from a supportive spouse to a conflicted woman.
