AppleTV’s Presumed Innocent season 1 finale closes the series with a leap, a twist and a whimper for what was a grounded adult drama.
Directors: Anne Sewitsky & Greg Yaitanes
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Mystery
Number of episodes: 8
Season 1 Finale Release Date: July 24, 2024
Watch Presumed Innocent: on Apple TV+
The season 1 finale of Presumed Innocent, AppleTV’s limited series based on Scott Turow’s bestseller of the same name, landed without much fanfare from the streamer. The episode, titled ‘The Verdict’, was perfectly placed to be the antithesis of recent news that AppleTV may be slimming down budgets for their projects by proving why the streamers programming choices are some of the best television. Sadly, the once grounded adult drama finds itself a bit too illogical, ending the series on more of a whimper than a bang.
To recap the series: legal prosecutor Rusty Sabich (Jake Gyllenhaal) is on trial for the murder of colleague Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve). He attests his innocence but the circumstances of the case indict him:; the affair he was having with Carolyn, 36 steadily rising-in-anger text messages, his presence there the night of the murder, access to the case file for a previously similar murder and that he stalked the investigation when he was in charge of it. This is on top of the revelation that Carolyn was pregnant with Rusty’s baby.
The person attempting to prosecute Rusty, Tommy Molto (Peter Sarsgaard), also has history with Carolyn, but it’s the rivalry between the two legal professionals in the courtroom upon which the most friction exists. Other plot threads throughout the show have included Carolyn’s son accusing Rusty through inadmissible video evidence, Rusty’s wife Barbara (Ruth Negga) having her own affair, Raymond Horgan (Bill Camp) – the lawyer for Rusty – having a heart attack in court.
Episode 7 of the series came to a screeching close when Tommy walked into his home and spied the murder weapon – the missing fire poker; a barbed, jet black foot-long scalpel, with a post-it note left on it with the words “go f*ck yourself” inscribed. The season 1 finale of Presumed Innocent begins with the backlash from this. The poker is inadmissible in the case now that it has appeared in the way that it has but it also has no fingerprints and no DNA evidence. Rusty thinks it was Carolyn’s son, but Tommy thinks Rusty is trying to imply his involvement. What the courts do is offer a mistrial – the entire case gets thrown out and the whole ordeal begins again. Neither party accepts this, in one of the many changes to how the novel and 1990 Pakula-directed adaptation completes the law-aspect of their stories.
Instead, they continue the case without mention of the poker, which begs the question as to why this cliffhanger was left. The reveal of who deposited it in Tommy’s home, which we shall come to, leaves us with more questions than answers. A second season is planned, in which the many threads that the finale leaves loose will hopefully be answered. Maybe it is just a symptom within the format of television media, but leaving ‘The Verdict’ so unwrapped led me to feel unsatisfied rather than eager for more. This dissatisfaction is mostly found in the reveal that doesn’t quite work. It tracks thematically, but there is a failure of logic with it. For those wishing to watch without it being spoiled, consider this your warning.
After Rusty delivers his closing statement, a resoundingly heartfelt plea to the jury about the lack of evidence, he is found not guilty. Gyllenhaal delivers this with real passion, showcasing why he is seen as one of our best contemporary actors. Rusty returns home a free man, having been found innocent of murder. The 1990 adaptation, and Turow’s novel, has Rusty locate the murder weapon hidden within their garage, revealing Barbara to be the perpetrator.
But the poker has already been located within this narrative, so when Rusty and Barbara find themselves in the garage, there is no incriminating object to instigate this reveal. Instead, with what could have been a really rather excellent change, Rusty knew it was Barbara all along, somehow, and his actions throughout the entire show have been to defend himself and his scorned, murderous wife. Not just in the trial or following on from the murder investigation, but that he returned that evening to find Carolyn dead on the floor, and immediately hog-tied her up to implicate the murderer that once threatened Carolyn.
For those knowledgeable about Presumed Innocent, the episode is following the story just about accurately sans Rusty tampering with the crime scene. But Kelley has been laying groundwork for a twist since the inception. Rusty challenges Barbara on the murder but instead of breaking her facade, like the character does in other versions, it is kept up because she didn’t kill Carolyn. Negga in this entire exchange is astounding, completely selling the existentialist crisis that comes from the reveal: their daughter, Jaden (Chase Infiniti) did. Jaden drives to the house in her mother’s car, murders Carolyn, drives home and proceeds to bury the murder weapon in the back garden. Rusty then returns and concludes that this was Barbara, so proceeds to alter the crime scene to alleviate suspicion.
An off-the-cuff comment about tracking the car after Barbara’s affair makes little sense unless we’re expected to believe that, in the grief-stricken moments after finding her body, Rusty looked at a tracking app on the off chance his wife had murdered his affair. To top it off, Jaden has cleaned all the dirt off the weapon and left it at Tommy’s to help her father’s case, though I am not quite sure of how that was supposed to do so. The entire reveal is just silly enough to weaken what was a compelling drama. The type of drama that doesn’t shy away from adult themes and sex, an aspect of modern television that we need much more of.
Whilst the twist deflates what was rich and compelling adult TV and should have been a home run for AppleTV, Presumed Innocent is never disengaging. Gyllenhaal, Negga and Camp are also superb in their respective roles, and Reinsve is an alluring enough presence in flashbacks to understand motivations. It’s just a shame that the twist in the finale is more Pretty Little Liars than Sharp Objects.
The Season 1 Finale of Presumed Innocent is now available to stream globally on Apple TV+, along with the rest of the series. Read our review of the first seven episodes below!
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