Presumed Innocent is an AppleTV+ series that is adapted from Scott Turow’s 1987 novel of the same name, which was previously adapted into a 1990 movie starring Harrison Ford. In this version, Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the main character, Chicago chief deputy prosecutor Rusty Sabich. The story finds Rusty on trial for the gruesome murder of his colleague and lover, Carolyn Polhemus. Did he do it? Did he not? That’s the question at the heart of this story.

I am coming into this series with preconceived notions of Jake Gyllenhaal. An “ick” if you will, put there by a one Ms. Taylor Swift. “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)”? The entire album “Red”? Ever heard of it? (If you haven’t, then stop reading this and go correct that right now). A masterpiece. But regardless of all that, he just strikes me as kind of a weird guy. Again, I’m probably biased but, as talented as he is, he just seems to have this weird, crazed, offbeat energy that I find unsettling. He has crazy eyes. I say that because how you feel about Jake and his character are critical to the way you watch this show. Do you believe him or do you not? Does he seem trustworthy? Does he seem like someone who has the potential to be a murderer?

I should also say that prior to watching this series, I had not seen the movie and knew nothing about the story. I opted to keep it that way until finishing the show to avoid any potential spoilers. After watching both, a notable difference is the casting choice for the role of Rusty. Harrison Ford, especially in 1990, was a tried and true good guy. A hero. He was Indiana Jones and Han Solo! He could never brutally murder someone! The movie intentionally plays with the idea of Ford’s public persona, continuously forcing you to question if you really know him the way you think you do as more and more salacious information comes to light. How do we reconcile the facts with the charming, handsome face? Gyllenhaal’s Rusty is similar but different. Yes, he is still charming and handsome. But he doesn’t have the kind of persona that will have audiences on his side from the jump. He’s much more inscrutable. And while he starts out with a gentle, good guy image, the cracks in the veneer begin to show fairly quickly, revealing Rusty to be, frankly, kind of an asshole in a way Ford’s Rusty never was. But that leads the show to ask a different question than the movie. Instead of examining if a guy as friendly and unassuming as Ford could really commit a gruesome crime, the show seems to pose the question, can someone be a bad-tempered, unpleasant person but not be a murderer? And not just actually not be a murderer, but be found not guilty by a jury? And even if Rusty is just an asshole and not a murderer, are you rooting for him? 

I thought Presumed Innocent was good, not great. It was definitely entertaining and in my wheelhouse, as most crime stories and legal thrillers are (reminder: I’m a Law & Order: SVU obsessive). But there were just a lot of places where you could feel the show trying too hard. To stretch a 2 hour movie into an 8 episodes television series, you need to add more story. The series opts to fill this space by spending more time with Rusty’s family and especially fleshing out the character of his wife, Barbara. While I appreciate the instinct to have more fully-formed female characters on screen, the more Barbara got her own storylines, the less it felt connected to the main plot of the show. In the first few episodes, we get some scenes of Barbara in sessions with her therapist (played by Lily Rabe, which would normally indicate some significance to these moments to have a bigger star in a tiny part), but this thread seems to be forgotten halfway through the season and never amounts to anything. Even time spent at home with Rusty and his family started to feel redundant and unnecessary. They tried to mix a legal thriller with a family drama and, to me, it just wasn’t effective. 

Expanding the story to an 8 episode series also provided more time for misdirection. Fakeouts and red herrings are an important and necessary part of a mystery to keep you guessing right up until the final reveal. But can there be too many red herrings? I started to feel that way as the series progressed. At a certain point, almost every single character was a potential suspect and there was a jumble of conflicting evidence and possible motives. I guess the show did its job because I didn’t see the ending coming, but I still didn’t love the fact that they were constantly telling you, “look over there!”, quickly followed by “just kidding” in order to achieve it.

While the plot does sometimes feel thin or contrived, this show could never be accused of being boring. Mostly thanks to the dialed-up-to-eleven performances of much of the main cast. Like I said previously, Jake Gyllenhaal’s strange energy works here, giving you the sense that even when Rusty presents as calm and composed, there is an edge he’s hiding. We see it start to come out more and more until we barely recognize the guy we first met. His calmness is eerie and his ego is astronomical. Jake Gyllenhaal’s real-life brother-in-law, Peter Sarsgaard, plays rival lawyer Tommy Molto. This might be the performance of the show for how particularly calibrated it is. Tommy is so slimy and unlikable, but he might not be wrong. He also has so many peculiar quirks that make him feel like a real person instead of a cartoonish villain. Seeing these two go head-to-head in court is why we’re all really here. Ruth Negga is amazing in a difficult role. She grounds Barbara well enough to make that character work to the extent that it does. Even smaller roles (but not small performances) like Bill Camp as Raymond Horgan, O-T Fagbenle as Nico Della Guardia, Gabby Beans as Mya, and more help to elevate the show.

I do want to talk about the ending, but I will save that for the spoiler section. I can’t even tell you if the ending is the same as the movie or not because that would be a spoiler! But what I can tell you is that, regardless of the ending, the show is different from the movie in most aspects: tone, performance, much of the plot elements at the center of the case, even many of the main characters. I prefer a remake to not just be a carbon copy, but a new take on an old story so I liked that they made changes. I don’t think all of the changes and choices worked, but they were all interesting and unusual which kept me watching (including one scene that felt lifted straight out of The Boys. For what reason was that in there? Extremely unclear but it got my attention.) A crime/court story will almost always work for me. Even if it’s not “good”, it’s entertaining, which is all that really matters. I was truly on the edge of my seat when it came time for the verdict so I guess I was invested. It has been announced the show will be returning for a second season which is confusing since it seems like this story is wrapped. I’m hoping the show will become more of an anthology and the next season will cover a totally new court case instead of just being a continuation of this story. A different case every season could be fun and people love a legal drama! But for now, this first season does a pretty okay job of playing that part.

Spoiler Section: So the ending. Here is how it differs from book to movie to show: in the book, Rusty figures out that Barbara is the killer and helps her to conceal the crime. She later wants to leave him but he says that she can’t because he knows what she did and they are in it together. In the movie, Rusty has no idea Barbara is the killer but she eventually confesses to him. In the show, Rusty thinks Barbara is the killer so he tries to cover up the crime, but it wasn’t actually her and was their daughter instead. Since I hadn’t watched the movie previous to watching the show, I really didn’t know what to expect. I don’t think I ever suspected Barbara was the killer so when it was first revealed to be her, I was shocked. But then the second twist revealing it was actually Jaden but Rusty just thought it was Barbara was even more surprising. I didn’t love that it was Jaden because her story and motive all seemed a little bland, but it tracked with the performance of the character throughout the season whereas after watching Barbara through 8 episodes, it didn’t feel believable that it would turn out to be her. Personally, I think I like the book ending the best so I do like that the show has Rusty being involved in some way, even if he isn’t the killer. Also, some of his behavior towards Barbara throughout the series makes more sense knowing that this whole time he was convinced that she did it. I don’t know if I needed the double twist, but it was still fun to be surprised by an ending I didn’t see coming.

2024 Count: 19 seasons/specials, 42 movies