‘Presumed Innocent’ Season 1 Finale Threw an Unexpected Curveball!
Now we know. And wow, that was a great twist!
If you’ve been following the Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard legal thriller Presumed Innocent on Apple TV+, you’re about to learn a lesson. No matter how smart you are, never presume how a finale episode with more than five suspects is going to end in a whodunnit!
Spoilers ahead!
The much-awaited finale, episode 8 of Presumed Innocent season 1, “The Verdict,” has dropped. And consider me stumped, dear reader, because I did not quite expect that ending!
But before I dive into what happened, let’s play a little catch up, shall we? At the end of episode 7, here’s where things stood. Rozat K. Sabich aka Rusty (Gyllenhaal) was still looking guilty as hell for the murder of his colleague and girlfriend, Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve). If anything, after his cross examination by chief deputy prosecutor Tommy Molto (a chef’s kiss performance by Peter Sarsgaard), where he almost convinced the jury that Rusty could’ve just “snapped,” it almost looked like Rusty was done for.
Thankfully, his bestie and first chair Raymond Horgan (an endearing Bill Camp) was well and back by his side. Rusty had managed to establish a motive for Carolyn’s son Michael Caldwell (Tate Birchmore), and that he had access to the Bunny Davis case files, where he could’ve gotten the inspiration to tie up Carolyn the way she was found. But things were still looking too bad. Molto had found the guy Rusty beat up. Rusty’s wife Barbara (Ruth Negga) confessed to almost cheating on him with a bartender. And in the final scene, the murder weapon turned up at Tommy Molto’s house with a printed post-it note that said, “Go Fuck Yourself.”
What happens in the Presumed Innocent season 1 finale?
The finale began on a fantastic curveball. By episode 7, Tommy Molto was looking like a good counter-suspect to Rusty Sabich. In fact, in our roundup of suspects, he was right there in the top with Rusty once the fire poker was found at his house.
But it turns out the good man actually reported it to the cops! Judge Lyttle (Noma Dumezweni) convened the defense and prosecution to once again offer a mistrial after Molto revealed that the fire poker was clean of any prints or DNA and would serve no purpose as evidence. But to no avail. Another hearing happened, another expert was called by Rusty’s defense to try to cast doubt on the time of murder, and prove he wasn’t there when Carolyn was killed. But Molto managed to blow a hole through that, too.
It was finally time for closing argument from the defense and prosecution. Tensions were running high. We still didn’t have an inkling as to who could it be. And Rusty, against Horgan’s better judgement, decided he wanted to defend himself because he couldn’t trust anyone else with this. Okay, genius.
At court the next day, Rusty made an impassioned and emotional but succinct and effective closing argument before the jury, stating repeatedly that they could consider him dishonorable for how he cheated on his wife and betrayed his family. But he loved Carolyn and did not kill her, and any evidence against him was merely circumstantial, but couldn’t prove anything. He also hinted at the prosecution’s failure to investigate properly and examine other possible suspects.
And then, Tommy Molto rose, and made his closing statement—also impassioned, yet clinical, sharp, stating cold hard facts that all pointed at Rusty. It almost convinced his boss Nico Della Guardia (O-T Fagbenle) to ask him after if he was in love with Carolyn Polhemus himself.
And then, the jury announced the verdict—Rusty Sabich was found “not guilty” for the murder of Carolyn Polhemus.
Okay, wait, so then who killed Carolyn Polhemus?
In Presumed Innocent the book by Scott Turow and the movie adaptation starring Harrison Ford, the killer turns out to be Barbara Sabich, Rusty’s wife. There’s enough evidence at the crime scene, which Rusty manages to hide, that indicate Barbara did it and left the evidence there to taunt Rusty that she knew what he was up to. The appearance of the fire poker with the note in the series might’ve been an indication that we were finally getting on track for the same outcome.
The suspicion that the series would also make Barbara the killer was further confirmed when, after the verdict, Tommy Molto was visibly heartbroken that the lost and wasn’t able to get justice for Carolyn. And after the Sabich family returns home, Rusty goes looking for his wife in their shed to confront her.
We’ve usually seen Rusty run on the treadmill, as if burning off his stress and guilt. But this time, Barbara is the one running, and the confrontation is poised to reveal to us that it was her all along. But when Rusty tells her that he knew it could only have been her, Barbara is shocked.
Turns out, Rusty went back to Carolyn’s that night, and found her beaten up. She could’ve been alive, but he didn’t call the police when he realized that the only person who could’ve done this, who had the rage and motive, was Barbara. When Barbara refuses to believe him, Rusty brings up a conversation he had with their daughter Jaden (Chase Infiniti), about how a person can commit such a heinous crime and undergo dissociation, repressing any memory of them having done it. He recalls how normal Barbara was when he told her the news of Carolyn’s death the next day.
Barbara remains in shock and denial, even when Rusty tells her he tracked her car to find out she had driven to Tommy Molto’s to plant the murder weapon. But that’s when the big twist hits.
Their daughter Jaden walks in, telling her father that it wasn’t Barbara who drove the car; it was her, Jaden. When Rusty asks why she would do that, and how she had the murder weapon, Jaden confesses that she only went to Carolyn Polhemus’ that night to talk, and tell her to back off because she was ruining her family.
In a flashback scene to the night of the murder, when Carolyn reveals to Jaden that her father is the one who wouldn’t back off, and that she’s pregnant with his child, Jaden gets angry. Carolyn turns to walk away, and that’s when Jaden picks up the fire poker and strikes her hard a couple of times.
Books fans who love knowing it all might not like the twist, but since author Scott Turow is an co-executive producer on the series, you can trust that the changed ending has his blessing. Presumed Innocent has become one of the most viewed drama series on Apple TV+ and already renewed for a second season.
The performances this season, particularly from Jake Gyllehaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Bill Camp, Ruth Negga, and O-T Fagbenle, have been noteworthy. The writing and pacing are excellent, keeping you hooked and guessing until the very end, not sure who the killer is. But as always, it doesn’t matter who did it; what matters is the story and the perception. And with this great double twist in the end, the series has definitely set itself apart from the previous iterations!
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