SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about the Season 1 finale of Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent.
Like the proverbial Chekhov’s Gun plot devise — if a writer introduces a gun in a story, there must be a reason for it hanging on the wall, such as it being fired at some point — David E. Kelley finally used an element he introduced to Scott Turrow’s Presumed Innocent — in a big way.
Rusty (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Barbara’s (Ruth Negga) daughter Jaden (Chase Infiniti) was revealed as Carolyn Polhemus’ killer in the final minutes of Presumed Innocent‘s finale. In the book, as well as in the 1990 movie, Rusty and Barbara have only one child, a young son. Kelley added a daughter, and made both siblings older.
While Jaden had spent most of the series in the background, her comments a couple of episodes ago about dissociation and snapping and acting outside yourself got fans’ attention, making her a potential suspect.
Jaden’s awkward, uneasy talk with her father as he was rehearsing his closing midway through the finale added to the character’s dark overtones — and the suspicion that she was somehow involved in the killing.
Kelley did give the original plot twist a nod. (In the book and the movie, Barbara is revealed as the killer who, using her knowledge of the Bunny Davis case to tie her victim.)
After Rusty and Prosecutor Tommy Molto (Peter Sarsgaard) made their closing arguments and the jury returned a not guilty verdict, Rusty confronted Barbara and confessed that he had tied Carolyn up after returning to her house (?!) and finding his lover bludgeoned to death.
Realizing only Barbara could’ve done this (without elaborating why), Rusty said he tied her up to divert attention from his wife, a confession that was met with horror by Barbara. The only proof of his suspicions Rusty offered was that he had put a tracker in Barbara’s car, putting her at Molto’s home the night the fire poker — the presumed murder weapon — was left on his kitchen’s counter.
Barbara’s nightmare was about to get even bigger when Jaden enters and admitted that she killed Carolyn after the latter told her she was pregnant with Rusty’s baby and that she planted the poker driving her mom’s car, making the murder a two-person job.
As the finale wrapped the story, with the Sabiches sharing a meal, Raymond happily gardening and Molto and his cat enjoying a game, it did not set up Season 2, leaving fans guessing as to how the series will continue.
As Deadline pointed out at the time of the renewal, there is no obvious blueprint for continuing the series from Turow’s body of work. His 1987 bestseller Presumed Innocent was followed by the 1990 The Burden Of Proof. Set in the same Illinois locale, the story follows the character Sandy Stern from Presumed Innocent after the events in that novel. The character was played by Raul Julia in the Presumed Innocent film adaption with Harrison Ford but does not exist in the TV series. Instead, the show introduced Gabby Beans’s Mya as a defense attorney.
Still, like other hit limited series that became drama series, including White Lotus and Shōgun, there are expected to be character(s) who link the seasons.
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