Presumed Innocent (Season 1) Review

A horrendous murder will shake everything up in the Chicago Prosecuting Attorney’s office, innocent until proven guilty?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Number of episodes – 8
Streaming Service – Apple TV+

***May contain potential spoilers***

Rusty Sabich and his family seem to have the perfect life, his wife Barbara and their two children Jaden and Kyle. You know the nice house, neighbourhood and he has a high flying job in the Chicago Prosecuting office, which he is very good at and is rather popular with the majority of his colleagues. The murder of Carolyn Polhemus will send shockwaves not only within the Chicago legal world but across the city. The sadistic nature of way in which she was tied up was exactly like a case she had worked on with Rusty.

It didn’t take long to find out that the pair were having a very passionate and sex fuelled affair, really highlighting the desire that can be felt between lovers and how the obssession from such a close affair can stem. This naturally places him at the top of the list of suspects after he had initially wanted to take on the case himself, I mean that naturally made him look even more guilty but he wasn’t thinking straight.

Over the course of the eight episodes we get a truly magnificent series, with outstanding performances from every single actor involved. This is seriously the best thing I have seen in a very long time, I say thing because I am linking that with TV series, film or limited series. I mean plaudits truly go to Apple TV+ who really do get the best actors involved. I haven’t seen the film based on the same novel with Harrison Ford, so please let me know if that would have an impact on how you view this.

The brilliance with any courtroom drama scenes as well is giving the viewer that reasonable doubt as well, we are living this through and with Rusty so we lean towards fully trusting and believing him. The narrative pushes who we think did it, not only between episodes but often changing our minds a few times within one episode. It is moreish and bingeworthy due to really just needing to see how else it is going to unfold.

Jake Gyllenhaal is truly excellent, something we already know and he has certainly proven it time and time again. That is no different in Presumed Innocent and you truly get lost in those eyes. Ruth Negga is another who always brings it with a powerful performance. Bill Camp is a scene stealer from start to finish and Peter Sarsgaard is another that you cannot take your eyes off.