Discovery – The episode begins with Rusty Sabich (Jake Gyllenhaal) in a bit of a panic as he tells Barbara Sabich (Ruth Negga) that he visited Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve) the night she was murdered. The threatening text from the end of the previous episode suggests that it was only a matter of time before this came out. Rusty maintains the claim that he is innocent.
Elsewhere, Raymond Horgan (Bill Camp) finds himself in a similar frenzied state when he wakes from a vision of Rusty killing Carolyn. He later shares this experience with Lorraine Horgan (Elizabeth Marvel), who is quick to point out that dreams can have meanings. Despite this, he maintains the belief that Rusty is innocent.
After receiving a meeting location and time, Rusty strategizes with Raymond. Raymond obviously isn’t happy about being kept in the dark and Lorraine doesn’t appear with Rusty’s presence. Despite Raymond initially telling Rusty to hand the phone over to the police, he later tells him to be careful what he says if he decides to go. This brief meeting also reveals that Raymond is bringing on a young associate with Defense experience, Mya Winslow (Gabby Beans).
After being besieged by reporters (Yomary Cruz/Christopher Wolfe/Alexandra Fatovich) on her way to work, Barbara’s day goes from bad to worse when Kate (Rosanna Arquette) requests that she take a ‘step back’ from the gallery. This leads to a bit of day drinking and flirting with the bartender at the nearest bar but Barbara ends things before they get too far out of hand. Despite this, Barbara appears to be reinvigorated by the prospect when she later discusses the encounter with Lorraine. Lorraine all but encourages her.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tommy Molto (Peter Sarsgaard) vilifies Detective Stevens Rodriguez (Grace Rowe) for visiting Liam Reynolds (Mark Harelik) in prison. They go back and forth for several minutes with her claiming that he is so blinded by his hatred of Rusty he can’t see the consistencies between Carolyn’s and Bunny’s cases. Despite Nico Della Guardia (O-T Fagbenle) being in attendance, he remains most a background prop until volunteering to walk Stevens out. Although he tells her that she is off the case, she makes arrangements to view the Medical Examiner’s files from the Bunny Davis case.
Rusty struggles with his decision as the time for the meeting nears. He eventually decides to attend, which turns out to be a wise decision because he not only learns that he is being blackmailed by Michael Caldwell (Tate Birchmore), but he apparently has footage of Carolyn’s other visitors the night she was murdered. Rusty advises him to turn the footage over to authorities but that appears to be as far as this goes for the moment.
Rusty later shares the experience with Raymond before the status conference. Rusty is also briefly introduced to Mya. It isn’t long before they are sitting with Tommy, Nico, and Judge Laryn Lyttle (Noma Dumezweni), going through the briefs when Raymond brings attention to him being named as a witness. As Nico provides an explanation, Raymond becomes even more hostile upon learning that Rusty’s psychiatrist, Dr. Liz Rush (Lily Rabe) has also been named as a witness. It becomes clear that the prosecution is trying to make it appear as if the defense is hiding information. Much to their surprise, Raymond turns this against them after bringing attention to the fact that Michael’s footage isn’t listed as evidence. Tommy claims this is the case because the footage is still in the process of being authenticated.
Rusty is so excited about the success of the conference that he can’t stop ranting about it later that evening at dinner. Things immediately sour when Jaden (Chase Infiniti) demands to know the evidence the prosecution has against him. He basically tells her what they have and the way it will be presented, it will make him look guilty. The mood doesn’t improve when Kyle Sabich (Kingston Rumi Southwick) asks if he’s considered a plea deal. Rusty is insulted by this and it shows. Kyle does later apologize and admits to being scared by the prospect of Rusty going to prison.
Nico and Tommy spend their evening strategizing over beers at Rouse’s Bar. When Tommy vehemently refuses to drop the obstruction charges to focus their efforts on murder, Nico begins to wonder if Detective Stevens wasn’t right about Tommy not being able to see past his hatred for Rusty. Nico manages to work this into the conversation but Tommy changes topics by ensuring him that hard evidence will soon come.
Rusty finds himself in an awkward situation when Mya asks if he loved Carolyn. His immediate response is to question how the question is relevant. He appears surprised by her answer that Raymond has tasked her with building his narrative in the event that he needs to testify. He surprises her when he tells her that for me, their relationship was as much about love as lust. He even later shares the story about the first time he learned he wanted to pursue the relationship. Apparently, it had to do with how tenderly Carolyn treated a young sexual assault victim.
Rusty is besieged by painful memories and does handle them so well when he and Raymond return to Carolyn’s house with their forensics experts. Matters certainly aren’t improved when Raymond encourages him to give up his investigation in the Bunny Davis case. Raymond tells him that if they promise another suspect (the tainted DNA sample) and fail to produce, it will only make them look worse. Rusty believes the risk is worth the reward and refuses to give it up.
Tommy spends that evening in the office listening to Carolyn’s recorded conversations with Rusty. They certainly don’t make him look like any less of a stalker than he’s already assumed to be.
When Rusty finally reviews the footage from Michael, it doesn’t make him look much better, although there are several shots where he and Carolyn appear happy together. It’s also suggested by Carolyn’s actions in the footage that she suspects she was being watched. The episode ends with Rusty seeing a shot of Kyle at, near, or in close proximity to Carolyn’s house.
Presumed Innocent
I wouldn’t say the episode was terrible and the case is certainly intriguing. The little teasers that come out with each reveal are enough to keep anyone hanging on the edge of their seat. I also love how each episode ends on a semi-cliffhanger. Since I have read this along with many of Turow’s works, I don’t want to give away too much, but sometimes pointing the finger at one character so blatantly can backfire.
By now audiences know that the most likely suspect/suspects aren’t going to be the actual perpetrators in the end. The only things I didn’t really like about the episode were, all of Nico’s scenes and Rusty meeting with Michael. I just felt that could have been accomplished better. Despite this, I’d give the episode a 5.7 out of 10.
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