The Witness – The episode begins with Raymond Horgan (Bill Camp) being rushed into the hospital. Once things settle down, Rusty Sabich (Jake Gyllenhaal) receives a call from Barbara Sabich (Ruth Negga), inquiring about Raymond. Rusty has little to report, but a newscast at the Sabich’s house reveals him being attributed for saving Raymond’s life. Several minutes later, Dr. Harris (Brian Cousins) reveals that Raymond is going to be fine. In fact, with a pacemaker, he suspects that Raymond will even be better off.

Much to the displeasure of Tommy Molto (Peter Sarsgaard), Ncio Della Guardia (O-T Fagbenle) suggests making a plea now that Rusty will be seen as a hero in the eyes of the public. When this is later brought before Judge Lyttle (Noma Dumezweni), it is Mya Winslow (Gabby Beans) who first advocates for the case to resume. Much to the surprise of everyone, she claims she’ll be ready to take over tomorrow. Despite the hysteria Mya just caused, absolutely no one is prepared when Rusty announces that he wants to represent himself. Lyttle wisely advises him against this but allows him to do so.

Dalton Caldwell (Matthew Alan) certainly isn’t happy when he later learns about this and makes a scene. Jaden (Chase Infiniti) and Kyle Sabich (Kingston Rumi Southwick) are just as stunned when they hear about it from a news report later that evening. The night before his first day in court Rusty has a nightmare, but arriving late in court the following morning certainly doesn’t help his cause.

As Rusty questions Michael Caldwell (Tate Birchmore), Raymond and Lorraine Horgan (Elizabeth Marvel) watch from his hospital room. The testimony begins as most would expect and Michel refers to Rusty as a killer several times but Rusty maintains his composure and turns this into a huge success. He not only establishes that Michael was mad at Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve), but he really doesn’t have an alibi and his computer searches suggest that he had a keen interest in Carolyn’s past cases, including the Bunny Davis case. The day certainly doesn’t end with the prosecution looking good after Dalton freaks out in front of everyone.

Despite their poor performance in court, Tommy maintains his heir of arrogance as he and Nico later return to the DA offices. As far as he is concerned, Rusty is pointing the blame at anyone but himself. Nico completely disagrees and claims their only viable move is to call Detective Alana ‘Rigo’ Rodriguez (Nana Mensah) to the stand. Rusty apparently suspects this because, at the same time, he meets with Eugenia (Virginia Kull) to ask what Rigo will say about him. Eugenia doesn’t have much to offer other than the fact that Rigo will likely testify about Rusty’s going rogue and obsessive behavior.

As expected, Nico calls Rigo to the stand the following day and scores a much-needed win for the prosecution. He not only plays a tape of Rusty offering Liam Reynolds (Mark Harelik) a reduced sentence for admitting to Carolyn’s murder, but he also gets Rigo to admit that he did so with her approval. Nico makes him look even guiltier when he gets her to admit that Rusty explicitly asked her to conceal evidence from Nico and Tommy.  Rusty does get Rigo to admit that he suspected Tommy and Nico wouldn’t conduct a fair investigation.

As the days proceed, Barbara confronts Rusty about his use of Ritalin. He doesn’t deny taking them and says he needs to focus. She doesn’t appear upset with the fact that he’s using the medication but the fact that he didn’t tell her about it. Court doesn’t appear to be doing much better for Rusty either when Tommy calls him as a witness. There is a brief sidebar but because Rusty used Rigo’s testimony to introduce information that wasn’t in evidence, she tells Rusty he can either testify or get a mistrial. Against Mya’s advice, Rusty agrees to testify. Mya not only later accuses Rusty of arranging this but she walks away from the case.

Barbara, Jaden, and Kyle don’t appear to take the news much better when they hear about it on the evening news. Much later that evening, Kyle also tells Jaden about overhearing Barbara talking on the phone with Dr. Liz Rush (Lily Rabe) about Rusty using Ritalin. It’s clear that neither of them approve.

Rusty receives two major surprises on the day he is set to testify. Firstly, he receives a call from Mya wishing him luck. She tells him not to let Tommy rattle him but at the same time, don’t appear too meek because it probably won’t look good for the jury. The second surprise is the return of Raymond.

Rusty’s testimony begins with Tommy revisiting his concealment of evidence and failure to divulge being at Carolyn’s house on the night of her death. From there, he introduces Rusty’s obsessively violent texts with Carolyn. Despite Rusty remaining composed and maintaining the assertion that he isn’t a violent man, Tommy paints a much different picture when he introduces Brian Ratzer (Marco Rodriguez) and the footage of their fight. Rusty openly admits to everything but attempts to play it down by claiming to acting out of desperation. Before ending the testimony, Tommy shines light on another of Rusty’s arguments with Herbert Kumagai (Jams Hiroyuki Liao) that turned physical.

The episode ends with Tommy returning home to discover that he’s had a visitor. Instead of robbing him, the intruder left behind a fire poker with a vulgar message.

 

Presumed Innocent Review

A good episode and I can’t think of a better way to lead into the finale. Yes, things did get a bit drab at times, but with the majority of the episode focusing on the trial, this one was a success. I just hope the bar wasn’t set too high for the finale. In addition, I think it would have been much more impactful if Raymond died. I do enjoy Camp and Raymond is one of my most disliked cast members, but his death would have made things more poignant. Once again, I feel that the crew does a commendable job of simplifying the trial.

I would have rather not have been subjected to Michel’s testimony but I understand its importance. I’m certainly intrigued to see how things wrap up. I’d give this episode a 6 out of 10.

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