Presumed Innocent review: A suspenseful, if generic, legal drama

When The Lincoln Lawyer debuted in 2022 on Netflix, The A.V. Club’s review stated series creator David E. Kelley would milk the legal thriller genre for all its worth, no matter the quality. Since then, he’s worked on Anatomy Of A Scandal, ABC’s unaired Avalon (inspired by Michael Connelly’s book), true-crime drama Love & Death, The Lincoln Lawyer season two, and, most recently, Netflix’s dull A Man In Full. Whew. Now he’s spearheading a new drama with Jake Gyllenhaal as the star. He’s not giving up, but at least this time, Presumed Innocent, which premieres June 12 on Apple TV+, has stronger legs to stand on and is a perfectly adequate watch.

The series, based on Scott Turow’s novel that was already adapted into a 1990 film led by Harrison Ford, has enough suspenseful switcheroos to keep it interesting for those who’ve consumed the previous material. It still follows a familiar roadmap of tropes, verbose jargon, and typical courtroom fare. So it’s ideal for fans who want to get lost in this specific world (from Ally McBeal to The Undoing, there’s no denying Kelley has a dedicated audience). Thanks to an eight-episode run, Presumed Innocent trots along at a mostly serviceable pace with a couple of outstanding lead performances.

The basic details are the same as in the book and film: Chicago prosecutor Rusty Sabich (Gyllenhaal) is accused of murdering his ambitious coworker, Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve), with whom he had a passionate fling. He vehemently denies it and gets unflinching support from his wife, who knows about the affair. He secretly investigates the crime with the help of a cop buddy. And here he hires his boss, DA Raymond Horgan (Bill Camp), as his lawyer for the trial.

Presumed Innocent often feels like multiple TV shows striving to fit into one. It’s got a pulsating legal and police procedural vibe, but it’s also an annoying workplace soap opera. On top of it, it charts Rusty’s family/relationship issues. This stretches the narrative a little too thin. The episodes aren’t necessarily boring; they simply fail to offer something new or inventive despite an impressive effort to provide some character study of Rusty and his spouse, Barbara (Ruth Negga). Their emotional interactions give Presumed Innocent the heft it needs to escape from its otherwise generic identity. In the process, Gyllenhaal and Negga deliver excellent, all-encompassing work.

He’s aptly cast as the role requires him to be both winsome and shadowy so the audience is constantly guessing his motivations and actions. Gyllenhaal switches from mania to despair, playing coy well with the camera on him. It’s nowhere near his best performance (that’s in Nightcrawler), but he’s evocative. And he’s got a terrific scene partner in Negga, who deserves better than a soon-to-be-forgotten Apple TV+ series. She immerses herself completely into Barbara, who is confronted by everyone in her life—her teen kids, friends, the media, and her therapist—with why she chooses to stay. Presumed Innocent is illuminating when it digs into their complicated personalities and bonds.

However, that gravitas is missing when it comes to the victim. In the seven installments watched for review, there’s barely any insight into Carolyn, robbing us of any emotional investment in her arc. Who is she besides a motivated woman who seemingly abandoned her son? Is her brutal death related to a man she put behind bars? The show dances around these questions for far too long. Again, it’s a wasted opportunity not to take advantage of The Worst Person In The World’s talented star Reinsve.

Presumed Innocent also relies too much on Rusty’s rivalry with his opposing lawyer, Tommy Molto (Peter Sarsgaard). He’s determined to bring Rusty down for personal reasons, with their back-and-forth rooted in melodramatic, repetitious mind games straight out of daytime TV. It stops PI from becoming the elevated legal thriller it badly wants to be. It doesn’t help that The Handmaid’s Tale’s O-T Fagbenle is horribly miscast as Tommy’s pushy boss, Nico Della Guardia. (Seriously, what is up with that unnecessary accent?).

All these flaws notwithstanding, Presumed Innocent is gripping enough because of its twists and slow burn, making it a worthy endeavor for those patient with cliffhangers. It might be cursed to live on Apple TV+ in silence, as most of the platform’s original content tends to do nowadays, but Presumed Innocent is sufficient beyond a reasonable doubt.

Presumed Innocent premieres June 12 on Apple TV+