Presumed Innocent Review: Jake Gyllenhaal Keeps Us Guessing in Apple TV+’s Riveting Legal Thriller

On paper, Presumed Innocent might sound like your standard courtroom thriller… but there’s no one you’d rather have writing one of those than David E. Kelley. The man has been cranking out quality TV legal dramas since the days of L.A. Law, and the mind behind Ally McBeal and The Practice delivers once again as writer and showrunner of this new Apple TV+ series, premiering this Wednesday. (I’ve seen seven of the eight episodes.) Kelley takes a familiar premise — one that’s quite similar to Paramount+’s far inferior Fatal Attraction remake, in fact — and spins it into a sturdy, well-paced legal thriller with a few intriguing psychological wrinkles.

Like Fatal Attraction, Presumed Innocent takes a cue from a movie: the 1990 film version starring Harrison Ford, based on the Scott Turow bestseller. Here, Jake Gyllenhaal steps in for Ford as slick state prosecutor Rusty Sabich, whose life comes to a screeching halt when his colleague Carolyn (Renate Reinsve) is brutally murdered. The ensuing investigation uncovers an illicit affair between Rusty and Carolyn — and soon enough, Rusty is the prime suspect. As the prosecutor becomes the defendant, his friends turn their backs on him, and he starts to see the justice system from the other side… and we’re left wondering if he could’ve actually done it.

Presumed Innocent has a persistently grim and moody visual tone reminiscent of House of Cards, with most scenes set in dimly lit rooms. It also offers a clear-eyed look at how personal grudges can get in the way of justice: The prosecutors’ office that Rusty works in is a den of vipers, full of bickering and backbiting, and his rivals smell blood when he becomes a suspect in Carolyn’s death. (O-T Fagbenle plays an obnoxious underling running to be district attorney, with Peter Sarsgaard as his loyal deputy, and it’s fair to question whether they actually want to find Carolyn’s killer or just nail Rusty to the wall.)

There are great actors everywhere you look here, from Ruth Negga as Rusty’s conflicted wife Barbara to Lily Rabe as his therapist. (Reinsve is seen in steamy flashbacks as Carolyn, but the Norwegian actress’ spotty American accent is a tad distracting.) The series even finds time for tiny gems like Mark Harelik — aka the dopey teacher from Election — as taunting killer Liam Reynolds, and The Undoing’s Noma Dumezweni as the trial’s stern judge. Gyllenhaal’s performance gets deeper and richer as the series progresses, too, with Rusty growing increasingly disheveled and agitated and his temper flaring up at inconvenient times. Plus, it’s a unique delight to see real-life husband and wife Bill Camp and Elizabeth Marvel play a married couple, with him as Rusty’s former boss and ally Raymond.

Kelley is the secret ingredient that makes this work, though. He shows here why he’s a virtuoso of the genre, crafting killer cliffhangers and delivering big courtroom fireworks. The show artfully zeroes in on little moments and gestures, too. (When Rusty talks about how obsessed he was with Carolyn, we see his wife Barbara’s hands clench into angry fists.) There is a late plot twist that strains plausibility, but Presumed Innocent knows its job and does it well, keeping us guessing about Rusty’s innocence to the very end. It’s honestly a credit to the series that I’ve seen all but the final episode, and I still don’t know whether Rusty did it or not. It’s the TV equivalent of an addictive page-turner… and it leaves us dying to get to the last page.

THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent is a sleek and riveting legal thriller, thanks to great performances and writer David E. Kelley’s courtroom expertise.