The Apple TV miniseries, Presumed Innocent, as reimagined by David E. Kelly (creator of many courtroom dramas, including Boston Legal and The Lincoln Lawyer), is the second adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1987 legal thriller. The series focuses on a District Attorney, Rusty Sabich (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), who is accused of murdering his female colleague with whom he was having an affair. It takes place in the fictional Kindle County, based on Cook County in Chicago, Illinois.1 Scott Turow wrote many other novels that take place in Kindle County, including The Burden of Proof (1990) and The Laws of our Fathers (1996). The first adaptation of Turow’s Presumed Innocent was the 1990 film of the same name starring Harrison Ford.
In the miniseries, Jake Gyllenhaal plays opposite his real-life brother-in-law, Peter Sarsgaard, who plays the straight-laced, angry, scheming Tommy Molto. Molto is determined to convict Rusty Sabich for murdering their colleague, Carolyn Polhemus (played by Renate Reinsve, known for the 2021 film The Worst Person in the World), for whom he also had romantic feelings.
This review focuses on the interesting ways that the miniseries departed from the novel and the film, including in the portrayal of women, the role of psychiatry and therapy, and the criminal justice system.
The miniseries differed from the novel and the film by attempting to bring society’s view of women, especially working women, into the 21st century. A review for Time magazine noted this change stating, “If there’s one good reason to reimagine this story, it’s to address the misogyny implicit in the book and the film, which like so many erotic thrillers of the 1980s and ‘90s, portray female characters as unhinged leeches, willing to do anything in the name of love or ambition.”2 Indeed, the 1990s portrayal of Barbara Sabich, Rusty’s wife, played by Bonnie Bedelia, comes close to resembling Glenn Close’s Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction, which was also recently updated with a more balanced and complex Alex Forrest portrayal by Lizzy Caplan.3 Similarly, the Presumed Innocent miniseries’ portrayal of Barbara Sabich (played by Ruth Negga) is a deeper and more interesting version of the film and novel’s Barbara. Ruth Negga’s Barbara stands out in the series as multidimensional and one of the more empathetic characters in the show.
In the film, Carolyn Polemus is portrayed negatively with misogynistic language. The deceased Carolyn Polemus (played by Greta Scacchi) is accused of sleeping her way to the top and suspected to be involved in a corruption scheme. Her murder was seen as justified, as Rusty Sabich’s loyal friend and colleague, Detective Dan Lipranzer “Lip” (played by The West Wing’s John Spencer), observed: “that woman was bad news.” A witness who discusses the corruption in the district attorney’s office refers to Carolyn Polhemus as a “blonde bitch.”
The Apple TV miniseries attempts to portray Carolyn Polemus in a more favorable light by using less denigrating language and focusing more on her work ethic. Unlike the film’s Carolyn, whose autopsy showed that she had a tubal ligation, Kelly’s Carolyn has a teenage son and was found to be pregnant by Rusty Sabich at the time of her death. These nuances made her character appear more sympathetic and their relationship seem more legitimate.
Even with these improvements, some misogyny persists. This is seen in both the violent sex scenes with Rusty Sabich and in the male gaze of her colleagues, who still see her more for her sexuality than for her talents as a prosecutor. The Apple TV miniseries is still overall successful in its more complex portrayal of women because it broadened the repertoire of female portrayals, adding balance to the deceased Carolyn Polemus. Detective Alana Rodriguez (played by Nana Mensah) replaces the character of Lip from the novel and film. She reserves judgment on Rusty Sabich and is also respectful of Carolyn Polhemus and her tragic murder, offering a more level-headed perspective.
In the 1990 film, there is no therapist or psychiatrist character. In the novel, Rusty Sabich sees a psychiatrist and explained, “When it was all over, I went to see a psychiatrist. His name was Robinson. ‘I would say she’s the most exciting woman I’ve known,’ I told him. ‘Sexy?’ he asked after a moment. ‘Sexy, yes. Very sexy. Torrents of blond hair, and almost no behind, and this very full bosom. And long red fingernails too. I mean, definitely, deliberately, almost ironically sexy’” (Ref. 4, p 30).
This passage indicates that Rusty Sabich’s obsession with Carolyn Polhemus is mostly physical, compared with how Jake Gyllenhaal’s Rusty views Carolyn. He claims to see her as a partner with whom he is deeply in love. In the miniseries, there is a psychiatrist who treats the whole family, Dr. Liz Rush (played by Lily Rabe). Notably, Dr. Rush is portrayed as a dynamic therapist who treats the whole family, including couples work and therapy with the Sabich teenage children. She is depicted as having ethics and good boundaries. This is exemplified when Dr. Rush explains to Barbara Sabich that Rusty Sabich must get his own therapist now that Barbara is contemplating leaving him.
The 1990 film focuses on the corruption within the system, which included unscrupulous individuals in the district attorney’s office and a compromised judge who was open to blackmail. The victim was involved in the corruption, and ultimately, Rusty Sabich’s murder trial was dismissed by the judge before the jury had a chance to hear all the evidence. Additionally, Raymond Horgan (played by Brian Dennehy), who had been a mentor to Rusty, turned on Rusty Sabich after Rusty was accused. Raymond Horgan was involved in the corruption and had also been sleeping with Carolyn Polemus before her death. Instead of defending Rusty, he testified against him in his trial before the charges were dismissed.
Although there were politics and scheming in the Kindle district attorney’s office in the miniseries, the drama was primarily centered around personalities and interpersonal conflicts. In the miniseries, the Kindle County district attorney, Rusty’s mentor Raymond Horgan (played by Bill Camp), was voted out and replaced by Nico Della Guardia (played by O-T Fagbenle of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale) as in the novel and film version. In the miniseries, however, Raymond remained loyal to Rusty Sabich after he was accused, eventually becoming his defense attorney. Unlike the corrupt judge in the film version, Judge Lyttle is portrayed as fair and balanced, and the apparent sole objective player in the courtroom.
The Apple TV miniseries highlighted the inherent personality trait of narcissism. For example, Tommy Molto was described by colleagues as ruthless and egotistical, which hindered his ability to think clearly about how to prosecute the case. Similarly, Rusty Sabich’s own ego is shown to be his downfall in his decision to go pro se and bend the rules to find someone to ultimately blame for the murder.
The impact of narcissism is also seen during key moments of testimony. The medical examiner is an example of expert testimony gone wrong in his heated exchange with the defense attorney during cross-examination. As Gutheil and Simon state, “The wounded expert who consequently becomes angry, provocative, combative, or defensive may lose credibility in the eyes of the jury or judge” (Ref. 5, p 57). Similarly, both Rusty and Tommy demonstrate similar characteristics of a “wounded expert” in terms of having a narcissistic injury that ultimately leads to many setbacks in their attempts to try the case. This is highlighted in Rusty’s brutal cross-examination of Carolyn Polemus’s son, Michael Caldwell (played by Tate Birchmore).
In the novel, the film, and the miniseries, someone close to Rusty Sabich is the actual murderer. In the film, the murder is premeditated by someone who feels justified in killing the victim, which could have been any number of people. In the miniseries, the murder is portrayed as more of a last-minute decision, which may have made the defendant eligible for an extreme emotional disturbance defense or lesser crime of murder in the second degree. The actual murderer is never prosecuted in any of the three versions.
Although there seems to have been a positive shift in portrayal of women between 1990 and 2024, there is still room for improvement. For example, there is an implication in the 2024 version that the murdered district attorney, Carolyn Polhemus, shares more of the responsibility for the affair than Rusty Sabich and is more responsible for her death than her murderer because she is a woman. Additionally, although Barbara Sabich is still a deeper and more empathic character than the 1990 version, she is still often passive and beholden to Rusty’s ego and charm.
At the conclusion of both the film and the miniseries, Rusty takes some personal responsibility for the murder because of his choices that ultimately led to the murderer’s state of mind. In the miniseries, Rusty’s ruthlessness is highlighted in a chilling scene between him and his wife, Barbara, showing Rusty’s calculated moves to save his family from his bad decisions. Both visual adaptations of the novel leave the viewer contemplating questions of accountability for choices that lead to poor outcomes, even if they do not rise to the level of criminal responsibility. It also leaves one wondering whether we ever truly bear responsibility for the actions of others. These questions will likely be of interest to many forensic psychiatrists.
Footnotes
Disclosures of financial or other potential conflicts of interest: None.
- © 2024 American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
