Watching Presumed Innocent , David E. Kelley’s new legal drama for Apple TV+, has brought up complicated feelings. The show stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Rusty Sabich, a prosecutor accused of murdering a younger colleague, Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve), with whom he was having an extramarital relationship with.
It is based on Scott Turow’s bestselling 1987 novel, the source for an earlier big-screen adaptation in 1990, starring Harrison Ford. Presumed Innocent is full of the familiar Kelley hallmarks: lurid, sensationalist subject matter, an emphasis on psychology over materialist concerns, and rapid-fire, emotionally-charged dialogues spouted by unerringly self-righteous characters. When he’s operating at peak potential, a Kelley show makes agreeable genre fare out of these ingredients.
When he’s not, though, a lot of Kelley protagonists begin to sound like each other: over-confident motormouths with a streak of moral obstinacy and, of course, American exceptionalism. So when Presumed Innocent is functioning as a strict whodunnit or a police/court procedural, it does really well. Turow has been credited as an executive producer on the show and both Kelley and he were practising lawyers before entering showbiz.
No surprises, then, that they are good writers of legal procedurals. Producer David E. Kelley| Photo Credit:Getty Images Old, sexist tropes However, the show falters by giving way too much screen time to the pedestrian family drama surrounding Babich, not to men.
