Does Jake Gyllenhaal's Presumed Innocent pull off its plot twist ending?

Presumed Innocent makes one thing clear during its eight-episode first season, which is that none of this trial is actually about the truth. From the moment Rusty Sabich is accused of murdering Carolyn Polhemus, this Apple TV+ original series becomes all about determining whether or not there is enough evidence to prove for certainty that Rusty was responsible for killing Carolyn.

Jake Gyllenhaal does a stand-out job of portraying Rusty Sabich as a frustrated, grieving, and deeply flawed man who is desperate to prove that he did not kill the woman he had a lengthy affair with. Most of the first season's run surrounds questioning the content of Rusty's character. Is he capable of murdering the woman that he was so obsessed with? Could it have been a crime of passion that occurred in the moment without thought? Rusty had shown a history of violent behavior before and was revealed to already be drunk and desperate. Could he have just been pushed a little over the edge enough to actually kill Carolyn?

When Rusty's daughter Jaden references disassociating from your body and how that overlaps with flashes that suggest the potential that Rusty may have killed Carolyn but does not remember as his brain attempts to protect him from the ugly truth, Presumed Innocent works wonderfully on the borderline, showing that Rusty may be wrongly remembering events while simultaneously showing that he could be more involved than he wants anyone to know.

Presumed Innocent is not your typical murder mystery where everyone is trying every angle to uncover the truth as to who killed Carolyn Polhemus. Instead, this show's singular focus on Rusty, who holds the biggest motivation, allows other potential suspects to fall to the background. This season is not about the truth, but that does not mean it does not eventually come out.

Presumed Innocent offers various other potential candidates to be Carolyn's killer. However, there is a severe lack of evidence for every character that is suggested to have gone through with this. So, who did it? In Presumed Innocent's season finale, "The Verdict" unleashes massive revelations.

In the end, Rusty admitted to being far more involved than he ever allowed anyone to know, which showed that opposing lawyer Tommy Molto was not that far off from his stance that Rusty had a role in Carolyn's demise. When Rusty initially left Carolyn's house that night, Carolyn was still alive. However, Rusty returned at some point later to find Carolyn's dead body. This is where things get a bit complicated.

When Rusty confronts Barbara about Carolyn's death, he explains that he knew she had done it. After all, who else would? Barbara had known about Rusty's previous affair with Carolyn. Who else would have motive? Upon seeing Carolyn's dead body, Rusty bursted into action, determined to protect his wife and their family from the fallout and repercussions of what Caroyln's death would mean. To throw everyone even further off track, he used a previous murderer's action of tying up the dead body.

However, "The Verdict" never actually allows Rusty to explain how he was so certain that Barbara was responsible for Carolyn's death. Why did he think Barbara was capable of killing Carolyn? At no point does Presumed Innocent portray Barbara as being a particularly violent person, so even if she did have a motive, did anything truly make him believe, in the moment, that Barbara could have been capable of this? Rusty even acknowledges that Barbara's behavior had not shown any signs of guilt.

Luckily, Presumed Innocent does not have to go too deeply into that because it turns out to be a red herring, and the show's determination to separate their story from the novel and its previous movie adaptation. Instead, creating its own plot twist, Presumed Innocent reveals that Jaden had been Caroyln's killer.

Jaden has acted as a simple background character for the show's eight episode first season. She has existed as a part of the Sabich family designed for the sake of questioning if Rusty and Barbara can find a way to let their marriage work that keeps their family together. The main easter egg that suggests Jaden's capability comes from a reference to disassociating from yourself. But was that enough to place the murder on her?

Jaden does not get much character development or focus in this show, and although, in hindsight, her worry and concern about Rusty's trial can also be looked at as guilt, there are still too many unanswered questions regarding Jaden's role in all of this. In order for Jaden to confront Carolyn about knowing about Carolyn and Rusty's affair, she must have known about it. But Presumed Innocent never explains how or when she found out. Although Presumed Innocent offers a small misdirect with Kyle, who was shown on his bike near Carolyn's house, Kyle's explanation of knowing about the affair does not extend to Jaden.

When Jaden confronts Carolyn, and finds out that Carolyn plans on keeping her and Rusty's baby, Jaden snaps and, in an act of rage, kills Carolyn.

Presumed Innocent does a good job of subverting the expected ending and trying a non-obvious approach to its unexpected killer. However, it could have, in the finale, offered Jaden more depth that explained what drove her to confront Carolyn more than the flashbacks that "The Verdict" did offer.

Still, Presumed Innocent's dedication to questioning the content of character as its main focus, rather than offering several red herrings to different characters that a traditional murder mystery would offer in its attempt to keep audiences from the truth, offers a more layered mystery.