Television Review

Presumed Innocent (2024) • Apple TV+ — trials and tribulations in new legal thriller

A horrific murder upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorneys’ office when one of its own is suspected of the crime.

For his first lead role in a television drama, Jake Gyllenhaal (Road House) delivers a haunted performance as a high-flying criminal prosecutor on trial, accused of murdering his lover. Gyllenhaal plays Rusty Sabich, whose sanctimonious ego is crushed when his colleague Carolyn Polhemus (The Worst Person in the World’s Renate Reinsve) is found dead. He confidently takes on the case until details of his connections to Carolyn reveal themselves and, suddenly, Rusty becomes the main suspect in a brutal murder case.

Presumed Innocent is also concerned with the tension between the state department and the prosecutors. Bill Camp (The Queen’s Gambit) plays the world-weary older lawyer defending Rusty, and Peter Sarsgaard (Dopesick) and O-T Fagbenle (The Handmaid’s Tale) form the cocky team in the District Attorney’s office. The professional bad blood between the two departments…