Presumed Innocent: Full Mini Series Post

July 10, 2024 11:36 AM - Season 1 (Full Season)

A horrific murder upends the Chicago prosecuting attorney's office when one of its own is suspected of the crime-leaving the accused fighting to keep his family together.
posted by ellieBOA (8 comments total)

Recaps:
Reasonable Doubts (ep 6) [Vulture / Archive]
It’s Tommy Time (ep 5) [Vulture / Archive]
Everyone Needs Their Own Therapist (ep 4) [Vulture / Archive]
Dinner With the Sabiches (ep 3) [Vulture / Archive]
Reasonable Doubt (ep 2) [Vulture / Archive]
You Can’t Handle the Truth (ep 1) [Vulture / Archive]
posted by ellieBOA at 12:44 PM on July 10, 2024

It has been long enough that I don't actually remember the plot points and reveals from the original movie or the novel that inspired both.

I enjoyed the whole series, especially Peter Sarsgaard and O-T Fagbenle, who seemed like they were stoned throughout the shooting. Jake Gyllenhaal is... fine, I guess. But I wouldn't say that he's capable of the same gravitas as Harrison Ford. I joked with my wife that it's like casting Zac Efron as Atticus Finch.
posted by emelenjr at 1:30 PM on July 11, 2024

Presumed Innocent Recap: So You Snapped [Vulture / Archive]
posted by ellieBOA at 9:28 AM on July 18, 2024

I had some problems with this series. Gyllenhaal’s character was unsympathetic and narcissistic. The reveal at the end felt like they ran out of steam. Overall, it felt like an excuse to have a brooding Gyllenhaal peacock around against a backdrop of half-baked courtroom noir. I didn’t see the original movie or read the novel, so maybe that was exactly the point and my expectations were out of sync.
posted by eekernohan at 5:30 AM on July 28, 2024 [2 favorites]

I don't know what I expected with the twist here, but I realize now they were counting on me being familiar with the movie version so that I would expect the twist to be one thing, but golly gee they were gonna pull a switcheroo that made absolutely no sense at all
posted by dis_integration at 10:29 AM on July 30, 2024

Ruth Negga as Barbara Sabich absolutely owned the entire series. Heads and shoulders above all the rest. I thought the ending was fine and fit the flow.
posted by Pig Tail Orchestra at 9:22 AM on August 13, 2024 [2 favorites]

Pop Culture Debate Club Podcast: The Worst Lawyer on TV - Rusty Sabich vs Will Gardner (The Good Wife)
posted by ellieBOA at 10:26 AM on August 15, 2024 [1 favorite]

I didn't like this series very much at all in comparison with the original book and movie. With both the originals, the perpetrator was someone who was on the stage constantly and it took a lot of fancy writing and acting to keep you uncertain. Both on the page and onscreen, it was extremely important to make Rusty just the right level of disagreeable so that you were constantly wondering about him. This was not achieved in this series IMO, and to me it didn't feel like the things they did achieve were on that level at all.
posted by BibiRose at 5:57 AM on January 17