Presumed Innocent Season 1 Episode 7 Review: The Witness

Even though Nico believes the jury will see Rusty as a hero after having jumped in to help Raymond, Presumed Innocent Season 1 Episode 7, “The Witness,”  is about Rusty’s ego.

Against Mya and the judge’s advice, Rusty decides to become his own lawyer while Raymond is recovering from his heart attack. As much as he believes this will work out in his favor because he has always been a good prosecutor, it only makes us see his ego and the chaos of his mind.

This decision backfires on him, but like Mya, the audience wonders if Rusty orchestrated everything to end up on the witness stand.

Two things stand out the most about watching Rusty defend himself. The first is Raymond’s commentary as he watches the trial from his hospital bed.

During previous episodes, Raymond was the voice of reason, guiding (or trying to) Rusty through this ordeal. He had a strategy and knew what the end goal was.

As he cannot attend the trial, his words reflect the audience’s thinking. We, too, feel like screaming at the screen, asking Rusty to take it slow and not push the witnesses as hard as he is.

But from Raymond’s failure to tame or control, Rusty comes the second moment that stands out. When he is questioning Carolyn’s son, Rusty creates the perfect commotion to plant the seed of reasonable doubt in the jury’s mind.

He creates all the perfect scenarios by insinuating that maybe the son killed Carolyn. Or maybe he told his father Rusty was with his mother, and it was his dad who killed his ex-wife.

This leads to Carolyn’s ex-husband violently screaming in court, trying to get to Rusty. Therefore, Rusty gives the jury another possible suspect, someone who can also meet his level of violence.

The day the trial addressed Rusty’s text messages to Carolynn, as viewers, we didn’t get to see that. However, when Rusty questions her son, we witness his text messages and see his text telling her things would be easier if she were dead.

Text messages are the most prejudicial evidence Tommy and Nico have against Rusty. Knowing this, Rusty turns things around and uses the same weapon to create the illusion of another suspect. If his texts were that terrible, so were her son’s.

When Rusty feels at the top of the world, thinking the jury is starting to believe in his innocence, the audience (who acts as jury outside the show) gets to see the text messages he sent Carolyn. The evidence becomes tangible, and Rusty is once again at the top of the list.

Presumed Innocent Season 1 Episode 7, “The Witness,” is the best episode for questioning whether or not he did it. As a defense attorney, he makes his innocence seem real. He expresses time and time again that he would do anything to prove he didn’t do it.

But the text messages and Eugenia talking about Carolyn make us doubt him again. If Carolyn was a drug to Rusty and the presence of a baby would spread that drug to his family, wouldn’t he go as far as to kill her to prevent that from happening?

Because he isn’t a likable character, it’s not crazy to believe that he could be a murderer.

As good as the show is at making viewers question Rusty’s innocence, it is just as good at making us question Tommy. Yes, he will do anything in his power to make Rusty guilty, but what are his motives?

Is he trying to pin the murder on Rusty because he was jealous of his relationship with Carolyn? Or is he doing it because he is the real killer?

On the one hand, the flashback of Carolyn moving away from Tommy as he tried to kiss and congratulate her on her first case makes us believe he was obsessed with her. His anger points to jealousy towards her being more affectionate to Rusty.

On the other hand, the episode ends with someone having broken into Tommy’s house and leaving the murder weapon on his kitchen counter with a note that says, “Go f**k yourself.” A sign that he could be the killer, and someone knows about it.

However, all the clues that Tommy is the killer are too obvious. Therefore, viewers wonder: Is the show going for the obvious answer, or is it playing tricks until the very end and hiding the real killer?

Presumed Innocent has kept us on the edge of our seats all season long. One day, we believe Rusty did it; the next, we are ready to blame Tommy.

Will the killer ever be revealed? Or will the show end with a big question mark on Carolyn’s murder?

Whatever the case, one thing is clear: Raymond is willing to risk his health for Rusty, which must mean something.

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Presumed Innocent streams Wednesdays on Apple TV+.

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