Previously on Apple TV’s Presumed Innocent, the murder trial of Carolyn Pohlemus (Renate Reinsve) continued, with Carolyn’s son, Michael (Tate Birchmore), being put on the stand as the next witness. Michael told the jury about the night he and Rusty Sabich (Jake Gyllenhaal) met and how he believed Rusty killed Carolyn. Tommy Molto (Peter Sarsgaard) was the first to question Michael on the stand. When it was Raymond Horgan’s (Bill Camp) turn, he began to have a heart attack.
The seventh episode starts the viewers off with Raymond being sent to the emergency room. Everyone is in the waiting room while Raymond is in surgery. Rusty gets water for Raymond’s wife Lorraine (Elizabeth Marvel). While Rusty is gone, Tommy tells Lorraine he’s there for her if she needs anything. The surgeon tells Lorraine that there was an electrical issue during surgery. Raymond will have to wear a pacemaker, but he’ll recover fine.
After the hospital, Nico Della Guardia (O-T Fagbenle) and Tommy are in the truck. Nico says that because Rusty went to save Raymond’s life, the case will be harder for them to defeat because it makes Rusty look like a “hero”. While Nico wants a mistrial, Tommy believes that they’re fine and that they’re winning.
The next day, Rusty, Nico, Tommy, and Mya (Gabby Beans) meet with Judge Lyttle (Noma Dumezweni). Nico brings up the mistrial and Mya denies it right away, saying that she’ll be Rusty’s attorney for the rest of the trial. Rusty says that he wants to represent himself.
When the meeting is over, Tommy and Nico tell Carolyn’s ex-husband and Michael’s father, Dalton (Matthew Alan), about the plan. He’s upset with them because he doesn’t want Michael to be questioned by Rusty, who they think murdered Carolyn.
It’s the next day of trial and Rusty’s first day representing himself. His daughter Jaden (Chase Infiniti) doesn’t think that Rusty will be able to win the case with his decision, but Barbara (Ruth Negga) tells her not to underestimate him.
The scene cuts to Raymond and Lorraine, watching the trial from the hospital, as Michael gets back on the stand.
Rusty shows the jury some screenshots of text messages Michael had sent to Carolyn. One of them reads “It would be easier if you were dead.” Rusty then points out that Michael was aware he and Carolyn were together because he’d snuck over to Carolyn’s house multiple times. The trial for the day quickly ends when Rusty begins to accuse Michael and Dalton of killing Carolyn. Dalton yells and gets out of his seat, trying to get closer to Rusty before security grabs him.
Tommy and Nico decide to bring Detective Alana “Rigo” Rodriguez (Nana Mensah) to the stand as a witness. Rusty talks to Eugenia (Virginia Kull) about what Rigo could say as a witness. Eugenia hints that on the night of the murder, Carolyn told Rusty that she was going to keep a baby. But, the audience all knows that Rusty didn’t know Carolyn was pregnant until after the murder.
Rigo is now on the stand and Nico asks about her and Rusty’s visit to see Liam Reynolds (Mark Harelik), a convicted murderer that Carolyn and Rusty put in prison. Nico plays recordings of Rusty talking to Liam about what would happen if Liam were responsible for murdering Carolyn.
Later, we see Tommy in the office. He’s looking at some previous notes on a bulletin board. The scene transitions to a memory of when the office celebrated Carolyn’s big win of putting Liam in prison. As Tommy goes in for a hug, it’s easy to tell that she’s uncomfortable with him.
We then see everyone back in the courtroom. Nico calls Rusty to the stand, but Judge Lyttle delays questioning for a meeting in her chambers. She tells Rusty that they have two choices. If he wants to continue this trial, he has to go up as a witness, which is what he decides to do.
Mya and Rusty get into an argument about his decision to testify. She tells him that she thinks he doesn’t know what he’s doing. She walks away from him, saying that she’s done with everything.
At the Sabich home, Jaden and Kyle (Kingston Rumi Southwick) talk in Kyle’s bedroom. Kyle tells her he overheard a conversation that Rusty is taking Ritalin, a central nervous system stimulant.
It’s officially the big day of Rusty’s testimony. Mya calls Rusty as he’s sitting in the waiting room of the courthouse. She tells him good luck and gives him advice to make sure not to get heated with Tommy. As he’s on the phone with her, Raymond walks in, all nonchalantly. Rusty hangs up and Raymond tells him he got cleared out of the hospital.
As Rusty takes the stand, Mya enters and sits next to Raymond as Rusty’s attorneys. Tommy says that Rusty should have mentioned to Rigo that he was there the night of the murder. Tommy then shows screenshots of the thirty text messages Rusty sent to Carolyn that night. After Rusty testifies he isn’t a violent person, Tommy calls someone out from the audience to the stand: Brian Ratzer.
Brian appeared in a previous episode, where he and Rusty got into an altercation. Later, Brian showed up at Rusty’s house for a fight. There’s footage shown of the fight that went on between the two men. It’s safe to say that Tommy might’ve won that round because he showed evidence of Rusty being violent.
Tommy walks into a mess of papers in the living room as he goes home that night. Someone broke into his home. He grabs his cat and on the counter is a pit poker and a note.
Overall, this episode was very entertaining. It’s good that Raymond recovered quickly. Rusty did love Carolyn, but as some of them mentioned, it could have become obsessive. Tommy did very well with his presentation. What will happen now that Rusty testified? What will happen in the series finale?
Rating: 9.5/10