Sumith Prasad
Apple TV+’s legal drama series ‘Presumed Innocent’ ends with the revelation of the killer of Carolyn Polhemus. Throughout the series, the prime suspect, Rusty Sabich, stands by his innocence and tries to make it clear that there are several others involved in the murder case with enough motive to kill the late prosecutor, like Michael, Caldwell, and even Tommy Molto. Rusty fights for his freedom with the belief that he is protecting his wife, Barbara, thinking she killed him. Then, the real killer steps up to free her mother from the accusation and her father from his incorrect assumptions! SPOILERS AHEAD.
A Deadly Impulse
Jaden Sabich, the daughter of Rusty and Barbara Sabich, killed Carolyn Polhemus. Even though Rusty believed that his affair with his colleague was a secret only known to his wife, that was not really the case. The frequent fights the lawyer had with Barbara were loud and tumultuous enough for Kyle and seemingly Jaden to take an interest in the lives of their parents. In the fourth episode, the son admits to his mother that he learned about his father’s affair with Carolyn upon listening to these confrontations. Jaden must have come to know about the extramarital relationship in the same way.
Rusty and Barbara ended their fights after the former promised his wife that his affair with Carolyn was over. They were able to move forward with their lives because of the lawyer’s assurance. The husband and wife never involved Jaden and Kyle in these promises, likely making them more vigilant about their father’s actions. That can be the reason why it didn’t take them a long time to find out that Rusty had been seeing Carolyn again, specifically for a week before her murder. The son reacted to the predicament by trying to find out what had been happening in her house, as the third and fourth episodes of the crime drama reveal.
On the other hand, Jaden went straight to Carolyn to talk to her. She did not hold herself back as her brother did. She didn’t just want to know what was going on. She wanted Carolyn gone from Rusty’s life altogether. After being a silent witness to the fights caused by the two lawyers’ extramarital affair for a long time, Jaden might have felt that she couldn’t let Carolyn cause friction in her family again. She must have even believed that Barbara wouldn’t trust or remain with him Rusty if she learned that he cheated on her again. Thus, to ensure that her mother wouldn’t leave her father, Jaden wanted Carolyn gone.
When Jaden brought the issue up with Carolyn, the latter informed the former that she was pregnant with Rusty’s baby. The prosecutor went on to add that the birth of their child would make her an inevitable presence in Jaden’s father’s life, even if she put an end to their relationship. The revelation concerning the pregnancy must have even made the teenager fear her father abandoning his wife, son, and finally herself for his new family. These possibilities might have sunk into Jaden’s mind quite quickly to stir immense anger and fears, only to make her grab Carolyn’s fire poker and hit her till she died.
Jaden did not meet Carolyn with the intention to kill her. She hoped that her words would convince the prosecutor to resign from her job and leave Chicago so that the latter wouldn’t continue to threaten her family by being a constant presence in Rusty’s life. However, the attorney’s pregnancy likely made the teenager understand that the former would remain in her father’s life as the mother of his child for the rest of their lives even if she disappeared from the place. To Jaden, the aftermath of such a development would have seemed so dangerous as far as her family was concerned, making her homicidal.
A Murder That Binds a Family Together
Jaden killed Carolyn to protect the harmony of her family. As mentioned above, Carolyn’s presence and pregnancy could have affected the teenager’s family in many ways, ranging from Barbara’s divorce from Rusty to Rusty abandoning his wife and children for his new lover and their baby. Just like how Rusty obsessed over Carolyn, Jaden might have been immersed in these thoughts and possibilities, forming a sense of rage that ultimately got out of her as homicidal. The teenager must have grabbed the fire poker and unleashed her wrath on the attorney after building up aversion and anger toward her, especially caused by her parents’ fights.
If Jaden was observing Rusty’s actions vigilantly, she must have noticed how he obsessed over Carolyn. His constant text messages, efforts to reach her by phone, and frequent meetings with her were not too subtle. That was how Eugenia Milk learned about her two colleagues’ affair. The last thing Rusty and Carolyn were was being careful, especially the former. Barbara didn’t realize her husband had started seeing his lover again, specifically because she had a promise to hold on to. Jaden did not have that. She had to follow her father to realize what was happening in his life, and his obsession must have provoked her enough to fill a deadly rage in her.
If Rusty had tried to be a father, especially while obsessing over Carolyn, he might have realized how threatened Jaden, or even Kyle, for that matter, was. But he takes much time to realize that his children are a part of his life and that they have eyes and ears. He commits the same mistake when Jaden talks about disassociation. In the sixth episode, she tells him that certain traumatic events can make one distant from their reality through disassociation, especially when their perception of themselves is different from the actual truth. Jaden has been disassociating from the reality that she is a murderer because she believes that what she did was just protecting her family rather than committing a murder.
Even then, Rusty makes the conversation all about himself. He tells Jaden that he is not disassociating in any way, seemingly to prove to his daughter that he is not the killer. He doesn’t think about whether the teenager had a reason to dive deep into trauma and the subsequent disassociation. However, the lawyer did one thing flawlessly to protect his daughter, even though he did not know whom he was safeguarding with his action. He tied Carolyn up in the same way Bunny Davis was found after Liam Reynolds killed her. This particular development made the prosecution blindly believe that Rusty is the killer since he is the one who was involved in Davis’ case with the deceased.
Even though Rusty nearly gets convicted for killing Carolyn, Jaden ultimately gets what she had wanted all along. Her father and mother, Barbara, decide to remain together and protect their daughter by harboring a secret. Carolyn is out of the picture, along with her baby, to distract Rusty. There is finally harmony among the Sabich family, irrespective of how they regain it.
Read More: Presumed Innocent: Is the Apple TV+ Show Inspired by a True Story?
