Presumed Innocent ending explained: Carolyn's killer is finally revealed
Presumed Innocent has become an overnight sensation, with viewers gripped by the murder of Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve). After taking on Tommy Molto (Peter Sarsgaard) in court, Rusty Sabich (Jake Gyllenhaal) was faced with the jury's verdict in the eighth and final episode of the series, before learning what really happened to Carolyn on that fateful night.
Warning – spoilers ahead. We're unpacking Presumed Innocent's seriously twisted ending…
Following the events of episode seven, the finale kicked off with police arriving at Tommy Molto's home. After discovering the murder weapon – Carolyn's fire poker – planted in his kitchen, the prosecutor is forced to hand over the evidence, and notifies the court, prompting Judge Lyttle to offer a mistrial. Determined to reach a verdict once and for all, Rusty and Tommy both decline.
Now, back to the infamous fire poker. Police are unable to find any trace of DNA or fingerprints, so Judge Lyttle decides to leave the jury in the dark. Rusty believes the news could work in his favour, allowing him to point the finger at Carolyn's son, Michael (Tate Birchmore). Raymond (Bill Camp) – everyone's favourite powerhouse lawyer – is reluctant to bring up the fire poker, telling Rusty that the jury will think he planted it, not Michael.
Ultimately, neither the prosecution nor the defence ends up using the fire poker in the courtroom, and after a new medical examiner is introduced, it's suggested that Carolyn's time of death might be incorrect. Confirming that Carolyn's stomach was, in fact, empty when she died, it's suggested that she may have died between 1am and 3am – several hours after Rusty had left.
Captivating the court, Rusty and Tommy deliver powerful closing statements before awaiting the jury's decision. Returning the following morning, Rusty finally gets his verdict: "Not guilty" and heads home a free man with his family by his side. Tommy is, of course, devastated, telling fellow prosecutor, Nico Della Guardia (O-T Fagbenle), that justice has not been served.
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It's at this point that we return to the Sabich family home. Relieved with the verdict, Rusty is settling down for the evening when he sees Barbara's (Ruth Negga) suitcase on the bed. Heading to the garage where she's working out, he confronts her. "It was Dr Rush's (Lily Rabe) advice, should there be a next time," she says of her go bag.
Pausing for a moment, what Rusty says next will change everything. "I actually knew from the beginning and then I didn't know and then I knew again for sure," he tells Barbara. Revealing what happened that night, Rusty explains that he went back to Carolyn's later that evening, but when he arrived she was already dead. Realising that there was only one person who could have killed her – Barbara – he immediately decided to cover it up, determined to protect his family.
Rusty confesses to tampering with the crime scene, and tying Carolyn up to cover for her. Propelled into lawyer mode, he next set about confronting Liam Reynolds (Mark Harelik) in a bid to extract a false confession and create an alternative theory.
Barbara, shocked, tells him he's "insane" and "wrong," vehemently denying that she killed Carolyn. But Rusty isn't buying it and says that he's been tracking her car since her affair with Clifton (Sarunas J. Jackson) and he knows she went to Tommy's house the other night, presumably planting the poker to help him.
"No, she didn't. I did," announces another voice. And just like that, we come face to face with Carolyn's killer – Rusty and Barbara's teenage daughter Jaden. In a moment worthy of all the awards, Ruth Negga delivers an utterly heartbreaking performance as Barbara.
Leaving both her parents in a state of shock, Jaden reveals that she drove to Tommy's house in Barbara's car to help her dad's case. Recalling what happened, Jaden confirms that she had visited Carolyn on the night of the murder to confront her, explaining that she needed to stay away from Rusty, and their family.
After Carolyn told Jaden that she was pregnant and that their lives would forever be intertwined, Jaden snapped and grabbed the fire poker, hitting Carolyn several times in a fit of rage. When she was driving home she entered a state of dissociation, believing it was all a dream.
When she woke up the next day and realised what she had done, Jaden told her parents that she wasn't well at breakfast. While they were eating, she went to clean the car and bury the fire poker.
Having processed Jaden's confession, Rusty enters lawyer mode once more, telling her it's his doing – had he not had the affair with Carolyn, she never would have acted in defence of the family. Here, Barbara, Rusty and Jaden agree to never talk about the murder again, and resume their family life, which eventually goes back to normal.
As for the rest of the characters, Raymond retires and lives happily with his wife, while Tommy lets go of Carolyn's case and relaxes at home with his cat. The series ends with the Sabich's sitting down for the perfect family dinner, determined to take the secret of Carolyn's murder to the grave.
