Presumed Innocent episode 4, "The Burden," begins with Rusty (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Barbara (Ruth Negga) confronting their son Kyle (Kingston Rumi Southwick) about being at Carolyn's (Renate Reinsve) house the night she was murdered.
At first Kyle says it must have been a coincidence, but he admits he followed Rusty after hearing his parents arguing about the affair. Jaden (Chase Infiniti) listens to the conversation from her room, as Rusty gets more and more aggressive interrogating his son. Kyle says he just wanted to see who Carolyn was and where she lived. Kyle eventually asks Rusty to leave so he can speak about it alone with Barbara.
With tensions now at an all time high, what else happens in Presumed Innocent episode 4? Read on to find out.
Was Kyle involved?
Kyle tells Barbara he rode by Carolyn's house a few times and saw Rusty going in once. She wants Kyle to go to therapy. Rusty says they can work on it as a family, but after the way Rusty interrogated Kyle, Barbara isn't interested in that. They argue, with Rusty saying that while he is mostly responsible, Barbara played a part in what happened, too. This causes her to walk out, declaring she's done with Rusty.
Later, Rusty wakes up in the middle of the night, unable to find Barbara. She's in the garage cleaning Kyle's bike, just in case evidence is on it. When Rusty says he doesn't think Kyle is a suspect, Barbara reminds him their son is black.
Kyle goes to see Dr. Liz (Lily Rabe). He refuses to speak to her. Liz says she can no longer see Rusty and Barbara together in addition to Kyle; she thinks she should only speak to Barbara.
As all this is going on, Barbara keeps going back to the bar and flirting with Clifton (Sarunas J. Jackson). One night, Rusty calls Barbara and apologizes for the fight. The same night Clifton gives Barbara his number. She smiles and says thank you. We then see her having sex. It's with Rusty.
A new suspect
Alana (Nana Mensah) tells Rusty the second semen sample in the Bunny Davis case belongs to Brian Ratzer (Marco Rodríguez). Reminding Rusty she is just doing it for Carolyn, Alana and Rusty go to visit Brian, but she warns Rusty not to say anything when they're inside.
Brian gets agitated when Alana mentions the murder of a sex worker. Then when Rusty chimes in, Brian says he recognizes him. Alana leaves her card.
Before they go, Rusty tries to coax a response out of Brian by calling his wife into the room, while insisting Brian will soon have to answer questions. Outside, Alana shouts at Rusty for annoying Brian, but Rusty is certain Brian knows something.
Rusty recalls the night of the murder
Rusty tells Mya (Gabby Beans) about the night of Carolyn's murder. He admits he was working late, but was mostly texting Carolyn and getting no responses back. Annoyed, Rusty left the office at 8:30 pm to get some food and drink, while waiting for Carolyn to text back. Rusty got drunk. She then texted him to come over at 9:24 pm, with photos showing he arrived at 9:49 pm. When asked what happened when he entered, Rusty says they mostly argued. At the same time, he recalls to himself that they kissed and were aggressive with each other.
Mya knows Rusty is hiding something, adding that cell data reveals he arrived home at 11 pm, noting it must have been a long argument. He says when he left, Carolyn kissed him to give him hope about their relationship. When he got home, Rusty realized that. He then calls her “f****** cruel” because she knew exactly what she was doing. Mya looks troubled by Rusty's admission.
In a separate meeting, Mya admits to liking where the case is currently at, as Tommy (Peter Sarsgaard) will struggle to prove Rusty did it. However, she admits Rusty being at the house for 51 minutes doesn't look good. She also insists they can't let Rusty anywhere near the witness stand.
Tommy's issues
Tommy tries to go over Herbert's (James Hiroyuki Liao) testimony, but they quickly fall out when Tommy calls him of being a great doctor but a terrible witness.
The media are incredibly dubious of the strength of the case, especially as they don't even have a murder weapon. Tommy interviews Carolyn's ex-husband Dalton Caldwell (Matthew Alan) and their son Michael (Tate Birchmore) to go over photos. Michael admits his mom confessed to becoming increasingly scared by a man at work — but never named Rusty specifically.
Nico (O-T Fagbenle) talks to Tommy about calling Eugenia (Virginia Kull), a member of the DA office, as a witness. She is annoyed and Nico saysTit would be nice if she was in their camp. When Tommy reveals his plan is to use her as a character witness against Rusty, Nico admits he's worried about the case. Especially as Raymond has called for a meeting. In Nico's eyes this means Raymond must "feel like he has them by the balls." Tommy insists there's no chance of any plea deal.
The case turns
Raymond meets with Tommy and Nico, calling their case "really f****** lousy," and that they both know it. Since Rusty can't risk going to prison for life and Nico can't risk an acquittal and the obliteration of his political capital, Raymond says Rusty will cop to the obstruction of justice for three years in prison.
When they laugh at the offer, Raymond goes in even harder. Not only is their case weak, but Tommy is stupid and won't be able to beat Raymond in court, especially considering the judge they have.
That's when Nico gives Raymond a file that Tommy got from Herbert. Raymond looks at it and asks why he is only just seeing this now. Nico says they just got it themselves. Tommy sits there with a smug look on his face, as Raymond looks very, very worried.
Rusty explodes
Rusty sits in the back garden with Barbara talking about sex they had. Barbara asks if it was like the sex he had with Carolyn. Rusty admits at the time of the affair, he and Barbara were so far apart and Carolyn woke something up inside of him. Barbara admits they drifted apart and doubts they'll ever be close again.
They're then interrupted by Raymond, calling Rusty to tell him Rusty's skin was found under Carolyn's fingernails. Rusty says it's impossible, she never scratched him. That doesn't matter, Raymond says, DNA is DNA. Rusty insists that Tommy, Nico and Herbert are trying to frame him.
Then, someone aggressively bangs on Rusty's door. It's a furious Brian Ratzer. When he doesn't stop banging, terrifying the kids, Rusty opens the door and punches Brian repeatedly.
New episodes of Presumed Innocent premiere exclusively on Apple TV Plus every Wednesday.
