Bases Loaded is the first episode of Presumed Innocent.
Synopsis[]
Chief deputy prosecutor Rusty Sabich is determined to investigate the horrific murder of his colleague Carolyn Polhemus.
Summary[]
In a courtroom setting, Rusty gives his closing arguments on a case against James McDavid.
Rusty is out in his backyard playing catch with his son Kyle as his daughter Jaden sits close by the pool. They're soon joined by Barbara, and Jaden informs Rusty about a phone call by Raymond. Rusty takes the call and listens to Raymond inform him about something that shocked him. After hanging up, Rusty asks Barbara to follow him inside to talk to her about something. Inside, he informs her of the death of a colleague of his named Carolyn Polhemus.
Wasting no time, Rusty drives to the crime scene, where Raymond is, as the forensic team is documenting the scene. As Rusty exits his car and heads to the crime scene, Raymond warns him not to go, but Rusty insists on going. Inside the house where the scene of the crime took place, Rusty finds Carolyn's corpse in a compromised position.
Afterward, Raymond and several other prosecutors sit around, and one of the prosecutors Tommy offers to take the case because Rusty is too partial to the case. However, Rusty insists that he take it, then argues with another prosecutor named Nico that Raymond assigned it to him as he's the district attorney. He also quips that Nico wants his position and then claims he's better than Tommy to handle the case. Nico argues that he'll respect Rusty and win the contest for District Attorney; Raymond snaps that Rusty will handle the case. His reason is that Rusty is the best person to handle the case, and Tommy and Nico then scornfully leave. Rusty then asks Eugenia to summon Rigo to his office later, and she agrees to do it.
In his office, Rusty talks to Rigo to broadly search recent releases & TCS Paroles. As Rusty searches through a folder full of paperwork, he asks Rigo to directly direct anyone from the lab to him.
That night, Barbara watches a news report on the death of Carolyn and stops it midway. In another room, Rusty watches a newscast of Nico discussing the recent murder involving his fellow prosecutor, Carolyn. Barbara soon joins him and comments on how big of a dick Nico is exploiting Carolyn's death to curry favor with potential voters. She embraces Rusty and promises to try to be there for him, but can't commit to attending the memorial.
Eventually, Rusty attends Carolyn's memorial, where he meets Raymond and informs him that Rigo is handling the case. Raymond notes that he's on a time crunch because of the upcoming election, and soon, they run into Tommy and Nico. Unable to keep his cool, Raymond lashes out at Nico and Tommy for personal sentiments against them.
During the memorial, Rusty catches a view of a man, Raymond explains, who is Carolyn's ex-lover, who Rusty claims had an alibi, and the boy beside him is their son. Moments after learning this, Rusty leaves. Afterward, at a bar, Rusty sits beside Raymond, and they talk about Carolyn's ex and their son. Also, Raymond asks Rusty if he has any lead on the case. Rusty claims he does a person named Bunny Davis. The answer perplexes Raymond as he was convicted, but Rusty notes that Carolyn and he worked on Bunny's case. The answer makes Raymond quizzically question Rusty's response.
Around dusk, Rusty is seen tossing curve balls at his garage door, and Kyle soon joins him. Following his father's request, Kyle shows his father some curve balls.
That night, Rusty reviews crime scene photos and other related images surrounding the case involving Carolyn's death.
The next day, Rusty visits the coroner's office and talks with Herbert who tells him off, making it difficult to answer his questions.
A flashback when Carolyn was the prosecutor against Liam Reynolds, the defendant in the death of someone named Bunny Davis. After watching a video recording of that case, Tommy later contacted Nico, asking if he remembered the case, which he did. Tommy notes the uncanny similarity of how Bunny Davis died to Carolyn's and that Rusty believes the case has a connection. Although Nico mentions that Reynolds is in jail and it's not their case, Tommy claims it isn't.
Inside a car with Rigo that's outside the prison where Liam is imprisoned, Rusty and Rigo discuss the contrast between how Carolyn and Bunny were killed. After the officer there allows them entry into the prison, Rusty interviews Liam, learns about Carolyn's death, and confirms it matches his MO, but refuses to cooperate properly. Still, Rusty tries to level up with Liam and get Liam's help with the case, noting the commonality between the two cases. However, Liam refuses to as a flashback to when Liam was convicted of Bunny's murder, and he tries to attack Carolyn.
As Rusty goes on with his life, Raymond and Nico give separate press conferences concerning Carolyn's death. Rusty later visits the home of Carolyn's Ex's home, Dalton Caldwell, and despite his cold and curt nature toward him, Dalton allows him to enter. Dalton informs Rusty that they divorced nine years ago, they never really kept in touch after said divorce, and knew nothing of her personal life. However, Dalton notes that the real reason why they divorced is because Carolyn spent too much time at work and notes that Rusty would know better than he would about her. To Rusty's confession, he didn't know she had a child. Continuing with his explanation, Dalton details that Carolyn only allowed him to know what she wanted to know. He finishes off by saying that he didn't kill Carolyn and that the police came to the same conclusion.
At that moment, they're joined by Michael, Carolyn's son. Dalton introduces Rusty to Michael, who gives his condolences to Michael. Michael thanks Rusty and takes his leave. To Dalton's confession, Michael is angry at the world, his mother, and him for failing to be a family.
Afterward, Rusty finds a manilla envelope on his desk and, opening it, reveals a blue folder with some files inside. After reviewing its contents, Rusty meets with his co-workers, including Tommy and Eugenia. As Rusty gives a compassionate speech about looking out for one another until Tommy interrupts and asks for any news concerning Carolyn's death. Hence, Rusty details the new findings about Carolyn's murder while Tommy interrupts a couple of times, either giving a jab about the crime details or the evidence. This leads Rusty to believe Rusty is trying to provoke a narrative that Rusty's handling of the case is incompetent and that it's on full display there.
Right after the meeting, Rusty pulls Tommy into his office and gets heated with Tommy about his attitude during the meeting, but Tommy keeps his cool.
On his way to court, Rusty is stopped by the press, who ask for comment on Carolyn's death; however, he does not comment on it but speaks disparagingly about Nico in favor of Raymond. Raymond watches it and is pleased with what he sees; Kyle, Jaden, and Barbara, as is Nico, who curses Rusty, also watch it.
That night, Barbara asked Rusty if he was working on Carolyn's case, which she hoped he wasn't, but Rusty answered that Raymond asked that he do it, much to Barbara's dismay. On the other hand, Rusty claims that if he didn't accept it, then Tommy would take it, and he'd delay it to the point where it'd affect Raymond's reelection chances. Still, Barbara asks what if it gets out about the affair between Rusty and Carolyn and what would happen to him, their kids, and herself, but Rusty assures her that it was over between them. Despite Rusty's assurances, Barbara wasn't happy with it. Getting out of bed, Rusty apologizes and heads into the bathroom, where Barbara joins him and says that she and their marriage barely survived the aftermath of the affair. Before leaving, Barbara claims that Rusty will go silent because of this case, and it'll break her.
The next day, while swimming in a pool, Rusty recalls the night he had an affair with Carolyn. At his psychiatrist, Rusty tells her that his father had an affair with his mother and vowed never to do that himself, but now he's there talking about it. His psychiatrist, Dr. Liz Rush, asks why he did it, and Rusty admits it wasn't for the sex. However, with Barbara, it was, and that's how his children were born, but in Rusty's opinion, Carolyn's purity was what he found attractive and various other positive traits about her. The only problem was Rusty's questioning whether or not she was attracted to him or his power, which Dr. Liz questioned was love or not, but Rusty believed it was. Brief flashbacks between Rusty and Carolyn occur when the two eat Chinese food. Later, they have an affair, which Rusty discusses with Dr. Liz. She asks him if his sentiments with Carolyn were shared with Barbara, making Rusty curse and reflect on his actions.
Eventually, news breaks that Nico won against Raymond in the race for district attorney, and Nico holds a press conference about it. Rusty and his family sit on and around the couch, watching the press conference. Barbara asks Rusty if he still has a job, which he confirms, but notes that he's no longer the chief deputy prosecutor. Barbara then asks what about his current case, which he doesn't know.
Afterward, Rusty sits at the kitchen table, and Barbara asks him how his visit with Dr. Liz went. He responds that it went well and that she took his side, which doesn't surprise Barbara. Seeing Rusty so forlorn, Barbara apologizes about the election and his job, but Rusty brushes it off and thanks her for being there for him. To her confession, Barbara notes that she's not tragically dependent and could have left Rusty, but the kids were what made her stay. She continues stating that she'll fight for him, and they'll fight together, but remarks that Rusty needs to stop loving Carolyn.
The next day, Rusty wakes up beside Barbara. As he prepares to go to work, Raymond's voice is heard, congratulating Nico on winning the position of district attorney. Raymond also states that he'll immediately be stepping down from his position.
Entering the district prosecutor's offices, Rusty greets Rigo, and they briefly chat. He then heads to Raymond's office and catches him packing his belongings. They then head to a meeting between them and Nico and Tommy. The meeting topic was Rusty and Raymond's remarks toward Nico, and then Nico immediately shifted Rusty's role as chief deputy prosecutor to Tommy. Nico then asks if Rusty gave Tommy all of the paperwork associated with the case involving Carolyn. Rusty claims he has, but Tommy claims that Rusty hasn't, and it concerns fingerprints, which Rusty claims were still being processed. However, Tommy claims they're available, and he has them. Calm but upset, Rusty accuses Tommy of tampering with his case, and he argues that it's his case now and that Rusty's fingerprints were also found there. Tommy then asks when Rusty was last at Carolyn's apartment. The question triggers a line of questioning in which Tommy tries to form a plausible connection between him and Carolyn that ties him to Carolyn's murder. Tommy then questions if Rusty was in a relationship with Carolyn, which infuriates Rusty, but Raymond calms him down. Finally, Tommy mentions that Carolyn was pregnant when she died and asks if Rusty knew that, which he denies, and Tommy asks Rusty if he knows who the father is.
Characters[]
- Rusty Sabich
- James McDavid (Mentioned)
- Kyle Sabich
- Jaden Sabich
- Barbara Sabich
- Raymond Horgan
- Carolyn Polhemus
- Tommy Molto
- Nico Della Guardia
- Eugenia
- Alana Rodriguez
- Dalton Caldwell
- Michael Caldwell
- Herbert Kumagai
- Liam Reynolds
- Liz Rush
Gallery[]
