The Burden is the fourth episode of Presumed Innocent.
Synopsis[]
Kyle is confronted about his whereabouts the night of the murder. Tommy questions Carolyn's son when the case takes a complicated turn.
Summary[]
Rusty and Barbara visit Kyle in his room, and Rusty asks Kyle why he was on his bike by Carolyn's house on May 18th. Initially, Kyle denies it and claims he was only riding his bike, but Rusty details that photographic evidence proves this claim. Hence, Kyle admits that he wanted to get a sense of it after hearing his parents argue about it. When asked if Jaden knows, Kyle is uncertain, and she could listen through the paper-thin walls. From there, Rusty gets emotional about Kyle's reason for being there that night and asks if Kyle was casing out Carolyn's house. However, Kyle refuses to answer and wants to talk to his mother, so Barbara asks Rusty to leave, and he begrudgingly does.
Outside, Rusty takes a walk as a flashback of Carolyn shows photographic evidence of Bunny's murder as she describes her background to Rusty. Upon returning home, he notices that one of the porch lights is out, and he goes into the garage to fetch a replacement bulb from the garage. He is soon joined by Barbara, who informs him that Kyle rode past her house a few times. During those times, Kyle saw Rusty go in there once, and Barbara suggested that Kyle get therapy to help him soothe the tense emotions he'd been holding onto for many months. This causes an argument to break out between them, and Barbara blames Rusty for acting like a prosecutor toward him; Rusty claims that Barbara has blame to shoulder as well. Not wanting to argue this further, Barbara leaves.
In the courtroom, Herbert practices in front of Tommy how he'll give his testimony in the case. Herbert is known to be snippy with Rusty, and his attitude toward Tommy isn't different. As Tommy leaves, Herbert promises to give him the file he wants.
As Kyle rides the subway, Rusty and Raymond talk about Kyle's involvement in an elevator leading to Raymond's office. There, they switch topics to Barbara being "done" with him, and Raymond notes that it's unlikely she'll leave him, or else she already would have. Raymond further notes that Rusty betrayed her, and the deepest betrayal toward her was the betrayal of the children. He also notes that due to multiple compulsive emotions, he got attracted to Carolyn, which led to him starting a sexual relationship with her, and now he feels bad and wants a window to release his guilt. In his opinion, it wouldn't shock the jury, but Raymond admits it shocked him and Lo. He also adds that Barbara was shocked, but she's still with him. Snapping at Raymond, Rusty accuses him of not having shame, and Raymond says in his forty years of hearing people who admit their guilt and shame. He explains the differences between the two feelings and doesn't doubt that he feels any shame.
At the DA's office, Eugenia confronts Tommy about being on the witness list despite not having any related information. However, Tommy claims she may have information related to the nights leading up to the night of the murder, which should have been reported to HR. Eugenia curses Tommy, who defends his actions, citing it's for Carolyn's sake.
Tommy enters the meeting room where Dalton and Michael sit. Despite Dalton's uncomfortable feelings about being there, Tommy assures him that he's there to clarify the evidence pertinent to the case. Tommy then questions Michael about a picture taken on June 16th featuring Rusty entering Carolyn's house. When asked why no picture was taken when he exited it, Michael claimed he left after he entered, and Tommy further questioned Michael about details related to the picture. The conversation subject then changed to Rusty's meeting with his father and why he believes Rusty was the one who killed him. In Michael's opinion, Rusty lied about him not killing his mother, basing it on the look in his eyes. There was also an instance in which, after Michael convinced his mother to meet him for lunch, Carolyn said that she was growing afraid of him. It was never explicitly stated that it was Rusty, only a person with whom she had cases.
Barbara visits the bar where she met the bartender before, and the lady named Jeanine greets her. As Barbara chooses her drink, the male bartender appears and details Barbara's drink. The bartender introduces himself as Clifton, and the two chat with each other.
Meanwhile, Rigo contacts Rusty with a hit on the second semen sample related to the Bunny case. His name is Brian Ratzer, and they found Brian through his DNA, which was given to ancestry.com, which allowed them to connect him to the crime.
The two visit Brian's home, and his wife Laura, who is holding his child, allows them entry. When Brian appears, Rigo asks him about his whereabouts on June 16th, 2019, centering on Robertson St., which Brian denies knowing as he works the night shift. Rusty asks where he lives, but Brian refuses to disclose where he lives and becomes shaken when pressed on it; however, Rusty notes that one day, he will talk and call out Laura. As Laura appears, Rusty thanks her for the coffee she served them, and Brian demands that they leave, to which Rigo later rebukes Rusty for agitating him.
At home, Rusty wakes up from a nightmare featuring Carolyn, Kyle, and himself. Once he does, Rusty calls out to Barbara as B heads downstairs and outside to find B in the garage scrubbing Kyle's bike clean, hoping to eliminate any incriminating evidence against him. As Rusty consoles B, she claims that she wonders how many times he's forgotten their son is black.
One day, Kyle visits Dr. Liz who asks him how he felt when he saw his father enter Carolyn's house. However, Kyle refuses to answer the question and refuses to cooperate further with Dr. Liz. This is detailed to Barbara when she gets an update from Dr. Liz about her progress with Kyle. Dr. Liz also mentions that handling Rusty, Barbara, and now Kyle is far too much for her to handle, and she prefers they see other therapists and believes she should only see Barbara. After asking Barbara to take a seat, Dr. Liz states that she thinks Barbara wants to save her marriage for her kids. However, Dr. Liz warns that a compulsion to forgive may evolve into something like hatred or anger when the kids go to college or even currently. She ends it with the fact that her husband is on trial for murdering someone, and Barbara needs her own therapist.
At the courthouse, Nico talks to Tommy about Eugenia, telling him about being on the case's witness list. However, Tommy defends his choice to have her as a witness and believes she may have feelings toward Rusty. Although Tommy tries to assuage Nico's worriedness, claiming he has hard evidence, Nico reinforces that he's worried and details that Raymond wants a meeting, which he presumes is a plea deal. Nico interprets it as having them by the balls, which Nico claims Raymond doesn't have, and with a smile, Tommy claims they don't.
At Raymond's office, Rusty talks to Rigo about the possibility of sex workers in the area who can identify Brian. Mya calls Rusty over, and he ends his call with Rigo to head into the meeting room, where Mya questions him about his whereabouts the night of the incident. Rusty claims he was at Raymond's office, where he and others ostensibly helped Raymond's campaign, which Mya finds the word ostensibly, curious. To his confession, Rusty claims he was texting Carolyn, who refused to reply to his texts, and in a tizzy, he leaves the office to eat at a bar around 8:30 p.m. After enjoying a few drinks and a steak at the bar, Carolyn texts him back and says he can come over, and Rusty rushes over there. Cross-reffing the time that Rusty left the office with Michael's pictures, Mya notes that he arrived at Carolyn's house at 9:49 p.m., and she asks Rusty, what happened? He details, after having varied thoughts of the two arguing with each other and making out, but Rusty answers they mostly argued with each other. The topic of their argument was that he wanted to get back together, but she didn't. Reviewing the evidence, Mya notes that Rusty arrived home at 11:00 p.m. on the dot. The distance from his house to hers is twenty minutes, meaning he left the house at 10:40 p.m. Mya notes that Rusty was at the house for 51 minutes and claims they must have had a long argument. When pressed on what happened when he left, Rusty claims that Carolyn kissed him goodbye, and it gave him a sense of hope. It was enough to get him to his car, but when he arrived home, the hope changed to cruelty, and Rusty thought that Carolyn knew what she was doing and was cruel for doing it.
Afterward, Raymond talks to Mya about her take on everything thus far. Mya answers case-wise; she likes where they're at. Her concern is with the 51 minutes, which Raymond notes is ample time to commit the crime Rusty is charged with. Raymond asks about putting Rusty on the witness chair, and Mya insists they don't put him on there, and Raymond agrees.
Meanwhile, Rusty makes phone calls about Brian, who identifies Rusty's identity. Elsewhere, Herbert gives Tommy the paperwork he wants, and Tommy thanks him for it. Back to Rusty, he walks by Kyle's room, which is on his computer and in the laundry room. Rusty contacts B, who is busy, and promises to speak to him when she gets home.
Barbara continues her chat with Clifton and Jeanine in the background. Their conversation leads to Clifton giving her his phone number, and later, Barbara and Rusty have sex.
Raymond visits the DA's office, where he runs into Eugenia. The two share a warm greeting, and she assures Raymond that she won't testify against Rusty. From there, Raymond heads into the meeting room where Nico and Tommy are in and starts by claiming they have a flaccid case against Rusty. He claims that all they have against Rusty is that he was there the night of the murder. Raymond and Nico go back and forth about the case, and Raymond notes that Tommy has been instructed not to speak, so Nico asks Raymond to continue his argument. Hence, Raymond offers a plea deal for the obstruction cause for three years. Raymond argues that it's possible with someone like Judge Lyttle; however, Raymond's bravado is shattered after he's shown the paper that was given to Tommy earlier that day.
That night, Barabara and Rusty sit outside on some lawn chairs and talk about the sex they had. Barbara asks if it's the same kind of sex he had with Carolyn, which he denies, claiming she's not her. He goes on to explain how Carolyn reawoke something in him and Barabara notes that Rusty was right about her needing to take responsibility.
Rusty then gets a phone call from Raymond, who informs him that Rusty's skin was found dug under Carolyn's fingernails. In a state of panic, Rusty claims that there's a conspiracy against him by Herbert, Nico, and Tommy. At that moment, Jaden calls out to Rusty as someone bangs on his door. It was Brian who found out where he lived, and losing his temper, Rusty opened the door and started to beat up Brian after threatening him and his family.
Characters[]
- Kyle Sabich
- Rusty Sabich
- Barbara Sabich
- Jaden Sabich
- Carolyn Polhemus
- Liam Reynolds (Mentioned)
- Herbert Kumagai
- Tommy Molto
- Raymond Horgan
- Lorraine Horgan (Mentioned)
- Eugenia
- Dalton Caldwell
- Michael Caldwell
- Jeanine
- Clifton
- Alana Rodriguez
- Laura Ratzer
- Brian Ratzer
- Liz Rush
- Nico Della Guardia
- Mya Winslow
- Judge Lyttle (Mentioned)
Gallery[]
