It’ll turn into a binge watch but leaving you mulling over the moral takeaways

I’ve seen Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent three times now, featuring actors Jake Gyllenhaal, Ruth Negga, and Bill Camp. And I’ve seen it three times because I like catching things I missed in watching it the first-time round, and because there are three critical messages, poignant ones that stood out to me that we can all learn from.

 Lesson 1

To not give the story away too much, the series is about the Assistant District Attorney of Chicago (Gyllenhaal’s character) and his affair with his colleague (played by Renate Reinsve). She turns up dead and he’s accused of murdering her. We all know that having an extramarital affair is wrong, no matter any justification that someone may give for it. I wouldn’t need to write a post about that. But, what is poignant from the series is that when someone enters into a sexual relationship with someone, more often than not a deep bond is formed. Sex is more than sex, it’s spiritual and that level of passion can be like a drug where you can lose yourself, spiraling down a dark hole that can be hard to come out of. And if you’re not careful, you’ll lose more in that affair than just the passionate encounters that were had.

And not only this, you open yourself of getting attacked. In Gyllenhaal’s character’s case, his choices opened himself up to attack by two of his male colleagues that didn’t like him. It also opened him up to judgment by the court system. 

Lesson 2

Oftentimes we like to venture onto new things, thinking the grass is greener there. But it’s not greener there. Things are green that you pour into, invest into, and put time, energy, and attention into. Trying a new romantic relationship when you’re already married will ensure “green grass” if you stop investing into your marriage and into this new relationship. But the grass in your marriage will inevitably turn brown. It takes two people to have a relationship, to make a marriage, and both sides have to fight making sure to water their grass so that it stays green. This is something that Gyllenhaal and Negga’s characters could have fought for, instead of his character venturing into sexual exploits with his colleague. Almost losing his family because he got carried away into passion that cost him a lot.

Lesson 3

We know from Newton’s Third Law of Motion that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” How I might react to something might be different to how you react. As to not give too much away, Gyllenhaal’s character’s decision to have an affair not just affected him or his wife, it affected his boss and best friend, his boss’s wife, his other colleagues, and most importantly his children. It affected his daughter to the point of her losing herself and her entering into sin. His sin and his example as the head of his home led his daughter into sin. His actions caused her to have an opposite reaction.

In the Christian context, it is a husband/father’s responsibility to get his family to heaven, as priest of that home. It is not the role of a father (or mother) to lead your children into sin.

In this gripping series of 8 episodes there’s much to take in and deduce. Nicely acted out, wonderfully edited, and intricately told Presumed Innocent, is the perfect drama to unwind to, but also to learn something from.