ABC's Notorious premiered on Thursday night with sex, blood, death, and scandal — and that was just the first episode. Just when Jake Gregorian (Daniel Sunjata) has pretty much cleared his client Oscar (Kevin Zegers) in a hit-and-run case, the prime suspect Sarah (and Oscar's wife) winds up brutally murdered. But here's the twist: Sarah and Jake were romantically involved and they spent the night before the murder together. Did Jake kill Sarah on Notorious ? I think it's a perfectly valid question and there's lots of evidence to support that theory, based on the first episode.
In addition to working with high-profile clients, Jake works in conjunction with Louise Herrick Live news producer Julia George (Piper Perabo) to leak information and manipulate the media to serve his cases' needs. The pilot revealed that Oscar wasn't driving the car during the hit-and-run, but his wife Sarah was behind the wheel. Sarah tells Jake that she was on Ambien, a prescription sleep-aid and an excuse that is so 2007. Julia agrees and when he staff looks further into it, they find out that Sarah just started taking the drug — and it takes the usually all-knowing Jake by surprise. Later, Jake is seen getting romantic with Sarah — and then she winds up bloodied on the floor of her and Oscar's home.
Sure, Oscar is the prime suspect, as the show said, but I think that's too easy for a show that likes to shock and surprise its new veiwers. I mean, Jake looked shocked when he discovered Oscar with Sarah's bloody body, but as viewers saw earlier in the episode, he's a pretty good actor on Louise Herrick Live. And yes, Jake seemed to love Sarah, but perhaps he wanted to protect her from what lied ahead for her. He's a longtime lawyer with a roster of super famous clients — he knows the exact consequences and criminal charges that Sarah might face and maybe he thought it was just better this way. He and Sarah may have even mutually agreed to it.
In the final moments of the episode, Julia receives an envelope with a set of three photos showing the following: Oscar with another woman, bruises on Sarah's body, and Jake and Sarah together in bed together. The show leaves those images up to Julia's (and our) interpretation, but I think it tells us that Oscar was occupied with someone else, Sarah's been hurt by someone before, and Jake has something to do with this murder.
After all, Jake is a passionate guy who will do anything for his clients — so just imagine what he'll do for love.
Images: Eli Joshua Ade, Eric Candless/ABC
