In Defense of O-T Fagbenle’s Wacky Voice on Presumed Innocent

For weeks now, I have been thinking about how O-T Fagbenle says the word issue in Presumed Innocent’s penultimate season-one episode “The Witness.” As prosecuting attorney Nico Della Guardia, Fagbenle is a delightfully wicked presence, all smug dandyism when navigating the case against Rusty Sabich for the murder of Carolyn Polhemus. And when he talks, whew. That accent is slippery, a melodic rollercoaster that puts the emphasis on random syllables, adds unanticipated inflection points...