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Just got done with Rectify last night. Absolutely devastating drama with an uncanny, skewed tone that reflects the experience of Daniel Holden's quasi-resurrection. And what a great performance by Aden Young, who is given a role that risks a Forrest-Gump-ish or Karl-Childers-esque saintliness, but he never lets the script turn him into an idiot savant. And yet the trauma of being stuck in a white room for nearly twenty years is palpable as he re-experiences fields, physical contact, giant retail outlets, women, etc. I can't imagine what it might be like to have one's life throttled at nineteen and then be given nothing but books, prison authority, male sexual violence, and fluorescence to inform you further about the world around you for the next twenty years, but Young's performance opens up the possibilities of that unique experience; his curious, unreliable fugue states seep into the viewer's perception of events. Some good music used appropriately throughout the short season, too, including Bon Iver and this great song by The Drones that plays over a mad sexual montage (I can imagine a Dirty Three song cropping up in the future, given the feel of the show and speaking of Aussies). Finally, every character is given the courtesy of compassion in a drama that leads inevitably and sadly to vicious outbursts that seem almost totally situational as opposed to individually inspired; you get a real sense of the network of trauma resulting from allegedly wrongful imprisonment that oddly links self-described opponents in a violent but intimate dance. I might be a little politically biased with this series, given my stance against capital punishment and the prison system in the U.S., but there hasn't been another TV drama that has worked my emotions mercilessly-yet-fairly to such a degree as this. Given my suspicions toward anything with the Sundance imprimatur, I am astonished how well-done this series has been thus far. Although there doesn't seem to be a lot of conversation about this, I thought I would honor it with its own topic thread. If it doesn't seem worthwhile, domino, feel free to stick it in the 2013 TV thread and sorry for the trouble.

I'm a big supporter of this series as well. Young's dazed gaze and empty expressions establish a melancholy in his character that works against his adolescent adult veering too much into the "gee whiz, the world sure is beautiful" Gump-style musings. I think my favorite moment of the series thus far is

Spoiler

when Daniel and his mother are bombarded by a TV news crew outside a store and Daniel ignores them as he helps his mother inside the car and both sit quietly staring straight ahead while the news crew, befuddled by the reaction, just gives up and leaves.

A really great series that I can't wait to come back. And to those hesitant to jump in, its first season is only six episodes!

That, indeed, was a great moment. Another great scene, as well as a concise showcase of Young's talent, was

Spoiler

Daniel's description of prison rape to his stepbrother while, of all things, the latter is working on his golf swing. Great writing overall, but Young really gave that speech the hammer blow it required in order to disturb the stepbrother sufficiently.

What channel is this on?

Sundance, although I watched it on DVD in one fell swoop. Went by like a flash.

The DVDs are on sale at over half-off on Amazon right now, so I bit. Thanks for the recommendation guys!

Now streaming on Netflix, check it out!

Murdoch wrote:Now streaming on Netflix, check it out!

Thanks for the info. I've been looking for another series to delve into.

Is anyone else watching Rectify, and/or also thinking it's the best damn thing on television? The currently-airing fourth and, sadly, final season has been extraordinary thus far -- and, unless next week's final episode is an unexpected dud, the show will go down as one of the most consistently great, beautiful, moving, and well-written ever created.

In a nutshell, it's about a man named Daniel Holden who is released on a technicality from a nearly 20-year stint on Death Row for the rape and murder of his high school girlfriend, Hanna Dean. Now that (it appears) he's innocent, the main question, at first anyway, is how will such a man integrate back into society, into his family and the wider world? The first episodes present a vision of life that's as joyful and clear and pure as Daniel's; form matching content. And what a terrific character Daniel is: Aden Young has, I think, turned in one of the great performances of our time -- only second to the likes of James Gandolfini and Jon Hamm, but in some ways equally mesmerizing and complex and incredibly moving, considering how much he's shown us in a mere 29 (soon 30) episodes.

Though the main plot thread (the question of Daniel's innocence, and who really killed Hanna Dean) suggests a conventional whodunit, the show mostly avoids this in favor of exploring these characters's broken, interior lives. It doesn't ignore Daniel's traumas (he was raped repeatedly while in prison), but rather makes them almost the thematic focal-point of the series; if Rectify could be said to be about any one thing, I'd say it's PTSD. And the symptoms and causes and consequences of this are all realistically and movingly depicted, very rare for television or cinema for that matter. Of course, it helps that Aden Young -- and the rest of the cast, especially the outstanding Clayne Crawford -- are so very good. But this is definitely a show where every cylinder is firing perfectly. It's also somehow both consistently suspenseful and yet at its core deeply poetic and unconventional, which I find fascinating. And it does have a hell of a sense of humor, too, especially in seeing the absurdity of the world as filtered through Daniel's own odd perspective (not to mention his very sarcastic and very stubborn sister, Amantha).

The show's inimitable philosophy of life, in which virtually every character is utterly human and three-dimensional, no one "good" or "bad," even ostensibly simple characters rendered with the most loving of detail, reminds me very much of the hard-fought humanism of David Milch's superb HBO series -- but perhaps taken even further, and even more tenderly. This is a series where the majority of the scenes are simply conversations between two people, and yet it retains a suspense and a riveting hypnotic quality to it which is hard to shake. It's also gorgeously filmed, shot on location in small-town Georgia, with great attention to nature, painterly use of flattening long lenses, and magic-hour/sunlight-dappled compositions that often call to mind the work of Terrence Malick.

Except even that comparison doesn't quite stick; really, it's an utterly singular work. And though there's a few shows I'd likely place above it on a list of personal favorites (Deadwood, The Sopranos, Mad Men, The Wire), I'd still contend that no other series has had me so emotionally attached to its characters -- damn near all of them -- like Rectify has. I really cannot recommend it highly enough.

I agree! It was a great show. Here's a short thread for it.

gcgiles1dollarbin wrote:I agree! It was a great show. Here's a short thread for it.

Oops! Thanks for linking. I should've searched, but I could've sworn I remembered there not being a thread. A shame it's so small, but then the show itself has struggled to really find an audience outside of its little rabid cult of fans. I suspect it will start to become more recognized once it's finished, somewhat like The Wire has; but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

This might be my favourite television series of the last decade, and having recently rewatched Deadwood (in which of course Ray McKinnon plays a memorable role in the first season) I have no problem sharing oh yeah's sentiments and putting Rectify in such esteemed company.

The first two seasons have been released on Blu-Ray in a few different countries (I have the Australian discs, which are both fine), but not the third (making the fourth obviously unlikely either).

This show was not on my radar at all until a cinephile friend recommended it to me about a month ago. Since then I've been utterly engrossed and have just finished the fourth season. This series will enter my home collection as soon as a box is released.

It's one of those rare series that is rich and complex, with characters who are struggling to do the right thing and muddle through their flaws, and even more rare is not centered in violence. (I've burned out on "WestWorld" about five episodes in because of the level of causal brutality.) I found the story-telling perfect -- not centered in "incident" or "action", but rather in the rich interplay of the lives of the characters. Beautifully photographed, and well-paced throughout.

This is leaving Netflix on March 3. if you haven't watched it yet, do not miss the chance.

For me it is up there with The Wire, Deadwood and Justified as among the best US TV shows I have seen.

I'm halfway through the second season, and it appears to just get better. Some of my fellow members have been very eloquent (more than I can hope to be) in their praises, but I'd still like to mention that the acting, the pacing, and the photography impressed me. The depth to characters that could have easily been cardboard cutouts makes me admire the respect with which McKinnon wrote the show. Acting some of these characters must have been emotionally grueling. In its warmth, empathy and terrific dialogue it feels like a cousin to Deadwood (where most will remember McKinnon as the reverend).

Just watch it.

Edit: Finished the entire series last night. My opinion of this as excellent stands. I have a small reservation, with the emphasis on small: For me there was at times too much music in the series, with the sound cues not always ideal, either. I thought at times that silence would do better than music which for me detracted from the emotional impact some scenes were supposed to have. That said, I highly recommend watching it. It's rare that a show has made me care so much for the characters, and that it starts feeling not like a show but that you are sharing these characters' lives.

Caligula wrote: Wed Feb 10, 2021 7:05 am Edit: Finished the entire series last night. My opinion of this as excellent stands. I have a small reservation, with the emphasis on small: For me there was at times too much music in the series, with the sound cues not always ideal, either. I thought at times that silence would do better than music which for me detracted from the emotional impact some scenes were supposed to have.

The music is beautifully judged in the first three seasons, but for whatever reason in the final season it gets very treacly and overbearing at times, mixed much too loud and laid on with a trowel. The writing and performances are still exquisite though.

All four seasons were released on Blu-Ray in the Netherlands and come very highly recommended, though they don’t have the (very brief) extras from other territories’ DVDs that can also be seen on YouTube.