RECTIFY: A MELONCHOLIC MASTERPIECE

Rectify is an American Drama Television Series exploring the life of a man after he is released from prison after nearly 20 years on death row following a wrongful conviction. It was created by Ray McKinnon and is the first original series from SundanceTV. The show stars Aden Young, Abigail Spencer, J. Smith-Cameron, Adelaide Clemens, Clayne Crawford, and Luke Kirby, and premiered on April 22, 2013, with a first season run of just six episodes. A second season of ten episodes, premiered on June 19, 2014, with a third season of just six episodes premiering on July 9, 2015. A fourth and final season of eight episodes premiered on October 26, 2016.

The show spent the entirety of its run fighting for viewership, but I think that’s mostly because of the network the show was on. Despite that fact, all four seasons of the show have been critically acclaimed, with the show being nominated for several prestigious awards throughout its run, and ultimately winning a Peabody Award in 2015. The show currently boasts an impressive 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an equally remarkable Audience Score of 91%. It also has a Metascore of 88 (based on 66 critic reviews) on Metacritic, with a User Score of 7.0, and an 8.3/10 on IMDB (based on 27,000 reviews).

I can’t say enough about this series. The premise is something that’s been done before, but what I think makes this show different is that, from the very beginning of the pilot, the show is able to establish an empathetic relationship with the viewer. The fact that the story takes place in a small town rather than a big city helps the show develop a more intimate relationship with the protagonist and with his situation at large. The main character being in a place where everyone knows everyone, along with the fact that his case has not resolved despite his release, makes his circumstances more dire than they would be if his case had been closed and he were in a more heavily populated place, where people have other things to be concerned with. The story arc was well conceived and masterfully executed, moving slowly and carefully from one plot point to the next. But I think the slow pace is deliberate, and it’s mitigated by the truncated seasons.

Casting for this series felt perfect, almost to the point where you think that if just one person had been changed, the story might not have made quite the impact that it did. The character arcs all fit perfectly into the main story arc, while being perfect progressions for each of them, and that is something that can prove to be incredibly hard to accomplish. The acting was great, with simply brilliant performances from the main cast especially Aden Young, who presents Daniel as a truly haunted soul, vacillating between being grateful for his life and his freedom and being resentful of it. Even the dialogue for the characters seemed to be chosen with great care. But for me, it’s Johnny Ray Gill’s portrayal of Kerwin and the relationship between Daniel and Amantha that really pulls you in. I thought her character was beautifully conceived and Abigail Spencer gave life into her in a way that was nothing short of masterful.

Being able to examine the relationship between Daniel and each of his family members’ as well as the individuals he came in contact with, forces you to think about the way that we as individuals, and society at large, see people like Daniel. It also did a really good job of putting politicians, the media, and ultimately the criminal justice system itself on trial. All of the elements of this story come together nicely in order to make you root for Daniel, through every heartfelt moment, and I think that is what makes the show work so well.

Rectify is special because it makes its home in a place that TV shows rarely visit. And it is my sincere hope that, despite the low viewership numbers while it was on the air, that people will eventually find this show and fall in love with it the way I did, which is in part why I decided to cover it. The show is an homage to the resilience of the human spirit. It’s the quintessential character study for a prisoner returning to civilian life. In fact, it’s a character study for all of the main (recurring) characters involved in the telling of such an earnest tale. And it’s ultimately the characters that make Rectify more than worth the watch.

Rectify is available for free on the Roku Channel. It’s also available on YouTube, YouTube TV, Sling TV and Amazon Prime Video with a premium subscription, and Google Play Movies and TV, Apple TV and Vudu by the episode ($1.99 each).