Rectify Recap: Season 4, Episode 4, “Go Ask Roger”
By Sundi Rose
This week it feels like Rectify might be picking up a little forward momentum, and here’s the Rectify recap to bring you up to speed.
Part of the beauty of Rectify is it’s willingness to linger in a moment, forcing us to contemplate it’s landscape. This Rectify recap, however, explores a new pacing in this week’s “Go Ask Roger.” One in which some actual stuff happens and we don’t have to parse through the nuances of the subtext.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty to sort through, but it’s a refreshing break from form to have some moments to hold in our hands. In this particular episode, it’s exciting to watch everybody make strides forward. It almost feels like Rectify is moving toward some resolution, which makes sense since this is it’s last season.
I’ve been conditioned to sit still with Rectify, and this season’s pacing is making it’s nearing finale all the more real.
Teddy Jr, despite how we’ve felt about him in the past, deserves our sympathy more than any other character right now. Even Daniel has his mother and Chloe in his corner. Poor Teddy doesn’t have anyone. Janet barks at him, and makes it very clear she’s genuinely put out. About what, I can’t really tell.
I admire the work he’s done on himself. He very eloquently details his feelings to Tawney,
Photo: SundanceTV/Rectify
and she, in turn, asks about his fettuccine. When he (understandably) loses his temper, she flinches like he’s raised a hand to her. I’m annoyed with Tawney. Mostly because she’s just downright getting in the way of Teddy’s growth. Just divorce him already, Tawney, and let him get on with his life.
Amantha, like everybody else, walks around like a marionette whose strings have been cut.
But I’m rooting like hell for her, going on a legitimate date. Seeing her with Billy animates her in a way that enthuses me. She’s still Amantha, but with a little more buoyancy, and I love it.
Daniel even gets a little bolder this week. He and Chloe take a road trip to a popular singer’s house to drop off and pick up some art, and while there, they make themselves right at home.
Chloe encourages Daniel to surrender to the “pistachio gelato experience,” which is code for “just let go.”
Of course this is a metaphor, (because Rectify) but it’s a sweet moment between the two that offers a glimpse into their connection.
Although we want to root for them to be together, we’re also content to watch them get to know each other. Their adventure bonds them, and they even share a kiss before they say goodnight. What I love the most about their dynamic is that we get to see them reflected in each other. Their fragility is complimentary in each other.
It’s a relief that Daniel doesn’t have to be the broken one all the time.
As Daniel heals, Janet becomes more and more broken. It seems like Janet is having an
Photo: SundanceTV/Rectify
increasingly harder time mitigating her feelings. They are bubbling up closer and closer to the surface, and anybody who isn’t Daniel is not getting her best. Perhaps her trip to Nashville will help center her feelings a little.
While everyone else gets closer to healing and acclimating to the new world, Janet is coming undone. Maybe her and Jared can get together and come to terms with their own stuff, because they are both spinning around at the periphery, and I wonder how long before they come untethered.
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