Rectify
This show is really just an exercise in visual poetry. Everything about it is beautiful, carefully-wrought, and intentional. It’s gorgeous and will make you think about your life and your place on this Earth. I can’t overstate how exquisite it is or how very much you should watch it. Lord knows not enough folks watched it when it aired on SundanceTV for its four seasons.
Rectify is about Daniel Holden who was convicted of the rape and murder of his high school girlfriend when he was 19 years old. The series picks up on the eve of his release following the reexamination of DNA evidence leading to his sentence being overturned. It follows his re-entry into the society of his small Georgia town. It’s less of a “Did he do it?” and more of a “Who is this man and how will he survive the things that are happening to him?”
Daniel must re-learn how to be in a world from which he’s been isolated for almost 20 years. Because he must return to Paulie, Georgia, not much as changed since he went away, and the show never casts any judgments about his Southern town. As much as Daniel is presented as the protagonist and male lead, his Southern town is cast as an additional character with whom he must negotiate and reconcile.
Rectify is directed and created by the prolific Ray McKinnon, and allows these Southern characters to grow outside the archetypes they inevitably represent. The Southern culture is represented without flinching or editorializing, but it’s also honored in a way that few other shows do well. For an intense look at a Southern man reduced to his most fundamental aspects, it treats every character with respect and dignity.
Watch all four seasons of Rectify on Netflix.