Why Aren't You Watching This Show?! - Primetime Article From The TV MegaSite
 

The TV MegaSite, Inc.  TV Is Our Life!

Happy Valentine's Week!




Click here to help fight hunger!
Fight hunger and malnutrition.
Donate to Action Against Hunger today!





Quantcast

MainNewsReviewsOur ShowsEpisode GuidesBuy!CommunityPolls
AutographsPhotosWallpapersPuzzles & GamesLinksStarsVideosOther


WELCOME to The TVMEGASITE.NET
Primetime  Articles & Interviews Page

We Love TV!

This is just an unofficial fan page, we have no connection to any shows or networks.

Please click here to vote for our site!
Click Here to Visit!

Why Aren't You Watching This Show?! By Sundi

Rectify poster

Rectify Airs Mondays at 10pm on Sundance

 

There is this quiet little show on the Sundance channel that is moving me every Monday night. Rectify, written by Ray McKinnon, is about as earnest and rich as anything that is airing right now.  Gritty and edgy as an indie film, but nuanced and complex, I am smitten with every character, every camera angle, every line of dialogue, every...single...thing. The show is riveting because it has a voyeuristic quality that makes me feel like I have my face pressed to the characters’ family room window.

 

Rectify is about Daniel Holden, who has been on death row for 19 years for the rape and murder of his high school girlfriend. The verdict is overturned when new DNA evidence surfaces, yet he is not fully exonerated. This is an important detail, because, even after six episodes, I still can’t decide if Daniel is innocent or not. The exposition is doled out in tidbits that offer fragmented and distorted versions of the actions of the past, mixing up the picture of anything that happened before the show picked up in the first episode. While this can get frustrating at times, I suffer this teasing because I am so intrigued by these characters and the magic that happens  in the stillness; when they exchange glances, sigh, gesture, touch..

 

The arc of the first six episodes is so tightly focused on the minutia of Daniel and his family’s readjustment, that it is hard to reconcile the horrible crime he is accused of. In fact, the story is soft-pedalled in a way that makes the flashbacks to death row exponentially disturbing. Daniel, is grappling with the new way in which time passes. The actor who plays Daniel, Aden Young, has mastered the ambiguous subtlety that makes me want to weep for Daniel’s loss. It plays out so incrementally on Daniel’s face that his sincerity goes straight through you. The melancholy in this show is so well-crafted that it becomes part of the fundamental makeup of the show; becoming self-aware with lines like, “It’s the beauty that hurts you the most, son, not the ugly.”

 

However; once you step away from the excruciatingly beautiful details, it is hard to ignore the powerful thematics. As much as this show is about the individuals, it is about time, loss, vision and most importantly, loss. These converge in a scene in which Daniel visits Walmart for the first time; it is most apparent how much he has lost as he wanders the aisles assessing the newness of of the world.  Its like watching Daniel see the world for the first time and it is such an intimate and poignant moment I have to force myself not to look away. It is scenes like this that strip away all the moral expectations associated with the crime he is accused of, and forces me to see the man for what he is.... human.

 

Rectify is set in Paulding County, Georgia, and shows set in the South often present problems for me. I am always hopeful that a show will get it right and not make caricatures of Southerners. I believe this show does pretty well. The accents and dialect resonate and the family dynamics strike just the right chord. The show answers the negativity by being fiercely intellectual; Daniel quotes Aristotle, Flannery O’Connor AND Thomas Aquinas for God’s sake. Even the archetypes are handled with a deft hand, and the show is careful not to define itself by its setting. I admire the characters’ close study of the accents and the writers’ honoring the culture; it could have gone a completely different way, but I am more than pleased with its trajectory so far. YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING THIS SHOW!!!

 

The opinions in these articles are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The TV MegaSite or its other volunteers.

Back to the Main Articles Page

Back to the Main Primetime TV Page

We need more episode guide recap writers, article writers, MS FrontPage and Web Expression users, graphics designers, and more, so please email us if you can help out!  More volunteers always needed!  Thanks!

Page updated 6/7/13

ComedyDramaSci fi and FantasySoap OperasCompetition


Google
 
Web SEARCH THE TV MEGASITE
Bookmark this section!
 
HomeDaytimePrimetimeTradingSite MapBuy!What's New!
Join UsAbout UsContactContestsBlogHelpCommunity