Rectify

My favorite shows of all time are Lost, Breaking Bad, and Rectify. Lost had a diverse cast, and riveting mistique. Breaking Bad had incredible peformances, and masterful writing. Rectify transcended television for me. This wasn't a TV show for me. It was real.

The writing, directing, and performances (especially Aden Young's) fully immersed me into Daniel's life. I have never in my life felt such a deep connection with a fictional character. My soul believes he is a real person. His journey was so tragic and emotional for me. I've never experienced anything like Rectify.

This may not be for everyone because it is slow and painful at times. Although, I believe it does contain elements that a mainstream audience can experience such as shocking moments, memorable, well developed characters, and outstanding performances.

For me this was more than just entertainment. It was a powerful life experience that I will never forget.

This is a review for the first 3 episodes of Rectify.

The recently concluded and utterly superb Top of the Lake has a partner well in crime in the form of Rectify.

Like Top of the Lake, Rectify is magnificently acted and directed and both concern how crime can affect a community. Rectify deals with an issue I have been fascinated with for some time and that is people being wrongly accused of a crime and sent to prison. Only instead of showing us the legal wrangles the family and lawyer would have to go through Rectify picks up when Daniel Holden (Aden Young) is released after new DNA evidence throws his case out. Daniel has served 19 years on Death Row for rape and murder and now has to adjust to coming up and living with his family again.

One of the genius things about the show is whilst the evidence gets Daniel out of jail it doesn't necessarily prove his innocence and he could face a new trial. Also as an audience we really don't know if he is guilty or not, even three episodes in I have no clue if he was involved or just the two males we saw briefly in episode one.

Daniel is a bit strange, a bit weird but is that just an effect of 19 years shut away in a cell or was he always like that? Does it mean he has a hidden more sinister agenda? Or perhaps just a little eccentric?

Most of the town seem to think he is guilty including the State Senator and the Sheriff. His family or at least his sister Amantha (Abigail Spencer) is convinced of his innocence, I think his half brother Jared (Jake Austin Walker) does as well. Meanwhile step brother Ted, Jr. (Clayne Crawford ) seems to care more about how it will affect the family business than getting to the truth whilst his wife Tawney (Adelaide Clemens) seems to have formed a touching connection to Daniel. As for the mother Janet (J. Smith-Cameron), she is just overwhelmed by the entire situation.

Rectify was originally developed by Ray McKinnon for AMC with the intention of Justified actor Walton Goggin playing the role of Daniel. Whilst I would loved to have seen his take on the character I have to say Aden Young has impressed me so much in the role I can't imagine anyone else now. Daniel has this awkwardness about him which is natural after being away from the real world for so long and Young brings to the character this mesmerising charm. You can't help but listen to what he has to say, listen to his experiences and life view.

Whether or not Daniel committed the crime isn't really the central point to the show, it is about how prison changes a person, about how life moves on for everyone else and how they have to deal with his return. How victim's family have to cope when the justice they thought had been served perhaps hadn't been.

Rectify is every bit as good as dramas airing on HBO, AMC and Showtime. I can't wait to see where Rectify ends up and the other intense beautifully filmed dramas Sundance Channel commissions.

It is slow and very slow but i loved every moment of it...especially last two season

I've watched the first two episodes after being tempted by a promo prefaced by 'from the producers of Breaking Bad'. Reading reviews about its slow pace put me off slightly, but I went ahead with the first episode and was hooked about 15 minutes in by the writing, the excellent use of silences and the sheer quality of the performances. Aden Young is mesmerising, his thousand yard stare bringing nuance to every scene he is in, and he is ably supported by a cast I know from nowhere else, with the exception of Adelaide Clemens. The pace is slow, but not in a frustrating way - it seems entirely appropriate to let the audience experience the bewildering, overwhelming experience of being free after two decades on Death Row, and while after two episodes, I am no wiser as to Daniel's innocence, I do find that I genuinely care about it, and that's pretty much the most important thing to me in any drama: I should care about the people (like them, hate them) otherwise I'm just watching moving images. Having said that, the moving images are pretty compelling also - the use of light and the photography are evocative, as is the atmosphere of the small, southern town and the sometimes claustrophobic interiors. Genuinely impressive TV-making; I'm pleased to know there's more to come.

Well, after the first episode of watching Aden Young embody the character of Daniel Holden, I'm hooked. Daniel Holden was arrested for the rape and murder of his girlfriend at the age of 16, convicted and sent to live on death row at the age of 18, and 20 years later after living on death row in a cell by himself, preparing himself to die and be forever gone from this earth, has survived 5 stays of execution long enough for technology to catch up with forensic science and, unbelievably, Daniel Holden is released to his family because it is determined that his DNA was not found at the scene of the crime. So now the big question is: Will the current prosecutor re-try a 20 year old case? The whole town has an opinion, and while Daniel Holden walks around like a man in his own dream, quietly and painfully processing freedom, relating to a family that is 20 years older, and adjusting to the overwhelming overload of his sensory perceptions, danger is lurking as those involved in the original case begin to realize what is at risk if a new trial takes place. It's too soon for all of us, the audience, to know what is at risk because, wisely, the story is unfolding slowly and painstakingly like a new flower. The actors are all superb as they falter and try to think of how to talk to Daniel. Daniel is unsure, awkward, and quiet...very, very quiet. Aden Young's face can show about 5 emotions all at the same time, and in one scene as he is describing in a perfect soft, southern drawl his prison "initiation" experience for his shallow step-brother, Teddy, Daniel's expression changed from placid, to subdued, to quietly earnest, to a moment of sheer madness, before he snapped back to placid, leaving Teddy speechless and a little bit afraid. Totally alone and silent, this tall man with the haunted eyes drew me in as he walked to a baseball field and just laid down in the grass. How can such a gentle person be guilty of such a heinous crime? Who committed this crime and let this sweet soul suffer 24/7 for 20 years waiting to die, stealing his youth? Is this man guilty, innocent, reformed, or just a stone cold killer with a good con going? I don't know yet. So I will stay tuned.