Rectify

No other series so poignantly probes the human condition and our concept of reality, identity, what we know and what is true with such alluring complexity. In a just world, more people would watch Rectify. That it existed at all, and leaves four tremendous seasons to savor and contemplate, is its own lovely blessing.

I’ve seen a few episodes of Rectify’s fourth season, and they’re as sweet and soulful as the show has always been. They contain passages of stark beauty, and moments of dreamlike simplicity. And above all else, they’re guided by McKinnon’s unfailing empathy for each and every character on screen.

None of these characters is particularly happy or remotely satisfied with his or her station in life, and in a lesser show, they’d be depressing downers. But thanks to the writing of show creator Ray McKinnon, these are people who strike you as folks you know, or whom you may be yourself.

Rectify is the best series I have ever seen on television. Not may be. Not might be. It just is.

Rectify, a drama entering its final season on SundanceTV on Wednesday, is exceptional in being concerned with what comes after prison, for ex-convicts, for their families, for an entire community.

Young's performance continues to be extraordinary, with a monologue late in the premiere all but guaranteed to raise the dust level in your home as you watch it. But it's a measure of the work McKinnon and the supporting actors have done in demonstrating how the smaller conflicts in the lives of Amantha or Ted Jr. or Tawney can be just as powerful (to them and to us) as Daniel's larger existential crisis.

Season 4, which marks the all-too-soon end of“Rectify’s distinguished run, finds a fresh thematic connection for Daniel while simultaneously setting him free from past complications. More importantly, it gives Daniel an impeccably astute voice rarely heard before and never this magnified.

Young and Smith-Cameron unearth the reserves of pain and affection that have made Rectify one of the best shows on television.

One of TV's truest, finest and deepest dives into pure character drama. [24 Oct-6 Nov 2016, p.17]