Rectify

Daniel Holden was an 18-year-old somewhat impractical and far from mature student who could have had a great future ahead of him - if he hadn't been found touching the body of a strangled and abused 16-year-old schoolgirl and ritually surrounding her with flowers. Subsequently, unable to resist the focused pressure from investigators, he took responsibility for her death and spent nearly 20 years in prison, 19 of them on death row. He had already had the honor of personally meeting the executioner - one of the five appeals and subsequent postponements of the sentence came seriously at the last minute. As time passed, new investigation methods came into fashion, and DNA testing cast doubt on the old sentence. Daniel was released with the promise of a new investigation. Rectify is not a courtroom or prison drama, nor is it a crime show, at least not in the usual sense of the word. It is a psychological drama of a man deprived of his youth and thrown into a world he doesn't understand at all. He is not prepared to take care of himself, and he is overwhelmed by countless possibilities and perceptions. Moreover, for most of those around him, he remains a murderer. The girl's relatives want justice. For representatives of state power, it is unacceptable to admit that they destroyed the life of an innocent person. Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, outside of prison, Daniel has long stopped being relevant. Except for a few exceptions, he actually hinders everyone. His return causes confusion, doubt, and pain. Rectify is an intimate drama about the search for lost time and motivation to stand up and start over. It does not offer itself, it is not flashy, provocative, and above all, it does not hurry. All the seasons describe just 3 weeks of Daniel's life after returning home. But if you accept its pace and atmosphere, it has a decent chance of engulfing you, and along with Daniel, you will experience quiet dramas and rejoice in the small things that just a moment ago seemed mundane and insignificant. Last but not least, the series can be seen as a reflection, not so much on the state of imprisonment in the USA, but on the phenomenon of the death penalty. The main character returns to life behind bars in his memories and confronts it with life in freedom. Rectify is a series for patient and perceptive viewers capable of capturing and appreciating psychologically believable character sketches, hypnotic soundtracks, and top-notch performances led by Aden Young as Daniel and Abigail Spencer as the energetic and devoted sister Amantha. Personally, I give the series a definite thumbs up. After Westworld, it's another series that got under my skin in a short period of time. Overall impression: 90%. (10.05.2017)