Just binged season 1 on Netflix.

I'm pretty astounded how different this was for an American TV show. So meditative and trance-like. The closest thing I can compare it to is Top of the Lake.

The show unwraps the characters so well...these are flesh and blood people, not tropes. And it's obvious the main themes of guilt, incarceration, redemption, and - most of all - violence - does to a person is just heartbreaking.

The prison scenes made me begin to think how utterly cruel it is to do that to someone. It's depraved, really. I've struggled with the idea of the death penalty for years, but now I'm struggling with the idea of that kind of semi-solitary confinement.

Is prison supposed to be redemptive or punitive? On death row, obviously, it's punitive. But why not make the prisoner at least minimally comfortable before his real punishment - death?

I don't know, it's tough. I know most would say that death row should be horrible and part of the punishment. But by treating human beings that way, maybe, society loses something of its own humanity in the process.

Great show.

You're going to love the 2nd season. Cuts even deeper.

My favorite episode was in season 2 where he

Sepinwall put it No. 7 on his list of top 10 shows of 2014.

great review dom. this show really was something special. i usually have no patience for slow stuff, and this show is about as slow as it gets. but it's just a feast of well done.... i don't even know what to call it. to call it a television show seems cheap.

season 1 is better than season 2 imo. season 2 is still great, but lags a bit in the middle.

the lead actor does an amazing job. there are good interviews with him on youtube.

godamn it saw thread bumped and hoped it was word of next season.
fantastic show.

Yup. If this isn't the best show on television right now it's pretty damn close. Season 2 finale was pretty hardcore.

I just rewatched the 1st season, kinda hit me harder knowing the characters better. Episode 5 is by far the best, just amazing.

Just finished rewatching season 2. Man, they left a lot of balls in the air that last episode. And I just read that season 3 will only have 6 episodes, which kinda sucks imo.

I just finished watching season 2, and it was really good. For a short moment, I thought the debrief scene was going to move this up a couple of notches on my top 10 list, and then it took a reverse turn with him actually confessing. I thought he was trying to get what an a-hole Foulkes was on the record, and that he never intended to go through with the plea bargain. Then he did.

I think some of the teeth are taken out of the show by it taking place over such a short period of time. It makes the Tawney/Teddy storylines ring somewhat false to me. I'm fairly sure the entire series is intended to take place over not much more than a month, and the vast majority of stuff that happened in the show probably takes place over 2 weeks (season 1 was confirmed 7 days, and coma/healing probably puts the time after the beating to be around 2.5 to 3 weeks, with the rest happening in about 10 days or so). A 6 month or so timeline would have been a lot more effective with some of the character development they did, but it's a really minor nit.

I watched this season in a completely different environment than I did season 1, but it definitely felt like production values were a bit lower than season 1, at least in several episodes. The biggest "issue" I had was that they dropped us right back into a completely serialized storyline about a year later without any reminder of some of the things that happened. I was lost during portions of it, trying to remember. As others have said, the acting in this show is fantastic pretty much across the board. The scenes with Tawney and Teddy have been so incredibly hard to watch.

My favorite scenes were the Kerwin family scene and the debrief. The ladies with Daniel at the Museum was close behind those. I can't wait to see him open the bookstore in Mobile, but of course Teddy pressing charges is going to change everything.

He set it up perfectly if he needs to recant/dispute the confession later though. The tape of the confession going public would pretty much sink Foulkes, he's just too blinded by arrogance and ambition to see the poison pill. Everyone else in the room all, "Holy ****, WTF, BBQ!"

I thought that was truly an incredible piece of writing. Because I didn't know if the show was getting renewed when I watched the end result, it was a little concerning. I'm just glad it was renewed so that the set up can play through. That Foulkes character is such a scumbag.

I put it in my top 10 submission.

I am starting episode 4 of S1 soon and is there any kind of resolution to the first season or does it just continue into S2? Not that it matters just curious.

It's completely serialized through both seasons, but something big happens at the end of the season.

So I finished S2 a few day ago and that finale was awesome, the debrief scene was intense. Not a whole lot happens in the show but there are some really great scenes overall.

The Teddy/Tawney scenes do happen a little too fast but by the end of S2 a month or so has passed I think. Not sure Teddy could come up with renting wheels, getting the loan, putting them on display, and getting a deadbeat behind in payments that fast though. Doesn't bother me.

Now, who the hell could have killed Hanna??? I would guess that person has to have been introduced already, bringing in someone knew this late would seem wierd(assuming S3 is final season).

Was Hanna raped though or did she just get gangbanged?

Daniel - Maybe he came back down and saw her 'satisfied' and he killed her, or she was raped and wanted to die at that moment and he killed her. He doesn't seem like the type to murder her out of anger though.

Trey - He seems like the best bet but some stuff he says he seems to believe Daniel did it, he wants to keep his sperm out of it though. He has shown to be a spycopath(sp?)

Guy who offed himself - He might of had too much guilt for lying about Daniel raping Hanna.

Carl - He appears to want to get to the bottom of this.

Hanna's brother - Might have seen her after she was fvcked or raped and didn't like the fact his sister was a whore? Long shot imo.

Looks like Teddy pressing charges is going to throw that plea deal out the window so Daniel still can get his name cleared.

I think there's almost no chance Daniel did it. I think his version of events was very close to the truth, but that she was dead when he got down there. Considering that the guy offed himself, I think it's very likely Trey and him murdered her, and he couldn't take that other DNA was found that would have implicated him.

The other important thing to note is that Trey kept several "souvenirs" including her phone. Part of what he was doing when they went to the dead guy's house was planting a bunch of evidence there. I originally thought he was trying to frame Daniel, but it seems more like he just wanted the evidence to be where the dead guy was living instead of in his shed or garage or whatever it was.

Because Daniel was so high, I don't think he would have really remembered what happened. He probably did several things that the cops would consider desecrating a corpse, but I think a lot of it was to protect the image he had originally created for her in his own mind (that was wrong evidently, but still in no way should have caused what happened to her). My guess is that it was originally some kind of gang bang that turned very bad, possibly when she saw Daniel come back. That ultimately led to her death. That's all speculation of course, but I think it's plausible based on what we've seen.

I thought all that stuff Trey had was the dead guys stuff, phone, wallet, etc. and he just put it back at his place in Florida.

Not sure she could see Daniel coming back and he not seeing her while he was walking back. He was tripping and was more wandering back looking at the trees and things though so not sure.

Trey and that guy had the conversation and Trey asked if he killed her and he said no, and Trey said no. That very well could have been a reassuring lie they are telling each other.

What a great show. If you have note watched all of season 2, don't read any further.

There was some discussion earlier on the coffee grind scene. It can be looked at from so many angles. At its simplest level, Daniel felt that Teddy needed to be schooled.

It started at the golf driving range when Teddy was probably crossing the line on personal questions, and Daniel wanted to make him uncomfortable for going there.

At the tire store Teddy was really cocky and giving Daniel the gears about things being black or white: either you fight back or you like it - no grey area or middle ground.

I think the choke hold and pulling his pants down was the perfect schooling for Teddy. You could just tell that when they met next time, and looked each other in the eyes, that Daniel would be thinking "did you fight or did you like it.?

The addition of the coffee grinds was not necessary, and I wonder if that extra shot at Teddy's esteem, manhood, was more meant for us as viewers to know that Daniel is quite capable of crossing the line?

The end of season 2 was great, but I really still don't understand how Daniel telling Tawny about what he did to Teddy unfolded. My initial take was that it was a confessional to Tawny to let here know that part of Teddy's recent odd behaviour was because of him, Daniel. In other words, cut Teddy some slack because I really messed him up, and I was wrong.

But, at this point Daniel needs to tell Tawny that she should never bring it up, or ever let Teddy know they were together at the hotel.

So what does Tawny do. She tells Teddy about the confession, and from there Teddy knows Daniel was with her at the hotel. This just crushes Teddy's world, as he notes.

I would be interested to know if others think that this was just the way it rolled out, or if Daniel knew that Tawny being so pure and honest was bound to tell Teddy that she knew.

Or, I guess a broader question is this. Daniel is playing 80% super reflective, insightful and smart, and 20% slow pony. It he really that, or is he 0% slow pony, and everything he says or does is quite calculated?

Season three has so many possible paths, it should be great.

PS. I don't think Tawny's biggest struggle is whether she loves Daniel. I think she has lost her faith and feels she is nothing without it. She has no personal identity or self-worth that isn't tied to god. She Seems potentially suicidal.

We see parallels in Amantha, forcing herself to discover herself instead of focussing on Daniel, and in doing so, not liking what she sees.

PPS. Would be great if anyone wants to discuss any elements of the show, characters, symbolism, etc.

I think Trey knows Daniel is not a killer. His reaction during the fight at the trailer was odd. It was like he had no fear of Daniel. Personally, I would not be messing with a guy who spent 20 years on death row, innocent or not. So, does Trey know/think Daniel is not dangerous, because he knows that Daniel was a coward years ago??

Maybe I'm wrong, because that's a modern phone. I guess he had a pink phone...good catch.

I think your assessment about Daniel/Teddy coffee grounds is spot on.

I think Daniel felt that Tawney was so broken that he had to come clean to her so that she wouldn't want him anymore. She just refused to believe he had a bad side (or that he was a bad person, as he described himself), and that was the only way he could convince her of it. Lying his way through it to get her would be even more crushing to her than what had already been going on. It was probably the single nicest thing he's done in the show so far, even though the immediate pain she felt had to be beyond extreme.

Daniel seems very slow to me. He doesn't seem to understand that every action he takes dramatically affects others or him. He has a lack of impulse control, which has been demonstrated a ton of times in the show. I don't think he's ******ed, but I definitely don't think he's playing any long games on anyone except maybe the a-hole Senator. And that's just more because of how he's made Daniel a target more than any outsmarting/outwitting going on. The main thing we've already learned is that you don't want to back Daniel into any corners. He makes very bad decisions when that happens. In the case of the debrief, his bad decision will likely end up being what saves him and takes down the wannabe Governor.

Tawney's loss of faith (misdirected faith might be more accurate) is a huge central theme of the show. She got it so wrong on Daniel that she wonders what else she got wrong. That idea really undermines the show, in my opinion, because it's a really underhanded jab at people like that character in real life. I'm not sure she's suicidal, I think she's just completely lost and needs something to get her faith back. What that is at this point, I have no idea.

daniel is the hero of the show. he is saint like in many ways. he is mostly kind and good. but he is troubled ldo. he is like a young child. he choked out his step brother and shoved coffee grounds in his ass. yet somehow he is like a saint at the same time.

i dont think daniel murdered hanna. but i wouldn't put it past this show to pull off a story of daniel murdering hanna.

i think i mentioned this in the thread before, but i heard an interview with the actor who plays daniel, and he decided as the actor that he didn't want the character of daniel to know if he killed or not. he thought that was the best way to play it. i think it's a brilliant choice, and not one many(if any) other actors would make. directors will tell actors they have to know and play it one way or the other.

but the actor did have a conversation about it with the writer/director

I have to echo what everyone's been saying. I've been saving s2 for when I could give it full attention. Finally finished it. Rectify is about as perfect as a show can be 16 eps in. I really hope it's done after next season. This is the type of story that should conclude in another 12 or less episodes. Abigail really shines and I hope she gets some bigger roles on the big screen because she is that good. I kind've get teh feeling that the cast isn't that great talent wise, but the show is produced, written, and directed as good as anything I've ever seen.

The cast is what makes the show work, in my opinion (different actors might not work as well). They are all very talented people, and Abigail Spencer is probably doing some of the best work of her career here (contrast it with Suits for how deep she is into this performance). Just remember, there was a point when Walton Goggins really wanted to play Daniel before the show was made. I don't think he'd work in the part, but it would be interesting.

If anything, I'd say the biggest mistake the show has made is that it's taken place over such a compressed time frame. We're seeing months of character development over the matter of days, and that's a mistake in my opinion. Knowing that it took place over such a short period of time makes the Tawny storyline doubly disturbing. I think that's probably the only major misstep the show has had.

I watched the second season in a different environment (bought the HD version on Amazon), but I do feel like the production value slipped a bit from season 1 to season 2. That wouldn't be a huge surprise since the show did so poorly in the ratings that it likely wouldn't have been able to maintain the season 1 budget, which was half the number of episodes anyway.