‘Rectify’: A Character Study

Rectify, the Sundance Channel original series created by Ray McKinnon, returned to the small screen this week for its second season. A quiet, searing drama, the show follows Daniel Holden (Aden Young) who, after serving 19 years on death row for the rape and murder of his high school girlfriend, is released after DNA evidence surfaces and suggests that he may not be guilty—despite the fact that he confessed to the crime. The show is a quiet character study rather than your typical moody mystery—if you’re hoping for True Detective-style twists and turns and exciting shootouts, look elsewhere. The power of Rectify comes from its nuanced performances and Southern gothic sensibilities, and its slow-burn nature makes it the rare kind of television program that’s almost impossible to binge-watch. If you’re looking to catch up and watch the show’s second season, here’s a handy character guide to get you up to speed.

DANIEL HOLDEN
Returning to his family and hometown of Paulie, Georgia, Daniel struggles to accept his new life as a free man while also trying to settle back into the swing of things (like listening to Cracker on his Walkman and playing Sonic the Hedgehog). In the course of his first six days out of the clink, Daniel is baptized at a tent revival, sleeps with an old high school friend, chokes his asshole brother-in-law, and takes a nightmarish trip with a fellow who can only be described as “The Goat Man.”

AMANTHA HOLDEN
Yes, you read that right: not Samantha, not Amanda, but Amantha. Daniel’s sister is also his biggest advocate, and when she’s not laying on her front lawn smoking cigarettes, yelling at her stepbrother, or screwing Daniel’s lawyer, she’s trying her best to ease Daniel’s transition from prisoner to functioning member of society—and she’s not exactly succeeding.

TED TALBOT, JR.
Ted Jr., Daniel and Amantha’s stepbrother, isn’t super psyched about having Daniel out of prison and milling about, bringing negative attention to the family and his father’s tire shop. He’s also not totally thrilled about his wife’s interest in Daniel, even if it’s Daniel’s eternal salvation she’s most concerned with. Ted Jr. is also a prick, and likes to torment Daniel, especially after Daniel confides that he was sexually assaulted in prison. When Ted Jr. pokes fun at prison rape, Daniel chokes him and leaves him in the deserted tire shop, his pants around his ankles and a mound of dirt on his ass. (We don’t think that was too harsh of a reaction, to be honest, even if it’s an odd one.)

TAWNEY TALBOT
Ted’s wife Tawney is a dead-ringer for Michelle Williams—complete with the tragic lost-girl look. Deeply religious and, well, generally ill-at-ease because she’s married to one of the world’s worst people, she’s pretty quiet and skittish. She does, however, break out of her shell when she’s around Daniel, who she decides to take on as her spiritual protégé. She also makes a killer loaf of monkey bread.

JANET TALBOT, TED TALBOT, and JARED TALBOT
Daniel and Amantha’s father died while Daniel was in prison, and their mother, Janet, married Ted and gave birth to Jared. Having Daniel back in their house is a little weird for all of them, and, weirdly enough, Janet is the only person who’s a little unsettled with his return. Both Ted and Jared welcome Daniel with hesitantly open arms. All three become targets of their neighbors’ scorn, with Jared receiving death threats via text message and the family’s mailbox getting destroyed by a homemade explosion.

JON STERN
Daniel’s lawyer Jon is a fish out of water — a Jewish liberal who comes to Paulie to take on Daniel’s case. But he has another reason to be in town: his affair with Amantha, which he unsuccessfully tries to break off.

ROLAND FOULKES
A Georgia state senator and the District Attorney who prosecuted the case against Daniel, his reputation comes into question when Daniel’s conviction is vacated. He will seemingly stop at nothing to ensure that Daniel’s conviction is upheld, and regularly schemes with the sheriff and harasses the current DA for not moving on the case quickly enough. He’s also sleeping around with local diner waitress, Marcy, and leaves her cash on her bedside table in lieu of flowers. A classy guy!

CARL DAGGETT
The Paulie sheriff, Daggett is biased when it comes to Daniel’s fate—like Foulkes, he’ll also look pretty terrible if Daniel is proven innocent. Naturally, he makes it his priority to talk to the original witnesses and harass the Holden-Talbot family, and he doesn’t offer much help after a bomb explodes in the Talbots’ mailbox.

KERWIN WHITMAN and WENDALL JELKS
Daniel’s neighbors on death row, Whitman and Jelks represent a sort of good-versus-evil dichotomy on either side of his cell. Jelks is particularly awful, taunting Daniel through the vent separating their cells and, oh, occasionally masturbating at his door while calling out his name. Whitman, on the other hand, is pretty mind-mannered for a man convicted of murdering a child, and he tells Daniel that he believes in his innocence when he is carted off to his execution.

TREY WILLIS and GEORGE MELTON
The two witnesses in the case that put Daniel behind bars, Trey and George meet at the site where Hanna Dean was murdered to rehash the past; after Trey leaves, George shoots himself. Trey, later, tells Sheriff Daggett that Hanna was not the virginal young victim she was made out to be after she was murdered, and admits to sleeping with her while they were in high school. He later returns to the woods, discovers George’s body, and dumps it in the creek.

JUDY DEAN and BOBBY DEAN
Hanna’s mother and brother, Judy and Bobby are furious about Daniel’s release. While Judy responds in a predictable way—by going on television to express her grief and anger—Bobby organizes a group of tough guys, who attack Daniel in the cemetery before Bobby urinates on his face.

THE GOAT MAN
How else can you describe the stranger who picks up Daniel, takes him to a goat farm, and then wrestles him in front of a strange wooden sculpture of a young woman in the woods? It’s the Goat Man! Is the Goat Man even real, or just a figment of Daniel’s skewed imagination? Let’s hope this is one mystery that’s solved in Rectify’s second season.

Season One of Rectify is available to stream on Netflix.