S03.E06: The Source

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

'The Perfectly Strange Goodbye Of Daniel Holden' / A season finale that felt like a series finale is everything good about Rectify's storytelling.

[Ms Lark]

I just have to say that was one of the best hours of television I've seen in a long time. I loved the "perfectly strange good-bye" with Amanatha and Teddy, the road trip and Daniel's interactions with Janet, and, especially, the Tawney/Daniel dream. I've watched it twice and now must go and re-watch the full series. If this was the series finale, it would have worked just fine, but I'm glad we have another season to look forward to.

[Bcharmer]

The music in the ocean scene was so beautiful, but it sounded extremely familiar.  It was bugging me no end, until I finally figured out what it reminded me of. If anyone has seen the movie "The Legend of 1900" (original music by Ennio Morricone), there are two themes (built on the same melody) in that movie called "Crisis" and "Second Crisis" and it's those same four notes that keep repeating. It's so similar, it's uncanny.  I'm just one of those people who remembers melodies like that (plus, I've seen that movie about four times).  It's probably just a wild coincidence that the two pieces of music sound so much alike. But at least it finally came to me, so I thought I'd share, to see if it sounded familiar to anyone else, too.

[dargosmydaddy]

 

Jon's parting insult to the senator--"I hope your house has termites"--Was that a generic parting insult or does it have specific significance to our story and characters?

I don't know if it was supposed to, but that line cracked me up.

 

I also loved Jon kissing Daniel.

 

Great episode.

[flutist4fun]

This. It was a perfect, blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment. The show has many of these, and they're always rewarding.

[raven]

 

Me three.  I loved the whole goodbye scene & the fritters.

 

Binged this over the weekend.  I never really felt the Daniel/Tawney connection until that dream sequence.  I wondered if their initial meeting was that joyous blush of the first connection though?  That is, if they got together, it would get stale over time?  Then again, they are both "new" people - Daniel, still in the process of being formed, sent to prison for 20 years, now learning how to behave on the outside.  Tawney, foster child, trying to make a family with Teddy because (in my thoughts anyway) that's what she thought she was supposed to do.  I think she liked Teddy in the beginning and maybe thought it was love but realized over time that it wasn't. Like she woke up every day dreading having to talk to him, sleep with him, interact with him.  Not because he's terrible, or evil, or maybe merely just flawed, but because she didn't want to be with him.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Like every day her life wasn't hers and she went to bed wondering if this was all there was to it.  And then Daniel comes along and she realizes there could be more, and there's a part of herself not fully formed; like Daniel.  And that's the connection, and I never really got it until this episode. 

 

So somehow Rectify got me sympathizing with just about everyone, except maybe Trey, though they tried by arresting him for something he didn't do.  Nope, on second thought, it didn't work heh.  Sheriff better be careful though, don't want to go down that road again.

 

I mean, everyone's feelings make sense - Janet's torn but ultimately stands with Daniel; Ted's torn but doesn't want to break with Janet; Teddy's torn because, well, he's Teddy, but also feels like he's lost his life and family; Amantha at loose ends...only Jared seems like his normal routine is what it was.  In six episodes, this season seems to have brought everyone a long way in a realistic fashion.

 

Speaking of Amantha, didn't she live in Atlanta?  What did she do to support herself?  She has no skills other than legal research and retail now?  There was something about leaving college, right?  Still she had to have money coming in.  I don't remember her S1 story except that she moved back to Paulie from somewhere else.

 

I also liked the beach scene and Daniel tossing the ball with the kid along with some $10 words, heh.  It does seem strange that there's no counseling, job or otherwise.  Daniel would be awesome to watch in therapy.  Maybe next season at the halfway house.  I can't add to much else to everyone's observations, but one scene I liked was when Daniel gets Amantha to sign the paper, makes the mad dash to the PO's office, and she just sticks her head out, phone to her ear and takes the paper.  No "good job, just made it, well done".  He looked disappointed - well maybe nonplussed is the better word.  Stuff like that is so true to life, what one person feels as this monumental effort and accomplishment is just everyday expectations to someone else.  I think that is one of the real strengths of the show, to so successfully blend those two aspects of life in the same scene and keep us interested in what happened and what else may happen.

 

This would have been a perfect series finale but I'm glad there's another season coming!

Edited August 21, 2015 by raven

[pasdetrois]

Daniel has been such a detached, otherworldly character, with his slow speech and remote affect. So when he starts behaving normally - joking with his family - it seems strange to have him fit in again.

 

I love how he uses words in a kind of old-fashioned way. Many southerners I know have this trait. One of my uncles, now long dead, used to say "See you in the funny papers."

[Jordan27]

The best quiet show on TV.  In fact, maybe it's the greatest quiet show ever on TV.

[iggysaurus]

I also loved Jon kissing Daniel.

 

Count me in on this, too. Jon is one of my favorite characters. Have any of you seen "Take This Waltz"? That's where I first saw Luke Kirby (Jon).  He plays opposite Michelle Williams, who reminds me so much of the actress that plays Tawny (or vice versa).  Luke's character has a little monologue in one scene about what he wants to do to Michelle's character and well ... it's hotter than most actual sex scenes, to me.  Love him.

 

Edit: Here's that scene.

Edited September 8, 2015 by iggysaurus

[Superpole2000]

The Tawney/Daniel dream was awful. I've always detested dream sequences, as I feel they are a cheap trick often used to trick or tease the audience. But in this case, it was just that I didn't like the two characters and their timid talking. And then the subject matter of their conversation just made me roll my eyes.

And I still don't buy Amantha working at that dollar store. Why is she doing that? She doesn't like the town, and she's dropping her saint of a lawyer boyfriend to work there? I know the family is great at making dumb decisions, but that's the biggest head scratcher for me. I might have bought her ditching the lawyer if she argued that he reminded her of a bad situation, but she's sticking with the location of the bad situation, so that argument fails. It's nonsense, really.

[Kathemy]

Well, I thought that was the best use of a dream sequence in the last five years of television.

Side note, I don't understand why you stuff season 3 in a "past seasons" forum when season 4 hasn't even aired.

[ketose]

On 8/14/2015 at 1:18 PM, Kathemy said:

I think this was one of the most genius moves I've seen on television this year. 

 

First of all the actual dialogue was almost exactly the analysis I'd made of their connection, and it's nice to know I'm not crazy and this is intended. "You've told me too much, Daniel [...] You're the false prophet." Second is how it's left unclear who's dreaming, if it's only one or if it's both. This touches on the metaphysical without confirming its existence in a way few shows manage to pull off. It's almost a Rectify trademark - the meld of agnosticism, scepticism and deep faith.

 

If it's Daniel's dream, and Daniel's dream alone, there is nothing supernatural about it at all - but at the same time, the things that Daniel are saying are more like bordering on something that Tawney would think that he'd say, and what he's doing is more like something Tawney would hope that he would do. If it's really Tawney's daydream, given her mentioning him at the beach, well, then at least Tawney's psychic. Also, the things Tawney said to Daniel weren't things he would know, like being lost and feeling terribly alone, plus the reverent yet accusing tone... I'm not sure, but I don't feel like Daniel would give himself that much credit, or really knowing what an impact he's had on her life.

 

The second part I write as an unashamed Daniel slash Tawney shipper.

 

First a detour. I think people are far too quick to make excuses about these things - I see stuff like "not to delve into 'shipping territory', but..." all the time. Coming at stuff from a "shipping perspective", at core, is simply to be motivated to watch the show for the character interactions, and there is nothing wrong with that. Television has evolved over the last decade. I think Ian Somerhalder - "Damon" on TVD - had a point when he said that "shipping is sort of a new phenomenon", but he didn't delve into it. The reason it is a new phenomenon is that television shows have progressed from being almost exclusively plot-driven to be more and more character-driven, and have finally ventured out of the realm of "45 minute movie" by abandoning the episodic approach in favor of story and character arcs. One example of the former would be Star Trek, and one example of the latter would be Babylon 5.

 

Now as a fan of Daniel and Tawney... in a sense, I was obviously disappointed that we had literally zero interaction between them this season, but when I look over the six episodes, I see that this was absolutely needed. They both need to come to terms with what has happened to them, and at the same time, the "dream conversation" in the final episode shows us that... this is far from over, and may in fact be a way to set them up for coming together in a more meaningful and healthy way over season four. And of course, that makes me very happy.

I have to admit, I was a little underwhelmed by the dream sequence in the visitor room until I realized it was Tawny's dream. It seems like Daniel is going to try a new life.

Shipping is at least as old as the internet. I remember the large number of X-Files fanfics in the early 90's. And that show wasn't above fan service either.

On 8/14/2015 at 1:36 PM, tvaddict44 said:

I guess I missed that Daniel is now free with no charges hanging over him.  Did it actually state this, or do we face the possibility of next season with things not being settled?  This show has always been hard (for me) to be sure of anything - that's why I like it so much. 

Any time you have Michael O'Neill as a bad guy, you've got to be careful.  I have enjoyed his work for years - he's my favorite go-to character actor - but his villainy on this show has been chilling.  I wouldn't count him out completely...

Teddy still has the nuclear option of filing assault charges. Although, it seems pretty clear that Janet wouldn't forgive Teddy for doing it.

I'm wondering if Daggett isn't using the murder charge as a way to get to the truth behind Hanna's death. Maybe I'll find out. I have one week to watch the last 8 episodes on demand.
 

[DrSparkles]

I'm very tardy to this party. I've watched seasons 1-3 over the past 2 weekends & read all of the comments (bc I get confused :)). I'm going to watch Season 4 this week, but I *have* to know (and feel free to PM me the response): do we find out who killed Hanna? If so, I don't want to know WHO did it but I do want to know if we get resolution on this. TY in advance :)

[ketose]

13 hours ago, DrSparkles said:

I'm very tardy to this party. I've watched seasons 1-3 over the past 2 weekends & read all of the comments (bc I get confused :)). I'm going to watch Season 4 this week, but I *have* to know (and feel free to PM me the response): do we find out who killed Hanna? If so, I don't want to know WHO did it but I do want to know if we get resolution on this. TY in advance :)

We get a very good idea of who likely did it and why.

[DrSparkles]

10 hours ago, ketose said:

We get a very good idea of who likely did it and why.

Thank you @ketose!