{"id":1135,"date":"2014-08-15T09:17:30","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T13:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/?p=1135"},"modified":"2014-08-22T18:33:33","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T22:33:33","slug":"rectify-recap-strange-foreign-lands-peanut-butter-chips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/2014\/08\/15\/rectify-recap-strange-foreign-lands-peanut-butter-chips\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Rectify’ Recap: ‘Until You’re Blue’ and Peanut Butter Chips"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ninth and penultimate episode of Rectify<\/em>\u2019s second season featured yet another installment in what is becoming a wonderful calling card: the use of soundtrack to determine solely the mood of what\u2019s taking place onscreen.<\/p>\n

The opening shots are simple enough\u2014Ted Sr., appearing emotionally distressed, looking out his window at Daniel as he lies in the yard. With different music, Ted might have been feeling anything there. Regret. Sorrow. But strings swell almost triumphantly over a terrifying, thumping bass, like the soundtrack to an epic romantic war film, much like Daniel\u2019s first encounter with Trey in the gas station parking lot was scored like a horror film. The music says Ted is angry, but conflicted.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean he isn\u2019t resolved. No, the greatest man on Earth seeks out Sheriff Daggett to get as many answers as possible on Daniel and Teddy\u2019s freak coffee ground fight accident<\/a>, then chastises him for sharing information that wasn\u2019t the sheriff\u2019s to tell. Ted\u2019s next visit is to Senator Foulkes himself, who welcomes him with poorly chosen (not by the writers, though) words: \u201cDoor\u2019s always open to Ted Talbot. Father or son.\u201d The elder Talbot picks up where Junior left off, telling Senator Foulkes to shut his mouth and leave his family alone. Foulkes owns up to his smarminess but impresses on Ted his confidence in Holden\u2019s guilt, to which Ted only re-administers his previous point.<\/p>\n

When we find Tawney, she\u2019s already been informed that she lost her pregnancy. This strategy of reveal to the audience is representative of the show\u2019s foundation: the in-depth character studies of lives in serious emotional transition. Whereas in most shows an accidentally terminated pregnancy might be the episode\u2019s emotional peak, on Rectify<\/em> the event happens off-screen, the series more concerned with how Tawney reacts to the news and navigates informing her petulant ass-clown of a husband.<\/p>\n

Ted Jr. takes it about as well as one would imagine he would: telling Tawney she\u2019s glad her baby died, telling her to run off with Daniel, that Daniel might do her a favor and kill her, everything short of defecating in his hands and decorating the bedroom with it. What choice did he have? She was looking into taking online classes! Tawney takes the hint and leaves, only to get as drunk as I\u2019ve ever seen someone get on a half bottle of wine, then she calls Daniel. The first thing he says when he finds out Tawney\u2019s lost her baby? Just about the only two words Teddy didn\u2019t use: \u201cI\u2019m\u201d and \u201csorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniel takes a meeting with John Stern at the real and metaphoric merry-go-round. He learns that the DA has accepted his terms, but with a catch: banishment, Romeo and Juliet style. Daniel\u2019s future presence in Georgia would be unlawful (except for in one inconvenient county, as statewide outlaw-hood is unconstitutional).<\/p>\n

This deal sounds like a no-brainer to me, but I may be biased, knowing what it\u2019s like outside of Georgia and all. But this love for the hometown that hates his family\u2019s guts so much is what makes this decision a toughie. We know how Amantha feels, and Daniel is so worried about how his mom would react that he can\u2019t even broach the subject of the plea deal, when it was his intention during the entire conversation. Unless major outside factors come into play (obviously a total possibility), I\u2019d be pretty disappointed if he declined the deal just because his family couldn\u2019t have him over for the holidays; it\u2019d be the show\u2019s flimsiest blemish.<\/p>\n

Plus it\u2019d block my fantasy Season 3 for\u00a0Rectify<\/em>: half following Daniel around the world, backpacking, finding himself by doing stuff like buying an old motorcycle from a young boy in South America and riding it through the Chilean mountains for a week (or, you know, something else), and the other half remaining in Paulie, leaving the rest of the characters with Daniel out of the way, to have to face themselves finally, perhaps with Sheriff Daggett getting to the bottom of this Trey-George mess (it doesn\u2019t look like we\u2019re gonna get that far in the season finale, unfortunately).<\/p>\n

One can only dream.<\/p>\n

NOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n