Rectify Season 2 Finale: Talk about Cliff Hangers!

Whew - talk about cliff-hangers!   The season 2 finale of Rectify was about the steepest psychological cliff and the most sudden hang I've ever seen on a television series.

Here's what I think is about clear as day about what happened to Hanna, revealed before the cliff-hanger.

Daniel didn't kill her.   He tells the truth about happened before he says he killed her, just to get the plea deal on the way.  And the truth is that he watched as George and Trey and who knows who else actually killed Hanna.  But he didn't kill her.   Indeed, he put her legs back together in a more modest position and covered her private parts with wildflowers.   That was the aftermath of a depraved act, but the depravity was in what Daniel saw not what he did.

And he feels guilty because he was frozen.   He also feels guilty about what he did to Teddy, Jr last week (in narrative time, last season in terms of when we saw it).  His admission to Tawney is not enough to relieve him of all of this guilt, which is why he wants to leave.

His very admission to Tawney shows he didn't kill Hanna.  He tells Tawney that he learned how to be violent in prison - or well after Hanna was killed.   Amantha knows he's innocent, too - in her heart - which is why, in just a beautifully played scene, she tells Daniel that if he accepts the plea deal and leaves home she won't reach out to him any more.   She can't abide his denial of what she knows so deeply in her soul is true:  Daniel is a good person.

But here's where we are, and what we'll have to wait on until the next season.  George's body is found in the river. That's good.  But Teddy, Jr. - who, even if I try hard, I just can't feel sorry for - tells the sheriff about the coffee grounds, which information is duly passed on the Prosecutor.

So will this kill the plea deal?  I'd guess that it will.  Which will keep Daniel home and in the mix.   And he'll be liable not only for a retrial for Hanna's murder, but a new trial for his assault on Teddy, Jr.

A fine, excruciating set-up indeed for Season 3.  Bring it on!

See also Rectify 2.1: Indelible ... Rectify 2.2: True Real Time ... Rectify 2.3: Daniel's Motives ... Rectify 2.4: Jekyll and Hyde ... Rectify 2.6: Rare Education ... Rectify 2.7: The Plot Thickens ... Rectify 2.8: The Plea Bargain and the Smart Phone ... Rectify 2.9: Dancing in the Dark

And see also Rectify: Sheer and Shattering Poetry ... Rectify 1.5: Balloon Man ... Rectify Season 1 Finale: Searingly Anti-Climactic

 
another kind of capital punishment

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