Rectify “Charlie Darwin” 

Evolve or die, right? It’s a pretty apt title for this episode. I guess Daniel sees the wisdom in keeping his mouth shut about Bobby Dean. Part of me gets it. What will Daniel accomplish by putting his attacker behind bars? Most of the people in town would probably hate him even more for it. Amantha thinks Daniel’s letting Bobby Dean off the hook, but he’s not. He clearly has something mind that he’s not willing to share and that’s his choice. I can respect it. He tells Amantha to keep playing the game if she wants, but he’s done.

But I think he’s more done than anyone really knows. I think he’s also done with his old life. He trashes the things that I assume meant something to him from his life before prison, which I think could be a step in a healthy direction. He wants to learn to drive – and ends up taking the car for a joy ride. He even tries to talk to Teddy, which turns out to be an exercise in futility. But I like that Daniel’s trying to do what’s right for him, trying to discover what might be good for him. Maybe he just wants to be normal. Normal is only overrated to the people who think or know they aren’t.

Hollis, Jon’s death row inmate, claims that’s all he ever wanted. He knew he was wired different, knew that DNA was his even though he insisted it wasn’t. When Jon asks him why he lied for so long, put all those people through so much Hollis isn’t even sorry. It was fun. It was fun to pretend to be normal.

Other developments

Since the start of season two I’ve been pondering on a few things, namely the Teddy/Daniel incident and Amantha’s predicament.

We still don’t know what the heck happened between Teddy and Daniel. I think it’s only a mater of time before the truth comes to light, but in the meantime I find the aftermath fascinating to watch.  I think Teddy needs control of something in his life and that thing to going to be this rim business. But as much as he’s trying to make an opportunity for himself and his business, he’s met with resistance at every turn. He doesn’t have enough collateral to get a loan so he either needs to put his house up or get Janet to co-sign the loan. The problem is that Tawney’s on the deed to the house and she’s hesitant to leverage it without knowing the business plan. And Janet’s dealing with Daniel so she doesn’t really have time to listen to Teddy’s proposal. It’s hard to feel sorry for Teddy when he’s treating Tawney so poorly though. And he knows he’s doing it. She wants a date night and he’s extremely unenthusiastic. And his tone when Tawney asks about the business plan? Not nice at all. Since they don’t have the type of relationship where Teddy feels he can confide in her, he’s just going to keep holding it in until it blows up. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to that because I think the explosion will be spectacular.

Amantha’s life is still on hold. I like that she’s the only one who seems to want to confront Daniel about his choices because, quite frankly, someone needs to. While I can see why Daniel decided not to name Bobby Dean as his assailant, I don’t completely understand his reasoning. But it’s not up to me to understand Daniel. I don’t know whether or not someone needs to “pay” for what was done to Daniel, but Bobby Dean seems to have no concept of his accountability in this. Maybe this act of kindness will help Bobby Dean to see the error of his ways. I doubt it. Back back to Amantha. I love that Janet suggested it was time for Amantha to go back to Atlanta for a while. I think Amantha has every right to be incredibly invested in her brother’s life, but she’s over invested. She needs to respect Daniel’s wishes. She might not understand his reasons, but for the first time in his life Daniel is able to make his own choices. He had so many things stripped away from him in jail. Now that he’s out, it should be up to him to decide what he wants and what he doesn’t. I do think Amantha’s heart’s in the right place, but why does what she thinks matter more than what Daniel does? One thing I will continue to love about her is her “public” face when it comes to her brother. I like that it’s her and her family against the world. I love how she is with Daggett too. I don’t think he deserves forgiveness (not that he asked for it), but I can respect that he’s trying to do his job now. I can also appreciate that everyone in town knows Bobby Dean did it and probably no one wants him prosecuted, but Daggett still did his job. And I agree that Roland Foulkes will keep coming for Daniel. One way or another Foulkes will make Daniel help him get into office.

Some great lines:

Amantha: “Obesity is the only thing still selling in this economy.”

Sheriff Daggett: “That boy sees a pile of sh*t on the ground he’s gonna make every damn effort to step in it.”

Amantha: “It’s always later.”

Teddy: “Sometimes we confuse feeling better with being well.”

Rectify airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Sundance TV.