Sundance's 'Rectify' returns for third season, already given a fourth

"I feel like I’m being directed by a lint brush," Young said. "It’s beautiful and undefinable."

"That last word plays," said the self-effacing McKinnon this past spring while shooting at a restaurant in Griffin.

"Rectify," which returns tonight for a third season and has already been rewarded a fourth, can be defined by plenty of adjectives: contemplative, deep, evocative, complex, empathetic. And beautiful, too.

Young later explained to me the lint brush reference. "He directs like a lint brush, a very light touch. He's very calming - like lint brushes. Everyone should carry one!"

The show aired six episodes season one in 2013, expanded to 10 last year but is back to six again this go around. McKinnon admits to being such a micromanager, even six episodes is a major stress bomb for him.

"It sounds pitiful when you know others can do 13 or 23 episodes a year," said McKinnon, who spent many of his formative acting years in Atlanta. "I don't stay in the writer's room while shooting. I'm on the set all the time. I'm here in the editing room all the time. I think between Sundance and me, we found a number of episodes we were both comfortable with."

"I should feel less stressed," he said. "But I don't."

While other showrunners may be hired guns, "Rectify" is truly McKinnon's baby. "This is a personal story for me," he said ."So it definitely demands a lot of whatever I have left to give."

The show in season three is still centered on Daniel adjusting to life after 19 years on death row. But supporting characters get more time.

"I think we’re definitely being led more by the characters than by actively enforcing a plot on the characters," McKinnon said. "You watch how the actors inhabit the characters. You feel how that impacts you. It's not a show where you kill off a character and the next time you see them, everyone has moved on. It's about people trying to make sense of their lives."

Season two ended with some level of closure. Daniel admitted to killing his beau Hanna nearly two decades earlier as part of a plea deal that forces him to leave Georgia within 30 days. On a more standard drama, this would be the end of the mystery. But of course, his admission was hardly heartfelt. The viewers still do not know what really happened.

"Daniel wants nothing but to stay out of prison," said Young, rationalizing Daniel's action. He then takes on Daniel's persona for a moment and says, "Unfortunately, a Shakespearean mandate comes out and sends me hither."

And when the cops discover of one of Daniel's old friends George Milton dead of  an apparent suicide near the original murder scene, what was already a cloudy case gets even foggier.

In the meantime, the family has to pick up the pieces of Daniel's admission. The most compelling characters outside of Daniel are Tawney and Teddy, the ill-fated couple impacted greatly by Daniel's presence. Tawney's attraction to Daniel is so spiritual, it would seem wrong for it to ever become romantic. "Daniel was in a way the apple of knowledge that she bit into," McKinnon said. "Once she did that, she could never be the old Tawney."

Adelaide Clemens, who plays Tawney, is "a remarkably open actress," Young said. "She's warm and luminescent. There's an inner glow."

Credit: Rodney Ho

Credit: Rodney Ho

As for Teddy, the trauma of being choked out by Daniel continues to resonate. "He’s almost going to be required to transform himself somehow or he’ll remain in a kind of pain that ‘s really almost unbearable," McKinnon said. "In a strange way, that event is setting off a chain of events that may lead Teddy to a greater understanding of himself."

Actor Clayne Crawford acknowledges that his Teddy character season three will become "unburdened.  A lot of weight he's been carrying has been lifted. He's been clinging to an edge of a cliff by a nail. He's so burdened by insecurity and self doubt and what others think. To climb inside those insecurities and wear them has been a wonderful challenge."

He said he built Teddy Jr. up to be such a "peacock" season one, it's been fascinating to see him fall so far by season three. "It's like Lenny squeezing the kitten so tight [in "Of Mice and Men"]. That's Teddy."

Credit: Rodney Ho

Credit: Rodney Ho

Daniel's sister Amantha (the mesmerizing Abigail Spencer) is truly lost now that her life-long project of saving Daniel has effectively ended. McKinnon: "She's 32, with very little college, if any. I don't think she sees herself as capable because she hasn't had the affirmation." (Thus, a manager job at Thrifty Town might be her best bet.)

And his parents, including stepdad Teddy and his loving mom Janet, will face some challenges of their own. "There will be some growing pains this season," McKinnon said. "We'll see if they can survive it."

Although Daniel will have left fictional Paulie by the end of season three, McKinnon feels he can continue to tell the stories of the characters in a fourth season. "If we took care and did it thoughtfully, it could still be interesting," he said, before news of a fourth season came out this week. "I’m not sure this thing will have a kind of ending that feels like an ending."

Daniel without any support system but outside the judging eyes of Paulie residents might be freeing for him - or cause him new heartache. "Can a guy who's been in a box for 20 years come out and deal with life on life's terms?" McKinnon asks.

Credit: Rodney Ho

Credit: Rodney Ho

"I am fascinated by real life human beings and all their shenanigans and foibles and small heroic acts that never gets heard about," McKinnon explains. "I'm also interested in these characters as if they are real human beings."

"We're going to go down roads unexpected. And do some things that may be conventional but in an unconventional way. They'll be at the least entertained if not moved."

How popular is "Rectify"? It's hard to say. It's well loved by critics. The Peabodys gave the show an award. But Sundance does not get measured by Nielsen. Netflix, which has the first two seasons of "Rectify" available for subscribers, doesn't release viewership numbers.

Young, who plays Daniel, said he's thrilled the show is available on a platform the size of Netflix and admitted to binge-watching "The Killing" himself one day. "I could barely get off the couch to get a glass of water!" he said. He hopes folks latch onto "Rectify" the same way.

TV PREVIEW

"Rectify," 10 p.m. Thursdays, beginning July 9 for six weeks, Sundance