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This is what they mean by bittersweet? {Spoilers}

posted 8 years ago by pankoeken
19 replies | jump to latest

At this point it's obvious Daniel was innocent. I was uplifted tonight when Jon said the state would be admitting they screwed up in the investigation. After a few moments of happiness and relief for Daniel and his family it suddenly hit me how tragic Daniel's life has been. It's always been easy to sympathize with Daniel and I think many if not most of us were pretty sure he was innocent. Maybe it's just me and maybe it's because it's the finale but I suddenly felt sadder for Daniel than I ever have.

I will pause here since I'm already misting up and there's still an hour left.

[–] TamPalm 8 years ago

Maybe it's just me and maybe it's because it's the finale but I suddenly felt sadder for Daniel than I ever have.

Not just you...

"If it doesn't make sense, it's not true." -- Judge Judy

[–] cinephile06 8 years ago

Sorry for the typos!

[–] cinephile06 8 years ago

Such a beautiful finale but I can totally see it making one even sadder for Daniel. Him ultimately (hopefully, anyway!) being exonerated is, paradoxically, even more gut-wrenching. I, personally, find it impossible to not find Daniel Holden one of, if not the most, sympathetic snd tragic characters on a TV drama ever. And that, oddly enough, would be true even if we'd found out that he had done it. He was so young and so high on mushrooms he couldn't even remember what happened. There is no indication that such a crime was in his character. Any violence we see from stems directly from 19 years of brutality, daily fear of impending doom, and isolation. To find out on top of all that that he did nothing at all that to deserve such severe punishment just compounds the tragedy. So, perversely, his presumed innocence makes his story an even sadder one. Still prefer that he really is innocent, of course, but damned if that doesn't pile on the injustice and sheer heartbreak of what he endured even more. I think (and hope) that he's stockpiled enough good karma from that miscarriage of justice to have no other horrors be visited upon him for the rest of an ideally flawless and, as happy as possible, long, healthy life. A destined "get out of jail free" card as it were. No more horrific b.s. for Daniel. Forever and always.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ldj-20912 8 years ago

Troll or caveman. Not sure which category you fall under.

BTW, previous consensual sex DOES NOT mean that trey had Hannas permission to haverify sex that night! He knew she was under the influence of psychotropic drugs and could not give legitimate consent. Any man who takes advantage of an intoxicated person for sex is scum of the Earth worthy of a bullet. I pity the women in your life.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Constant-Reader 8 years ago

Trey admitted he had sex with Hanna.

[–] Whatlarks 8 years ago

the women in your life

A bold assumption.

"You must not judge what I know by what I find words for." - Marilynne Robinson

[–] prairie-16766 8 years ago

Tee hee, lark.

[–] ToHelenBackAgain 8 years ago

I've been sure Daniel was innocent from more or less the beginning, and really sure ever since Trey tried to make George's suicide look like a murder and frame Daniel for it. And even so, this episode brought it home to me more powerfully than ever, how utterly irredeemably tragic it was that this promising, intelligent, sensitive young man was wrongly convicted and lost so much of his life.

I think the series to date has focused more on the effects of the torture Daniel endured in prison, while this episode was much more about time. How it heals, and how it steals.

"Oh, I'll be polite. Right up until I'm rude."

[–] pankoeken 8 years ago

this episode brought it home to me more powerfully than ever, how utterly irredeemably tragic it was that this promising, intelligent, sensitive young man was wrongly convicted and lost so much of his life.

Exactly. Despite being 98% sure Daniel was innocent since season 1, having the prosecutor admit on live TV the state had been negligent and was reopening the investigation confirmed it. Somehow eliminating that 2% of doubt was enough to make me  thinking about Daniel's stolen life.

In retrospect, perhaps the sadness over knowing Daniel had his life destroyed unjustly for decades made the ending that much sweeter. Daniel happily daydreaming of a hopeful future was perfect.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Mr_Fluffykins 8 years ago

i loved/hated how they opened, janet was talking if daniel was dead, i was like WTF, and then amantha was like stop talking like he is dead he is about to walk on home through those doors any minute,

i thought they were going for the here is the ending, how do we get to it approach, and then bam it was all a fantasy, sorta a little trolling of the audience,

[–] Whatlarks 8 years ago

The pan to reality screamed "Writer!" Threw me right out of the story in the first few minutes, not just from daydream into story-reality. It was the first blatant cue that this was going to be about artifice, forced closure.

"You must not judge what I know by what I find words for." - Marilynne Robinson

[–] muwarriorsfan 8 years ago

There was no reason at all for that scene. A gimmick that achieved nothing dramatically and didn't move the plot forward.

This whole season felt "off," with the awful Chloe character (and actress) being mostly responsible.

[–] asktheages 8 years ago

That pan was also odd because of how much it stood out. That type of (relatively) quick, "showy" movement of the camera is very atypical for Rectify.

[–] pamela22 8 years ago

I liked that scene. It wasn't a fantasy, it was a flashback. That scene was from the morning of the day Daniel was released from prison. I liked that callback to the first episode plus it showed how much Janet has grown since then and also why Amantha gets so frustrated with her. That should have been one of the happiest days of their lives but Janet was still dwelling on all that was lost instead of celebrating the fact that Daniel was finally coming home. She realized, standing there and remembering, how negative and hurtful that must have been for Amantha who always believed that her mother would finally be happy if Daniel were released. That's why she turned around from that memory and apologized to Amantha.

[–] peteyandjia 8 years ago

I liked that scene. It wasn't a fantasy, it was a flashback. That scene was from the morning of the day Daniel was released from prison.

Glad somebody said it. I thought it was pretty obvious it was a flashback to Daniel's release day. Honestly surprised some people thought it was a fantasy or something.

[–] Eva_Marrie 8 years ago

Yes! They were wearing the same clothes as on Daniel's release day. It took me half a second to realise that. I was looking at Amantha's dress and thinking: "wait, she's worn that before. Ah, now I get it!"