Serial became one of the biggest podcasts of all time in 2014, the story of a Baltimore teenager who was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend in 1999, despite unconvincing evidence and motive. After the final episode was released on December 18, many listeners felt offended by the lack of closure, acting as if producer and narrator Sarah Koenig had been leading audiences through a work of fiction rather than a true-crime story (Adnan is scheduled for an appeal in January 2015).
Just finished #serialpodcast It was fascinating but I just wasted 12 hours of my life realizing that no one knows what happened to Hae. UGH
— Staci (@stacigiroux) December 23, 2014
The Serial finale was a letdown. Or maybe it wasn’t. Though if you asked me, I’d say it was. Unless it wasn’t. Maybe. #serialpodcast — Bruno Pieroni (@brunopieroni) December 18, 2014
If many Serial fans—and non-fans—haven’t done so already, they should check out SundanceTV’s “Rectify,” which follows Daniel Holden, who gets released 20 years after being convicted of the murder and rape of his ex-girlfriend after new evidence comes to light. Prison almost acts as a time capsule for Daniel (played by Aden Young), who hasn’t seen the outside world in two decades. When someone at a party asks him about the Occupy Movement, he responds, “Occupy what?” (Strangely enough, it’s reminiscent of Brendan Fraser’s role in Blast from the Past). Daniel’s adjustment challenges viewers to wonder whether imprisonment is never really over. He’s continuing to serve even while on the outside.
Shot on location in Georgia, the small-town has been an incubator of hate toward Daniel and the Holden family in the years since the crime. And now that he’s free, the sheriff and prosecutor can’t lose face by letting him exist in their community. In one scene, a local woman confronts Daniel’s sister Amantha (Abigail Spencer) and her boyfriend Jon Stern—also Daniel’s lawyer—outside of a roller rink after a date (“Could you go do it somewhere else, please? So we don’t have to think about Hanna and what happened to her that night?”). What’s interesting, as Jon points out, is that the woman was about 5 years old when the crime happened. Yet, the town has festered so much resentment for so long that it collectively takes it personally when anyone from the family tries to have a life outside of that story.
A big thread of the show—obviously—is whether Daniel did it or not. Ultimately, there’s a lot to believe in the case that he’s innocent. But then again, he’s prone to sometimes-violent outbursts that are not always understandable. And yet, much of what puts people in prison isn’t always understandable. In my favorite scene of the series, one of Jon Stern’s clients, hours away from execution, confides to his lawyer why he wasted thousands of dollars in court costs by continuing to avow his innocence: “It’s fun to pretend, you know? Fun to pretend I was normal. [. . .] Simple as that.”
The similarities between Serial and “Rectify” are eerily similar. Male protagonists that may or may not have committed murder. Ex-girlfriend victims with H-names (Hae Lee, Hanna) being strangled in cold blood. But while Serial may sadly never provide closure, “Rectify” at least is a work of fiction with the power to create an ending, whether it’s a happy one or not.
The first season of “Rectify” is streaming on Netflix. Season 3 will begin sometime in the summer of 2015.