This truly remarkable show – which Jeff and I are kinda binge-watching at the moment – is a love-letter, low-key and kind and intelligent, to nuance.
A man is imprisoned for 20 years for a crime he did not commit. He comes back to the small town in Georgia he grew up in, and everyone in town and all of his family are affected by what happens.
Everybody in the show, whether you first see them as a saint or a sinner, turns out to be more *complicated*. The dialogue is like following a butterfly alighting on various bushes as it dances in the sunlight. Truly exceptional.
Ray McKinnon, who played the preacher with the brain tumour in Deadwood, is the show creator. A special call out to Adelaide Clemens as Tawney Talbot, Aden Young as the star (playing Daniel Holden), J. Smith-Cameron as Janet, Daniel’s mother, and Bruce McKinnon as Ted Sr., one of the best played “anything you say dear” middle aged married men I have ever seen. We’re talkin’ subtle, folks.
When it’s funny – and the humour is almost all kindly and situational – it’s clever and funny. And when it’s sad, you feel it. It’s so unpredictable, and yet after a while you get a feel for what’s going to happen next….
On another note, D just emailed me a do it yourself mix tape. Life’s good. And if you follow the whole Supernatural #destiel thang you know why this is so very wonderful.
