(The following review contains spoilers. It is written under the assumption that you have seen season three of Rectify)
Six episodes is not a lot of time to move a story forward. While the overall runtime is comparable to three films, the storytelling demands of television require a much different pace. Full stories must be conveyed on a weekly basis, several characters need to be serviced, and story reveals need to be parsed out to keep the audience coming back. For most shows, this means that such a short number of episodes is simply not enough to tell the full story.
However, for Sundance TV’s Rectify, I would argue that six episodes is just about right. While the cast of the show is quite large, the scenario itself is relatively uncomplicated. The writers are far more interested in how the events depicted effect the various characters than moving the plot forward at a “normal” television pace. Given the ratio of character-driven scenes to plot-driven scenes, extending Rectify out begins to feel like something of a burden on the viewer. But in small doses, Rectify’s quiet charms have just the right amount of space to breathe.
