‘Rectify’ First Look: Will Jon Stern Sacrifice Himself to Clear Daniel?

We can’t be the only Rectify fans just not ready to let these characters go. But at least, as the drama draws closer to its Dec. 14 series finale, it’s looking more and more likely that Daniel Holden will get definitive info on whether or not he was involved in the murder of Hanna Dean, the crime for which he’s already spent half his life in a prison cell.

Unfortunately, that knowledge could come courtesy of a plan by Daniel’s attorney, Jon Stern (Luke Kirby), that would mean a huge sacrifice for Jon. In the clip above, Jon tells Amantha (Abigail Spencer), his former girlfriend, that he’s burnt out on working for Justice Row, the Innocence Project-like group devoted to exonerating the wrongly convicted. So burnt out that he quit, he says, and she tells him she knows what he’s planning. He feels so strongly that the truth must come out about what really happened to Hanna, that with some new info fed to him by the also justice-minded Sheriff Daggett (J.D. Evermore), Jon tries to force a new investigation into Hanna’s murder.

And, as Amantha guesses, if his persistence alone isn’t enough to make authorities revisit the case, Jon’s willing to file an IAC — ineffective assistance of counsel. “I was sleeping with my client’s sister, ergo ineffective council of said client,” he says, explaining the argument he’ll use when filing the IAC, if that’s the only way to push the investigation open.

Elsewhere in the “Physics” episode of Rectify, Daniel (Aden Young) and Janet (J. Smith-Cameron, this season’s big scene-stealer) have a painfully honest talk about why he seems to be pushing her away, and Tawney (Adelaide Clemens) shares details about her childhood when she faces losing someone who means a lot to her.

Rectify airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on SundanceTV.