A 3 week wait between watching episode 8 and 9 tells it’s own tale and now I’m at a loss about my feelings for series 2. It ended like a deflating balloon which seemed to sum up the whole thing, the interviews just didn’t have the same interest with Manson being a exception, whilst not appearing to be relevant. If series 1 was the myth making propaganda this felt like it could be Fincher’s “It’s all smoke and Freudian babel” expose, with Brian’s supposed predisposition as a obvious nonsense. This left us with the Atlanta murders, lots of theories thrown around but with almost no benefit to the arrest, seeming to nullify the whole premise for the series. The saving grace for this series was Holt McCallany. Again Kemper makes the most interesting input with his "your research is flawed" observation. So does that make good TV(?), I’m not sure.
i think it will make "good tv" if they bounce back in a season 3 and focus more on the science of it all. and ditch the "damien" angle of the tench family.
I don't see any science but I won't hold that against it unless it becomes too silly. Hopefully they'll get back to a strong story-line next season, without Brian's problems padding it out to 9 or 10 episodes. I've no idea which killer we're looking at next but that must be a either a limiting factor or have the potential for a good season. I thought Ford was a bit of a cardboard cut out this season, it'd be good to see more of his character being explored next time.
I think so many folks are very confused about the "Brian" b-plot and the point it is supposed to make. This is not a broad-stroke "Oh man, lookat dis kid! We got a buddin' serial killer right here!" story line waiting to develop here. It's just basically another angle exploring how the human brain works, how it interprets, how it can be molded, and what influences it. This b-plot is more an examination on how it affects Tench, his work, his personal life, his preconceived notions, and his conclusions. What psychologically "protects" so many of us in this world is the "Oh, that's them, that's not me" / "That happens to people like them, not people like us" mentality. What Tench is learning is that this serial-killer analysis business is not a simple math equation.
If it's about how the brain works it fails to address what's going on in Brian's head and it does look to suggest we've got a budding Serial Killer when in fact we've got a traumatised child. And whilst the focus on Tenche's life was a bonus it would have been more realistic if his dysfunctional family was due to the stress of his work rather than Brian I suspect Maths in the form of statistical analysis and good policing is much more useful than building a profile based on stereotypes, my problem is with the 'propaganda' being churned out here but perhaps that's unfair given it's meant to be entertainment.
I'm three episodes in and also find it kind of plodding. Will stick with it as I'm interested in/familiar with the subject matter - like, I have books by the real-life analogues to the main characters - and curious as to what gets done with it here. Hopefully it doesn't get too bogged down in domestic trivialities.
no, i get all of that. it doesn't mean that it's handled well in the show. it's easily the least nuanced and aspect and overstays its welcome.
I think next season will focus on John Wayne Gacy, but he’s problematic as his stuff occurred before Wayne Williams and the Atlanta child murders. Henry Lee Lucas or Richard Ramirez are my best guesses.
Too short a season but largely terrific but the subplot involving Brian just didn't work for me. It felt artificial and melodramatic.
Another good season, but definitely not as good as Season One. The Brian subplot was not quite effective, and the Wendy lesbian subplot was bad. And perhaps too much time was spent on the Atlanta murders. I agree with everyone else that the show is carried by the real-life killer interview segments.
Probably ignorance but analysing data would give you facts, a case in point the killer appearing on the fringes of the investigation has a lot of instances in the past and murder in your racial group is a number. You then look at patterns of murders and where bodies are left then correlate to the offenders location, this would give data on kill zones and the killers territorial range. This is likely to be wrong but hopefully you get my drift, it's about how people behave not why. However that does sound like a documentary rather than entertainment, I'm just a grumpy old git.
should still be possible though, yes? he was definitely in prison in the 80s. maybe ford will have a jam session with charlie in season 3?
I’m four episodes in to the second season now and have skipped most comments in this thread to avoid any spoilers. Enjoying it, but... why is everybody - especially Anna Torv - so yellow that they look like they’ve jaundice? Really bad makeup.
The wife and I finished this last night. Great season IMO...although disturbing as hell. I’m ok with the ending not being so nice and tidy, because that’s how it goes.
A lighting cinematic style Fincher has used in the Social Network and Gone Girls amongst other films.
The orange and teal was strong with this series, though generally worse in indoors scenes, because of course all interiors were orange in the 70s (!). I think they overdid it more than a tad.
Just had a google and appears I’m not the only one. Mindhunter's 'yellowface' scandal: what on earth went wrong with the make-up?
I wonder if they'll continue doing the BTK cold opens in Season 3. Rader went on hiatus until 1985, largely due to being busy raising a family. Although I did read his autobiography a few months back and he mentioned that even during his murder-free years he was still stalking women, so I suppose they could show that. I'm really liking his inclusion in the show. It's a good way to show the limitations of profiling. Hearing Tench say "no way this guy goes to church" or Ford theorizing that he's a loner with short-term menial jobs, is funny, in a macabre sort of way, given what we now know about BTK.
Well, thanks to some inclimate weather, coffee and other drinks on hand, and the Netflix autoplay function, I’ve now watched the whole first season. Yeah, I guess I’m into it. Nice use of Zep in the final scenes, too. The occasional properly-lit interior scene wouldn't kill them, though.
